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2020-09-20 Progress Update - Adapter cables built!

A project log for BlueRetro

Multiplayer Bluetooth controllers adapter for retro video game consoles

jacques-gagnonJacques Gagnon 09/20/2020 at 18:070 Comments

Spend a lot of time this weekend building all the different cable adapter.

One adapter to rule them all!

I think they take me around 20 min / 30 min to build each. Really happy with how the PCBs turnout. The gates size  is small but still easy to manage. I think building the original Saturn cable prototype took me around an hour and 3 hours to troubleshoot. Those boards are a real time saver and they look really nice.

Prototype BlueRetro + Saturn cable Vs. BlueRetro DevKit + New Saturn cable

NES, SNES & Saturn

I re-validated FC/NES, SNES & Saturn cables in all modes supported and everything works as with the prototype cables.

FC/NES cable
SNES cable
Saturn cable

JVS

I found an issue in the JVS 5V step up circuit. I connected the feedback pin to GND rather than the power output! I will correct the Kicad files but will not reorder new boards. I'll just fix the boards I got by cutting the trace.

Cables for upcoming new system support

I was originally planning to built cables only for my short term need for MegaDrive/Genesis, PSX/PS2, & NeoGeo software development up until v1.0. But while I was at it I decided to do a few extra ones including PC Engine, CD-i, 3DO, PC-FX & (S)NES classic systems (Wii ext.).

Doing so allowed me to validate that the detection code works for all of those systems flawlessly. It was also a good test to validate that each system can power up BlueRetro. I actually found out that PSX & PSOne system does not provide enough power over the 3.3v output to power BlueRetro! PS2 got no issue, however. Since I'm using a low voltage drop regulator (for N64 3.3v only) the voltage input range max out at 6V. PSX/PSOne second power output is ~8V.

To fix this problem I will redesign the passthrough cable PCB to include an LDO on the bottom side to convert 8V to 5V. This will be only populated on the PSX/PS2 cables. 

Genesis cables requires some extra wiring to control the 3 bidirectional pin used by the multitaps
Genesis top
PSX/PS2 cable
(S)NES classic cable (Wii ext.)
PC-FX cable
PC Engine cable
CD-i cable
3DO cable

PC-FX cable

No PC-FX cable extension are available and so the only option is to get the cord from a controller or building your own connector! I'm really against damaging original hardware and so I had to make my own connectors. I used a couple of SNES extension cable and removed the plastic case to only keep the end contact pins. While having the pin connected to the PC-FX I simply hot-glued the pins together. This is not heavy duty in any way but it gets the job done :) .

PCE / CD-i Mini-DIN 8

I used part of my Saturn extension cables to build my own Mini-DIN 8 cables.

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