Reply With QuoteI would be interested in knowing this as well, this is the first I have heard that you need a mod for the jaycar mkii voltage for a gamma. I thought all you need to do is set it to phoenix and 6mhz as it is not meant to run hot.
Gamma card and Jaycar MKII - important mod missed?
I noticed that there are some more than appropriate mods for the above - to ensure reliable operation with a gamma card ... however none of these mods address the 3V requirement of the gamma card
It's easy enough to drop the +5v to the +3v requirement of the gamma - but nobody has bothered to include this in the mods?
Those of you already using the Jaycar MKII with the gamma mods discussed - did you have any problems running with +5V? - does it get warm / hot?
I believe the gamma (AMR) is rated at 65ma - so if running at higher volts - as you know will get 'hot' and there has been considerable 'talk' on CAM mods to reduce the voltage to +3V - but surprisingly very little comments on modding the Jaycar MKII to run the gamma on +3V?
Am I missing something here - or a +3V mod for the Jaycar MKII is well worth doing?
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I would be interested in knowing this as well, this is the first I have heard that you need a mod for the jaycar mkii voltage for a gamma. I thought all you need to do is set it to phoenix and 6mhz as it is not meant to run hot.
runs cool as without any voltage mod
Interesting to hear that gamma runs cool with the Jaycar MKII at +5V
... after all the discussions and theories about why the gamma runs hot in some CAMS (all at +5) and cool in others makes you think its got a lot to do with the cam software - bashing the poor gamma processor for needless housekeeping on some CAMs ??
... you got me curious about the Jaycar MKII and the suggested mods for the gamma ... are they necessary? - or better still - which ones are a must?
Is the schottky diode mod required?
The inverter mod?
The pull-up on the schottky?
The other mods ...
The noise on the floating pins of the DB9 - is worth doing!
The direct decupling on the card's power pins - is worth doing!
Having asked the obvious questions above ... it would be interesting to know just how many of you have a standard (unmodded) Jaycar MKII working with gamma on a DB?
Unmodded Jaycar Mk II is known to work with gamma.
Inverter mod is only necessary if your software is expecting RS232 Carrier Detect = -12V (logic 1) to indicate card presence. If your software doesn't require you to slightly withdraw the card to work then there's no need to apply the inverter mod. It all depends on what software you're using.
The schottky diode mod ensures TTL compliance: without it the I/O pin voltage may not be quite low enough for some cards. The associated pullup resistor mod tightens I/O rise time. Applying the pullup resistor mod without first doing the schottky diode mod isn't possible because it'll aggravate the TTL compliance issue. Applying both mods improves compatibility across range of smartcard manufacturers, and improves noise tolerance across temperature range. If your particular card is working fine for you then save yourself the effort and leave things as they are. But if you're having problems with a particular card, or if you want to beef up immunity to RFI, then the mods are worth considering.
If you have measurements or data sheets indicating that your gamma never exceeds 65mA then there's no reason to change the regulator. I'm aware of the ISO specs (and current limit points for various CAMs) but I've learned never to make assumptions about undocumented equipment. Until I see a datasheet for gamma I'd rather overspecify my power supply - your risk policy may differ.
The jury is still out as to why *exactly* whiteys turn brown in Humax 54x0 embedded CAM but not in Jaycar Mk II. All the evidence I've seen points that way, but I can't explain why. Both use fixed 5V. Both use fixed 6MHz. The ambient temperature inside Humax is warmer but not excessively so. The Humax uses TDA8004 which sequences the signals during startup/shutdown according to ISO spec (unlike the Jaycar which cheerfully disregards transients completely) and maybe burn is occuring during those times. Or perhaps there's something peculiar about the Humax embedded cam firmware's card initialisation sequence that puts the gamma in a state where it's less tolerant of the 5V than is the case when initialised by other server applications.
For those who want to explore the low voltage option, log onto au.farnell.com and order a LD1117V33 regulator ($2) and a MAX3222CPN+ ($7.70). Delivery & Johnny's GST will hurt so you might want to restock your junk box while you're at it. The transceiver IC is a drop-in replacement that maintains RS232 compliance with the lower supply voltage. The regulator is TO220 with GND-OUT-IN configuration.
1. desolder the 78L05
2. superglue the LD1117V33 to the PCB so its legs are near the regulator holes and its tab is near the jumper link adjacent to MAX3222 pin 16 (doesn't matter if it touches).
3. solder a short wire link from middle regulator pin to the PCB hole adjacent to the 10uF capacitor. ie OUTPUT.
4. solder a short wire link from regulator pin 3 (closest to MAX3222) to the PCB hole adjacent to the 100uF capacitor. ie INPUT.
5. solder a short wire link from remaining regulator pin (pin 1) to the remaining PCB hole (closest to the 1uF capacitor). ie GND. You'll need to cross over the other two links in the process. Don't make the wire link any longer than necessary, but more importantly take care not to create a short!
And that should be all that's required to mod your Jaycar kit for 3.3V card operation. The LEDs will now be quite dim; if that's a problem you can compensate by replacing the three 1K resistors with 100R.
Of course you shouldn't expect the JDM mode to work at that lower voltage. As the kit is now essentially Phoenix-only I recommend you disable the Vpp generator as a safety precaution (you don't want to put 13V on your Gamma, do you?). This is easily done by desoldering and lifting one leg of diode D3 - the one running in front of the three 1uF capacitors.
good luck
PS. For extra stability solder a 100nF multilayer ceramic across pins 1 & 3 of the LD1117V3. It's not absolutely necessary but the high frequency characteristics of the 100uF are poor and the regulator will be much happer with the extra decoupling.
Nice breakdown gw1.
good to see you around mate been a while
Great info gw1
I've been using an unmodded jaycar for my reader on my cs server and the card runs cool as a cucumber.
Leroy
... just want to say a BIG thanks to all of your useful feedback - especially .. gw1 ... for his detailed post ..
I guess I will take some in-circuit measurments with the gamma (when it arrives) to see what the actual figures are ... but from the feedback above it looks that it should not mind the 5V?? - at least with the Jaycar ...
.. I've made a 3V mod on the Jaycar anyway (easily switched back to 5V) - so it will be interesting to see the power disipation runing at 3V and then back at 5V
Important Ic Ammendment
Thanks for a great post gw1.Originally Posted by gw1
Can I, with respect, add an ammendment. The MAX3222 is a similar IC of the 18 pin flavour.
The required RS232 IC for this mod is a MAX3232CPE+
I am reordering the IC and will repost with the results. I have the skynz card from hell!
Sky Nds3 Success
I am pleased to report great results from this mod. Skynz NDS3 card working in dreambox with modded Jaycar Serial Reader MKII.
The only problem was, as many suggested already is the necessity of the BOXKEY. This is very important. I managed to use the PC DVB card along with ProgDVB and NDSCam 0.0.5 to extraxt the boxkey as there seems to be no way of downloading gboxkeygen from anywhere.
I will draw up a detailed post, probably a .pdf tutorial on how to do this mod and setup in DM500 soon.
In the meantime can someone please give a detailed post of how to connect my HTPC to cccam on the DM500 where the card is running? I am willing to try any mdapi s/w to connect (probably GB-PVR or MediaPortal) to CCcam.
Thanks
Jaycar mk II works well
hi ,MY GOD !can you help me ,?we need the gamma or coco cards for Irdeto-2，asia
hi ,MY GOD !can you help me ,?we need the gamma or coco cards for Irdeto-2，asia
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hi ,can you help me ,?we need the gamma or coco cards for Irdeto-2，asia ,(TRUE 78.5E CCTV 115.5E Multichoice 68.5E TelkomVision 108E ) my email :liujr888@qq.com THANKS!!
Hi guys,
I'm a bit of a newbie at this stuff.
gw1 says this
"2. superglue the LD1117V33 to the PCB so its legs are near the regulator holes and its tab is near the jumper link adjacent to MAX3222 pin 16 (doesn't matter if it touches)."
Di glue it on the component side of the board or the other ,,, dont want to get the pins in the wrong place ,,,
Also, can I do "ALL" of the mods intended for this reader and still use my ORANGE F*XT*L NDS card ?
One more thing:
In the softcam setuo screen where you select default or a cam etc, on the bottom left it displays this
Irdeto ???
090b
096c
Which one is the one I need to use ?
Thanks guys.
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