Hacking Action Replay DS: Question

[KingMegalodon]

I have a crazy question to ask you guys, so please try and bear with me here.

Today I bought an Action Replay DS, with nothing else but the cartridge itself. I asked the guy at Play n' Trade if the port on the back was USB. He said yeah. So I bought it. Well unfortunately I found out that even my smallest USB male-plug will not plug in. I didn't know what to do, I mean I personally don't feel it is worth buying a replacement cable. So I thought: "Maybe I'll donate this to science.. ?" And that is basically it.

Now what I'm assuming is that since that small plug is still USB, that you could somehow do some sort of tricky wiring to enable use of a larger USB cable. Or completely replace the female plug altogether, with another one.

Basically I'm asking if this is possible, and if so: How do I open the cartridge.

Thank you.

P.S: If you couldn't tell, I'm not exactly an expert with wiring and modding of electronics yet.

 

[bRKcRE]

it should just be a miniUSB socket, which is slowly becoming the defacto standard for electronics these days..the cable shouldnt cost more than a few dollars or so..

 

[Atashi]

I think there are a few different mini-usb plug shapes around. There might be one that is becoming a standard, but there are at least a few pieces of equipment that use different shaped connectors. You might need to search around to find a compatible cable.

If you don't mind soldering and don't mind the risk of killing the thing, you can open it up and remove the socket that's in there and replace it with something else. If you're looking for a source of parts, www.digikey.com has just about everything, or www.mouser.com.

-Atashi

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

It is a mini USB type B adapter.

This is what it will look like:

You can find this type of adapter head in those charger sets and the like. That should at least give you an idea what to get if you take a look at them.

Amazon should have them for under 5 bucks.

 

[KingMegalodon]

I think there are a few different mini-usb plug shapes around. There might be one that is becoming a standard, but there are at least a few pieces of equipment that use different shaped connectors. You might need to search around to find a compatible cable.

If you don't mind soldering and don't mind the risk of killing the thing, you can open it up and remove the socket that's in there and replace it with something else. If you're looking for a source of parts, www.digikey.com has just about everything, or www.mouser.com.

-Atashi

Thanks everyone.

Now Atashi, how would I open up the cartridge without damaging anything? And to put another female-plug in would require just soldering it to the same place as the original? Basically?

Posts merged

QUOTE(Atashi @ Mar 23 2010, 06:37 AM) I think there are a few different mini-usb plug shapes around. There might be one that is becoming a standard, but there are at least a few pieces of equipment that use different shaped connectors. You might need to search around to find a compatible cable.

If you don't mind soldering and don't mind the risk of killing the thing, you can open it up and remove the socket that's in there and replace it with something else. If you're looking for a source of parts, www.digikey.com has just about everything, or www.mouser.com.

-Atashi

Thanks everyone.

Now Atashi, how would I open up the cartridge without damaging anything? And to put another female-plug in would require just soldering it to the same place as the original? Basically?

 

[Atashi]

Now Atashi, how would I open up the cartridge without damaging anything? And to put another female-plug in would require just soldering it to the same place as the original? Basically?

It's been so long since I pried mine open, I don't remember exactly how I opened the AR. However, the way I open carts nowadays is just start at the top, find a 'seam', use something flat, sharp and narrow like an X-acto knife or a jeweler's slot screwdriver, and just pry it apart. Get one bit open then work your way around the seam prying carefully. Don't let the tool slide in too far, or you risk damaging the circuit board inside.

As for replacing the plug, yes it's just a matter of desoldering and removing the existing one then soldering in a replacement.

Just a caveat though, if you have never soldered before then it's not that easy. These are surface-mount parts, the leads on the plug are about 1mm apart, so you need a fine tip on the iron, a steady hand, and a big magnifying glass wouldn't hurt.

As far as the pinout, on mine, if you are looking at it with the USB port at the top, and ICs facing up, then the USB pins from left to right are V+, D-, D+, Ground.

-Atashi

p.s. now that I'm at home, I can see the plug on this thing, it's definately a nonstandard / proprietary design.