Best replacement NES connectors?

[Ian Primus]

The connectors in the original NES are notirous for failing. Fortunately, replacements are pretty easy to get on eBay. I cleaned up a few consoles for friends and myself, and replaced the connectors with new ones from eBay. They work very well, but they seem to be a lot more sensitive to dirt then I remember. They're also quite tight. I clean every used game before I play it the first time, but even so, occasionally you'll put in a game that is a tad dirty even after cleaning - and it won't work, then the next game won't work either. It typically doesn't do the blinking screen thing - I've been getting blank screens, green screens, etc.

 

Overall though, the new connectors work very well. Miles better than the worn out old connector did. But not as good as I remember these things working when they were new. Of course, then again, back then, these games hadn't been sitting around for years either. I've found that the only way to get the cartridge good and clean is to take it apart and really scrub those contacts. It's amazing the amount of crud that gets built up on them.

 

But, ideally, the connector in the NES would be gold plated. It's not. The originals weren't, and neither are the new ones. I have not been able to find gold plated replacement connectors. Do they even exist?

 

My question really is - what's the best replacement connector out there? Are they all the same, or is there one source that has better parts than others?

 

-Ian

[stonestn]

The gold plated ones are supposed to be the best ones but are also the most expensive. Replaced all my 72 pin connectors over a year ago (3 nes systems) and I used the cheap ones at 3.95 (the standard ebay ones) it will always be a tight fit as long as you keep your games clean should last for a really long time.