Mega Drive 1 to Mega Drive 2 Power Adapter
If you've lost/broke your original Mega Drive 2 power lead, it can take ages to find a cheap one again. If you've got a Mega Drive 1 power lead, or find it's cheaper to buy a Mega Drive 1 power lead, then you can make an adapter to use it with you Mega Drive 2.
The Mega Drive 2 power uses a 4mm/1.7mm power plug, much smaller than a Mega Drive 1, which is a standard 2.1mm plug. As well as the size difference, there polarity is reversed.
So you'll need a 4mm/1.7mm power plug, a 2.1mm inline power socket and some suitable 2-core wire.
If you've got a set of helping hands (as shown in the picture below), then it makes this job much easier. Melt a little bit of solder onto the contacts of the 4mm/1.7mm power plug, the contacts have holes, but mmmonkey doesn't get on with them, if you can't either, then melt the solder so it is on the inside of the contacts.
Now prepare the wire. Strip the outer wire back, revealing the 2 inner wires (they should be really short - about 4-5mm), then strip the ends of each of the inner wires and "tin" them (melt some solder on the exposed wire). Solder one wire to the smaller contact (white wire in the picture), then solder the remaining wire to the larger contact (red wire in picture). Make sure you remember which wire is soldered where, as you have to reverse it on the socket you solder.
Now bend the grips for the cable, so it is being held tightly. Push the plastic part of the plug over the cable, screw it to the plug, then push on the plastic plug for the 2.1mm socket.
Again, prepare the contacts of the socket, melting a little bit of solder, prepare the wire and solder it as shown. This time the Red wire is soldered to the smaller contact, and the White wire is soldered to the larger contact (this will reverse the polarity as required).
Once finished, screw the plastic plug to the socket, and admire the finished product.
And the final proof, here it is plugged into my Mega Drive 2, and my Mega Drive 2 switched on whilst using the adapter.
Summary of Components needed
1 x Short length of 2 core wire
1 x "1.7 x 4mm" power plug
1 x 2.1mm in-line power socket
