Saturn/power info?

[MrB]

Hi Guys.

I was hoping some people here could help me out.

I have a model 1 saturn (oval buttons) with a fried power board. i was hoping i could use some other means to power the system,
i'm not really looking to make it portable(...).

I mainly just want it working. Unfortunately these model 1 versions seem more difficult to find around where i live so i havent been able to get a hold of another (broken or otherwise) saturn to test, and the power board used in v2 saturns dont fit in a v1 machine.

The power board interfaces to the main board via 5 pins. from memory i think these are 12v,5v,5v,GND,GND. its very similar to the way the dreamcast setup is, for those who have fiddled with dc's.

It'd be good if i could power it off a standard pc (atx) power supply but i'm not sure about what needs to be done to give the correct current for the system.

Any help, guidance, useful info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
-MrB

[Sparkfist]

I remember one member on the board mentioning that the Saturn had two models and the voltages were different. For one it was straight 5 volts, the other used 8 volts and either 5 or 3.3. I cant remember it exactly (a search would help).

I'd say if the model you have is the one with the kind of weird voltages, snach up an old Playstation psu. They output 8, 5 and 3.5 on the old and 8 and 3.5 on the newer (later models). http://benheck.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/ ... wer+pinout this has the pinout for the Playstation so if you do canablise the psu to make your Saturn work you wont have to go far.

[MrB]

Okay

Thanks for the reply Sparkfist.

I just opened the saturn up again to see if i could get any more info on the power requirement, and i just noticed it actually says it right near the mainboard connector. i just cannot believe i missed that its so blatent. grrrr.

Anyway from top to bottom where top is towards the back of the console the connections are:

_
o| - 9v @ 0.3A
o| - 5v @ 2A
o| - 3.3v @ 0.6A
o| - 0v GND
o| - 0v GND

i dont have any psx consoles i'd be willing to butcher here so, i think i'd rather try using either a pc power supply or one of them multi adapter things, the ones that vary from 1.5v to 12v, if its not too difficult.

how do i get the current and voltages down to the values i need? using resistors only or anything else?

bear with me please its been a while since i did any electronics or thinking.

thanks again
-MrB

[Sparkfist]

The 5 and 3 volt inputs can be done with a regulator and resistor. 7805 regulator outputs 5, if you connect a 3 ohm regulator to the ouput it will drop the volatage to 3. As for 9, either use a 9.6v R/C rechargable battery hooked directly to the input, or see about using a regulator/resistor.

I hope this helps you.