Talk about a console I don’t see very often! Last CDI I worked on was a 220 (which is an absolute behemoth) for similar work, aka a recap, timekeeper and RGB mod.
The cool thing about the 450 variants is with the BT encoder you can use a premade RGB mod kit and the whole thing looks much more like a gaming console, it’s truly the ideal version to have especially if you can find a DVC for it!
Regardless of my feelings on the CDI itself, any time I get to work on a console I don’t often see it’s a very nice break from doing the same recap/cleaning/etc. on the common systems so it’s exciting!
Customer stated they wanted to use 9 pin standard Genesis RGB cables so based on the mod documentation, TTL Sync pad and some modifications were needed to the RGB board, including removing and bridging some caps and resistors. Customer had sent along the RGB kit and 9 pin din itself
Shell disassembly was quick and easy, though the CDROM tray hinges were a bit annoying. With shell fully apart I soaked and scrubbed all plastic parts and set aside to dry, then got started on the recap.
Luckily the Philips 450 kit is a 1:1 here as this is basically just that same console rebadged with Goldstar and some minor board changes, but cap list is identical. Customer had also sent along the PSU for a recap so got both of those done and out of the way using a Console5 cap kit for both!
With all new caps, moved focus to the Timekeeper chip. Someone had socketed the old chip previously because I found a horribly mangled and cut up top metal plate (the socket makes the timekeeper too high for it). This made swapping easier but the shield was really pointless and just filled with jagged sharp edges everywhere and no longer even covering half the board (they could have done this very clean with some effort) so I ended up just leaving the top plate out as its not offering any benefit, socketed the new timekeeper and then reassembled the system as “stock” to test operation and timekeeper data retention before even considering RGB mod.
Luckily it booted right up, and I was able to save and retain my Dark Castle test scores after shutting down and no power overnight. On to the RGB mod!
Install is pretty straightforward, basically you need to tap 9 or so points from or near the BT encoder chip to run to either the RGB board or the DIN. There are several easy to solder to points for most of the signals but even the 3 that connect direct to the chip are easy as its not fine pitch at all, nice wide legs with decent gaps to easily attach 28 awg stranded!
I first soldered all the wires to the encoder and board, then attached some super strength 3M tape and stuck board down on top of nearby Motorola chip, aligned all wiring and marked and cut/stripped/tinned and soldered to board one by one to keep runs reasonably short and neat.
For the DIN install, it was really easy to desolder the 3 RCA jacks, cut and remove the composite jack, and scrape/solder the din directly to board (upside down just like on a genesis 3BP install)
I then made the mistake of not test fitting the top shell and I used a nice breakout board for the 9 pin din, which I would later find out it sticks out too far, clipping with the top shell and would require either extensive trimming in the DVC slot area so I elected to remove the breakout board and annoyingly solder the wires directly to the top pins. It sucked, but beats irreversibly cutting a huge chunk out of the shell
I’m going to find or design a new board that should fit on future 450 mods, just need to get one for myself to have on hand for testing (UPDATE: MobiusStripTech has provided a link to a breakout board that works, see the comments area below!)
Anyways, roadblock aside I got the din wired up and did a quick power on test and confirmation of RGB output… we are good!
NOTE – I also chose to wire up composite video directly to the din. This is NOT necessary for RGB mod but was done so that any Genesis composite cable could work with the same dine. No reason to choose composite over RGB but this adds flexibility (could still use on a composite only CRT for example)
Knowing system was working I begin reassembly and also added my JRG sticker showing the work done in the easy to view DVC slot / tray.
With system back together, I again tested the Timekeeper, and the overall system function through both RGB and composite and it was working great! I only own a few games so grabbed those few plus a few burned discs and ran it through my RetroTink 4K and Elgato4KX to get some 4K captures of this thing in action.
After a few hours and testing out various games, system was running well and the RGB output was a noticeable improvement over composite, as expected… another order in the books!
You can use the following breakout board with no issues.
https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/MTqcfXNs
Oh, awesome!
This one worked out ok but I am planning on acquiring one of your boards for a personal CDI project (450 family series) and for all future installs, this is fantastic thank you very much!