RGB N64 Mod Question (was RGB Driver for NTSC Nintendo 64)

[Piratero]

Hello guys.

I'm planning on applying this great RGB mod!


If I just want RGB, would this work?




Also, I'm very new to all this. Would the following be the correct items to buy?



Thanks guys!!

[viletim]

This will work if you (very carefully) lift each R/G/B output chip leg off the PCB and solder a wire to it.

Everything you need is in your shopping list. Though you are buying more parts than you actually require and those prices are significantly higher than usual.

[Piratero]

This will work if you (very carefully) lift each R/G/B output chip leg off the PCB and solder a wire to it.

Yes. I have the legs lifted on pins 17, 19, and 21. OK, so your diagram that I edited is also good to go.

Everything you need is in your shopping list. Though you are buying more parts than you actually require and those prices are significantly higher than usual.

Is there a cheaper place where I can get these parts?

Also, I saw the discussion on the preference on what board to use. I honestly don't know what I should use. Do you have any direct links to a place where I can buy them? Digi-Key has too many choices!

[viletim]

Is there a cheaper place where I can get these parts?

Maybe Jameco Electronics... Maybe somebody who lives in the US can suggest somewhere better.

You should use 2N3904/2N3906 transistors, BC types will be harder to find in over there.

[Piratero]

Is there a cheaper place where I can get these parts?

Maybe Jameco Electronics... Maybe somebody who lives in the US can suggest somewhere better.

You should use 2N3904/2N3906 transistors, BC types will be harder to find in over there.

Yeah, I ordered:

• 610-2N3904 NPN Gen Pur SS
• 863-2N3906ZL1G 200mA 40V PNP

So I'm just going to wait for the parts to arrive and I'll perform the mod! I'll keep you informed! Thanks again!

[Piratero]

I just made the RGB amp and testing each component separately (e.g. connecting only R to pin 1 on the N64 A/V connector), I get perfect bright red.

Every component separately produces the correct color.

But when I solder all 3 wires to pins 1, 2, and 4, I get a bronze image!

With or without capacitors on each line (R, G, B), I still get the bronzed colored image.

Any ideas?

[Piratero]

Now blue and green seems to work by cutting the trace between R OUT and G IN; G OUT and B IN.

But for some reason, the image that has any red is completely black! And yes, red is soldered onto pin 1 on the A/V connector.

[Link83]

Sorry if this sounds obvious, but you do have 3 separate amps right? one for each color? You cant just connect all three colors to one amp, which is kind of what your 'bronze colored image' sounds like.

If you look at the original circuit diagram here:-
http://gamesx.com/wiki/lib/exe/detail.php?id=av%3An64rgb-ntsc&media=av:n64rgb-ntsc.png
You can see at the top it says to "repeat for green, blue" in other words you need three amp circuits, one for each color - they can be all built on the same piece of veroboard though with a little planning 

Hope that helps and doesnt sound condescending  

[Piratero]

That's what happened at first. No, it's OK. It was something that didn't dawn upon me until yesterday after 3+ hours of running an X-Acto knife between the tracks.

I did that and now I get the correct colors, but where ever there is suppose to be red on the screen, it's black.

Do I need to cut all the tracks excluding the GND and 5V+ track? I cut the track for R OUT and G IN. Between the end of the R amp and G amp. This fixed the color green. I did the same for blue and that works also.

I'll try all this out sometime later today.

Thanks!

[Piratero]

Got it to work! Picture is amazing!!! But I'm going to rebuild it because it looks like shit!

Thank you so much for all the help (and patience)! And I apologize for the 2 previous posts.

[Piratero]

Is there a reason why the 220μF capacitors on the R, G, and B lines in the official GameCube RGB scart cable does not affect the image?

[NFG]

In the systems that require the caps, NOT having them will result in a black image.  Having them when they're not required will have a small effect on the image quality, but in my experience it's not significant.

[Piratero]

Thank you. That was my hunch. I guess I'll go ahead and buy myself another GameCube RGB scart cable. How much do you guys at the UK get one for new?

Here are some pictures. I'll post some comparison pics soon.

Broken RGB amplifier display incorrect colors.

Before the amplifier: 1 2 3
Fitted amplifier: 1 2 3 4