Orange-Phantom

Has anybody a link for the full version rom so I can upload onto my SD Cart? Thanks guys n' gals!

Just got mine yesterday, it is amazing and well worth the wait. What we could do with is an area with all the files/games/homebrews uploaded so we can just copy them across to the card complete.

Wow! Thanks for all the work done on this for all of us. I'm not far off on the list for getting the SD Cart. I can't wait!

We're getting some good ideas out there, basically protecting the Lynx from overvoltage if the switching FET, (or if you still prefer a replacement regulator) fails and spits the input voltage straight into the Lynx. This way we can get the best out the Lynx with the advantages that the stock circuit has plus the protection that if something does go wrong then your Lynx isn't toast. I'm liking the overvoltage controller myself, I'm sure between us all we can thrash out a really good solution so we have the best of both worlds.

What I will say is that this is a great forum with many helpful people some doing some amazing work for the community (lately SainT and McWill), between us all we share one thing in common, we all love the Lynx! With the facts laid out people can make an informed decision on what they wish to do with the power circuit with the Lynx. That being said if you run it off mains only either option will end up with the same end result. Sticking with the original Lynx power circuit is greatly beneficial if you use your Lynx on batteries.

Funnily enough Mojado I came to the exact (or close enough) conclusions that you came up with in this earlier thread. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247305-old-stock-lynx-vs-new-mcwill-screen-recom-power-reg-power-consumption/ It is a high frequency switching regulator circuit, otherwise by the law of physics the excess voltage has to be dumped as heat. My voltage vs current measurements further confirm this. Also I passed another one of my Lynxes to a fully qualified electronics engineer who has some 40 year plus experience, he checked over the circuit diagram and hooked it up to an oscilloscope too and yes the FET is switching. The FET is the part that separates the 9v to the 5v side. Further discussions with my friend said that the failure of the FET is most likely to be the source of the 9v into the Lynx. Years of it being high frequency switch can cause them to fail. He said he's repaired countless circuits such as variable speed controls etc where the FETs have slowly failed. He said there is no harm in replacing the Zener either. I'm putting my Lynx back to stock as the Power Mod in my opinion as I've stated before is a backwards step. If you want to fix your Lynx new Power FET and new Zener diode (just to be sure).

I got my Lynx 2 in 1992 for Christmas off my Parents. It was the Batman Returns pack but I got Rampage too. Over the Christmas period the first game I bought for it was Checkered Flag from Tandy, I've still got the box with the original receipt in it. It cost me £29.99 of my own money which when I only earned £3.50 a week on my paper round was a hell of a-lot of money! My cousins had the original Lynx's so I had to get one, ComLynx was ace, I just wish Atari had been better at their game! The screen on this Lynx went a few years back but thanks to McWill it's all back up and running again and even better than before!

If the transistor and zener was dumping any excess voltage then surely some portion of the circuit would be getting hot, would in not? I'll tell you what I'll do guys, I'll borrow an oscilloscope to prove or disprove my own thoughts on it being a high efficiency switching regulator. The lack of heat and the current vs voltage measurements make me think that it is, plus the zener/transistor output is feeding the hex inverter which in turn feeds the FET, which has a choke after the output which again makes me think that it is. I'm not wanting to start a flame war, that's not my intention at all. I've swapped my original Lynx 2 with the amazing McWill screen to a recom regulator, it's just that I'm not that impressed with the results of the new power reg conversion and I'm sure that with the amount of brains on this nice little forum we could come up with a much better solution (although I quite like the Lipo idea). If the Recom power reg fails then I could still have 9+ volts straight into my Lynx and I have to say that the original power circuit has served me well for 25 plus years (that's not to say it doesn't need a bit of maintenance). I'll also have a word with a friend who is a fully qualified electronics engineer so I'll tap his brains too and see what he says. It can't do any harm.

Smug mode away fella! When it all works out and I get one in the back of my Lynx I'll have grin mode engaged as I'm sure many people will have! I've actually got a-lot of the Lynx collection on the original carts but this will be ace to be able to play the last few expensive/rare ones, to have one cart with all the games on and to get the unfinished prototypes too! Thanks again SainT.

Groovy! You'll enjoy the new screen! Trust me! I repaired my original childhood Lynx with it and got it running again, so I was rather happy to say the least!

I'm still amazed by this! Well done SainT! I'm still more than interested, ideally I'd love to grab three so I could give my cousins one each so we could hook up and play, but being honest I'd be more than happy with just one for now. I expressed interest on page 11. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/226918-lynx-multi-cart/page-11?do=findComment&comment=3192391 Thanks again for doing this, you're going to make an awful lot of Lynx enthusiasts incredibly happy!

If you're going to replace the speaker I'd recommend going for an 8 ohm Mylar instead of a 16 ohm speaker. It's quiet a bit louder than running a 16 ohm speaker (stock). The Lynx 2 amp(s) are more than capable of running it. (It's well within the operating specs of the amp(s)).

Very cool! I'm liking it very much so far!

Hello, I thought I'd post up my findings on my McWill Modified Lynx II which has been recapped and has the Recom switching regulation in place vs my Old Stock Lynx II. New Lynx Old Lynx Volts mAmps Volts mAmps 10 311 10 202 9 351 9 221 7.9 397 7.9 252 7.2 446 7.2 280 6.7 466 a 6.7 297 6.4 460 b 6.4 318 6.2 415 c 6.2 328 5.9 344 5.5 348 4.5 316 d 3.8 298 e Notes a. Led is lit solid (modded Lynx II) b. Led is starting to blink (modded Lynx II) c. Lowest voltage Lynx will operate without switching off (still playable (just)) (modded Lynx II) d. Lowest voltage that it is still playable (just) (unmodded Lynx II) e. Lowest voltage will work (screen to dark to see) (unmodded Lynx II). All voltages above were supplied via the input jack, therefore the voltage supplied to the circuit board is 0.7 less due to the voltage drop of the inline silicone diode. Standby current of the modded Lynx II is 8.9ma at 7.9v (7.2v actual on the board). Standby current of the unmodded Lynx to is 0.001ma at 7.9v (7.2v actual on the board). I was struggling to actually measure the current draw with the meter that I have. So basically from my findings the my new modded Lynx II is drawing more power than my old unmodded Lynx II. Not what I was expecting but hey, the McWill screen is quite frankly amazing and a much recommended upgrade IMHO. Being fair, to get an accurate average I would have to repeat this experiment on a couple more Lynx II's to rule out any variances with boards/processors drawing more current etc. (The revision of Lynx II boards are the same on both Lynx II's). What is very clear though is how much better the old Lynx power circuit is on Batteries not only in it's lowest voltage in which it will allow the device to operate (although I don't know what the lowest voltage the McWill screen could operate at) but also the stand by current. I've had sets of Enloop rechargeable batteries run flat after 4ish days when my modded Lynx II has not been switched on and it's down to the way that Recom switching regulator is always powered on. (Yes I know I can take the batteries out when not in use but that's a pain and there has to be a better way). What is also clear by the measurements that I've taken is that the old Lynx II power circuit is a true high efficiency switching regulator circuit. The zener diode provides a voltage reference to the Hex Inverter which in turn high frequency switches the Q12 FET. This also explains why there is a 100uH choke (L15) after this FET. The FET is not just an on off switch. If you remove the zener diode then the hex inverter has no reference and thus stops switching the Q12 FET and you get 9V straight into your Lynx. People in various forums have been stating that the "crappy" Zener diode is performing the actual power regulation in conjunction with the Q8 transistor. If this were the case then these components would have to be dissipating the voltage drop as heat, they run stone cold so they are not. Or put it another way, when people have bypassed the original circuit with a linear power regulator, they have to heat sink the linear power reg to dissipate the heat and yet the original Lynx power circuit requires no heat sinks and runs stone cold! The current draw vs voltage figures above are further proof that the original Lynx power circuit is a true high efficiency switching regulator. So I'm going to buck the popular trend and put my Modded Lynx II power circuit back to stock (well nearly stock). I'm going to replace the Zener diode and I have already replaced the switching FET. I'll have the benefit of a power circuit that doesn't drain my batteries when it's off and allows me to get more life out of a set of batteries too. I'm posting this up as an alternative solution as I feel that changing the regulator instead of fixing it is in many cases a backwards step especially if you use a Linear instead of a Switching Regulator. This is a great little forum with many helpful people and some amazing mod's and work e.g. McWills screen mod and SainT's forthcoming SD Cart etc. Hopefully this will of been of some use to my fellow Lynx enthusiasts, or at least it offers up a different school of thought on the subject.

I've taken the current measurements of a stock Lynx 2 and my modified Lynx 2 with McWill screen which has been recapped and has a new Recom switching regulator. I've done the current measurements at different voltages too. The results have surprised me to say the least. I'll post the exact results up when I'm back. The modified Lynx 2 with new screen and regulator requires more power than the stock Lynx 2. Due to the way that the new regulator is wired in it will also drain your batteries if you leave them in for several days as the switching regulator is always powered on drawing a very small amount of power. The old power circuit will allow the unit to be powered on at around 4.5v against against nearly 6v for the Recom switching reg. The old power circuit also won't run your batteries flat after several days if you leave them in. The new modded Lynx 2 exhibits the exact behaviour of what to expect from a device with a switching regulator i.e. the higher the input voltage the lower the current draw and vice versa. The old unmodded Lynx 2 does.... well exactly the same thing! I.e. the higher the input voltage the lower the current draw and vice versa! No part of the power circuit is getting warm or hot and therefore it must also be a switching regulator. I wasn't expecting this especially after all of the bad press the old power circuit in the Lynx 2 has been getting. So from this I'm going to stick my head above the parapet and say from my quick look over the schematics the 4069 hex inverter is high frequency switching the MTD3055 FET, which would explain the presence of the 100uH power inductor/choke just after it's output. The schottky diode looks like it's just a reference for the 4069 hex inverter and isn't doing any power regulation at all, if it were then surely some part of the circuit would be getting hot? Also the only thing separating the 9v (input side) from the 5v (output side) is the 3055 FET. I'll post up the voltage and current measurement when I'm back and when I get a chance will hook up the unmodified Lynx to an oscilloscope to confirm or disprove my thoughts on the Lynx power circuit. ​

Schweeeeeet! Nice one Russell!

Wow McWill! You keep surprising me with all of your amazing developments! Thanks a million for doing this screen for the Lynx community, I can't thank you enough!

Yes really! I was using a £150 professional solder rework station and have over 32 years of electronics experience. The soldering iron I was using has a fine tip and thus a rather small thermal mass. Ideal for circuit boards, but not ideal for soldering locations which act like a heatsink. The point I was making and will reiterate is that location has a rather large mass of copper on both sides of the circuit which acts like a heatsink. If the soldering iron you are using doesn't have enough thermal mass and wattage then you may have issues soldering to this point. The solution I found was to swap to a higher powered iron with a larger bit (i.e. a larger thermal mass) so that it doesn't suck all the heat away from your soldering iron tip and thus stop you soldering to that specific location properly. .....Just trying to be helpful.

I also had a problem soldering to that point. The problem I had was that the soldering Iron I was using didn't have enough grunt for soldering that location. There is a rather large area of copper surrounding that point, that will very rapidly suck all the heat from your soldering iron meaning you may struggle to solder to it properly. I swapped to a gas powered soldering iron with a rather large bit and then had no problem. Just throwing this out there as it may help someone.

Just amazing! Tis a very exciting time for the olde Lynx and it's community. SainT, you sir are a genius!

I'd love to do a meet up with fellow Lynx enthusiasts for a big Comlynx party! This is a very brief clip of us lot doing Mario Kart on the back of my house, I will get the Lynx on there soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCpaPOYjzrs I think I'm going to tape several white sheets together and attach them to the gutter for better effect. It did look a-lot better when it got darker, it was still quiet light when my mate took that vid.

Ace! What a really cool event! Glad you guys had fun and enjoyed yourselves. Thanks for uploading the photo's. I've got a bloody big projector up in the attic which will do a cinema size screen (which is where I got it from). I used to use it for visuals when I was gigging if the venue was suitable but the last time I used it we had Mario Kart going on the whole of the back of my house! Methinks I'm going to have to dig it out again rather soon and get the Lynx hooked up to it! I'll get some pic's uploaded when I do.

Right I've gone and had a good look at the schematic and the Lynx 2 board. The diode mentioned above for reverse voltage protection, the current flows through this from the power supply. The "inductor coil below L14" is actually L14. You could keep this in place and instead run a diode (or a schottky diode for less forward voltage loss) in line with the connection from the output of D9 (labelled VIN above) to the input of the power reg. It's one less part to remove plus you get the benefit of the inductor coil smoothing any ripple in the power from the power supply. Also looking at the schematic you could leave the D11 diode in place and solder the "GND" and "VOUT" wires directly to it. This is a diode straight across the power rail so that it will short any reverse voltage that may be present.

I would most definitely be having a word before proceeding. They may not have known but that's not your fault! Also, why oh why do people think it's okay to mix different types of batteries and sometimes only replace say half of the set when a device goes flat!

Firstly I'd like to thank cowdog360 for taking the time in putting together this most excellent post of which I will be undertaking this weekend (hopefully). I've just got a quick question..... The diode that is used for the reverse voltage protection, does this just short out the supply if a reverse voltage is applied or does the current flow through the diode to the rest of the Lynx. Thanks again for all your help. :-)