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I am loking at the edge connector in the expansion port of my Japanese Master System model MK-2000 and it looks like it is coated on some layer of lacquer or varnish which looks like it may stop the connections from working. I have no use for it right now but hope to use it soon. Is this normal? Does it need to be removed? As you can see in attached photo the contacts are very dark coloured too which I presumed is caused by this apparent layer

DSCN0448.JPG (182.45 KB)

DSCN0449.JPG (203.96 KB)

DSCN0450.JPG (128.5 KB)

The dark pins are carbon coated. It helps with conductivity and is a cheap alternative to silver or gold plated pins, This is a common manufacturing technique for later versions of consoles sega would produce. The "Layer of Lacquer" is most likely excess of a solder mask. It doesnt look like it covers any pins significantly enough to cause issues.

IllusionOfMana wrote

The dark pins are carbon coated. It helps with conductivity and is a cheap alternative to silver or gold plated pins, This is a common manufacturing technique for later versions of consoles sega would produce. The "Layer of Lacquer" is most likely excess of a solder mask. It doesnt look like it covers any pins significantly enough to cause issues.

Great thanks. I wiil be able to test it soon so shall reply then. Don't think I have ever seen carbon pins before, learn something every day!

Yeah its not too common to see on things. I use to fix Megadrives and later revisions of the Core System 2 had them for its expansion slot... In fact i think even my Master System model 1 has carbon coated pins on its expansion slot too.

UPDATE: yes my master system does have carbon coated pins

Interesting, would that not be highly susceptible to wear?

Probably, but these connectors are designed to be used incredibly rarely.

OP here. I received a Gender Adapter today from the guy that sells them from this forum and it does indeed work fine.I have one game that doesnt work on it though:- Rastan PAL cart just gives a black screen. A shame because this is a game with FM sound :( Apparently this is one of the games that is incompatible according to the Gender Adapter main thread. Oh well one out of ten aint bad

Yes it's a shame about Rastan.
One possibility would be to use a Master Everdrive with a modded ROM of the game, plugged into the gender adapter.

Some people also made JP>Western adapters that plug in the front slot, in the case of Rastan I think it should fix it.

Author	Message
Restart_Point Joined: 18 Sep 2019 Posts: 11	SMS Expansion port concern Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:20 pm
Restart_Point Joined: 18 Sep 2019 Posts: 11	I am loking at the edge connector in the expansion port of my Japanese Master System model MK-2000 and it looks like it is coated on some layer of lacquer or varnish which looks like it may stop the connections from working. I have no use for it right now but hope to use it soon. Is this normal? Does it need to be removed? As you can see in attached photo the contacts are very dark coloured too which I presumed is caused by this apparent layer DSCN0448.JPG (182.45 KB) DSCN0449.JPG (203.96 KB) DSCN0450.JPG (128.5 KB)

IllusionOfMana Joined: 08 Sep 2018 Posts: 270	Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 4:19 pm
IllusionOfMana Joined: 08 Sep 2018 Posts: 270	The dark pins are carbon coated. It helps with conductivity and is a cheap alternative to silver or gold plated pins, This is a common manufacturing technique for later versions of consoles sega would produce. The "Layer of Lacquer" is most likely excess of a solder mask. It doesnt look like it covers any pins significantly enough to cause issues.

Restart_Point Joined: 18 Sep 2019 Posts: 11	Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 5:54 pm
Restart_Point Joined: 18 Sep 2019 Posts: 11	IllusionOfMana wrote The dark pins are carbon coated. It helps with conductivity and is a cheap alternative to silver or gold plated pins, This is a common manufacturing technique for later versions of consoles sega would produce. The "Layer of Lacquer" is most likely excess of a solder mask. It doesnt look like it covers any pins significantly enough to cause issues. Great thanks. I wiil be able to test it soon so shall reply then. Don't think I have ever seen carbon pins before, learn something every day!

IllusionOfMana Joined: 08 Sep 2018 Posts: 270	Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:57 pm
IllusionOfMana Joined: 08 Sep 2018 Posts: 270	Yeah its not too common to see on things. I use to fix Megadrives and later revisions of the Core System 2 had them for its expansion slot... In fact i think even my Master System model 1 has carbon coated pins on its expansion slot too. UPDATE: yes my master system does have carbon coated pins

thatawesomeguy Joined: 25 Jul 2007 Posts: 731 Location: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 8:54 am
	Interesting, would that not be highly susceptible to wear?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:10 am
	Probably, but these connectors are designed to be used incredibly rarely.

Restart_Point Joined: 18 Sep 2019 Posts: 11	Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:01 am
Restart_Point Joined: 18 Sep 2019 Posts: 11	OP here. I received a Gender Adapter today from the guy that sells them from this forum and it does indeed work fine.I have one game that doesnt work on it though:- Rastan PAL cart just gives a black screen. A shame because this is a game with FM sound :( Apparently this is one of the games that is incompatible according to the Gender Adapter main thread. Oh well one out of ten aint bad

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8652 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Thu Oct 17, 2019 2:20 pm
	Yes it's a shame about Rastan. One possibility would be to use a Master Everdrive with a modded ROM of the game, plugged into the gender adapter. Some people also made JP>Western adapters that plug in the front slot, in the case of Rastan I think it should fix it.

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