Wrong adapter or did i just fry my new famiclone!?

[Raticon]

Okay. The thing is i badly wanted a true, shitty NOAC famiclone for my humble collection as no collection is complete without the shitty ones in my opinion...

 

...so i went and ordered a Subor D99 from China and 2 cheap multicarts. Took forever to get here and now i wanted to test it!

 

It only came with an adapter with USA prongs which doesnt fit in my european power socket, which sucks. It does however say 220 volts to 6 volts 150mA on both console and manual so i went ahead and plugged in a 6v 1A adapter i had lying around as the Amps doesnt really matter as long as the volts are ok... at least that is what have been taught.

 

I get no picture at all. Normal composite video/audio. Tried another 6v adapter and the same result. It even felt quite hot and smelled a hint of burned plastic... ouch.

 

I popped it open and found the usual tiny PCBs and connector inside but nothing in there looks damaged or burnt at all...

 

So, as the title says, have i toasted my new famiclone or should i get a EU to US power adapter and try with the original adapter? What do you guys say?

 

I can post pictures if you want.

[mickcris]

Did you make sure the polarity was correct at the tip? Center negative or center positive? Plugging in the wrong one can cause damage.

[Raticon]

No i did not. I honestly dont know how to check that and the manual is all in chinese.

 

That could be a possibility of course, but i have never encountered that issue before.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Raticon

[mickcris]

There should be a diagram on the power supply showing it. A + and - sign and then showing witch is connected to the tip. I'm on my phone so can't post a picture.

Edit:

See here

http://i.imgur.com/0ATol6y.png

Edited February 22, 2016 by mickcris

[Raticon]

L O L !

You were SO right! Turns out the stupid thing wants centre negative and the 6v adapter i plugged in was centre positive..... i basically reversed polarity and shorted the damn thing!

 

I dug out one of those cheap adapters you can set the voltage on with a screwdriver and turned it to 6v, flipped the plug around to centre negative, plugged in and pushed power and BOOM it works!

 

Now i feel like a dumb halfwit. Thank you for setting me straight! You are gold!

I never ever thought about that little diagram...

[carlsson]

At least it wasn't an ultra rare system. Some of them are more tolerant to reversed polarity than others, for instance you should be careful if you use a ZX Spectrum, which also take centre negative polarity, just like Famicom, SMS, Genesis/Megadrive, Jaguar and a bunch more. I used to think that centre positive is the "standard" way and everyone else were exceptions to the rule, but the more I learn about vintage consoles and computers, it seems a higher number of them expect centre negative polarity than you'd think.

[Keatah]

It only came with an adapter with USA prongs which doesnt fit in my european power socket, which sucks. It does however say 220 volts to 6 volts 150mA on both console and manual so i went ahead and plugged in a 6v 1A adapter i had lying around as the Amps doesnt really matter as long as the volts are ok... at least that is what have been taught.

 

Yup. That's right. As long as there are enough amps you're ok. Too little and nothing works. Too much, and the extra ones just spill onto the floor - no big deal.

[Raticon]

At least it wasn't an ultra rare system. Some of them are more tolerant to reversed polarity than others, for instance you should be careful if you use a ZX Spectrum, which also take centre negative polarity, just like Famicom, SMS, Genesis/Megadrive, Jaguar and a bunch more. I used to think that centre positive is the "standard" way and everyone else were exceptions to the rule, but the more I learn about vintage consoles and computers, it seems a higher number of them expect centre negative polarity than you'd think.

I dug into my box of adapters and found that the vast majority used centre positive, so i guess i assumed it was some standard as i never encountered a simple issue like this before. Now i know this is not the case and will be more careful in the future.

 

The console itself works, despite the burned smell, but it's as cheap as they come as was expected. Only issue is that the cheapo adapter i have now where i can change polarity and volts isn't good at all, and every console i have used it with in the past has a buzzing noise coming from the TV speakers, and this famiclone is no exception. At least i now know what to look for!

[CatPix]

Good news for you.

I fried a Famiclone like this, reversing the polarity.

It's dead fried, won't work. It's probably an easy fix, but I can't care less about getting it working TBH

[Raticon]

Good news for you.

I fried a Famiclone like this, reversing the polarity.

It's dead fried, won't work. It's probably an easy fix, but I can't care less about getting it working TBH

Well, as these things are usually neither rare, valuable or interesting in any respect except maybe for their unusual shapes, colors and quirks it isn't a huge loss if they die. Good thing that there is such a small amount of stuff inside it that it can be disassembled in minutes and the shell could be used for a Pi or other such device to make something fun with.

 

This particular unit is no exception. Strange sound in some games, some slowdowns here and there and nasty controllers isn't making it a winner by any stretch of the imagination but it is a fun thing to put on the shelf next to the other stuff and the multicart that came with it has a lot of fun games on it, like Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Shadow of the Ninja, Double Dragon, Adventure Island etc etc etc.

[Prosystemsearch]

I have a working Blue Famiclone that is blue in color called the Game Phillip 88. It has a 60-pin cartridge port for Famicom Cartridges, but also has 88 games built into the ROM. It has a grey flap to cover the cartridge port that I accidently forced off and lost, then found several months ago. Like many Famiclones, it uses two DIN 9-pin ports for the controllers, which look like knockoff playstation controllers colored blue, along with one light gun. It still works AFAIK.

[Newsdee]

Slightly OT but does anybody know what is the pinout for controllers on the DB9 connectors?

 

The Subor D99 is impressive in that it handles my Everdrive fine, but the plastic on those controllers is a disgrace. I don't want to cannibalize the innards for a replacement though, as it looks like an adapter can be made.

Edited July 21, 2016 by Newsdee

[CatPix]

No idea, but the quickest way is to try to plug a Megadrive pad in it.

Or you cna open one of your pads and look how it's wired inside. Depending on the system, it could be simple contacts (like Atari standard) or the inputs are sent in serial like in the NES and latter systems (except the Megadrive that used a mix of both).

tho it's mroe than likely just simple contacts, and probably Atari norm.

Edited July 21, 2016 by CatPix

[Newsdee]

I doubt it's Atari because that only allows two buttons.

 

It might be Sega standard as I think the multiplexer chip is very common. I'll report my findings

[carlsson]

It appears most Famiclones use a serial pinout like this. Note that one of these two are mirrored, check the pin numbering to find out which is which.

 

https://nintendocontrollers.wordpress.com/pinouts-and-schematics/

https://hsto.org/getpro/habr/post_images/9d8/1eb/b86/9d81ebb86326901e05fe5cd13b7eef72.jpg

 

By the way, the "Game Philip 88" referenced to above is what I know as a Mebe Teck. You know that beloved children bear many names, I don't know which product name was the first one. At least it comes with a half decent multicart, although none of Nintendo's own titles are dumped on this cart, only other publishers.

Edited July 21, 2016 by carlsson

[Newsdee]

Well it's definitely not Genesis or Atari. My MiST (Atari/Amiga DB9) only recognizes a button as down, which according to the schematics above is the "data" pin.

I suppose I need to try getting a spare NES connector and wire it to a DB9...