UAV install troubleshooting

[unixdude]

Hi, all.

 

I'm trying to UAV mod my 2-port 5200.  This install looks pretty easy, but it's not working for me.  I know the 5200 is fine because RF still works.  My 4050 is soldered, so I chose to soder the socket on top of it, and a continuity tester tells me that all pins are good to the 4050.  I have tested my jumpers on the UAV board and all look good.  I just get nothing out the composite connection to the TV.  Attached are some pics of my install.  Any thoughts on what I should look at?

 

Looking at the closeup, it looks like maybe I need to do a better job soldering the legs on that one side of the chip.  Any other ideas?

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Show a better pic of your jumper wires and yes I would go back with some more solder to each of the legs on the socket ontop of the 4050. Even though technically only a few are needed, I solder them all down for strength.

 

[Shawn]

40 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Show a better pic of your jumper wires and yes I would go back with some more solder to each of the legs on the socket ontop of the 4050. Even though technically only a few are needed, I solder them all down for strength.

 

 

I agree. Always solder all the legs in place.

[unixdude]

Thanks. I have added solder to the 4050/socket legs (see pics) and I have attached a closeup of the board showing my jumpers.  Still doesn't work. What do you think?

[unixdude]

To be clear, when I say "I just get nothing out the composite connection to the TV," I mean that the TV sees no input source.  It's not a black/blank screen -- it's that the UAV is producing no output.

 

To make sure I'm connecting correctly: The composite video post (yellow) is connected to the composite out pin, and the composite video ground (barrel) is connected to the ground.  I've tried using both ground connections on the green 6-pin connector, but it doesn't make a difference.  

[+DrVenkman]

This sounds a lot like what I experienced on my 2-port install. The UAV flat did not produce video when installed this way. I ended up removing the 4050, installing a socket and putting the UAV into that, no 4050 at all. I was assured that the 5200 absolutely requires the 4050 but in my case that is incorrect.

 

Couple notes: first, I mistakenly bought the “5200” version of the UAV so the terminal block is inverted. That was a mistake and I don’t suggest anyone bother that that. Just causes clearance issues, hence the stacked sockets. Second, all my finagling to install, remove, reinstall, etc broke pin 1 off the male pin header under the UAV. So I traced that connection to the back end of that little yellow cap on the main board and wired a jumper. 
 

As you can see, no 4050 required. WITH the 4050, I got absolutely nothing. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

And conversely to that, Every single one of these I've installed into a 5200, I left the 4050 in place. But to be clear, the 4050 is only still needed if you intend to keep the RF modulator in place and working on the 2 port version. If you remove the RF Modulator, then you don't really need the 4050. But I've still left it in place on systems that had the RF removed and it still worked. But I've always had to leave the 4050 in place in order for it to work on the 4 port systems.

 

Having said, one of the 5200s I did recently ended up giving me the same situation you described above after I installed the UAV. RF wasn't working either in that case afterwards. Never figured out exactly what happened, but I ended up having to replace the 4050 in it at which point it fired right up in glorious fashion. Near as I can tell, the 4050 might be quite ESD prone and I was bad and not wearing my wrist strap at that particular time as I usual do. So yeah, I did have that happen once.

 

But I just checked my records and I've done at least ten 5200s that I've documented, and they all have the 4050 still in them. Most I have the piggyback method having been done, but some of them I have the 4050 soldered to the top of the UAV. Shouldn't matter. 

 

So I would really like to get my hands on a 5200 that doesn't work with the 4050 in place on the UAV so I can find out exactly what causes it to not work with it in circuit, but that hasn't been my experience.

 

So if you don't care about the RF, then remove the 4050 and just solder in the socket and give it a try. If that does work, it could indicate an issue with the 4050 at that point.

 

And yes I just buy the 5200 version as a DIY kit form so I can build up the kit the way that I prefer. That means installing the terminal block on top for clearance reasons as @DrVenkman stated. I think you can specify this now when ordering it?

 

 

 

[unixdude]

Thanks, all.  I will remove the 4050 (I don't care about RF) and see where I get to.  I'm going through @-^CrossBow^-'s PDF tutorial that TBA linked to, and I plan to do audio after I get video working. No sense in messing with audio until I get video ... and since my TV doesn't have S-video (composite/component only) I'm only doing composite.  If there's a way to get component out of a UAV, I'll wire that up, but I looked into it and it looks like S-video and component are very different things.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

10 minutes ago, unixdude said:

Thanks, all.  I will remove the 4050 (I don't care about RF) and see where I get to.  I'm going through @-^CrossBow^-'s PDF tutorial that TBA linked to, and I plan to do audio after I get video working. No sense in messing with audio until I get video ... and since my TV doesn't have S-video (composite/component only) I'm only doing composite.  If there's a way to get component out of a UAV, I'll wire that up, but I looked into it and it looks like S-video and component are very different things.

 

Correct the UAV only provides composite and s-video outputs from its encoder. There is the Sophia upgrade that will provide you with RGB output through a DVI connector instead. From there you can get adapters to convert the DVI to HDMI or whatever else you might need. I've not installed a Sophia myself as I've honestly not had a need to as I'm quite pleased with the results I get from my 5200 through s-video.

[mimo]

I've installed Sophia2 on my 600xl and it's absolutely stunning

[unixdude]

Well, I removed the 4050 today and installed a socket.  The results are seen in the attached pics.   I pulled the chip by cutting the legs, then working the chip out, then pushing the pins to one side and then heating the solder while holding a pin with pliers. After I pulled all of the pins, I used a suction solder remover to clear the holes -- then I added the socket.

 

The color is flaky (sometimes the video shows grayscale and not color), and there are vertical bars on the left side of the screen, but man is this so much better than RF.  There is no comparison!

 

Any suggestions on what to look for re: the grayscale and vertical bars?

 

Edited to add: also, the video seems a little dark, but I wonder if that's my TV.  The laser beam in Dig Dug is hard to see when shooting horizontally.  But, really, that could just be the TV or the color pot.  Anything else I should look at there?

 

Now to get audio working.

 

Thanks for the help so far -- this is great!

Edited April 5, 2021 by unixdude

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Sadly the bars on the left hand side of the screen are normal in composite from the 5200. I believe it has to do with the noise coming off the video ram chips that are also on that side of the main board strangely enough. S-video doesn't show those bars. But it shouldn't be dark and the color fading in and out isn't normal either. As you are only using composite, that might indicate a possible issue with the UAV board itself as I've seen this same thing happen on at least one of them that I received about a year back. I ended up using my iron and carefully reheating each of the legs of the small SMD IC chips and afterwards it was working stable. Not saying that is the issue here but it has happened to me.

 

Interesting thing I just noticed, is that your 2 port looks to be a revision I've not seen before. It doesn't have the usual bodge wires along the left hand side and other factory anomalies I usually see with 2-port systems.

 

[unixdude]

Well, I have met with success.  I have color again (I'm thinking the UAV is flaky as you were suggesting, @-^CrossBow^-, so I will buy another), and I have audio.  It's a mess right now, but it does work.  Once I get some better parts, I'll make this a permanent setup. I don't have any 2K resistors for the audio, but I have 1K resistors, so I soldered two of those in series, and I don't have any heat shrink tubing.  An electronics component assortment and a set of heat shrink tubing are on order, and I will finish this once those arrive.

 

Still, this is the first time I've ever done something like this, and I find a great sense of satisfaction in a successful completion here.

 

Thanks, everyone, for your help.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well for the time being, you could shorten the leads off those resistors, tape up one of them, then fold them side by side from the middle leads and then tape it up again. 

 

[unixdude]

Also, here's the RF I have been using... (Note, the RF is from my 4-port, and I modded my 2-port that until now had nonfunctioning video output.) So I guess I resurrected this 2-port 5200 here.

 

That's quite an improvement!

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by unixdude