Orange-Phantom
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Posts posted by Orange-Phantom
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If it was sold as working I'd send it back.
You could spend the time re-capping it only to find it's something else!
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Looks fantastic! Well done!
.........I .......must..........resist.......... buying............................................ oh what am I even thinking, of course I'm going to have to get it!
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My daughter and I got sick this week, but I had another chance to look at it today. This time I removed the battery tray from the Lynx and tried measuring it all by itself.
I noticed something that I'm surprised I haven't seen mentioned here before--the Lynx I battery tray is designed in such a way that is not compatible with high capacity (~2500 mAh) NiMH batteries (or at least the 5 brands I have lying around the house).
For whatever reason, the main cylinder of these NiMH batteries is wider and taller than that of standard alkaline batteries. To compensate for the extra body length, the nub at the positive terminal is made shorter. The overall length thus stays almost the same as alkalines (but they are still fatter, which makes them more difficult to get in and out of certain devices).
In the Lynx I battery tray, there are two small tabs that stop batteries from pushing too far against the battery tray contacts. These tabs make it so that only the positive terminal nubs of batteries contact the battery tray contacts. However, the spacing between the tabs and the tray contacts was designed around the standard positive terminal nub length for alkaline batteries. Since NiMH batteries have smaller nubs, there is no continuity. I could easily fit a couple of sheets of paper in there.
So, mystery solved. I'll probably remove the tabs since that will alleviate some of the tightness in the tray when using NiMH batteries.
I had read that thread (nice work, by the way). But I figured that if it addressed my problem, I was willing to put up with the Recom. I will put it back to stock.
Fantastic! Always good to get to the cause of the problem. Are you going to file the tabs down so that you can fit Ni-MH batteries in? My favourite Ni-Mh batteries are the Standard Panasonic Enloops. The Pro's hold a bit more capacity but can "only" withstand around 500 charges whereas the standard is around 2100 charges!
Have fun! :-)
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belt and braces replace the Zener diode even!
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I've seen some absolute shocking electronics inside some of these cheap chinese adaptors, so unless you can verify the actual electronics inside it I'd personally steer clear.
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There is something strange going there but then I don't need to tell you that.
If the voltage across the pins is only reading 1v then I would say there a possibly a contact issue. Can you measure the voltage across the battery leads with the actual Lynx unsoldered just to rule that out?
NiMh batteries can supply a higher supply of current than Alkaline batteries due to their lower internal resistance so it's not that, 7.2 volts is more than enough to run a Lynx 1 or 2. I've run both Lynx 1 and 2 on NiMh batteries without issue.
I would also add that now that you have taken the backwards step of replacing the stock Lynx power circuit with a Recom Regulator then it won't work below 6.5volts and will drain your batteries if you leave them in even if the unit is off due to the fact that the Recom regulator is permanently powered. A much better solution is to put it back to stock, replace the FET with a modern equivalent and as a belt and braces replace the FET. It will work so much better on batteries and won't drain them when you turn it off. The stock circuit can work below 5 volts and your Lynx will still work too! And yes the stock Lynx power circuit is a very well designed high frequency switching regulator contrary to a lot of bull spouted around various forums.
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That'll be spot on ATLynxer. The wattage figure is the power it can handle so with it being rated higher it will present no issue.
Level42 I just checked a Lynx 2 motherboard that I'm repairing for a friend it being revision C104471-001 Rev A and that is using two 386 amps made by JRC. My other two Lynx 2's are exactly the same. Is your board a later revision?
Cheers.
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The amps in the Lynx 2 are speced to run an 8ohm speaker quite happily, in fact it will be a noticeable amount louder with an 8 ohm speaker with it. That's why the Lynx 1 is louder as it has an 8ohm speaker in it.
Thats the first time I've ever heard anyone say about amp fatiguing or sound quality being depreciated by running a lower impedance speaker before and my father did work for Dolby, Quad and did development work on the class D amplifier. An amp is either speced for it or not. Run a speaker with an impedance an amp is not designed for then yes you are asking for a negative result.
I run an 8ohm mylar speaker in my Lynx 2 and the sound quality is much better.
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I'd love to edit my 5v mod tutorial to tell people to judt do the other parts, but can't edit old posts. Makes it tough to revise things when you find a better solution.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
Methinks we need your most excellent "Lynx Power Circuit Upgrade/Repair - Better than 5V Mod" post pinned at the top of the forum!
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/254446-lynx-power-circuit-upgraderepair-better-than-5v-mod/
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Amen to that Orange-Phantom !!!!!!!
This 5V mod idea started to float around and it seems hard to kill.......please people STOP the 5V mod. It is NOT the solution to the problem....in fact it introduces more problems.
Just replace the MOSFET and Zener diode instead.
Thanks Level42.
I was the first on this forum to go against this new "wisdom" after measuring the voltage vs current draw of a modified Lynx (McWill screen Recom Reg) vs a stock Lynx. After measuring this plus the fact that the Lynx never got hot on the power circuit I immediately knew it was a switching reg. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247305-old-stock-lynx-vs-new-mcwill-screen-recom-power-reg-power-consumption/
Yes I did the mod myself but wasn't impressed with the results of it. (I've since put it back to stock after replacing the FET and Zener diode, it works much much better now).
I then went through the circuit diagram, (I've been doing electronics since I was a kid as my dad is a fully qualified electronics engineer) and oh yes it's a switching Reg, the choke after the FET is a huge give away! Furthermore the FET is the component that separates the 9v to the 5v side, it cannot be any other way when you look at the circuit.
People were still adamant that I was wrong and it was an emitter follower design etc. despite the power circuit never getting warm. The user "Mojado" came along and further confirmed I was indeed correct.
I just want the truth out there that the original Lynx power circuit is actually very well designed and is much better at it's job than doing a botch fix to your Lynx by fitting a 5V reg. in it's place.
It's taking a while to revise peoples thinking on this but we'll get there. Why shouldn't the Lynx community know the facts and have the best solution after all!
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It appears that people haven't done their research and are now going back to the thinking that they need to replace the power circuitry in the Lynx with a 5v Reg.
This is a backwards step (or a bodge fix if you want to call it that).
The original Lynx circuit is a true high efficiency switching regulator! Hook it up to an oscilloscope if you don't believe me. The part that fails is the FET after years of being high frequency switched. In order to fix it properly, replace the FET with a modern equivalent and replace the Zener diode too as a precaution.
If you re-wire it with a modern 5v Switching reg it will drain your batteries as it is permanently wired in, plus the Lynx won't work below 6.2v whereas the original power circuit doesn't drain your batteries in a couple of days plus it allows the Lynx to work to about 4.5v. Also if the modern switching reg fails (as it's still just a switching regulator) you can still get 9v straight into your Lynx so you are actually just worse off by doing this mod.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/236279-what-are-the-5v-regulator-mod/
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/254446-lynx-power-circuit-upgraderepair-better-than-5v-mod/
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Love these video's that you are doing! It brings all the nostalgia back to when I was a kid getting these games for the first time. Man I had to save up hard to get them but that made me appreciate them all the more!
I look forward to seeing your next vid! :-)
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Just wondering on how the original rom file was acertained. Was a shame this was never released back in the day. I can't imagine putting that much effort into producing something like this for it not to see the light of day.
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I really hope for they guys n' gals out there who don't have a copy of this, that somehow enough interest is got to get this out there again
Get the word out there people. :-)
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I'd personally go for the McWill screen, it's very very nice and you won't regret it!
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I got an e-mail from Super Fighter Team last night.
Basically stating that if they get enough interest they may well put Zaku back into production!
I've got a copy and it's well worth grabbing!
So..... if you want a copy, e-mail Super Fighter Team stating you're interested, it may well happen again. :-)
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Regardless of those sd card productions, i first readed that there were 300 produced, and since i was first at 120 on the list, i tout that it wouldn't run out of production,but once i become seemingly 20 on the list, it ran out of production due missing materials and the slightly higher price of compenonts(as a result of political mees in london) so i wonder were those other 180 cards already sold out or something.
Oh well i really hope that those needed meterials will arrive withing a week sothat the production will get up & running smoothly again, i also hope that the political situation in london will not harm our business down.
Eventrough it's interresting that the follow up productions will contain gold plated cards rather then copper, as it is a better leading conducting meterial wich could litterly lead to a higher trasfer speed of data.
Either way, i wish you good luck.
Gold is not a better conductor of electricity than copper. Copper is. Gold is used on leading edge connectors to stop oxidization and ensure a good contact, that is all.
Also changing conduction materials is not going to lead to a higher transfer of data speed! I don't know where you are getting that from!
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If the Zener fails as open circuit, the full 9V or whatever goes to VCC and cooks everything. Generally when a 7805 fails, it fails open, and you get 0V, so nothing goes up in smoke. They have switching regulators too I believe.
I did swap my Lynx to a switching regulator as what the ill informed fashion seems to be at the moment. As I've previously posted I wasn't impressed with the results. Your Lynx will run a set of batteries flat in about 3 days even if it's switched off due to the way it's permanently wired in, it also won't work much below 6.5v. The original power circuit is much better at the job especially when running off batteries.
Swapping to a 7805 regulator switching or Linear is a backwards step. This comes from some guy in Germany who couldn't be bother to fix his Lynx properly and understand how the original power circuit works. Since then it's been grabbed by the Internet forums and somehow become fact. It's not. It's a bodge fix which results in poor results especially when running off batteries.
http://atariage.com/...er-consumption/
Also I'm aware of how the power circuit works and 78 series power regulators. I've seen plenty 78 series regulators fail and spit unregulated voltage into the circuit. The Zener diode does not handle any real current, it provides the voltage reference for the switching circuit. If you remove it then the Hex Inverter has no reference and thus the FET doesn't switch. The FET is the main point of failure. It's this that separates the 9v to the 5v side. Switch it out to a modern equivalent designed for switching and as a precaution swap out the Zener diode.
I'm not wanting to start a war with you over this, I'm trying to be helpful and get the real facts out there as there seems to be an awful lot of bull going around the stock Lynx circuit which is just wrong.
All the best.
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A dangerous circuit if the Zener blows. Why couldn't Atari just have uses a 7805 instead?
Not at all! What would happen if it was a 7805 regulator and that failed?! I've seen plenty of 78 series of regulators fail over the years.
The Zener Diode is just a voltage reference for the Hex Inverter that in turn high frequency switches the FET. The Lynx power Circuit is actually very well designed. The FET does the power regulation by being high frequency switched hence why there is a choke straight after the FET.
Putting a 7805 in is a huge backwards step, your Lynx won't work anywhere near as well if you run it off batteries.
Also you'll more than likely find the FET has failed/or is failing if it is giving any issues with voltage regulation. If in any doubt replace your FET and replace the Zener as a belt and braces.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/236279-what-are-the-5v-regulator-mod/
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Ah Cowdog360 has beat me to it!
I'd also replace the FET too. It's this that is actually doing the physical regulation by being high frequency switched. It's this that separates the 9v to the 5v side. This also explains why there is a 100uH choke (L15) after this FET. Over years of being high frequency switched the FET can fail. I've seen it first hand on motor speed controllers. I suspect that a-lot of Lynx failures are down to the FET failing. The Zener is just a voltage reference hence why it doesn't need to handle too much power. No harm in it being able to deal a higher wattage though!
Cowdog360 found this FET to be compatible. I've also checked the specs and it's a good replacement. The digikey part number for the N-channel mosfet Q12 is: 2SK2231TE16RQCT-ND.
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Sorry if this has been asked, but it's just too much browsing for me to check out...
The question is how is the battery life compared to the original screen? Thanks
I've measured the current draw between an original Stock Lynx 2 and a Modded Lynx 2.
The results that I have show the modded Lynx 2 with the McWill screen uses more power than a stock Lynx 2. At 7.2 V (rechargeable battery voltage) my modded Lynx 2 is drawing nearly 60% higher current that then stock Lynx 2) I've posted a link showing the results below.
Being honest the higher power draw doesn't matter. You can use good rechargeable batteries such as the Panasonic Enloops, just don't rush into swapping you power reg out as what seems to be the fashion at the mo. It's permanently wired in and will drain you batteries in about 3 days even when you're not using the Lynx and if of a switching type won't work much below 6.5v. Much better to change the FET and as a belt and braces the Zener diode that provides the voltage reference to the High Efficiency power regulation circuit.
The quality of the screen is amazing. If you haven't done this mod then I highly recommend that you grab a McWill screen and do it. It's quite frankly a huge improvement over the original! My Lynx with the McWill screen is the Lynx of choice for me!
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I've just tried this ROM here --
http://coolrom.com/roms/atarilynx/6606/Power_Factor.php
with the 1.6 menu.
All works fine.
If you still have issues give me a shout.
Thanks SainT. As always you're a true gent in your support for us all here.
I tried this rom, renamed it to "powerfac" to match Gadgets fantastic preview image naming convention. Same issue happens and it won't load.
So I tried your "menu" file which checks the SD card. No problems there. Reformatted the SD card, re downloaded the menus etc. Still same problem. Weird!
Anyways I copied the powerfactor rom across, this time without renaming it, voila it works! Ace!
So I then rename it to "powerfac" and now it doesn't work. So I put it back to it's original name and it works again. Right I'm getting somewhere. So I change the preview name to match. The preview works but then I get the same problem as before.
So basically if the preview screen loads for this game (if the rom and the preview name match) then the game itself won't load. Not a huge issue but I thought I'd better post my findings up just in case someone else encounters this issue.
All the best peeps.
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I cannot get the Power Factor rom to work at all. It'll get to the first screen when loading (which displays the yellowish hand made software screen) but it won't load past there.
I've tried several roms, non which work.
Has anyone else had any issues with this rom? If not can someone post a link to a working rom please?
Many thanks people.
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Spot on fella! These reviews always bring a smile to my face. :-)
I'm now looking across at the two Lynx's that are on my sofa arm and thinking..... hmmmm