How to Jammafy your Revision 1. Audio from Jamma connector mod. EASY

[NeoTurfMasta]

I have been spending way too much time in the hyper forums lately. So here's something I found while working on the Roads Edge/Xtreme Rally audio. Multiple audio channels turned into mono by one simple mod.

After I did it on my Driving board I turned over my Revision 1 and there it was again. So I tried it on there and viola, sound from the jamma connector.

Removing the 3ch resistor and short the MONO connection. I took a piece of a resistors long leg and stuck it in the holes. Fit snug and its easy to remove if you ever change your mind. If you do change your mind, just short the 3ch space and its back to normal.

Now, I dont know the long term effect of this, I just did it this afternoon. I seriously doubt any damage would occur to your board, game or cab. That is, as long as you can remove the resistor without jacking up your hyper board. But do it at your own risk.

The one flaw is you cant adjust the volume level. BUT the volume it does give out is just right for me on my Candy. Not too loud and not too soft. Two flaws if you consider you are losing stereo sound. If you are connecting it to a pure jamma cab, then its mono to begin with.

I looked and I dont think this has been posted before. If I had seen it in the past, I definitely would have done this long ago.

Revision 1 boards are a dime a dozen, if the extra wiring was keeping people from getting one, this is a very easy solution for sound wiring issues. I still dont buy that extra 5v line stuff for the Rev 1. I have powered these boards from the harness for years and never noticed any overheating or connector damage. But, I dont leave them on for hours and hours on end like arcades would have.

 

[chris1]

OMG!! this is great news..I'm glad you've been working on these..

This is one of the mods I was talking to another member about "trying to figure out"..
I sent out one of my no volume/missing volume know plate etc Rev 1 boards to a friend so someday we'd might figure it out..
If I plug in one of these Rev 1 into a jamma harness I will get mono sound at a "Not too loud and not too soft"..and since these boards are missing the volume knobs I "can't adjust the volume level"..
Now I forget if I had changed the wiring in the candy cab for mono or left it Stereo to try this..

I just wanted to try the boards in the cab and to my surprise I got sound.
They have nothing but the jamma edge..No places for the extra speaker wires plug in.. and extra 5+ and ground..
But they work..

My main goal is to eliminate the need for the extra 5+ and ground..and just have the boards work straight jamma as they do..though I don't now the long term damage that no extra 5+ and ground would do so I've not left them on to long..
Since I've bought complete Rev 1s I just stored these..

I was figuring to just solder the extra 5+ and ground wires to the jamma edge pin connectors on the board..before where they are supposed to plug into the jamma harness at 5+ and ground.

Do you think this is feasible..?..Can you do it..?

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

My main goal is to eliminate the need for the extra 5+ and ground..and just have the boards work straight jamma as they do..though I don't now the long term damage that no extra 5+ and ground would do so I've not left them on to long..
Since I've bought complete Rev 1s I just stored these..

I was figuring to just solder the extra 5+ and ground wires to the jamma edge pin connectors on the board..before where they are supposed to plug into the jamma harness at 5+ and ground.

Do you think this is feasible..?..Can you do it..?

Sure you can do that, and it might help. But the thing is, the 5v is already soldered from the board to that extra 5v. One of the 5v wires goes to the plug right next to the jamma connecter, the other goes to the top board. The 5v supplied through the jamma harness sends the power to the exact same places that the external 5v does.

Thats why I think the 5v thing is worthless, at least for home users. I have left these on for hours and never noticed any overheating of the jamma connecter. If others have had problems with over heating from doing this, I would love to hear about it.

 

[Amano Jacu]

So by doing this you can use a rev1 board exactly as if it was JAMMA? With sound outputted through the regular JAMMA harness and no extra wires needed? No sound wires and no extra 5V wire...

Well, I tried a "bastard rev1" in my supergun without any extra connector, just like if it was a MVS, and of course I didn't get sound, but after 5 minutes of checking I switched off the supergun and my house's external fuses blew out. I always thought it was because of the 5V issue but I found it very strange.

I might try this mod.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

So by doing this you can use a rev1 board exactly as if it was JAMMA? With sound outputted through the regular JAMMA harness and no extra wires needed? No sound wires and no extra 5V wire...

By doing this is will output sound from the jamma harness and not from the external stereo plug. The need for 5V is debatable. Doing this mod does nothing to the voltage, only switches the audio output.

I dont think you ever needed the external 5V in the first place. That sheet says you do, but I never have had overheating problems when I pull the 5v from the harness only. If others have had problems with overheating or jamma edge damage, we should hear about it. Hooking the 5V is up to you, I dont do it, but others might want to.

So basically yes. If you do this audio mod and not hook up the external 5v, it will work exactly like a jamma+ board.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

I did some further testing with this audio mod running the Hyper board with the power through the jamma connector (the extra 5v was not connected).

I left the board running all day long today, from morning to night, with no audio problems at all. When I powered it off I felt the jamma connector on the hyper, and there was absolutely no overheating, no noticeable temp difference at all.

 

[Charles Franklin Fernandez]

I did some further testing with this audio mod running the Hyper board with the power through the jamma connector (the extra 5v was not connected).

I left the board running all day long today, from morning to night, with no audio problems at all. When I powered it off I felt the jamma connector on the hyper, and there was absolutely no overheating, no noticeable temp difference at all.

I do not believe that the power sub-connector has anything to do with overheating. I think that it has more to do with keeping the system stable during electrical flunctuations (power spikes).

I have the extra power harness connected to my boards just to keep it safe. As I do remember many arcade operators did have their Hyper 64s fried on more than one occasion because they never attached that extra power harness. You should also have to keep in mind that arcade operators have their cabs running 24/7.

Charles

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

I do not believe that the power sub-connector has anything to do with overheating. I think that it has more to do with keeping the system stable during electrical flunctuations (power spikes).

I have the extra power harness connected to my boards just to keep it safe. As I do remember many arcade operators did have their Hyper 64s fried on more than one occasion because they never attached that extra power harness. You should also have to keep in mind that arcade operators have their cabs running 24/7.

Charles

I could have sworn the SNK letter mentions needing the external connector to prolong the life or not damage of the jamma edge connector. Never heard anything about power spikes and that wouldnt make sense since there is no fuse or anything protecting the 5v either from the external connector or the jamma edge. So if there was a power spike on the 5v it would fry the board just the same on the external connector as it would on the jamma edge.

If you trace the 5v input from the external connector, both lines go directly to the plug across the jamma connector. If anything would fry it would be the 5v trace on the PCB from the jamma to the plug across from it. But I find that very unlikely.

Agreed on the arcade op comment. I noted that at the end of my first post.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

I do not believe that the power sub-connector has anything to do with overheating. I think that it has more to do with keeping the system stable during electrical flunctuations (power spikes).

Here's a scan of the note that I copied from another thread in Tech Support.

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121780&highlight=hyper

 

[Charles Franklin Fernandez]

Here's a scan of the note that I copied from another thread in Tech Support.

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121780&highlight=hyper

Yeah, and SNK of America made alot, and I mean, I lot of errors while writing the manual.

Also that scan that you have, never came from SNK of America; instead, it was a note typed by Video Connection. How do I now? I have an original rev. 1 manual that never had that note. And when I bought some Hyper 64 kits from Video Connection, they send me a bad xeroxed copy of of a rev. 1 manual with that extra note and lots of hand written fixes on the manual. It seems that many customers were not using those extra harnesses and then coming back with lots of complaints, so someone at Video Connection just wrote that note to avoid further returns. And in my opinion that note portion regarding the extra power is a bunch of BS. True your board will end up fried along with the cart, but the JAMMA edge connector does not get damaged.

Agreed the Hyper 64 should have a fuse if the power sub-connector was supposed to protect the system from power spikes. Then again, I think that the guy who designed the Hyper 64 was smoking major stuff, and someone with a cleaner and healthier brain fixed the rev. 1 bugs with the better rev. 2. So it will be nice to compare both rev. 1 against rev. 2 just to see what SNK did to fix the need for the extra power sub-connector.

Another possibility will be that the rev. 1 originally required extra voltage to feed some hardware components that were not fed by the 5V coming from the JAMMA side. But before I start to talk out of my ass both rev. 1 and rev. 2 should be compared against each other to see what was fixed.

Charles

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

Another possibility will be that the rev. 1 originally required extra voltage to feed some hardware components that were not fed by the 5V coming from the JAMMA side.

That's just not possible. Tracing the lines proves it. The extra 5v lines go directly to the plug across the jamma connector. They do not go to the upper board or to any other part of the board. 5v on the harness traces to the exact same point where the external plug feeds to. Nowhere else.

Maybe the 2 boards need to be compared, but that's probably more trouble than its worth and way out of any of our expertise. Both board sets are completely different. What I would like to see is what the damaged board looks like. What part gets fried or blown etc..

I'm dropping the 5v subject. We will have different opinions on this external connector. I personally have never had problems, nor have I come across anyone who has fried their board because of not using the external plug.

With any mod, its done at your own risk.

 

[Charles Franklin Fernandez]

That's just not possible. Tracing the lines proves it. The extra 5v lines go directly to the plug across the jamma connector. They do not go to the upper board or to any other part of the board. 5v on the harness traces to the exact same point where the external plug feeds to. Nowhere else.

Maybe the 2 boards need to be compared, but that's probably more trouble than its worth and way out of any of our expertise. Both board sets are completely different. What I would like to see is what the damaged board looks like. What part gets fried or blown etc..

I'm dropping the 5v subject. We will have different opinions on this external connector. I personally have never had problems, nor have I come across anyone who has fried their board because of not using the external plug.

With any mod, its done at your own risk.

I have never seen a fried board either, but I was told that the cartridge was also burned. And this was told by arcade operators, but I would also like to see what parts do get fried.

I agree with you that our opinions will differ until both revs are compared. Oh well, maybe someone who owns both revs will supply pictures and info.

Charles

 

[DanAdamKOF]

Not much to add, but I always thought this'd solve the whole problem of the power wiring. Basically, you make a JAMMA extension, but tap the 5V and GND from the extension into a line that feeds into the extra connector.

Then again that means that the same PSU puts 5V in both places. Is that's what's supposed to happen?

 

[Charles Franklin Fernandez]

Not much to add, but I always thought this'd solve the whole problem of the power wiring. Basically, you make a JAMMA extension, but tap the 5V and GND from the extension into a line that feeds into the extra connector.

Then again that means that the same PSU puts 5V in both places. Is that's what's supposed to happen?

Yes, the same PSU supplies the power, so that power sub-connector can be directly hooked to the PSU.

Charles

 

[Amano Jacu]

What about that "rev1" I tried in my supergun for some minutes without the extra 5V connector and blowed my house's external fuses? Assuming the blow was because of the board, which I can't be sure but I think there's 99% chance.
Fortunately neither the cart nor the mobo got damaged, as I actually tried them later for 1 minute and they worked OK, and the cart works perfect in my true rev2.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

What about that "rev1" I tried in my supergun for some minutes without the extra 5V connector and blowed my house's external fuses? Assuming the blow was because of the board, which I can't be sure but I think there's 99% chance.
Fortunately neither the cart nor the mobo got damaged, as I actually tried them later for 1 minute and they worked OK, and the cart works perfect in my true rev2.

I just dont see how that would be possible. The PSU you used may have blown the fuse because of a short, but not because the 5 volts wasnt connected.

Look, I am really dropping the 5v subject since its driving me crazy. Maybe if someone that has some tech credibility would step up and say the external 5v is worthless or not people would believe them. All I ask is for someone to trace the lines. Its really plain to see, to me at least.

EDIT:
I am going to put all my nonsense to the test today. I'll see exactly where all these lines go. All I know at this point is that the external 5v goes to the plug across the jamma connector and that the 5v on the jamma has continuity to the external 5v. It has to be there for a reason... Guess I cant drop the subject.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

http://www.2dlives.com/HNG64/r1big.jpg


OK, here it is. I removed the Relay and Fuse so the traces could be seen. Both of the 5v lines from the external connector go the the plug. So the 5v from the jamma goes through a fuse and connects to the 5v from the external.

Maybe they dont want you to pull the 5v from the jamma through a fuse to power the relay. Whatever the reason, I really dont care anymore.

 

[Amano Jacu]

I just wanted to ressurrect this thread because I think Spam's info here:

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17502&page=1&pp=25

is relevant. He says that without the extra cable, the 5V wire in his set-up just melt. So according to this, it makes sense to think that the HNG64 needs such a high intensity in the 5V line, that if it comes from just one cable in the JAMMA harness it may fry it, therefore it needs to have it split into 2 different cables just to share the load, that's why both cables go to the same line anyway. Anyway this problem shouldn't be that noticeable in a cab if it already has a thick +5V wire, but a regular supergun usually has not-so-thick wires, so it is more common to have trouble.

So I hope this settles this matter now, thanks to everybody who has contributed into this.

 

[norton9478]

This seriously needs to get cloned or moved to tech support....

This is the first time I've seen this thread.

Regarding audio output:

Why not just throw up a DPDT switch so that you can switch it either way?

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

..it makes sense to think that the HNG64 needs such a high intensity in the 5V line, that if it comes from just one cable in the JAMMA harness it may fry it, therefore it needs to have it split into 2 different cables just to share the load, that's why both cables go to the same line anyway. Anyway this problem shouldn't be that noticeable in a cab if it already has a thick +5V wire, but a regular supergun usually has not-so-thick wires, so it is more common to have trouble.

Makes sense to me. All the power lines I use in my cabs and on my SGs are heavier gauge. I can see the cable giving out if it was too thin. But thats why on most good jamma harnesses the power feeds are noticably thicker than the others.

Still no problems on my side with either this audio mod or one 5V cable on my Rev1 and Driving/Shooting boards.

You could add a switch to the audio if you wanted, I didnt since I only play these on my mono Candy.