Gen/Saturn|Guide:Converting a RF unit into a composite cable

[Hatta]

So am I right in thinking that the RF box must contain the RF modulator? If so, would this work the other way? I mean, put female RCA connectors on the RF box and now you have a generic composite -> RF adaptor?

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

As I remember the RF Adapter for the Genesis 2 only has the pins to take the composite and mono signals from the Genesis 2's AV Multiout.

My RF adapter has 3 pins, and when I opened the RF box it had a ground a three signal wires soldered to the board.. Like I said, it's a third party adapter so I'm not sure if the Sega RF has only two pins or not, but this is what mine had.

Tell me if that works Ziggy, Ive got a Saturn one just sitting around.

It worked!

I know that my official Sega one only has two pins, but I haven't touched it in like two years or so, so I could be wrong.

[Ziggy]

So am I right in thinking that the RF box must contain the RF modulator? If so, would this work the other way? I mean, put female RCA connectors on the RF box and now you have a generic composite -> RF adaptor?

Yeah, that should work. Fitting the female jacks on the box might be hard though. Out of the two that I opened, the PCB inside took up all the space. You'd be better off having like 6 inches of wire coming out of the box and ending in female RCA jacks. Like in this picture, only Red, White and Yellow (I couldn't find a better pic).

Yeah, that'd be kinda funny I suppose. You could make a generic RF adapter and use it with a DVD player or something lol.

[Hatta]

Nice. I haul my Xbox to hotels frequently, and the RF switcher I have is total crap. This might be workable. But now that I think about it, doesn't RF modulation require some power along the way somewhere?

[Ziggy]

Now that I think about it... The PCB on my Genesis RF adapter had some letters by the inputs. G, for ground obviously, A for audio, V for video, then 5V which I am assuming is 5 volts. I don't know a whole lot when it comes to this sort of thing, but I have that hooked up to one of the audio wires on the composite cable and everything works just fine.

[emwearz]

Wow, didn't expect a reply, judging on a earlier thread when I asked the question, no one seemed interested. I'm really glad people have some use for this.

Tell me if that works Ziggy, Ive got a Saturn one just sitting around.

emwearz excellent work. Do you mind if this gets added to the site?

Which site?

Do you think this could be done for the Saturn RF adapter as well?

Though you beat me to it, yes this should work for most RF units, but as I don't own a Saturn RF unit I couldn't test it and didn't want people hacking up there Saturn RF units on false info, thanks for letting me know it works, I'll edit the description and a bit of my text. Cheers.

Hold on is it in stereo or dual mono?

As posted in my other thread, Its mono (On first party RF unit) as the pins only allow it to be. If you want stereo sound you will need to buy a new 9pin mini din, which are not that easy to find. It is my understanding that some cables / RF units have the pins to do stereo, mine didn't.

[Ziggy]

Wow, didn't expect a reply, judging on a earlier thread when I asked the question, no one seemed interested. I'm really glad people have some use for this.

I didn't see that other thread. I am always interested in this sort of thing, and this particular thing REALLY helped me out. Thanks again for posting this man, I had no idea you were able to do that.

Do you mind if this gets added to the site?

Which site?

This site.

It is my understanding that some cables / RF units have the pins to do stereo, mine didn't.

Apparently mine did. It was a Pelican brand, if any one wants to know.

[emwearz]

I didn't see that other thread. I am always interested in this sort of thing, and this particular thing REALLY helped me out. Thanks again for posting this man, I had no idea you were able to do that.

No worries, to be honest I didn't either, I knew you could make your own cables, but after looking everywhere for the mini din I decided I would try to use the RF units one, well you saw the results. I'm glad it helped, helped me to...free upgrades FTW!

This site.

Of course not, my only request is that in the future I am opening a site (Mainly a review site) with a few people. I plan to have a section with guides and articles so if in the future there could be a link to that then I wouldn't mind in the slightest, if someone just wants to send me a PM about if that could happen that would be great.

It is my understanding that some cables / RF units have the pins to do stereo, mine didn't.

Apparently mine did. It was a Pelican brand, if any one wants to know.

Ahh thanks for clearing that up, I will do another edit, also did you offical Sega one for your Saturn output in stereo?

[Hobie-wan]

For anyone that is going to do this, do yourself a favor and buy some heat shrink tubing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_shrink_tubing

So much better looking around small wires than electrical tape and it won't unravel and start collecting all the dust and hair from behind your TV.

Just don't forget to slip the piece of tubing onto one end of the wire before you solder

[emwearz]

It doesnt really matter as the tape is inside the RF unit. You could do it if you want a pro finish, but it is not really needed.