Nomad --- New screen and better battery pack.

[hailrazer]

*Edit* I can do this mod for $65 shipped to your door. You would be responsible for shipping the Nomad to me. For $70 I will do the mod and also install a new screen cover.

I can also do the Battery mod in the next post for $70 shipped to your door. I won't need your Nomad for that mod.

Youtube video added.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCZ4oPixQwU

References for mods I have done:

Screen Mod :
Racketboy member jbltecnicspro.

I got everything, and I'm very happy. Nice work! You can't tell the mod was done!

Screen and Battery Mod :
DigitalPress member Oldskool

Well I just got it today, looks awesome! I cannot believe the difference! I can actually play Sonic and see what the hell is going on. Thanks man! Thanks Jonjandran this thing looks AWESOME!! I expected it to be nice but DAMN. You can actually read the text in Phantasy Star IV, and the fast action in Sonic is no match for this screen! I recommend to ANYone with a Nomad to get this done.

Digitalpress member MetalFRO.

I had a chance to test it as well - thanks so much, I can't believe how clear that new screen is, and no residual blur!

The Retro League Host and BenHeck member nickerous:

Amazing difference in quality! The new screen makes it much easier to play the Nomad. Can't reccomend it enough. The battery mod allows the Nomad to be used as a true portable system. Who has the money for regular batteries to feed the unmodded Nomad? This solves that problem and allows me to cut the cord in regards to the wall adapter. Thanks again, Hailrazer!

Well I got tired of the crappy Nomad screen and rechargeable battery pack, so I modded my Nomad with a new 3.5" screen and a Lithium-Ion Batttery pack.

Here's how I did it :

First things first. Get rid of the old Lcd.
Open up the Nomad. You will need a security bit for the bottom/middle screw. After you open the Nomad , pull the circuit board up and you will see the Lcd. Pull it of and then pull of the lcd cable attached to the main board.

Now you just ruined your Nomad. Just kidding

Here is the new Lcd we will be using :
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.20415
It is $50 shipped.

You can also find them on Ebay for around $35 shipped. Just be sure to get the same exact monitor. Other 3.5" on Ebay and from Dealextreme don't work with the Genesis and they are to thick to fit in the Nomad case.

When we take it apart it will look like this :

Now what you want to do is get out your hot glue gun and glue the new Lcd into place. Make sure you get it centered. be aware the Lcd hole on the Nomad is slightly slanted so the Lcd will be slightly slanted when mounted.

Now it's time to solder the wires necessary to power the screen and get video to it.
You will be soldering 4 wires. 2 grounds, power, and video. the 2 ground wires go to the same spot on the Lcd's board.

Here is where the wires will be soldered to the Nomad's board :

And some closeups :

After it is wired you will want to mount the Lcd's board on top of the Lcd. I put a small piece of paper between them to protect against shorts. You can then hot glue the 4 corners to hold it in place. :

You might also want to insulate the back of the board before putting the system back together to protect against any shorts from the system hitting the lcd board.

Now put the Nomad back together. Make sure the wires are crimped anywhere, or in the way of the buttons.

Plug it in and see the new Lcd in all it's glory.

Here's a pic of what the old screen looked like :

 

[hailrazer]

So I had a rechargeable Nomad battery pack laying around. Which of course no longer works. :

Now unfortunately my puppy ate my 8gb memory stick so I lost a few pics.

First thing you need to do is open it up. You can use a credit card. Just slide it in between the two halves and they will pop apart.

Then you need to remove everything that is in it. It has 6 batteries , a protection circuit, and a charging jack. Leave the two power wires (green and orange). They will be attached to the new battery.

After everything is removed you will need to make room for the new battery by clipping off some of the plastic in just the bottom half.

It will now look like this :

The battery you will want to use is a Sony np-f550 2000 mA battery. You can get the battery and charger for around $15 shipped on Ebay :
http://cgi.ebay.com/Battery-NP-F550...emQQptZBatteries_Chargers?hash=item19b7a016c5

Now I used a type M female power adapter for the charging jack. I got it out of a Retro-Duo I had laying around. You will have to file out the spot where the old charging jack was for the new one to fit.

You will need to solder the orange wire to the positive side of the battery. Then wire the positive side of the battery to the positive prong on the charging adapter jack.
Then wire the green wire to the negative side of the battery. Then wire the negative side of the battery to the negative prong on the charging adapter jack.

Then I used a type M male power adapter from Radio Shack. I opened the charger and soldered in the power wire and then wired it to the male adapter.

One advantage of this is that it will last around 5 1/2 hours with a stock Nomad. With a Nomad that ha a new screen like mine in it , it will last around 8 1/2 hours.

Plus it is a LOT lighter than with the stock Nomad battery pack.

 

[Xian Xi]

Thanks for posting this dude, I really appreciate it.

I want to find one for the NGPC. But NGPC is straight LCD with no composite output like the nomad.

 

[hailrazer]

Thanks for posting this dude, I really appreciate it.

I want to find one for the NGPC. But NGPC is straight LCD with no composite output like the nomad.

You're welcome. I enjoy your mods including the NGPC mods. I was putting the Afterburner kits in NGPC back before MashMods did it. It was fun but not enough money in it for the hassle.

Let's hope the thread stays up this time. I have been having a HUGE problem with my threads being deleted on this forum and the Mods/Admins don't seem to want to answer my questions on why. Hopefully the threads will stop disappearing

 

[Xavier]

I never thought the Nomads screen was too bad, now the game gear had a crappy screen...has anybody figured that out?

 

[hailrazer]

I never thought the Nomads screen was too bad, now the game gear had a crappy screen...has anybody figured that out?

Wow , really. I mean if you play motion games the blur is incredible. And the contrast is ridiculous, all washed out. It's also very difficult to get the setting right so you can see things good. Once you see the mod you will NEVER go back to the old screen.

And the Gamegear won't work, it takes a rgb decoder board and a rgb to composite board just to get color composite out of it. Then you would have to fit the new lcd in there which would already be difficult. So I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

[Metal Slug]

Looks great! I Predict nomads with faulty screens will be selling a lot better on ebay now!
Have you done some long tests with the new screen?

 

[hailrazer]

Looks great! I Predict nomads with faulty screens will be selling a lot better on ebay now!
Have you done some long tests with the new screen?

Yes I have left the Sonic games running for 8 hours straight to test the battery packs and the screens. And I have done that 8 times now on my test subject. So far nothing gone wrong

 

[Metal Slug]

Yes I have left the Sonic games running for 8 hours straight to test the battery packs and the screens. And I have done that 8 times now on my test subject. So far nothing gone wrong

Its a hell-of-a good job you've done mate!
My Nomad is barely used MIB, or I'd be doing this one!

 

[Syn]

First thing I did was dig out a Nomad with a bad screen I had been saving!

Now it's just a matter of freeing up some funds

 

[DanAdamKOF]

Hm, so the Game Gear used RGB internally, and the Nomad used composite? Seems kinda backwards, lol.

BTW I think it's kinda crazy how composite video can look so nice on small, cheap LCDs like the one the Nomads get modded with, and the PSOne screen, and can look so terrible on large, expensive LCDs.

 

[SNKorSWM]

The Game Gear has a TV tuner accessory, so they had to make sure the signals were compatible with broadcast.

 

[Logicdustbin]

Hm, so the Game Gear used RGB internally, and the Nomad used composite? Seems kinda backwards, lol.

BTW I think it's kinda crazy how composite video can look so nice on small, cheap LCDs like the one the Nomads get modded with, and the PSOne screen, and can look so terrible on large, expensive LCDs.

well the nomad had an av port like the console.

also had a 2nd player joystick port

 

[hailrazer]

Hm, so the Game Gear used RGB internally, and the Nomad used composite? Seems kinda backwards, lol.

BTW I think it's kinda crazy how composite video can look so nice on small, cheap LCDs like the one the Nomads get modded with, and the PSOne screen, and can look so terrible on large, expensive LCDs.

No the Nomad screen is RGB internally. I just tap into the composite line because it is much easier and the rgb doesn't look any better on a 3.5" screen.

Yea when you scale up composite it gets really bad really fast.

 

[JimmyDean]

thanks! I'm gonna buy a nomad and try this!

 

[Moon Jump]

Just saw this on another site. Looks awesome. My Nomad just always has this snowy white look too it no matter what I did to the contrast, seeing that you can do this for a fair price is amazing. It's funny that the mod costs more then what I paid for my Nomad when Toys R Us was selling them off. So glad I got mine when I did and I think I might do this in the future.

 

[DragonBob]

can't find it here how much

 

[hailrazer]

can't find it here how much

What?

 

[trimer34]

can't find it here how much

 

[Studioaudience]

Love your work , better than having to deal with the mediocre gen mobile clones or a non modded nomad.

 

[not sonic]

im going to have to dig out my broken nomad. hope it still works, only the screen was bad but its been sitting around in a bin for like 10+ years.

if not i might try it on my good one.

would be nice to get a replacement screen for the turbo express.

 

[DWillyEfect]

lol, Ive been subscribed to you since I saw your portable dreamcast video.


An idea, you might want to talk to the guy that does ClassicGameRoom and see if you could loan him one to review, he has 70,000 subscribers and a good amount of them are SEGA fans that would be more likely to have a Nomad.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Thats certainly a brill mod , it's amazing what some people can do. I might fancy picking up a nomad now, dont think they ever got released in the uk though ?

 

[ki_atsushi]

Bump, I just did this mod to my Nomad today and it's awesome. I don't think I'll need to hook up the old genny ever again. It's that good.

Let me tell you, hailraizer was a good man, nay, a saint for doing the mod for only $65... the LCD alone cost $35+, and it took me about 3 hours. Centering the screen perfect was a bitch for someone as anal as me. Took me 3 tries. I wish he was still doing the mod, I would have gladly paid to have it done.

I hate hot glue.

 

[NeoTurfMasta]

the LCD alone cost $35+

I've been thinking of doing this as well. Where did you get the LCD?