Building a custom NES power adapter - NES Restoration [Part 1] 

That Mario cartridge is quite rare! They didn’t make many and it’s a 5 screw version which means it is a very very early cartridge - Nintendo quickly switched to the special tamper-resistant three-screw version. Also, in the USA Nintendo quickly made a combination Super Mario / Duck Hunt combo cartridge and thusly discontinued the single Super Mario game. 😀

4:37 Ah, yes, the Australian power outlets. I love how they look; they always remind me of _The Scream_ by Edvard Munch.

That "NTSC Great Britain" joke killed me like Windows 10 kills my system resources.

"I sure hope this is what I hope it is!" -MattKC, 1985

Highly underrated channel. I'm very happy I found it. Please make more technology videos! :)

Be careful with a Japanese Famicom! It has no such rectifier! I fried my Famicom by using a Genesis power supply.

The cartridge literally says "some games" lmao

How that NES didn't explode upon plugging it in, I have no idea. Definitely will be waiting for that part 2.

Also a wire brush can solve the corroded pins issue.

6:45 As a brit, i can tell you that is a British moth

The reason why most DC electronics don't use rectifiers is because rectifiers contain diodes, which represent a power loss. They waste power in the form of heat, and they can waste a lot of heat. You can boil water using a diode passing too much current.

8-bit guy quality content, im glad i found ur chanel !

Regarding the 72-Pin connector, I fixed mine by bending the pins to make better contact. Worked a treat.

This was the first model of NES i played back in the day. Got my first NES in 2010 and it was the front loader and i started to have issues getting tames to work due to the 72 pin connector wear and tear. Last year i bought an AV stereo modded top loader and its a great improvement. Great video guy.

Hi man, just wanted to say that I'm impressed by your video production quality. It has a right mix of jokes, B-roll and voiceovers which makes it very enjoyable to watch. Kind of like LGR (a RU-vidr) style, which is very nice. Keep up the good work!

Awesome video! I love your presentation and humor, not only on this video but on your others too (the training videos had me in stitches). I'm not sure how I found your channel but I'm glad I did!

My Florida NES is is just fine. You could say its BOG standard.

This channel is going to get big. Keep making quality content like this and you won't have any issues getting seen. Just a matter of time!

I love retro games/systems and watching you restore them is intriguing and very relaxing. Your videos are awesome; thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Easy sub.

Woah I see one of your vids was getting pushed, and now 4K subs! Hell yeah man! Always loved your content. Now YT is showing love. Anyways, great video. Never thought I’d see anyone try to do this to an NES. Very cool and creative Matt.

In my experience, you can salvage the existing 72-pin connector by gently bending the pins. Once done properly, the cartridge should feel firm and snug when pushed in, not loose. It can take a bit of patience, and some trial and error, but it works.

2:09 -- LMFAO I see what you did there

I am from your last video, I love this type of stuff, keep it up :) Keep tinkering away!

I know this is an ancient video, but for posterity: AC is usually measured in RMS, so multiply by 1.414 for peak when rectifying, then subtract two diode drops from the rectifier (typically 0.6V * 2). 9VAC becomes more like 11.5VDC. If you input DC, then you can skip the first part and just subtract the diode drops. Fortunately, in my limited understanding of the NES, much of it runs off a 5V regulator, which requires around 7V input as minimum.

1:27 nes camouflage

0:04 love the way he said "oh boy!" here lmao

I restored an NES with my dad a few months ago, and we went through nearly the same as you. We just bought a new slot and cleaned everything else a little.

imagine living in the era in the NES, getting your first NES. man, id be excited NOW to get an nes

That bug in the cartridge slot reminds me of the PS2 I bought off ebay as "for parts/not working", intending to use it as a donor for parts for my childhood PS2. Once I received it, I swiftly went to opening it up to grab parts only to be met by an absolute infestation of dead bugs. All the bug guts were rusting the metal shielding. Turns out the parts weren't compatible with my specific model revision, so I just chucked the shielding into a tub of vinegar, left it for a few days, started scrubbing, and it started up and read games just fine. Now that PS2 is the one I still use to this day. Reselient little thing it is.

The “Happy Birthday” paper makes the beginning skit.

Sometimes in the zif ( that's the cartridge slot ) the pins are bent down (the springy side ) you can bend them back with exacto knife and clean the pins with 800 grit sandpaper on something thin (like a guitar pick or thin piece of plastic) ..... is the tv flashing a color or is it not flashing at all ? oh love the video ..

Hey there matt! Something to try is put your finger on the not h of the cartridge and give it a good wiggle. If you see the startup screen flashing, then press the reset button. This revived my NES

6:25 -- wow. Talk about a COMPUTER BUG... yukyukyuk Also, there's yer problem, lady! -- Eric O.

What a wholesome video. I like this guy. Give him a cookie.

MattKC I'm the kid who makes that video of alcohol 5 years ago! 😁 I was too young and didn't know that there is a warning about using them hahahaha. Sorry for my ignorance at that time.

I used to play on the nes when I was like 5, it was so much fun

The blinking light issue on the NES, if the game loads pressing the RESET button allows it to remain on solid. I rarely needed to clean my carts and those that did require cleaning were those that were blown into. The corrosion found on the pins connectors on most NES consoles can be attributed to that malpractice. How they were stored, that's a different story. The game would work but early on I am sure many of us must have stopped doing that especially if you got scolded by vendors at your local flea market. I annoyed the heck out of them when commenting about that. Even back then during the early 90's, we were told to keep the pins on the carts clean and not to blow into them. We never listened. I just wanted to play the game, but eventually all learn the hard way thinking out brains are all big and all during that age. Yeah right.

man I love your videos

I power my PAL NES with a 9V guitar pedal powersupply. I just twisted and elec-taped the proper connector to the cable and it works like charm 😅

You matched the 8 Bit Guy style _perfectly._

That bug looks identical to an English house moth, we get tons of them here.

"Even using the infamous "blowing the cartridge" technique." -MattKC

Awesome to see solder and a DMM from Dick smith electronics!

If the humidity in florida doesn't ruin it, the ocean breeze will! Hope you like missing clear coat on your cars!

4:20 Behold,the glory of the FOOOOL BRIDGE RECTIFIER! (To quote Electroboom.) They're nifty devices. Because of them,some devices are like the honey badger,they don't care,just feed them the approx. correct voltage,AC,DC,either polarity,It'll take care of the rest.

OMG The 8-Bit Guy is one of my favorite RU-vidrs

There are a lot of US Military personnel in the UK and it's not really that rare to encounter electronics from "the wrong region", usually with the required transformer as part of the package.

Awesome video!

I have before powered my NES using an SNES power adaptor!

6:10 yes it was kept in an extremely humid environment called great britain, which is where the rain goes when irish people wish for it to go away (ireland is where the rain goes when anyone else wishes for rain to go away.)

I appreciate the use of the sloppy opening clip in 5:28. Also you blue balled me, I was expecting to hear the satisfying sound of the cartridge being inserted but it never came :(

cool content man, keep it going.

Your toothbrush and rubbing alcohol will clean the ports pins and use an old pink eraser on the motherboard pins where the connector slides on. its usually all that's needed but if it still doesn't work, you can, as someone suggested, bend the pins (you only need to bend the top pins, the bottom ones should be fine). If you bend the pins you shouldn't be required to push the cartridge down when you play any longer, you can just slide the cart in and turn it on and it should work. You can also try this without bending the pins, after a clean, to see if it will play. I have been doing this since the 80's and never need to push my game down and it works like new 100% every time and I've had my console since '86, so long as the game is cleaned (I use an eraser on my games contacts). I've been using this method long before youtube was invented and everyone I know that I've done this to their NES, their system still works flawlessly and without having to push their games down.

Great content ! Subbed.

music at 1:04 is Akumajo Dracula - Vampire Killer (X68000)

Month: christmas Wrapping paper :Happy Bday!

0:23 he's playing some game's

OH MAN I NEED SECOND PART

This reminds me of all the times I took my NES apart. Then you learn about bent pins that you could push back. DAMN YOU NINTENDO

0:06 This moment when you see that your wrapping paper for your brother has a "Happy Birthday" on it

I wish NESes could talk now, because I need to sit down and listen to this one's story.

when my friend got an NES with the same issues, i got it up and running for him. looking up solutions online, i boiled the connector in water as a way of cleaning it, then i went and got a hook of some kind (can't remember what i used) and bent the pins back in place so they'd make good contact. after that the system worked without any issues

You are so interesting to watch, please make more retro tech videos

I love these videos

Nintendo had the transformer outside the box to get around regulations for a device that would have high voltages. And so the AC adapter was just the transformer outside the box. All voltage regulation was inside the NES. It can take a range of voltages; the official adapter produced 10.5 volts AC when I tested it way back when, so 9.3 here isn't high at all.

Over time the NES cartridge pins get bent out of shape from pushing the cartridge down. It is pretty easy to get a small flat blade screw driver under the pins to bend them back up. This will let the cartridge make better contact with the connector. I've fixed an NES this way before, no replacement slot needed.

This is the second video I've seen of yours now talking about the NES AC input. I'm not sure if you're just ignoring it for time or simplicity, or if you don't know, but the voltage rating of an AC power supply is in volts RMS. When you rectify that to DC you don't end up with a DC voltage equal to the AC RMS voltage, you get the AC voltage multiplied by the square root of 2, minus the forward voltage drop of the rectifier diodes. TL:DR The NES runs on 12VDC internally, not 9VDC. It'll probably work fine on 9VDC, but a 12V DC power supply would be closer to the original power source.

"Florida ruins everything good". That's the most true statement I have ever heard.

Now that you live in the US, that means that this NES has made a journey across nearly the whole world.

Nice content!

Have fun with the nes. Also had never one but got it like 15 years ago with a four score ect.

I just realised that the "Christmas gift" is wrapped in obviously birthday-themed paper.

We had an NES^^ But only a few games, like Mario Bros, a Legend of Zelda Game and Lolo.

Loved the music gave me a nostalgic feeling when I was in my teens, what is the title of the tune?

The NES was wrapped in a happy birthday wrapper

Love how he uses keygen music.

I love your videos, they are ridiculous.

I watched 22 seconds of your video, and I was like wow you aged well lol. Its been over 30 years, and you still look like your 17 years old. Whats your secret? Ok lets keep watching. Btw love your videos.

4:15 there are two main reasons why gadgets don’t typically use bridge rectifiers on their power inputs: 1. added cost; 2. power losses. In a bridge rectifier, the power always flows through two diodes, so you have two diode voltage drops (2x0.7V=1.4V). So whatever current the device draws, you get that much power lost as heat in the diodes. (For example, if the device draws 0.5A, then it will waste 0.5Ax1.4V=0.7W of power in the diodes.) On an AC adapter, this wouldn’t really matter, but it’d be terrible on battery (where a bridge rectifier could theoretically be used to allow batteries to be inserted either way). So given that the power brick is typically included with the device, manufacturers prefer to just say “USE ONLY WITH SUPPLIED AC ADAPTER”, save the cost of the bridge rectifier, and just ensure the device and power brick are designed for each other. Nintendo is a bit of an outlier, in that they tend to design their stuff to be nearly indestructible. In this case, they clearly just have all of the power supply regulation circuitry in the console itself (whereas most modern stuff has it entirely in the power brick), and used an inexpensive AC wall wart that’s just a transformer and nothing else. Rectification, smoothing, and regulation is all done in the console, and it doesn’t mind being fed DC instead of AC.

Speaking from experience, the old slot would still work had you bent the pins as they just bend with use and bending them back into position fixes it, corrosion is not a problem really.

Okay. I subscribed 10 seconds in due to that intro.

Yeah...Happy Birthday on Christmas... it's like me offering gift cards, that has a married couple on them, to my family. XD

He got 12k subs in a couple weeks. GJ

Ahh man. You never experienced picking up the controller, grabbing it by the cord, swinging it around as fast as possible like a scooter kid at a skate park and cracking your best friend in the side of the head with the god awful sharp corners of the controller?! 🤣🤣 Those were the days!!

The beginning reminds me of how our grandma nes broke i hope i can fix it

My C64 II can also run on 9VAC/5VDC and 9VDC/5VDC and my problem was that the original power brick from the C64 was broken it puts out over 15VAC/9VDC so i just used an old ATX power supply and installed a 9V DC/DC converter and soldered on the cable from the broken PSU and it worked like a charm. Another good thing is that I can power the C64 and the Floppy Drive with this one ATX PSU.

_"This Nintendo console has seen some sh*t. It might rob you in a back alley."_ 🤣

I can't wait to play some games! Inserts cartridge labeled "some games:

Congrats on reinventing TipExchange.

Lol. “Oh wow a Nintendo Entertainment System from Nintendo maker of entertainment systems!” Bro 😂

Dude did a better refurbishing job than DK oldies

1985: Nintendo releases NES 1986: Катастрофа в ЧАЭС

Crt: u ok bro nes: i see the light

Strange fact, the hard wired ring doorbell takes 24v AC? People were complaining that the adapter didn’t show which was positive as you have to fix bare wires round screws on the back of the unit. It’s the first digital device I’ve ever seen that uses an AC power adapter.

oh man i love blowing the cartridge

"I sure hope this is what i hope it is"

Interesting stuff

You likely just need to pull out the top row of pins and bend them a tiny bit back down to restore the proper tension. How loose does the slot feel when inserting a cart? If it feels like it doesn't have any grip on it at all then yeah it's likely just needs to be re-tensioned. I didn't have to mess with the bottom row on mine. But you may also need to re-tension those too. Though those are usually easier since they are more accessible. There's a hole near the back of every top pin on the slot enclosure. You use a small tool to push the metal tab down on each pin that keeps in inserted and then pull it out and re-bend them (the bend location is right where the pin gets thinner and you don't have to bend it very far. Just the smallest possible amount you can manage should be more then enough). I did this to the entire top row of pins and after that my NES worked perfectly. Though mine wasn't as dirty as yours. I think with enough work most of the original slots can be repaired this way. It's a shame so many are just tossing them for cheap repros that may be too tight on the cart. I've heard some of the lower quality slot replacements are like that. If there seems to be a lot of corrosion on the pins you may need to also clean the end of the slot that connects to the motherboard....Though that end rarely needs cleaning. :P

Is that a common spot for the NES case to break or do you have my lockout chip modded NES that I sold with no RF shield inside?

Matt sounds like he’s being held at gunpoint in the intro ngl