Can anyone identify these two Molex-style connectors? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: MaximRecoil
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2017, 11:00:48 pm
content: The power supply in the picture has 3 connectors total; the one not in the picture is a 3-position, .093" connector which is definitely Molex (or a Molex-compatible clone), and a common one at that:The two connectors in question use smaller pins (.062"), and I haven't been able to find a matching Molex housing for either of them.What I want to do is replace that flaky power supply with a modern one, but I don't want to cut/hack the original wiring harness which plugs into it. If I could find those two connectors, I could make a short harness which attaches to the screw terminals of the modern power supply, with those connectors on the other end of the wires, which I could then plug the original harness into. I also don't want to hack that original power supply to steal its connectors, because I may try to fix it someday. I've already replaced all of the original electrolytic capacitors in it (about 8 years ago), but it is always losing voltage. It used to go a year or two before I'd have to adjust +5V, but now it's only going a couple/few weeks. For example, a few weeks ago it was down to about +4.9 VDC. I adjusted it to +5.1 VDC where the game runs best, and now it's back down to about +4.9 VDC again, which causes graphical glitches in the game. Speaking of which, if anyone has any ideas on how to fix that, I'd like to hear it. It is a Nintendo model PP-1000A power supply. Here are the schematics:The VR2 pot is for adjusting +5V. Could the pot itself be causing the problem?

author: stefanh
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2017, 12:44:57 am
content: Can you confirm the pitch of the 9way and 12way connector. The pin shapes look like Molex Mini-Fit® 5025 series which has 4.8mm pitch (0.189").http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/015311121_sd.pdf

author: MaximRecoil
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2017, 01:26:39 am
content: Quote from: stefanh on January 09, 2017, 12:44:57 amI would say that's it, especially for the 9-pin one, which looks like an exact match:https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=WM13423-NDI can't figure out what's going on with the 12-position one though. On the page you linked to, the plug and receptacle don't look like they match, i.e., the receptacle has two round holes in the middle, while the plug has all square shapes with various corners cut off at 45 degrees. On Digi-Key it's the same deal:12p plug -https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=WM13425-ND12p receptacle (which Digi-Key says is the matching one) -https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=WM13424-NDOn the ones that I have, the plug and receptacle have the same shapes, the only difference being male vs. female (the same goes for all Molex-type connectors I've seen; how else would they fit together?). On that 12p 5025-series, the plug looks like my plug, but the receptacle looks quite different due to those round holes in the middle. I don't see how they're supposed to fit together ...This is a great lead though; I think that, at the very least, that 9p one is a match. Thanks.Edit: I found a thread about this, specifically about the connectors in Nintendo power supplies:QuoteSo I guess Molex 5025-series it is, regardless of the misleading pictures.

author: stefanh
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2017, 03:13:21 am
content: Yes the pictures can be a bit confusing. Those are the 2D mechanical drawings of the front, side, rear and top of the connectors. The round holes are from the rear side where you push in the crimped wire pins/sockets.

author: MaximRecoil
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2017, 12:09:47 pm
content: Quote from: stefanh on January 09, 2017, 03:13:21 amYeah, I should have just taken another look at my original connectors; the back side of the plug has those same round holes as in the drawing.Does anyone have any ideas about fixing the original power supply so that it can maintain the voltage I set it to? It lost another tenth of a volt over the past few days, and it's a real pain to adjust because the pot isn't externally mounted. I'd like to keep using it because it's an original part, but I don't want to be stuck in a cycle of adjusting the voltage every week. Plus, eventually it will run out of adjustment.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2017, 12:41:09 pm
content: With the power supply replace the PC2 optocoupler, along with the capacitors on the 5V rail again. Your capacitors could be drying up, and the optocouplers probably have degraded as well. Put a scope on the power supply secondary 5V rail and see how much noise there is there, more than around 200mV or so means those capacitors are dying. Have you also changed that main primary side capacitor C5, as that going low value ( or high ESR, especially if it is original) will put a lot of ripple onto the output rails that the controller will be unable to correct.

author: MaximRecoil
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2017, 08:06:27 pm
content: Quote from: SeanB on January 10, 2017, 12:41:09 pmThe capacitors are good quality; they are Panasonic FM series, rated for 105°C. For the big C5 capacitor (330 uf, 200v), I bought a Nichicon, because Panasonics of that value were too tall. I wouldn't expect them to be bad after only 8 years. Most people who have these PP-1000A power supplies still have all the original capacitors in them from 1984.I don't have a scope.Something strange happened earlier today. I took the power supply apart to take some pictures of the PCB (I had adjusted it up from ~4.9 VDC to ~5.1 VDC about an hour before that), and I brushed some of the dust off, and when I put it back together, reinstalled it, and turned on the game, there was no music. I know from past experience that that means the voltage is too high. I checked it and it measured 5.45 VDC, and I had to turn the pot quite a bit to get it back down to ~5.1 VDC where it's happy (which brought the music back).The knob for the pot is flush mounted with a screwdriver slot, and has a fair amount of resistance to turning, so there's no way I turned it accidentally when I had it apart. About an hour after adjusting it to 5.09 VDC, it was down to 4.99 VDC. I suspect that pot is causing the problem. I think I'll orderthisone, and if that doesn't fix the problem, I'll look into those other things you mentioned.

author: MaximRecoil
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 30, 2017, 12:56:46 am
content: I replaced the VR2 pot in the original power supply about a week and a half ago, and that has made things better. It is still losing voltage, but not at the rapid rate it like before. It's lost about 0.02 volts since I installed the new pot. I haven't turned it back up yet; I want to see if it's going to stabilize or just keep losing voltage indefinitely.I swapped some boards around among my three different game boardsets, and inexplicably, I've eliminated the problem of the graphical glitches at lower voltages. All three of my boardsets now run fine at 5.0 VDC and even at slightly less (such as 4.97 VDC). Originally, one of the three boardsets would always glitch at less than 5.1 VDC. A long time ago I swapped the middle board (three-board stack) between two of them for trouble shooting purposes, and the glitching-at-low-voltage issue followed to the other boardset. Recently I swapped that middle board into my third boardset, which I'd never swapped it into before, and now, like magic, all three boardsets are free of the 5.1 VDC requirement. Instead of following to the third boardset like I expected, the problem simply vanished into thin air.Also, I made an adapter harness using those Molex Mini-Fit 5025-series connectors, which works perfectly:So thanks again to stefanh for identifying those.