Any interest in complete overhauls/upgrades?

[boardjunkie]

Since I've been working on a lot of these colsoles lately, I'm thinking of offering a complete overhaul and upgrade to members of this group. This would include: video ram replacement with single supply (+5v only, more reliable)ram, new replacement power supply (switching regulated with std line cord IE *not* a wall wart type), pwr on indicator led, audio out and composite video out with my LM310 board, general clean up/tune up.

 

Just testing the water before I go and stockpile parts. Ballpark price will be right around $90 plus return shipping.

Note: this is for the console only. I'm not doing anything with the controllers 'cause they kinda suck and there are better alternatives out there.

 

I can also repair dead consoles and those with problems ("stuck" controller inputs, garbled video, etc.). This starts at $45 plus parts (covers 1 hour labor, anything past 1 hr will be rounded to the nearest half hour and pro rated).

 

 

Some background on me: I was a repair tech in the amusement industry for 15 years and did pinball and video game repair to component level. I specialized in "golden era" games (pre-mid 80s). Since the CV board is basically just a scaled down arcade board, I feel at home working on them. Its kinda fun actually....

[tz101]

Video and audio mods would interest me. Is it possible to do s-video from the CV?

[boardjunkie]

Video and audio mods would interest me. Is it possible to do s-video from the CV?

 

 

It is possible, but I don't have a line on the required mini din connector right now. So I'm just doing composite at this time. Using a board mount mini din with no provisions of panel mounting is a bit too much of a kludge for me. The video processor IC in the console puts out chroma-luma type video, so thats the easy part.

 

Its not like there is a huge difference in pix quality between composite and s-vid anyway. But composite is light years ahead of the old style RF "ch 3" in pix quality.

[Madaracs]

Video and audio mods would interest me. Is it possible to do s-video from the CV?

 

 

It is possible, but I don't have a line on the required mini din connector right now. So I'm just doing composite at this time. Using a board mount mini din with no provisions of panel mounting is a bit too much of a kludge for me. The video processor IC in the console puts out chroma-luma type video, so thats the easy part.

 

Its not like there is a huge difference in pix quality between composite and s-vid anyway. But composite is light years ahead of the old style RF "ch 3" in pix quality.

 

The power supply upgrade interests me.

[boardjunkie]

Video and audio mods would interest me. Is it possible to do s-video from the CV?

 

 

It is possible, but I don't have a line on the required mini din connector right now. So I'm just doing composite at this time. Using a board mount mini din with no provisions of panel mounting is a bit too much of a kludge for me. The video processor IC in the console puts out chroma-luma type video, so thats the easy part.

 

Its not like there is a huge difference in pix quality between composite and s-vid anyway. But composite is light years ahead of the old style RF "ch 3" in pix quality.

 

The power supply upgrade interests me.

 

The replacement pwr supply only works with consoles that are modded for single supply video ram....they won't work with a stock one because they only have 5 and 12v outputs (no -5v).

 

But....I am going to be putting together replacement supplies for stock consoles sometime soon. They will be similar to a Commodore 64 type with 2 cords, so they won't be a giant wall wart like the stock ones. Over voltage and over current protected....unlike the originals. The kicker there is getting the 4 pin connector. Its not a standard type as far as I know and I don't have a source for them aside from hacking them off dead pwr bricks. Maybe a crash course in making molded connectors will speed it along.....

[Madaracs]

The replacement pwr supply only works with consoles that are modded for single supply video ram....they won't work with a stock one because they only have 5 and 12v outputs (no -5v).

But....I am going to be putting together replacement supplies for stock consoles sometime soon. They will be similar to a Commodore 64 type with 2 cords, so they won't be a giant wall wart like the stock ones. Over voltage and over current protected....unlike the originals.

 

Oh, OK. I run a 12V lamp on a couple of my spares with a modded switch replacement. Would that still work with a board that had the RAM replaced and the new power supply?

 

 

The kicker there is getting the 4 pin connector. Its not a standard type as far as I know and I don't have a source for them aside from hacking them off dead pwr bricks. Maybe a crash course in making molded connectors will speed it along.....

 

Well, I know that the ColecoVision wasn't the only machine to use that odd 4 prong adapter. The TI-99 4A also shared the same connector for it's power-supply.

[boardjunkie]

The replacement pwr supply only works with consoles that are modded for single supply video ram....they won't work with a stock one because they only have 5 and 12v outputs (no -5v).

But....I am going to be putting together replacement supplies for stock consoles sometime soon. They will be similar to a Commodore 64 type with 2 cords, so they won't be a giant wall wart like the stock ones. Over voltage and over current protected....unlike the originals.

 

Oh, OK. I run a 12V lamp on a couple of my spares with a modded switch replacement. Would that still work with a board that had the RAM replaced and the new power supply?

 

 

The kicker there is getting the 4 pin connector. Its not a standard type as far as I know and I don't have a source for them aside from hacking them off dead pwr bricks. Maybe a crash course in making molded connectors will speed it along.....

 

Well, I know that the ColecoVision wasn't the only machine to use that odd 4 prong adapter. The TI-99 4A also shared the same connector for it's power-supply.

 

 

The replacement supplies for single supply ram modded units will have no problem with a lamp. The original supply was spec'd at 300ma for the 12v and the replacements I use are 2a on the 12v. IMO you'd be better off with an LED for a pwr on indicator since it will draw less off the opriginal supply's 12v line. You may be taxing the original one too much with the added current draw. I'd be careful doing that.....yer video ram might not be happy if the voltage sags.....

 

Well other things may have used that connector, but that was 30 years ago. If anyone can identify it and who made it I'd like to know.

[Kakaboy]

What noticeable differences are there with the RAM upgrade ?

 

Sounds like your really into your Coleco

[boardjunkie]

What noticeable differences are there with the RAM upgrade ?

 

Sounds like your really into your Coleco

 

Nothing you can see. Ram either works or it doesn't. The upgrade is mainly to increase reliability and make the console run cooler. The 4116 triple supply ram (stock ram) is fussy about "seeing" all 3 voltages at the same time at power up. If everyting isn't just so, it won't play ball and you'll have to either reset or turn it off and back on. Upgraded ram only uses a single supply voltage (5v) so there's no issues with the timing of several supply voltages reaching the chip(s) at the same time. Arcade game collectors have been doing this type of ram upgrade on their Williams hardware (Defender, Joust, Robotron, etc.) for years because of the problem with fussy ram. It *really* helps those boardsets boot correctly at power up. False "bad ram" error codes were common even though the ram was actually ok.