PCEngineFans.com - The PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Community Forum

NEC TG-16/TE/TurboDuo => TG/PCE Repair/Mod Discussion => Topic started by: tpugmire on November 09, 2011, 08:44:04 AM

Title: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: tpugmire on November 09, 2011, 08:44:04 AM
With the high prices of Turbobooster Pluses these days, I was wondering if anyone knew if it would be possible to duplicate the save functionality from one?   I've never even seen one in person, so I really have no clue if this is even possible, but it might make for some interesting conversation anyway.    :-k
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: MotherGunner on November 09, 2011, 08:54:37 AM
Welcome to the forums.  I don't know of a way and I can't recall if the TGCD base houses such functionality (as I have never owned a TGCD).  DUOs(R/RX) do have this functionality though.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: thesteve on November 09, 2011, 09:07:51 AM
im sure it can be done.
that said, i dont know how it would be done
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: Necromancer on November 09, 2011, 09:20:49 AM
Could a cheap Tennokoe 2 be modified to fit the back of a Turbob?
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: bust3dstr8 on November 09, 2011, 09:22:16 AM
A Tennokoe Bank with a cutting edge Chopsado® would probally work.
I would consult the development team for device use and compatibilty.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: Necromancer on November 09, 2011, 09:24:24 AM
A Tennokoe Bank with a cutting edge Chopsado® would probally work.
I would consult the development team for device use and compatibilty.

Tennokoe Bank cards are for transferring from internal memory only.  Silly buster.  :P
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: tpugmire on November 09, 2011, 10:31:37 AM
Welcome to the forums.  I don't know of a way and I can't recall if the TGCD base houses such functionality (as I have never owned a TGCD).  DUOs(R/RX) do have this functionality though.
Thanks for the warm welcome.  I've been lurking around for the past year or so.  I only have 2 games, so I don't have much to post about. 
From what I've been reading, it sounds like the CD base does have the saving capability.   I was hoping that someone had looked into reverse engineering a cheaper solution.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: thesteve on November 09, 2011, 10:56:31 AM
as i see it its just an issue of knowing how the saves are addressed
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 10, 2011, 09:58:41 AM
I bought a tennokoe 2 and made a booster out of it. all you need is a hack saw blade, some wire, and some rca jacks. open it up, and trim the rounded edges off the connector. It will plug right into the back of a tg16 perfectly. After that all i needed was to tap the audio and video off the connector and run them to rca jacks i installed in the tennokoe 2. 
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: MotherGunner on November 10, 2011, 10:17:56 AM
Welcome to the forums!  Pictures or it didn't happen!  =)
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 10, 2011, 01:05:25 PM
LOL, ok sorry about that. the first picture is the modded tennokoe bank.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 10, 2011, 01:08:26 PM
this second picture is of a booster i made from scratch. I apologize for the terrible quality of the images, i suck hard at photoshopping.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: MotherGunner on November 10, 2011, 02:55:38 PM
Oh wow, that actually looks pretty clean; Both of them.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 10, 2011, 03:10:07 PM
Well the tennokoe mod all i really had to do is drill the three holes and some sloppy soldering on the inside. the other was scratch built. I"m a perfectionist and prefer stuff to look clean on the outside, but i can tell you the inside of that thing is a disaster. It does work though. Albiet over engineered. crap i'm a lousy speller..........weeee
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: MotherGunner on November 10, 2011, 03:28:11 PM
Hey man, as long as it works that's great. 
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 10, 2011, 03:33:34 PM
I appreciate it. Its not on par with what i have seen in these forums, but i'm working on it. at risk of sounding like a suck up, i'm just impressed with what people can do. there are some truly talented people here.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: MotherGunner on November 10, 2011, 03:39:24 PM
Agreed.  A lot of smart guys here.  Thanks to guys like BlueBMW, my son now enjoys a Turbo Express in any region!
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: roflmao on November 10, 2011, 03:52:28 PM
Those are awesome!
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 10, 2011, 04:01:06 PM
the hardest thing was making the turbo logo sticker. I'm terrible at photo shopping. I bought some cheap sticker paper and resized the turbo logo. Not bad i think for a $25 dollar printer and non gloss paper. I have a long ways to go. I think its sparky that makes the stickers for the cd cases. now thats some good stuff. If i were rich i would buy all of them even if i did not own the games.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: Bonknuts on November 10, 2011, 07:14:18 PM
With the high prices of Turbobooster Pluses these days, I was wondering if anyone knew if it would be possible to duplicate the save functionality from one?   I've never even seen one in person, so I really have no clue if this is even possible, but it might make for some interesting conversation anyway.    :-k

 The backup ram system is pretty easy to replicate. It can be done with off the shelf parts (TTL chips). Maybe someone would be interested in making a PCB if I lay out the logic schematic for it.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: tpugmire on November 11, 2011, 01:06:18 AM
So is this something that a lot of people would be interested in?   About how much would something like this cost to build?  I'm willing to help in any way I can.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: Twood1130 on November 25, 2011, 04:49:13 PM
Well for staters we would need to analyze the turbo booster plus, or the turbo cds memory setup.

Then find a compatible memory chip, and make the pins line up to the right pins on the back using the booster as the guide. Then you might be able to do it.

It will be a bit more complicated then how i just said it, but not outside the realm of possibility.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 29, 2011, 08:18:53 AM
A question for anyone more technical than I. Following directions I found online I have made a stereo nes mod. The mod required 1uf capacitors in the circuit. I'm going to assume the capacitors were to stop damage to the system from a spike more so than to improve anything. The question is:  When I soldered wires to the expansion connector on the inside of the Tennokoe bank 2 to turn it into a Booster plus, should I have added capacitors to the audio lines? How about the video?  everything was grounded, is that good enough?
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: thesteve on November 29, 2011, 09:03:28 AM
the capacitor is to block dc voltage.
take a volt meter and test from ground to the pins in question.
if they stay above 0.1Vdc you should have a capacitor.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: HercTNT on November 29, 2011, 09:30:36 AM
really appreciate the feedback on that. I'm gonna test it and makes fixes if needed.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: thesteve on November 30, 2011, 09:08:57 AM
i think bonknuts said in an earlier post that he knew the save circuit.
yes we want a schematic.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: PUSH RUN BUTTON on December 01, 2011, 09:20:33 AM
I know this has been talked about before, but it would be really cool to get a TurboBooster Plus type peripheral that would work with the Express/PCGT. Any new ideas or progress on this sort of item? I'd pay to commission something as long as it was clean and fucntional.
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: thesteve on December 01, 2011, 01:45:51 PM
i expect it would need to be an add on board
the outputs from the expansion port do need capacitors (i checked)
Title: Re: Turbobooster Plus Mod Questions/Idea
Post by: esteban on December 02, 2011, 08:20:23 AM
Nice.

Do you have any plans on building one if these for me?

Thanks in advance. ;)