I've had the parts to do the LCD mod on my old Nomad for about a month now. I'm still learning soldering and practicing on little things before I attempt this. But this video makes it feel a lot less intimidating. I'll be using this as a guide when I finally get the confidence to give it a go. But your videos are great, Mr. Tito. Thanks for the content!
I love the Nomad! It's definitely a device ahead of its time in the most literal sense. The idea was fantastic but the technology just wasn't quite ready.
100% agree! I feel like Sega always pushed the envelope in terms of tech and features. Sega had a modem for the Genesis and included one with the Dreamcast. Sega will always hold a soft spot in my heart. Wish they still made hardware. Cheers justrtm!!
Ironically I just did this exact mod last week! I do agree that image quality isn't razor sharp, but my nomad had burn in as well and it looks pretty good. Wasn't working at first until I stumbled across the modding page for the driver board and realized I was only getting 5 volts. All is well now. As always, your content is A+. Just did a funny playing dmg mod today and it looks awesome.
Awesome Joseph! Glad you were able to get your Nomad working! Thanks dude, really appreciate the kind words! The FunnyPlaying DMG kit is great! Cheers buddy!
This mod is much more simple than the more complex mods that make use of the original ribbon cable that connects the LCD to the board. It's basically just using composite video instead of the better method. It's a tradeoff...the quality isn't as good but it's much cheaper/easier to install. Just depends on how much effort and money you want to put into your Nomad. This mod is probably more than sufficient for most people (even though the image quality is not nearly as good as the more expensive mods, it's still far better than the original screen).
Well it is pretty big, but I think you would have been pretty awesome for bringing it in to school! I mean it’s a Sega Genesis at school, that’s pretty cool in my book! Cheers buddy!
I own 2. I like calling myself a super freak. I never owned one growing up, but I did want one. In less than a year and $45 later I can safely say it was worth the wait.
I recently had my local game shop use this exact video and mod to replace the screen on my Nomad. It was great seeing this video ahead of time so I knew exactly what to expect. And for the price, I’m very happy with the results.
Most of the Nomad's power consumption was from the CCFL backlight for that terrible screen. Replacing it with a modern display (which use MUCH more efficient LED backlights, not to mention teh screen itself also being more power efficietn) would dramatically reduce power consumption and make it last longer than 45 minutes on battery.
I’ve already modded one of my nomads with a new lcd screen and had a lot of trouble getting everything to fit nicely. I just ordered this mod for round 2. Looking forward to this project. Thanks!
Awesome job Tito! That mod seems a little bit more difficult when you started desoldering the video ribbon cable from the main board. Maybe a good followup mod for this would be the Sega CD audio patch? Glad you're showing Sega some love!
Thank you dude! That’s true, I may have overstated how easy it is. It’s certainly not a drop in kit like some of the game boy mods. That sounds like a great mod! I’ll have to put it on the list! Cheers buddy!
Just recapped and installed this screen on my Sega Nomad however i am having A shimmer on the the display with shimmering lines run throughout its not super bad definitely noticeable tho any suggestions or tip would be greatly appreciated I might just have defective screen not really sure
Find the right LCD that will run at less than 5V and you can also run it off a USB with a simple mod. The brightness wheel is redundant after the screen swap, so its easy enough to take that out and install a micro USB socket in it's place.
Some people might even say that the composite is a plus because dithering doesn't work properly on RGB outputs since the dithering was designed for crts.
A long time ago I've seen them modded with reverse backup camera screens for cheap with pretty decent results. But I think you had better results! You never disappoint Tito, I've always wanted a Sega Nomad.
Thank you my friend! I think this display is very similar to the ones that are pulled from those backup camera setups, I've seen it done with those too. As always great to hear from you buddy! Cheers!
@@MachoNachoProductions I found out what my problem was. So this was my 1st soldering job and in my infinite n00bness I caused a prob. 1st I would get a white screen when powering on, after a few restarts the game would come on. But I'd have to do this to many times just to get it to work once. So I would unsolder and resolder and one of those times I managed to pull up TP237. I didn't just pull the pad I must have pulled the whole trace. So anyhow, I ended up ordering caps, I replaced all the caps and I put the screen back on but this time I would get a blue screen. So I resoldered everything and couldn't get video signal ... To make a long story short, directly on the other side of the composite you can get video. I finally got my nomad working thanks to a friend of mine. But yeah ... If you happen to get a nomad with a pulled TP237 and can't get a signal from the pin, tap the capacitor on the back of the board.
HELP! I followed this step by step but get a solid blue screen when I try to add power. Power light flickers but doesn't come on. Could it be capacitors? Visual inspection looks ok. Prior to replacing screen I had sound but don't get that now also. BTW love the videos! Modded several system with your help!
First think I would check is to make sure that the lcd driver board is properly insulated from the nomad motherboard. It’s a tight fit so some of the components may have poked through the kapton tape and is shifting out causing issues. Hopefully that’s the issue. Best of luck!
@@MachoNachoProductions It was actually the ribbon cable between the boards came loose during reassembly, works like a charm now. Thank you for the reply! Love these video's! You saved my Nomad.
Just did the mod and noticed two things: there is a bit of interference on the screen, like playing via RF on a TV. Also, I had to tap on the power switch for power, since my driver and LCD required more than 5v. Anyone know how to fix the screen interference?
Installed my mod and everything was a success, except the battery pack couldn’t power the nomad. I removed the resistor and wired that up accordingly but the battery pack was all burny. Would a lithium ion mod be enough power?
Well now I'm interested in a nomad. I love consoles that pushed the boundaries of their time. Question about the nomad: does it have the same capacitor issues as some of the other older consoles?
That's a great question! I can't answer with certainty but based on what I have seen on my Nomad, they appear to be of better quality, however with age, all electrolytic capacitors will need to be replaced. I may change them as a preventative measure. Sorry I couldn't be more help. Cheers buddy!
I am about a year out from this discussion, but yes. the capacitors in it are not as bad as the game gear, but the audio circuit in particular is prone to bad caps. symptoms are loss of volume over time. much like nacho pointed out, older consoles where often made in the time of the capacitor plague. when the caps where largely bad and wouldn't last long. leaking onto the board and causing damage. some of it irreparable without a board swap. an example would be the game gear. a majority of the systems listed as screen doesn't work is really because the caps failed. its just a cap replacement away from functional, but there is still a risk. fixing the problem could cause a chip on the board to blow and now you have a brick. over all, I would replace the caps once every 15-20 years. because they often where made to last only ten.
What is that copper sheet looking thing at 4:50-4:56? It has a wire soldered to it from c238 but that’s it. Is it like a heat sink or something? Thanks!
Really need help. I opened it up and the ground wire on 210 fell off. I re connected it and the screen suddenly worked perfectly. I put it back together turned it on and then it did not work again. I will get a grey screen and once in awhile a green one. Oddly enough one time once re assembled I removed the power and plugged it back in and it worked?... I am not a pro at soldering but I checked my spots and they all seem very secure. The only thing I can think of is that I followed the tutorial where you remove the one diode on the blue board and get it to run at 5v? I have tried testing 209 with the multi reader but It is not working for some reason. I set it to DCV 20, put the red on 209 and put the black on ground somewhere on the board but its not working? I am not sure exactly how to test it...... I am wondering if it is a power issue? Should I solder back on the original diode, remove the wire on the board and remove the two wires that go to 209/210?
Another superb video, Tito. Keep up the great work. One suggestion, could you possibly include how long it took you to compete the mods that you do videos for? That would be a great way to gauge for myself my progress in doing the same mods. Thanks bro. I always look forward to Thursdays.
Thank you Der Schlagzeuger! That's a great suggestion. I tend to take my time and go pretty slow, especially since I am also recording so my time may be on the slightly longer side. But I will definitely keep that in mind! Thanks dude! Cheers!
god i need to do this mod because my screen burned,. Do you know if you attach the battery pack, does this mod work? because you modified the lcd to accept 5v, what happens if you attach the battery pack? is there any possible problem that it might get damaged?
Having had a Nomad, the screen was washed out and slow at updating. It made a lot of games unplayable and stopped using it because of the dreadful screen. I sold it unfortunately a few years ago when I was broke. I miss it, especially now with this mod.
Hey Patrick! Sorry to hear about your loss. If you come across another nomad in the future, this is a great mod to do! Cheers bud! And best of luck with everything!
I've got 2 nomads in my closet collecting dust rn. Maybe I'll do this to one of them. Never thought of the nomad as the first switch, that's kinda cool.
Thanks men, Finally I understand what I need for modified my nomad screen. I saw I guy who used RGBdrv screen and looks good too but I can’t find where buy it. So I’ll go with this mod. The only CON is the lost of Brightness button functionality
You're welcome buddy! I think the RGBdrv can only be purchased in Japan from a specific vendor. From what I understand, they are hard to come by and kinda expensive. I am planning to add the brightness adjustment at a later date. Cheers dude!
You should put a new glass lens in. Console5 and Retromodding both sell them. I did it to mine and its so much nicer with fresh glass. You can even pull the old lens off with the suction handle in the iFixit kit so you don't have to pull the entire system apart again.
Awesome! Thank you for the tip! Good to know that I don't need to disassemble the console to get to the lens. When I bought the kit from console5 I could have sworn that I ordered the glass lens, I must have forgot, lol! Thanks again for the tip! Cheers Adam!
Yeah for whatever reason the Nomad was a North American exclusive. Actually based on the sales and timing of the release, it really isn't that surprising.
I finally got around to doing this. I’m pretty sure they sent me the wrong bracket. Everything is soldered together but when I turn on the nomad the LED turns on then off. Not sure what to do now.
Has anyone ever had any issues with those screens not working. I bought the very same screen and it would not boot up all the time and now it seems like it doesn't work at all. You would either go to a white screen or it look like it was not getting enough power to it and I bought it from console5 as well
Unfortunately I don’t think it is. This works with the Nomad because of the embedded AV port that we can tap into. The Game Gear unfortunately does not have that. I really wish it did. Thank you for the comment and watching the video! Cheers!
Just followed this to completion on a nomad with a burnt out screen not unlike your own and it looks excellent. Thankyou for producing such a concise tutorial.
Hey man, just was curious, in your parts needed list in the description you have 28awg guage wire - > but it links to amazon 26 awg guage wire. Just curious which I actually need to get. Or which would be more useful for other console mods I guess since theres such a large amount too and I only need a snippet to complete this mod.
Hi, I bought the suggested screen mod kit and it went flawless with the help of your video. Unfortunately it now randomly messes up on boot. I don't think I ever had this problem before the screen replacement. I did the voltage jumper mod you showed on the board too, so you know. I feel really good on the solder job and the nomad has been recapped. When it does occur I can turn it off then back on and everything is fine. Only happens on boot. Thanks in advance for any help you can lend.
I want to mod my own Nomad, @Macho Nacho Productions, however, I want the best screen and mod available, would you say is this one, or is there an IPS screen/better mod for it?
I briefly owned a No-Nads, and to say I was disappointed with it would be an understatement. This would definitely fix one of the big problems I had with the system, but are there any solutions for that finicky cartridge slot? I hated my games resetting at the slightest jostle. It's a portable! It's going to move sometimes!
Love the video ended up buying the same screen. Mod came out good, got the bracket from console5. But I don't have a 3d printer & prefer the one you made. Do you or anyone on chat knows where I can buy the same bracket ?
Well the board if my assumption is correct has RGB input only the provided cable uses Composite so in theory you could improve the mod by creating own cable that i proves the quality... But that is only inconsistency I would see still nice video
Thank you Kyugi! RGB would be great! There are some kits that allow this like the triple bypass and rgbdrvr. Both are great but kinda pricey. Thank you for the comment and watching my videos!
Found my old nomad in my basement that's in pristine shape with the battery pack and a bunch of old cartridges. Might consider this during the lockdown
I have! They look awesome! Too bad they only ship to Japan and I hear they’re kinda hard to get a hold of. Would love to install one of those for sure!! Cheers ModzvilleUSA! Great to hear from you!
@@MachoNachoProductions Cheers to you as well my dude! I'll be doing an install video for those soon but would love to see one from you as your quality is top notch! The boards have luckily been cloned and are for sale on aliexpress. An ebay user actually sells the board + LCD on ebay for $100. Already got mine for a Turbo Express install :D
While I always thought the Nomad looked interesting when it was released, I wouldn't want to be lugging a load of the big carts around with me wherever I went, they're not exactly GB size!
Merci beaucoup! Je pense que le mod LCD rend l'image beaucoup plus belle aussi. En outre, ce mod est bon pour la durée de vie de la batterie. À votre santé!
hey, are you sure you posted the correct link to the 3D Printed Aligning Bracket? on your video you used 1 piece (the 3d print file is also the same) but the link is for 2 pieces brackets .thanks!
Great question! The one I have linked from console5 was designed by them and you can purchase. The one I printed in the video was designed by a person and published to thingiverse (free if you have a 3D printer). They are different but do the same thing. I hope that helps. Cheers buddy!
@@MachoNachoProductions bro ... If you haven't already. Check out the intwr that Fonzie made like a week ago. It's an AMA/Tell all about the entire process. It was like 2 hr interview. All in french with subs ... Totally worth it. If you like I can link it to you. Not trying to plug but ... It's very good and everyone should watch it.
Hey buddy, just wanted to drop this ... Paprium looks AMAZING on the Nomad with the LCD upgrade. Now I need a better sound set up for the nomad. Any ideas? Have you thought about the triple bypass?
I picked up two LCD screens via Console5. Got one wired correctly following your mod + the 5v adjust. Having issues with the display as I have to reset the system several times before working. Now I cannot run dc until I figure out what my issue is. edit- Audio seems to be louder than my stock system now.
@@MachoNachoProductions I'll have to check it out again. I didn't check them when I did the mod, but I will do so next week. I thought it was a capacitor as well, but I didn't see any issues. It is possible one or several are dry.
Slight update. Spent a good hour checking my board and was receiving continuity everywhere. I switched the voltage pad to a 12v connection and it fires up every time.. Also got my AC to work. It does revert to my original issue if I reset and turn it on quickly. And my other screen just flickers from the new wire placement. Since it does work I'm going to leave it as-is and use the second screen for a different project instead of converting my second Nomad. I still need to check the voltage running to my speaker.
This is actually not a bad decision. If your LCD is completely junk like this one, then this mode is a no brainer. In the future, if you want to fit a better screen you can. Nothing is destroyed.
Is it just me or is there a section missing here? You rip off the original LCD connection, wick the solder off, adapt some power lines, then all of a sudden you have a new LCD, it's hooked up, presumably to where you ripped the other one from... no idea how, what pins, etc... nor even where the screen came from, I see there are a list of links in the description, but still... how you hook that up?
That’s a great question Brett. There is a single wire which is tapping the composite signal from the av port (yellow wire). There is no need to solder to the original lcd connector. I solder a wire for power and ground to provide power to the lcd and a single wire for composite (yellow) and another wire for video ground. No steps were missing. You may want to watch the video again and let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks! Cheers!
@@MachoNachoProductions Thanks for the response, makes sense... I probably did miss it if you mentioned that. You really don't see many folks messing with and modding the GG, and I don't see why not. I know Nintendo had and will always have the lock down on handhelds, but this one is probably still today one of their biggest counterparts. At least to a someone who grew up in the era anyway. I'm sure to some it'd be a PSP maybe. Might just have to keep my eyes open for a GG now, do me a project.
Hey Brett, this is actually the Sega Nomad and not the Game Gear. They look very similar. This console plays Genesis games. I hope that clears things up, haha. Cheers buddy! I also have some GG videos if your interested. Thank you for watching the channel!!
@@MachoNachoProductions You know... I knew that as I was typing it, and just went on getting it wrong anyway. The Nomad is truly the one I'd want anyway... Always did as a kid. The idea of taking my carts on the road like that, and then hooking it up to a TV at the destination... felt like the future, lol.
if you want to craft your own battery pack, 3D print some bracket-frame-thing to fit some compact power bank behind the console, then add a boost converter so you can supply 9v from the usb' 5V source, you also make a different bracket to use on game gear instead, So both consoles can benefit from the same power bank! for the Nomad you can feed the pins behind the console meant for the stock battery pack, while on Game Gear you simply feed the 9v input jack~
Thank you very much for this excellent video, I modified my Sega nomad with a 12v LCD and I did not like how it looks, I also put s-video output, I just bought this LCd thanks to this video, I hope you make a video of the Sega Game gear I'm crazy to do this mod that is much more difficult but well worth it.
Pros outweigh the cons for sure . Not a fan of splicing and extending wires. If a burned out screen nomad appears in the wild , this is a nice , cheap easy mod . Looks good .
Oh great I can basically c/c my last comment for the PC Engine 😁 : The SEGA NOMAD is at the same time a great and bad idea, because the Megadrive/Genesis is the COOLEST console ever made (one I try to track, but model 1 or 2 🤔 ) so the idea to portalise it'snt stupid but the handheld market is not ready for that kind of hardware. Great stuff 🤘.
@@MachoNachoProductions Yeah Unfortunally for Sega they make some weird and bad decision with the release of the Mega/Sega CD (it was a good add on but it doesn't have any Killer App for it) and the 32X (that was a stupid idea by sega 😅). The Nomade can be a good succes if Sega still make Genesis Game but they're stop product game for it, and that weird because they also release a Genesis 3... + The awfull international release of the Saturn, Sega have so many difficulty at the time, I feel sorry for Sega fan.
Agreed, they made too many bad decisions. Even with all those bad choices we still got some really cool hardware. The Dreamcast is one of my favorite consoles of all time! Cheers!
Unfortunately it does not. The McWill kit is the only one that I know of currently. I think there are a few in the works though, so hopefully we’ll have some new kits available to us. Cheers David!
Loved this video, especially showing how to make the driver board run on 5V. I got mine working today. Thanks! Count me in if you do a battery mod for the nomad!
