I began by trying to wire up the A/V to my donor RCA L2501 screen. I pulled the boards and screen out of the case and then hooked up power and it ran fine still using it as a TV. I then attempted to wire up A/V from the Atari to the TV using Ben's description (see the bottom of this post) and this photo from his site:
<img src="http://www.classicgaming.com/vcsp/AVOut.jpg">
Video is working fine, but I am getting no audio - in fact the audio that I am getting is just static from whatever TV station the tuner decides to land on. Additionally, Ben talked about jumping the two tv disconnect leads so the TV knows to use the input A/V. I tried that, but it really messed up the video and gave a lot of audio static. He also mentioned something about running both to +5V - tried that, but same result. I think the problem is that the TV disconnect is not kicking in. BTW, I tried flip-flopping the audio and video connections, but they are definitely in the correct place as is - you can really tell the difference. If I turn off the Atari, then the TV runs fine - audio and video.
Any ideas?
I hava another L2501 sitting right here, I may go ahead and tear that down and try it instead.
This jack contains 2 things. The audio/video prongs (which connect to a standard stereo 1/8" mini-jack) and the disconnect switch consisting of a single pole with 2 terminals. If a jack is inserted, the center pole connects to the bottom terminal. If no jack is inserted, it connects to the top. On the TV, this is used to disconnect the channel receiver when you plug in an external a/v source. Therefore, if you don't actually plug a jack in, you'll need to solder the connections together so the TV THINKS a plug is in.
On my VCSp's, I use the TV's A/V jack as my A/V OUTPUT jack. (as shown above) In those, I run the TV's +5v though the jack's switch, to the normally closed poles (TV is ON). If a person inserts a jack (meaning they want to play on a big TV), it breaks the circuit and turns off the VCSp's screen.
On the above picture, you can see where the video and audio were connected to the jack. Typically there's 4 pins and then a ground. The outer 2 pins are A/V. Wire the audio and video wires coming from the Atari to those spots on the TV's board and you should be connected. But on the TV side which pin is audio and which is video? You have a 50/50 chance of getting it right, which in electronics means it WILL be wrong the first time you try, so solder it, then unsolder it and switch it around before you even test it (Murphy's Law)
