Questions for a project: "Atari 2600 Light Sixer"

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:28 pm

I am designing an Atari 2600 with 2 cartridge ports, a controller in parallel with port 1, 8 AAA batteries, the stereo mod, A/V out(no LCD or anything, it hooks up to the TV like a normal unit would), and all 6 switches into an NES cartridge(placement of these things is about finalized already), but I have some questions.

Okay, my plan is to take 8 rechargable 1.2V AAA batteries, put each set of 4 in series(4.8V), and hook each set of four up in parallel(double the current). Yes, I plan to bypass the 7805 completely with this arrangement.

I am wondering how many mAh is a rechargable AAA battery, and what is the draw for an Atari 2600 cut down to the 4" x 4" square without a screen? I am trying to figure out the battery life...

Post by **gannon** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:33 pm

now are you trying to put it in a cart and have it plug into the nes, or just fit it all in a nes cart?
I don't really see the point of having 2 cart. ports also. Most AAA rechargables I've seen are in the area of 750-1000mAH....

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:50 pm

gannon wrote:now are you trying to put it in a cart and have it plug into the nes, or just fit it all in a nes cart?
I don't really see the point of having 2 cart. ports also. Most AAA rechargables I've seen are in the area of 750-1000mAH....

I am trying to do both. Also, if you have 2 cart ports, that means that you can still play paddle games on it with all 4 players, rather than be stuck with one type of player 1 controller. ^^

Post by **gannon** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:06 pm

errr....I thought you meant cart. ports, not controller ports

Anyways, you can draw power from the nes cart port if you have it plugged into a nes, and then either just use ext. a/v jacks, or use the Exp. port pins on the connector to transmit a/v and a power line for a relay that switches between nes a/v and atari a/v depending on if the atari is plugged in or if it's just a normal nes game.

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:15 pm

I'd planned to use the NES 5V to run the Atari NES adapter, and was considering using that port if the NES cart slot did not have pass through.

750-1000 mAh, huh? Hmm...I wonder what the Atari VCS uses up in amps...

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:30 pm

~500mah I think.

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:56 pm

So I could get 3-4 hours easily out of 8 AAAs... ^^

I wonder if I should look for a way to cram in 12...if not, 8 is fine.

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:06 pm

I just finished some design pics and guts arrangements
(Copy and paste pics into browser, because angelfire can be evil)

http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/mm007/atari6erguts.jpg

These are the internal arrangements of the system. This is almost perfectly proportionate.

http://www.angelfire.com/oh5/mm007/atari6er.jpg

This is the main design for the Atari 2600 Light 6er. Now that I think about it, I should call it the Atari VCS Light Sixer...I'll change that in the real thing. ^^

The 4 colors schemes are what I have yet to choose from.

I may have to put the switches someplace else, maybe I'll have enough room there, I dunno. It'll be close.

So, what do you think of the design?

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:09 pm

Kinda neat... It definatly unique... It's going to be good if you can pull it off...

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:57 pm

Yeah, I'm about ready to start, except I need the exact controller connector pinouts for both the normal controller as well as the paddle controllers so normal controllers can still be plugged in...

Post by **gannon** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:36 pm

The schematics for them are over at http://atariage.com

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:02 pm

Here to be exact.

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:24 pm

HK-47 wrote:Here to be exact.

Sorry, I meant that I wanted to hook up the controller ports to the system in such a way that all controllers would stay compatible.

I need to know where Pins 1-9 connect to the Atari main board.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:33 pm

MM007 · Post by **MM007** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 6:35 pm

SpongeBuell wrote:yup

Thanks! This should be a HUGE help!