gscartsw / gscartsw_lite / gcompsw switches support thread

[superg]

SuperG. Do you happen to have a link handy where I could buy a replacement sync stripper switch from the gscartsw 3.4?

I accidentally got a tiny amount of very strong epoxy in it when mounting my low pass filter switch. If you don't have a part number or link handy then I'll try to figure it out on my own. Was just hoping that you could cut and paste some text really fast.

Sure, here it is:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/1640096

[DirkSwizzler]

SuperG. Do you happen to have a link handy where I could buy a replacement sync stripper switch from the gscartsw 3.4?

I accidentally got a tiny amount of very strong epoxy in it when mounting my low pass filter switch. If you don't have a part number or link handy then I'll try to figure it out on my own. Was just hoping that you could cut and paste some text really fast.

Sure, here it is:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/1640096

Thanks!

[Johnpv]

Regarding Windy City situation, I've sent couple of mails last week and still no response.

I saw them talking to Voultar on twitter about the issue with their Superguns and how to fix them. Hopefully that means they'll be able to address the issue.

[cdamm]

Regarding Windy City situation, I've sent couple of mails last week and still no response.

I saw them talking to Voultar on twitter about the issue with their Superguns and how to fix them. Hopefully that means they'll be able to address the issue.

Havent logged onto shmups in quite some time, but i just found out about this thread. ..

I own windy gaming. I was just made aware of the issue. I havent gotten anything about this from superg- i hope he has my correct email. I had to find out about this via a you tube video that was tweeted at me. if anyone is having issues with this, please let me know. It's impossible to troubleshoot something like this without direct conversation with those involved. While i was trying to see what was going on with the folks on twitter, I wasn't getting any direct responses. If someone is having an issue with my machine PLEASE let me know. If i dont know about an issue, then I cant help. Then it festers and people get upset. My whole business is customer service based. Just tell me whats going on and i can at the very least try to put you in a better spot than you were in before.

I tend to live on the neo forums these days (same user name) and can be quickly reached there as im not here that often. That or email, facebook, twitter. I even have a business phone line you can reach me direct at on my site. I'm available to those that need help here. I genuinely want to get this thing straightened out.

[superg]

Regarding Windy City situation, I've sent couple of mails last week and still no response.

I saw them talking to Voultar on twitter about the issue with their Superguns and how to fix them. Hopefully that means they'll be able to address the issue.

Havent logged onto shmups in quite some time, but i just found out about this thread. ..

I own windy gaming. I was just made aware of the issue. I havent gotten anything about this from superg- i hope he has my correct email. I had to find out about this via a you tube video that was tweeted at me. if anyone is having issues with this, please let me know. It's impossible to troubleshoot something like this without direct conversation with those involved. While i was trying to see what was going on with the folks on twitter, I wasn't getting any direct responses. If someone is having an issue with my machine PLEASE let me know. If i dont know about an issue, then I cant help. Then it festers and people get upset. My whole business is customer service based. Just tell me whats going on and i can at the very least try to put you in a better spot than you were in before.

I tend to live on the neo forums these days (same user name) and can be quickly reached there as im not here that often. That or email, facebook, twitter. I even have a business phone line you can reach me direct at on my site. I'm available to those that need help here. I genuinely want to get this thing straightened out.

I've sent you two emails specified on your website, details in my following PM.

[cdamm]

I've sent you two emails specified on your website, details in my following PM.

Ok. replied to the pm. Since the pm system seems to still take a while here, i'll repeat the basics of what i said-

You sent me an email to the wrong email address (one not advertised anywhere) in july. Then another on monday forwarded from that same email. It apparently landed in my junk filter as a 'cannot send' error message. Please send me the original email to the one advertised on my site without the forwarding from the non-existant email . I sent you a screencap of exactly what i got from you.

Also to note- Im traveling off an on for the next two weeks. Convention this week and a family wedding next week. I'll be in and out until about halloween, so pardon me if i dont respond immediately. Messaging me directly on facebook or twitter will get fastest responses since those are constantly running.

also- anyone with superguns and an issue let me know please. since none of the people with an issue have addressed me direct yet.

[clintkolodziej]

Regarding Windy City situation, I've sent couple of mails last week and still no response.

I saw Windy City Gaming and Voultar (and a few others) discussing this on Twitter yesterday. I told them to check their mail and linked them over here also. Hopefully that helps.

[clintkolodziej]

Regarding Windy City situation, I've sent couple of mails last week and still no response.

I saw Windy City Gaming and Voultar (and a few others) discussing this on Twitter yesterday. I told them to check their mail and linked them over here also. Hopefully that helps.

Windy City Gaming said they just responded, they said the email didn't go to the right address so they didn't see it till now.

[cdamm]

Windy City Gaming said they just responded, they said the email didn't go to the right address so they didn't see it till now.

just windy gaming, man. no city.


windy city gaming (a company formed after mine) does gambling. I dont want anyone associating my business with them.

[clintkolodziej]

Windy City Gaming said they just responded, they said the email didn't go to the right address so they didn't see it till now.

just windy gaming, man. no city.


windy city gaming (a company formed after mine) does gambling. I dont want anyone associating my business with them.

Sorry about that! I'm just outside of Chicago, my mind went on autopilot I guess since there are so many things named Windy City around here.

[cdamm]

Sorry about that! I'm just outside of Chicago, my mind went on autopilot I guess since there are so many things named Windy City around here.

lol. it's ok. it happens more times that you can imagine.

[arithmaldor]

Waiting for someone else to make PS1 and Saturn solutions personally. PSIO can't hold more than 32 gb and has bad compatibility I don't really see the point. Same with the rhea.

Both PSIO and Rhea can handle any size card as long as it is formatted in FAT32, I've tested with 64GB on PSIO and 200GB on Rhea. PSIO has 99% compatibility (http://www.cybdyn-systems.com.au:82/bro ... ?filter=-5) and Rhea has so far not had any reported incompatible games (I've personally tested the full US set), as long as they are ripped properly (and smokemonster has a set).

That said, availability for these is really limited, and the Rhea's only option for a menu system is (excellent) homebrew. Personally I think the saturn solution from Professor Abrasive will be the way to go in the future.


Would it be possible to throw some 500ohm potentiometers on the RGB lines from a supergun to prevent blowouts, and adjust as necessary for different arcade PCBs?

[eric90000]

Waiting for someone else to make PS1 and Saturn solutions personally. PSIO can't hold more than 32 gb and has bad compatibility I don't really see the point. Same with the rhea.

Both PSIO and Rhea can handle any size card as long as it is formatted in FAT32, I've tested with 64GB on PSIO and 200GB on Rhea. PSIO has 99% compatibility (http://www.cybdyn-systems.com.au:82/bro ... ?filter=-5) and Rhea has so far not had any reported incompatible games (I've personally tested the full US set), as long as they are ripped properly (and smokemonster has a set).

That said, availability for these is really limited, and the Rhea's only option for a menu system is (excellent) homebrew. Personally I think the saturn solution from Professor Abrasive will be the way to go in the future.


Would it be possible to throw some 500ohm potentiometers on the RGB lines from a supergun to prevent blowouts, and adjust as necessary for different arcade PCBs?

Yeah, I'm currently using a 128GB SD card with my PSIO, formatted to FAT32. It works great with no issues so far. They are currently working on implementing exFAT support into the firmware I believe, which will allow the use of 256GB+ SD cards.

From what I've seen, the new revision of the PSIO is just cosmetic right? New plastic molded cases and connectors or something, I don't think the internals have changed? I could be wrong though...

[LDigital]

I wrote to R.G.B from this very forum who makes the H.A.S supergun. His products are fantastic

Hey mate

I have one of your HAS. Been running great, it’s fantastic

Some people are having some issues with the gscart switch that superg makes when using superguns (not yours, but in general)

Apparently the sync signal is too strong and damaging the switch. So far I haven’t had this issue but wondered what the sync level is from the has, is it TTL or something lower?

Thanks

—\0—\0—\0—\0—\0—\0

Hi,

Thank you for pointing this out.

The CSync in HAS is TTL indeed, but not in every unit. HAS V2 is TTL, and most of the HAS V2.1 units are something between 75R and TTL (basically, they have a 470R inline resistor on the CSync), so the 75R devices get ~0.5-0.7Vp-p CSync which is still in voltage specs when you consider the Composite Video itself is ~1Vp-p.
When connected to TTL devices (1-2.2K termination) the CSync will be around 2.7-4Vp-p.

Most devices have some sort of over-voltage protection, like external clamp diodes (or just diodes built-in the IC itself), or the IC having +5V tolerant I/Os, so I'm a bit worried to hear the switch gets damaged.

Either way, this surely needs to be addressed one way or another, so I will send out group communication to all HAS V2 and V2.1 owners (I don't have the list of people who have the 470R resistor in V2.1, the batch was divided) via email, along with a simple tutorial how to add a resistor to the Scart cable or the HAS unit itself, send out resistors to those who can't buy them and/or offer help to people without soldering skills.

If you could make a picture of the back of your HAS unit, I can confirm if it has the resistor.

Kind regards,

[superg]

I wrote to R.G.B from this very forum who makes the H.A.S supergun. His products are fantastic
Most devices have some sort of over-voltage protection, like external clamp diodes (or just diodes built-in the IC itself), or the IC having +5V tolerant I/Os, so I'm a bit worried to hear the switch gets damaged.

The multiplexers I use are -2.5V .. +2.5V, let's not forget about AC.

[superg]

My manufacturer got replacement crystals and they are working hard to ship lite batch this week. Looking forward to it!

[cdamm]

So after a very brief back and forth with superg:

As i stated earlier regarding the email situation. Per Superg:

Regarding Windy City situation, I've sent couple of mails last week and still no response.

The couple of emails sent were one in july to not my email address (and where he sent it to was not advertised anywhere). The other one was sent this past monday as a forwarded email from the bad email address. Email cant work that way. So after some looking I found an unreadable email from him in my junk folder from monday. Via PM i asked that he forward me his original email which was nothing but a link to this thread not any sort of 'hey this is going on what can we do' type of message. I then asked if i could get a hold of one of his switches for a brief time. I offered to pay shipping both ways and if anything happened to it (which it wouldn't since i wasn't planning on running my supergun through it), i would pay for it in full. He did not see any reason why i would want to see this switch. I'm still waiting on a reply to my last email. We were online at the same time this morning and emailing back and forth. He has since posted twice in this thread so it's safe to assume he isn't planning on emailing me back.

Now on to the issue at hand:

After sifting through almost 30 pages of this thread and figuring out what was relevant to me, this is what i can conclude is going on in relation with this switch and my supergun:

The supergun doesn't output TTL sync so it can't be that. It puts out composite video terminated with a 470uf cap and 75 ohm resistor in accordance with the video encoder's (CXA1145, same as model 1 genesis) datasheet. The only thing I can think of is that the switch doesn't properly handle 12V signals through pin 8 and subsequently the blanking pin (pin 16). The scart spec allows up to 12V on pin 8 to force a 4:3 aspect ratio and the blanking pin on the receiving device (i.e. scart TV) has an internal 75 ohm pulldown to complete the voltage divider to bring the blanking voltage to proper range of 1-3V to detect RGB video signals. The supergun cable has a 560 ohm resistor between pin 8 and pin 16 with 12V directly fed into pin 8. It's very similar in construction to a Dreamcast scart cable except that the inline RGB caps (also terminated with 470uf cap and 75 ohm resistor) are in the unit instead of the scart hood.

Here is the DC scart info:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/ ... .htm#dcast

Manual switches do not have switching logic in them. Automatic ones have chips that tell it what to do. If what he used are not ones with 12v in mind, all sorts of things can go wrong when you introduce a 12v signal.

I would probably bet that if you ran a dreamcast via scart through this switch you would blow it as well. Im pretty sure this has never happened because who would run scart when you can run the DC in vga. Short of asking someone to 'take one for the team' and see if a dreamcast on scart would blow this switch as well, i dont know what else to say.

[superg]

The supergun doesn't output TTL sync so it can't be that. It puts out composite video terminated with a 470uf cap and 75 ohm resistor in accordance with the video encoder's (CXA1145, same as model 1 genesis) datasheet. The only thing I can think of is that the switch doesn't properly handle 12V signals through pin 8 and subsequently the blanking pin (pin 16). The scart spec allows up to 12V on pin 8 to force a 4:3 aspect ratio and the blanking pin on the receiving device (i.e. scart TV) has an internal 75 ohm pulldown to complete the voltage divider to bring the blanking voltage to proper range of 1-3V to detect RGB video signals. The supergun cable has a 560 ohm resistor between pin 8 and pin 16 with 12V directly fed into pin 8.

I would probably bet that if you ran a dreamcast via scart through this switch you would blow it as well. Im pretty sure this has never happened because who would run scart when you can run the DC in vga. Short of asking someone to 'take one for the team' and see if a dreamcast on scart would blow this switch as well, i dont know what else to say.

Pin 8 and Pin 16 are disconnected in my switch. The signal detection is performed using sync and on output I force RGB mode and 4:3 aspect ratio. Yes, I (testing) and a lot of other switch users are using Dreamcast directly connected using SCART cable.

[cdamm]

Pin 8 and Pin 16 are disconnected in my switch. The signal detection is performed using sync and on output I force RGB mode and 4:3 aspect ratio. Yes, I (testing) and a lot of other switch users are using Dreamcast directly connected using SCART cable.

that still doesn't address why you said im using ttl sync when im outputting composite video.

[superg]

Pin 8 and Pin 16 are disconnected in my switch. The signal detection is performed using sync and on output I force RGB mode and 4:3 aspect ratio. Yes, I (testing) and a lot of other switch users are using Dreamcast directly connected using SCART cable.

that still doesn't address why you said im using ttl sync when im outputting composite video.

I never said that. Never owned supergun, don't know what it outputs.

[gusmoney]

Is anyone looking at this gscart switch for fault??

I have run plenty of boards through my SG and sub-$300 switch and nothing is blowing up. Non-technical diagnosis, I know, but I am curious if all angles are being pursued here.

[Radiantsvgun]

Is anyone looking at this gscart switch for fault??

I have run plenty of boards through my SG and sub-$300 switch and nothing is blowing up. Non-technical diagnosis, I know, but I am curious if all angles are being pursued here.

This.

The times I did use a SG, I never ran it through any kind of switcher or upscaler. PCBs are finicky enough with power and sync.

[superg]

Pin 8 and Pin 16 are disconnected in my switch. The signal detection is performed using sync and on output I force RGB mode and 4:3 aspect ratio. Yes, I (testing) and a lot of other switch users are using Dreamcast directly connected using SCART cable.

that still doesn't address why you said im using ttl sync when im outputting composite video.

I never said that. Never owned supergun, don't know what it outputs.

In email I just suggested that if ttl is used that it has to be protected by resistor.

[Voultar]

It could be inrush current from when you power the Arcade PCB from the S.G. What kind of supply is being stuffed into these?

Did these switches pop mid-game? Or did they pop when the PCB was powered?

Does the Windy City Gaming S.G. have protection diodes or any kind of protection on there? The same question can be asked for the GSCART switch, too.

The best thing to do would be to put that Super Gun on an oscilloscope and measure the ramp-up on power-on. I'd capture plots of each rail, both with a PCB and w/o.

^ It could be violating the maximum power specifications of whatever SuperG is stuffing those switches with.

[cdamm]

It could be in-rush current from when you power the Arcade PCB from the S.G. What kind of supply is being stuffed into these?

Did these switches pop mid-game? Or did they pop when the PCB was powered?

Does the Windy City Gaming S.G. have protection diodes or any kind of protection on there? The same question can be asked for the GSCART switch, too.

1) we are using a meanwell switching power supply

2) no idea, this needs to be asked to the people who had their switch popped.

3) It does not have any protection diodes, but neither do most retro systems.


-also superg- my bad- someone else was talking about the ttl thing, it's a lot of stuff to sort through. i got the initial poster confused.

Could it be that the jamma audio was to high and the audio attenuation switch was not on? would that cause voltage fluxuations that could damage other components? the video signal from pcbs are already toned down to 0.7vpp when they go into the encoder and also come out at 0.7vpp.

This.

The times I did use a SG, I never ran it through any kind of switcher or upscaler. PCBs are finicky enough with power and sync.

A lot of our customers use the supergun directly on the xrgb and ossc and none of them have blown. Otherwise we would have received massive complaints by now and addressed this issue a long time ago.

[cdamm]

superg- is your audio switcher only rated for line level?

[clintkolodziej]

Maybe this was mentioned earlier, but I didn't see it. Has there been any issues reported with superguns on the previous versions of the switch (ex: v3.4 or older)? Perhaps something has changed on the new model that makes it less tolerant to whatever is causing the issue with the superguns? I would guess that those folks that are using superguns would have brought up the issue long ago if this was something that affected the older versions. If there was change in how the inputs on the switch are protected, or with how the signal path leads to the chips that are blowing out, maybe that may shed light on what is the cause of the failures with these devices all of a sudden, and how to modify the input signals from the superguns to prevent them from frying people's gscartsw_lites.

Conversely, has there been any changes or newer revisions of superguns? Same thing applies, its just odd that this is happening all of a sudden since I'm sure someone had to have tried using these with gscartsw devices in the past.

As info, I'm aware that modded consoles and devices such as superguns have never been officially supported. I'm just trying to help think this out so those folks who do wish to use these devices with the switch can know what to watch out for, and so companies like Windy Gaming can assist their customers in making them work with the gscartsw_lite since it is the best SCART switch available.

[superg]

Did these switches pop mid-game? Or did they pop when the PCB was powered?

Several users reported that it popped out after some time, not instantly. So far only one IC blown, the others just died and shorted / loaded -2.5V power rail.

Does the Windy City Gaming S.G. have protection diodes or any kind of protection on there? The same question can be asked for the GSCART switch, too.

There is nothing before multiplexer, different multiplexers are used in gscartsw v3.4 and gscartsw_lite, v3.4 ones clamp -2.5V..+2.5V range and lite -5V..+5V range. Lite has sync 600OHm resistor after the multiplexer for additional protection. I had both v3.4 and lite switches for repair from the same Windy City supergun.

The best thing to do would be to put that Super Gun on an oscilloscope and measure the ramp-up on power-on. I'd capture plots of each rail, both with a PCB and w/o.

Fully agree, that's the proper way of doing it.

^ It could be violating the maximum power specifications of whatever SuperG is stuffing those switches with.

I supply these power supplies https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/ ... ND/5023722
Maximum switch consumption is less than 100mA, couple of owners are using +5V from switch to power additional devices.

A lot of our customers use the supergun directly on the xrgb and ossc and none of them have blown. Otherwise we would have received massive complaints by now and addressed this issue a long time ago.

I can say the same about gscartsw, but this kind of comparison is not productive.

superg- is your audio switcher only rated for line level?

If by line level you mean standard SCART stereo audio level: 0.40 mVrms, > 47K ohms then yes. Similar multiplexers are used for audio (-2.5V..+2.5V for v3.4 and -5V..+5V for lite), I guess if it's in that range it's all good. If it's amplified - it's a problem. Actually this could be the case because all multiplexers are on the same power rail so it can easily damage other components.

[superg]

Maybe this was mentioned earlier, but I didn't see it. Has there been any issues reported with superguns on the previous versions of the switch (ex: v3.4 or older)? Perhaps something has changed on the new model that makes it less tolerant to whatever is causing the issue with the superguns? I would guess that those folks that are using superguns would have brought up the issue long ago if this was something that affected the older versions. If there was change in how the inputs on the switch are protected, or with how the signal path leads to the chips that are blowing out, maybe that may shed light on what is the cause of the failures with these devices all of a sudden, and how to modify the input signals from the superguns to prevent them from frying people's gscartsw_lites.

Conversely, has there been any changes or newer revisions of superguns? Same thing applies, its just odd that this is happening all of a sudden since I'm sure someone had to have tried using these with gscartsw devices in the past.

As info, I'm aware that modded consoles and devices such as superguns have never been officially supported. I'm just trying to help think this out so those folks who do wish to use these devices with the switch can know what to watch out for, and so companies like Windy Gaming can assist their customers in making them work with the gscartsw_lite since it is the best SCART switch available.

Well, first of all so far I had units for repair damaged only by Windy City supergun conversion but to be on the safe side I just can't say that other superguns are compatible. Both switch versions were here for the repair, just got another unit .

[cdamm]

superg- is your audio switcher only rated for line level?

If by line level you mean standard SCART stereo audio level: 0.40 mVrms, > 47K ohms then yes. Similar multiplexers are used for audio (-2.5V..+2.5V for v3.4 and -5V..+5V for lite), I guess if it's in that range it's all good. If it's amplified - it's a problem. Actually this could be the case because all multiplexers are on the same power rail so it can easily damage other components.

Yes your correct. That is what we mean by line level. However JAMMA games have amplified sound because they are intended to drive independent speakers. Jamma Audio amps are usually powered by a 12v source which means it can easily exceed the thresholds of 5v switching logic.

A lot of our customers use the supergun directly on the xrgb and ossc and none of them have blown. Otherwise we would have received massive complaints by now and addressed this issue a long time ago.

I can say the same about gscartsw, but this kind of comparison is not productive.

It actually is a productive comparison. Given that both of them are effectively video switchers as well, since they have multiple audio and video inputs. Now clearly they have the ability to handle the video and audio inputs from the supergun without blowing any ic's from the switching logic.

Did these switches pop mid-game? Or did they pop when the PCB was powered?

Several users reported that it popped out after some time, not instantly. So far only one IC blown, the others just died and shorted / loaded -2.5V power rail.

Per the customers directly to me via twitter they are telling me that it popped instantly.

Does the Windy City Gaming S.G. have protection diodes or any kind of protection on there? The same question can be asked for the GSCART switch, too.

There is nothing before multiplexer, different multiplexers are used in gscartsw v3.4 and gscartsw_lite, v3.4 ones clamp -2.5V..+2.5V range and lite -5V..+5V range. Lite has sync 600OHm resistor after the multiplexer for additional protection. I had both v3.4 and lite switches for repair from the same Windy City supergun.

as we stated above the audio amp on JAMMA boards is powered by 12v. In the absolute worst case scenario the voltage swing can be 0-12v. This is far above the ranges you just listed.

The best thing to do would be to put that Super Gun on an oscilloscope and measure the ramp-up on power-on. I'd capture plots of each rail, both with a PCB and w/o.

Fully agree, that's the proper way of doing it.

We can get that done if you really need that, but given the evidence above I'm inclined to believe that it is related to the audio switching logic and that is shorting out the other rails. At this point it is kind of a stretch to ask us for this considering we are using a brand name power supply.