EXT connectors

[WizardStan]

The strike is still going, but it's rolling, so things are just slow, not stopped.


My girlfriend came to visit last week, combined with a sudden influx of orders and me being an idiot and sorting my list by name/email address and forgetting to maintain timestamps for most of them means I'm a little swamped. Most of them have gone out, I think. I'll double check my list when I get home tonight and make sure I'm doing things at least partially right.

 

[cswetenham]

Yesterday I managed to solder all 14 pins on the connector using 30 AWG wire-wrap wire. Tinning the pin and the wire just a tiny bit then soldering them seems to work well; the hard part is keeping a steady hand Afterwards I covered everything with hot glue and it seems to be holding well.


I get a good black + white signal using the TV-Y pin; I tried combining this with the TV-C colour signal using a 470pF cap as described here and did get some colour but the signal is really noisy. I will try to redo it to improve the quality of the connections but I guess it will be better to wait for a way to enable composite output directly...

 

[WizardStan]

You don't need to combine, the pins can output either an Svideo signal or composite signal. I forget how to do that, but someone else had the same problem.

 

[Norl]

Woohoo got my conectors.

Thanks Stan.


Now, if i only knew what the hell a 'soldering iron' was... well, it's never too late to learn!

 

[MarkoeZ]

Hmm, i'm having an issue where the image/colors gets slightly distorted when i plug in the power. More people having this problem or is it just my crappy soldering?

 

[Nardella]

Yesterday I managed to solder all 14 pins on the connector using 30 AWG wire-wrap wire.

I would really like to see some pics! Still don't have mine yet

 

[cswetenham]

I would really like to see some pics! Still don't have mine yet

I didn't think to take pictures while I was soldering but I just took some now to give you an idea. (Click for big)





This is what my finished connector looks like - I added hot glue to keep the connections steady.





This shows the 30 AWG wire and the pins of the EXT connector.





This is the soldering iron tip I was using - not ideal, but if you tin the pin and the wire first and then solder them together it isn't too bad.

 

[TrashyMG]

^ Yeah that tip is huge for that job. But still well done.

 

[WizardStan]

Crud. I've just been told that apparently the strike is now in full lockout. No more shipping in or out until this stupid strike is resolved.


I'm about 75% of the way through, was going to do another huge bunch tonight and then that last of them should have been on Monday.


All I need now is for my car to burst into flames and a volcano to erupt.

 

[Nardella]

Darn, I figured mine would have arrived soon (presuming you already shipped them?).

 

[dreamer]

Ah well. I'll won't have my Pandora before the summer is over anyway.


So no rush.

 

[Sugar_Kane]

Hot damn, it's great to see people making their own stuff.


In theory I'd like to try it myself, but I hate soldering; I just can't ever get it to go well. If anyone does manage to make a bunch of s-video cables I'd buy one in a flash.

 

[slaeshjag]

I'm now owner of a totally untested 5m TV-out cable

 

[vadsamoht]

I'm now owner of a totally untested 5m TV-out cable

Me too! Although I've tested mine and it works fine-ish.


Just to be absolutely clear in relation to MWeston's post on the previous page, when making a component cable, it is normal at the moment to only get a monochrome image when connecting only the first TV-OUT to the signal of the yellow plug. And this is only because of a script that is yet to be written, yes?


Also, I'm thinking of writing a short guide, because I busted one of my connectors by not thinking things through beforehand.

 

[vadsamoht]

OK, I'm just going to leave this here... it's a description of how I made my cable, based on the assumption that composite TV-Out cables should only output in monochrome for the moment (and that connecting the two TV-out pins together with a capacitor will not be necessary once the script is made available).


Also it contains an explanation of which pins to connect, which might even be of interest for people who don't want to use a guide (Section 3.4).


EDIT: Uploaded here.


EDIT2: If someone else could just look this over and make sure I won't be causing people to blow up their Pandoras, it would be appreciated.


EDIT3: Updated the guide for clarity in one of the images, and a few cosmetic changes.

 

[zapman]

OK, I'm just going to leave this here... it's a description of how I made my cable, based on the assumption that composite TV-Out cables should only output in monochrome for the moment (and that connecting the two TV-out pins together with a capacitor will not be necessary once the script is made available).


Also it contains an explanation of which pins to connect, which might even be of interest for people who don't want to use a guide (Section 3.4).


EDIT: Uploaded here.


EDIT2: If someone else could just look this over and make sure I won't be causing people to blow up their Pandoras, it would be appreciated.

Very nice instructions you wrote there. Very detailed and nice layout (latex?)!


I didn't read it through 100% concentrated but two minor things as feedback:


On page 8 you have a foto of the plugs. "What the diagram shows" on the right is actually upside down when compared to both drawings up and downwards. Therefor you should rotate the image upside down.


I didn't read anything about the audio out necessety. As the normal audio jack at the front of the Pandora still works when TVout is activated, you could relinquish the ext connector audio out pins and just use a Y-cable on the front. This way you have to do less soldering..

 

[vadsamoht]

Very nice instructions you wrote there. Very detailed and nice layout (latex?)!


I didn't read it through 100% concentrated but two minor things as feedback:


On page 8 you have a foto of the plugs. "What the diagram shows" on the right is actually upside down when compared to both drawings up and downwards. Therefor you should rotate the image upside down.


I didn't read anything about the audio out necessety. As the normal audio jack at the front of the Pandora still works when TVout is activated, you could relinquish the ext connector audio out pins and just use a Y-cable on the front. This way you have to do less soldering..

The diagram on page 8 is upside-down, however Latex decided to put my note explaining that on the next page. I'll see if I can fix that for the next version.


You're also right about being able to use the headphone port at the front, but you would still need to solder a 3.5mm jack on to the end of the cable, and I figured that most people would just want to use the one plug for everything. A really simple solution would be to just ignore the external audio completely and only wire up the Video signal, playing all of the sound from the Pandora's speakers.

 

[Morn]

A really simple solution would be to just ignore the external audio completely and only wire up the Video signal, playing all of the sound from the Pandora's speakers.

...or using separate cable for sound

 

[vadsamoht]

As per Zapman's recommendation, I have updated the guide to include both rotations of the pinout description image.


It can be found here.

 

[may88]

@vadsamoht - Just like to add my thanks for your efforts here. I had a read but not as in depth as if I would if I was going to sacrifice a connector to my soldering. As you said, you need a Pandora to test the cable.