Strange connection issue. Faulty lead or something else?

[willllywelyn98]

i have had my JPN Saturn up and running for a week now and the actual console is functioning correctly, no problem there. However there's a slight issue I seem to be consistently encountering.

I bought an RGB scart Euro cable which connects my Saturn to my TV and also obviously the step down transformer to get it to work. But every now and then after about 20-30 minutes of play my TV will switch channels from Scart/AV2 to another channel on my TV and then back again. I should stress it's not my console that's faulty since that isn't changing or altering in any way, just the channel. Do any of you have any ideas why it might be flickering and what I should do? 

[buckoa51]

My guess would be it's likely a faulty/incorrectly wired SCART cable. If there's not enough voltage on pin 16 the TV switches to composite video mode, that brief flash of it seemingly changing channel could be it switching to composite video then back to RGB.

[zyrobs]

NTSC units need a differently wired, third party SCART cable due to differences in the a/v pinout between PAL and NTSC Saturns. You are using a cable wired for PAL units, that's why the picture is not stable.

[willllywelyn98]

Thanks to both of you, I'll have to look into getting a cable that's A) more stable and B) For NTSC

[willllywelyn98]

By the way, would I be doing damage with my current lead to anything? Like the console or TV?

[buckoa51]

Nah, the only way you can do damage is if you plug a csync (also known as clean sync, raw sync) SCART cable into a PAL console.

[willllywelyn98]

Cheers bud

[zyrobs]

That cable is tapping onto the c-sync line for voltage, and iirc that line is open drain, so it might not be the safest to keep using that cable.

[willllywelyn98]

Apr 17, 2016 22:43:36 GMT zyrobs said:

That cable is tapping onto the c-sync line for voltage, and iirc that line is open drain, so it might not be the safest to keep using that cable.

Ah okay. So Zyrobs, if I should use any single cable what would you recommend?

[zyrobs]

A cable that uses composite video (as it is defined for SCART) instead of c-sync, or it uses composite video and has a built-in sync separator to output c-sync. I have not seen any of the latter though.

And they should use the +5V pin for voltage, so they work on all systems. If you use PAL systems, just use the official cables - they have the heaviest shielding and they use the +9/12V pin for automatic channel changing.

[dj898]

I thought with JPN Saturn you need the neutrally wired RGB Scart cable, not PAL RGB Scart cable.
Certainly with my host of JPN Saturns they only worked when I used the proper cable, not the PAL RGB Scart cable.

[buckoa51]

Pin 4 is +5 volts on both systems, so if your cable uses that it will work on either PAL or NTSC. Idk why all cables don't just do that to be honest.

[willllywelyn98]

Interesting, because having looked around some more my Saturn came boxed with the original composite for NTSC, so really I could try that. The only PAL thing in my setup is the TV anyways