Relocate NES game connector?

[TomKStones]

Org NES
How would I go about do this?

I want to make a custom (non portable) case. It would be much easier if I made it a top loader

[Snow_Cat]

I've never done that before but;

Spoiler:

I would grab a digikey.ca male edgeboard connector, wire, a pair of nuts/bolts, and a couple of pop bottle caps for spacers. Then I'd

1. pull the original NES connector off of the mobo [/s]and drill holes in the plastic (only plastic) wings to fit the bolts[/s]
2. Drill similar holes inthe bottle caps (near to the edge of them) to form spacers.
3. Mark four holes on the inside of the NES to note where the bolts and either edge of the cart will pass through it (but not drill yet)
4. Cut 72 wires of similar length (a hand span?) and solder them to the edge-board conector
5. Lay the card edge connector and the mobo's cardedge in line
6. carefully solder each wire from the cardegde to the mobo making certain that each wire is in the right place
   (no crossed wires, no gaps, correct side)
7. put the original NES connector on the cardedge connector and test to see that it still works
   1. if it doesn't cry and desolder everyting/
      abort or retry?
   2. if it does continue
8. double check measurements and drill the holes in the top of the case
9. from the top drop the bolts through the holes in the case, the spacers and the original connector.
10. check to see that the bolts are the correct length and do not interfere with the opening or the mobo.
    1. if it does interefere either cut the bolts
       or find different bolts
       or use framing screws w' that squishy stuff you use in dry wall... (the word is ... I used to know this... )
       and continuego to 7a
    2. it it does yay!
       and continue
11. secure the bolts/screws and fit close the NES
12. yay!
    Unless the wires are too short. then it doesn't work (go to 7a)

alt: grab female cardedge connector, determine which pins are which (I don't know) mount it on a PCB and mount that.

EDIT: I am an idiot. The cart slot thingy is U not N shaped, the result of my instrustions above would be have the wires smooshed against the top of the case. Qlue the original connector to the bottom where you want it to sit (and it is not touching metal) and cut the slot.

Link: some people who aren't idiots:
forums.benheck.com Modding a front loading NES into a top loading NES

benheck.comDie Zero Insertion Force Cartridge Slot! DIE DIE DIE!
NIstead to putting the other end in the cradle, point them through the top.

[TomKStones]

Thats a lot more confusing then I thought it would be...

& $30 shipping is just a bit too much.

EDIT

I guess it is kinda "U-Shaped".



Solder wires to mobo?

[Snow_Cat]

You can solder to the metal bars that form the bottom of the U, this way you could remove the wires later and put things back the way they were if something goes wrong.

Actually; if you could find a couple of old PC-Floppy-Drive cables with the card-edge connectors you could cut the sides out and avoid soldering alltogether.

Open benheck.comSoup up your old 8-bit NES and scroll down to "Die Zero Insertion Force Cartridge Slot! DIE DIE DIE!"

Ben's replaced the pseudo-ZIF connector with the floppy cables, though I suspect that he had rewire them to flip top and bottom row.

With longer wires you could put and point that anywhere you like.

Can someone confirm that the NES-ZIF connector flips top and bottom?

[TomKStones]

After minutes of "googling", I found this.
http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php ... w=previous" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Conveniently located at BenHeck's very own forums.

~~~
I found THIS.
But they appear to only have output.

[Snow_Cat]

Sorry, I'm not communicating very well.

(using floppy cables)long

Spoiler:

The super-old 5¼" floppy drives has connectors that very-much resemble a smaller version of the NES cart. port, with 34 instead of 72 positions.
http://www.nullmodem.com/Floppy.htm

The super old cables were made with card-edge instead of pin connectors.
http://marketplace.vintage-computer.com ... _id=106001

These conector can be modified to suit our needs because the pins are the correct distance apart (0.1") to work with the NES.
http://squidge.sourceforge.net/mmc/

This is why this type of cable is often used to make NES cart/game connectors.
http://benheck.com/nes-micro

It may be necessary to make a bunch of small 'twists' like there was in the floppy cable to flip the top and bottom rows by changing the wiring inside the connector after the original twist.
http://www.cosam.org/projects/a1200t/index.html

The wires are retained under a clip that can be removed. Removing the clip without one the first tab does take a bit of practice, however one tab is cut in this modification anyways.
http://uanr.com/sdfloppy/

The pins 'connect' to the wires by piercing the insulation and pinching the metal. In nearly all cases the wires alternate between top and bottom row. The sweet feature of this is that either side you put the connector on with the red wire on the left the pinout will be identical!
Except for some three row variants in which the middle row has a rail of forks that connects wires (GND, 5V, shield), however I've only enountered these in the other type of connector, and these always molded in a different colour than the other connectors on the cable.

Code: Select all

1a2b3c4d... }wire order
||||||||...
||||||||...
|a|b|c|d...  }Connector
1 2 3 4 ...  }

Seperating the wires into pairs then fliping them over would effectively exchange top and bottom (don't split them all the way, otherwise what was the point of opening the connector? :p) Pins can be slid back into the connector if they lift out.

Push the wires into the forks by pressing a dull blade (butter knife, screwdriver, punchdowntool) on either side of the fork and seperate the forks from eachother. Be careful not to pierce the same wire on different forks, this could short them. If it does happen just lift out the wire and try again.
Don't worry about having the ends stick out the other side, this end can be hidden inside the case, or trimmed after it is closed.

Once this is done you will have a lo-o--o-o-ng cat, skinny version of the U shaped NES cart connector.
Use a multimeter or continuity tester to verify that the pins are connected correctly, and are not shorting with their neighbours. Top 1 conects to bottom 1 but not bottom/top {a,b or 2}. etc.

(can someone confirm the wiring order of the U shaped NES cart connector?)

Code: Select all

a b c d e f ...  }top of mainboard/bottom of cart
1 2 3 4 5 6 ...  }

1 2 3 4 5 6 ...  }
a b c d e f ...  }top of mainboard/bottom of cart

Alternatively; if there is only one floppy cable, it can be cut so that there are two lengths of cable than can be soldered to the NES mainboard, remember to undo the original twist.

cut here
]====]====| -or- ]====|====[

A sharp knife can cutout one side of the connector open and remove the 'key' if it is present. A hacksaw/hacksaw blade will also work, but may damage the pins.

Code: Select all

.a b c...[cutout]... d e f  }top of mainboard/bottom of cart
1|2|3 ...[cutout]...7|8|9|  }bottom of mainboard/top of cart
1a2b3c...        ...7d8e9f
||||||...        ...||||||
\/\/\/...        ...\/\/\/  }twisty bit
/\/\/\...        .../\/\/\  }
|1|2|3...[cutout]...|7|8|9  }bottom of mainboard/top of cart
a b c ...[cutout]...d e f   }top of mainboard/bottom of cart

The connectors can be glued shut th the clips nolonger hold.
pligging the cable into an old cart will set them exactly the distance that they need to be fix/glued to backing material (old tooth bursh or onto the case). with long enough cables the port can be attached almost anywhere, under the front cover where the cart used to load, or in the original cradle.
http://benheck.com/Games/Nintendo_proje ... Up_NES.htm

34 + 34 ≠ 72, but the missing four positions are not used by most carts (none that I know of and I don't have a NES!), and are listed by Ben's NES-Famicom Cartridge Chart! (PDF) as being EXP2, EXP3, EXP6, EXP5 which are not here on the Famicom.
NES SMB3 by Reintji, on Flick

(the original U adaptor)

Spoiler:

Soldering wires to the original connector and the mainboard will allow the games it to be positioned anywhere too, though this would be more difficult to reverse later.

Depending on where you want to put it it may make sense to use ribbon cable and fold the wire over underneath the NES main board. (ribbon is on top in illustration)

there is one slight problem with this plan however:
unless all of the wires cross then the label will point to the back.

[TomKStones]

You're communicating good, it's just I'm new to this stuff, and don't understand it at all.

Using the floppy drive cable's looks much more harder then I thought it would be, what happens if the games had all 72 Pins? They wouldn't work then wouldn't they?

If I did the original connector, I'd only need 36 cables right?

[Snow_Cat]

Thanks;

Yes, if there was some game that uses all 72 pins than it would not work; however the EXPansion bus is not used, but for two documented exceptions[1] the Miracle Keyboard Piano Teaching System, and the Baton Teleplay System. The consensus is that NTSC and PAL NES do not have any games or peripherals that use the expansion port (or its bits)[2].

No, you would need more than 26 cables.
While the EXPansion bus is not present in Famicom, or clone systems. skipping the 10 pins of the expansion bus you would need 62 wires since there are two rows of pins/fingers in the connectors (top and bottom) in 36 pairs.

• NES Technical/Emulation/Development FAQ
• NinTech.txt
• NES hardware development guide

edit:
It's unfortunate that card extenders are now digikeyridiculously expensive, if they cost what they did 15 years ago you could just pop one in to your cart slot and have an instant top loader.

hmm...Unless I've gotten GND and CLK/5V confused.

2010.08.26.zip

boardart of possible NES card extender w/ 180° flip. (pdf) 75% probability of it working. 25% possibility of it edning in disaster.

(76.86 KiB) Downloaded 416 times

[TomKStones]

I would prefer full compatibility. 72 wires from the connector to the mobo seems like the only way.

Umm, what does that picture mean :S

[Snow_Cat]

72 wires it is.

The picture is of a hypothetical 'cartridge' that would plug into an unmodified NES extending it to where the cover is.
It also rotates the port 180° so that the label would face forwards. it is incompatible with the original cover, not terribly cost effective, and only has 62/72 pins because I am lazy, and I don't have a physical cartridge to measure.

Similar to drk421's nesdev.parodius.com72-NES/60-Famicom adaptor, this design moves the cart connection point forwards. (images)

Spoiler:

[nevermind1534]

I have a game genie that I could include with an NES board. That would have the cartridge connector on it.

[TomKStones]

I have a game genie that I could include with an NES board. That would have the cartridge connector on it.

That wouldn't make it a "toploader" would it though? It would just extend the port forward a-bit?

Using the cart as a connector's looks like a pretty good idea, but it still wouldn't be a "toploader".

[nevermind1534]

You'd still have to connect the game genie to the contacts on the NES's motherboard, but if you did that, it would make it a top loader (depending on where you decide to mount it).

[TomKStones]

How does the game genie connect? vertically?

[Snow_Cat]

The Game genie connects horizontally (in line with the original cartridge port) however it contains the same digikey.comfemale card edge connector that can be soldered upright to make a top loading extension cartridge (heck you could even cut all the traces and use it for the male connector too.