Is My Famicom a Famiclone?

[nunojsilva]

I own two famicon clones. And none is working. One is just a PolyStation. A nice day I decided to play a game with it, I plugged it, but I got no image. Instead of that, a I got a  "burned" smell. RIP.

The other one is older, and is also not working for a longer time. First I got some problems with the RF output (it was broken inside), then one of the wires which connects the power switch to the DC input got unsoldered. Worse: the strip which connects  the two cards is now broken.

Now I'd like to correct the mess, but I'd like to make sure where should I solder the wire. And I think the first step is identifying it, so I can ask other owners some photos.

In one of the cards I can see "NTDE" followed by a pac-man and three dots. I've already seen this logo in another clone, I suppose it's the manufacturer. Joysticks are hard wired and have no microphone.

I'm attaching some photos.

[133MHz]

Man that Famiclone makes me jealous, it looks EXACTLY like a Famicom (except the joysticks). Check the LM7805 voltage regulator (or if it doesn't have one, the diode-resistor-transistor combination used to lower the voltage). Check if 5V are reaching the CPU board and also check the transistor pairs used to amplify the video and audio signals. Usually one in the pair goes bad leaving you with a black screen and/or no audio.

If you can send hi-rez pictures of the insides, I can help you with the ribbon cable placement.

[nunojsilva]

Man that Famiclone makes me jealous, it looks EXACTLY like a Famicom (except the joysticks). Check the LM7805 voltage regulator (or if it doesn't have one, the diode-resistor-transistor combination used to lower the voltage). Check if 5V are reaching the CPU board and also check the transistor pairs used to amplify the video and audio signals. Usually one in the pair goes bad leaving you with a black screen and/or no audio.

My problem now is one of the red cables which connects to the power switch, when it got desoldered, I should have wrote or draw somewhere where was it soldered.

If you can send hi-rez pictures of the insides, I can help you with the ribbon cable placement.

I am attaching some pictures. Unfortunately I have no way to take better pictures. These were taken with my cellphone.

My problem with the cable is being able to solder it. I think I know where it is supposed to be. In "all_inside.jpg", between the two cards, on the left.

BTW, as you can see, this clone comes with a builtin card, with Super Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, Bomber Man, Sqoon, Arkanoid, and another games. It has around 1000 entries. Repeated ones. But at least each one loads a different level for each game.  The cartridge is the one which is at the left on "all_inside.jpg".

[nunojsilva]

Photos of the "small card"

[satoshi_matrix]

Reminds me of a Famiclone I had much like this, but it said "Family TV Game" and featurd AV Output. The system did work, but it ultimtely was just a clone. I wanted the real deal. So I sold mine on ebay to some smuck who said he collected Famiclones, and I used the money to buy myself a real Nintendo made AV Famicom. In retrospect I kind of regreat selling the clone as it was a cool reminder of how widespread piracy is.

[nunojsilva]

What sort of AV output? Two connectors (audio and video)?

In "small_card_2.jpg", the connectors are: RF (top), video, audio, DC input (bottom).

I've browsed the gallery at http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/famiclones.htm but I found nothing. There were some Famicom-like, but with different joysticks.

[133MHz]

Check attached picture for soldering location of the loose red wire.

Also, judging by the pictures, it appears that your Famiclone is positive tip (Famiclones are usually negative tip, the NES wants AC but also works with negative tip DC). Check, double check and triple check the polarity before plugging in.

P.S: Your Famiclone has REAL ICs. None of that NES-on-a-chip ASIC gloptop shit. I'm even more jealous <drools at Famiclone>

[133MHz]

Forget the part about the positive tip. It IS negative tip.

[nunojsilva]

Thanks for the help with the wire, I'll solder that and try to get around the ribbon cable.

About the "tip", I've been using these cheap adaptors which allow we to choose the settings, configured for 9V+.

This makes it a positive tip or negative tip one?

And here goes a photo of the orignal adaptor. Not working anymore, but still here around.

[133MHz]

That makes it positive tip. The little arrow on the polarity dial of the transformer (or the polarity switch) must point to ( - ) for use with a Famiclone.

About the ribbon cable, there should only be four wires between the two 'cards' : +5V, ground, weak audio and weak video signal. +5V and ground should be easy to find with a multimeter, and the other two connections can be tried by trial-and-error. You can lick the tip of your finger and touch the unknown connections on the card with the Famiclone turned on and connected to a TV. If by doing this you hear noise in the audio, you've identified the audio connection. Same with the video, if you see interference patterns on the screen.

[nunojsilva]

That makes it positive tip. The little arrow on the polarity dial of the transformer (or the polarity switch) must point to ( - ) for use with a Famiclone.

Yes. I said 9V+ but I must be wrong. I just don't recall everything correctly - the last time it worked was some years ago.

[133MHz]

It would be great to see that great Famiclone working again 

[nunojsilva]

The wire is soldered, but I'll have to wait until Monday so I can buy a new adaptor. The one I have is not working (outputs 17V even when I select 3V). (Fortunately, I tested it before pluging it in the famiclone.)

[133MHz]

Are you testing the voltage with no load? Because those transformers are unregulated power supplies, so if you test them with no load the multimeter will read insane voltage values like 17V. Try putting it in 9V and loading it with some flashlight bulb or resistor or whatever to waste power and then test the voltage across the terminals. It should read between 9 and 12V and that means it's ok.

[Champignon]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here at Famicom World, and I thought I would start out by soliciting your expert opinions.
I'm really sort of new to the retro import scene, and I recently purchased an old Famicom on eBay.
It arrived in very good condition, albeit with the power and reset stickers peeled off, along with the space for the larger one on the bottom of the unit.
I'm trying to determine if this is a real Famicom or not, as a few things are fishy.
First off, instead of a selection of Channel 1 or 2 on the bottom,  it has a selection of 3 or 4.  This was my first indication that things were not as they seemed.  On a whim, I opened her up, and none of the boards had "Nintendo" on them.  However, there were stickers with a logo reading "JR" on some of the larger chips...

Aside from these two factors, everything else seems entirely normal, the controllers, molding of the system, orange power indication sticker, 15 pin port in the front, spaces where stickers should be, blue insertion slot, etc.  In fact, it had me fooled for up to a week that it was the real deal, so I'm holding out hope that I still have a real Famicom, perhaps a Hong Kong or Taiwanese version?

I should also say that I've not yet had the chance to see if it works yet, as I have yet to mod it or find a TV old enough to play it.

A single sticker on the bottom reads: "H-14164936"
If you'd like me to post pictures later of the unit and boards, I'd be willing to do that.

So, is this the real deal, and if so, what does it mean that outputs are set to channels 3 and 4?  (Will I still be able to mod the RF board or use the Channel 95 workaround?)

Thanks in advance for any help!