about the Wasp Fusion/Megadrive and GCp parts

[naimlessone]

I have just finished my first portable, my GobliN64 N64 portable, and had planned on eventually making a GCp, especially now that I have looked at Ashens Gamecube Fusion Rev 4 thread and have seen how amazing that turned out, now I'm looking at getting some things together a little at a time to make one.

So I had a couple questions about the Wiikey Fusion/ Wasp Fusion SD drive mod for use in the Gamecube portables that I'm looking at on Badassconsoles.com and was hoping I could get some advice/personal experience from some you good folks on here.

Anyways:

1. The

$25 'drive replacement' http://www.badassconsoles.com/drive-replacement/

and the

Megadrive v3 http://www.badassconsoles.com/megadrive-v3/

along with the FFC cable http://www.badassconsoles.com/ffc-cable/

would be the 3 things I would need to purchase in order to eliminate the physical dvd drive from the console, correct?

2. If the above assumption is correct, what revisions are the best to use it on or does it matter? I assume it will work on any revision, but if one is better than another I would try to acquire that revision to save some labor. (Rev C from what I understand is better one to use, unless i'm mistaken?)

3. How difficult is it to mount the megadrive to the mobo? That also 'looks' fairly simple, but I haven't looked far enough into to this to know, I'm still kinda figuring out if I can afford the extra play money to jump into another one or if I should just slowly acquire parts as I can afford them for now.

As I said , i'm still starting to do the research to take one of these on, I just thought I would ask to get a better idea of what I would be getting into with one of these drives. I appreciate the help/advice from you guys. I would have never finished my first one with out it, and wouldn't be able to do this without it!

 

[chairsgotoschool]

Im not sure which mega drive you want, I used a breakout instead. there are multiplier ways to connect the wiikey to the gamecube I believe ipl 1.1 and later work fine. I have mine hooked up to a rev c gamecube and it works.

revision doesn't really matter as long as the wiikey works on it. rev c has built in regulators that can accept up to 20v so you just hook 4 lithium batteries up to it and it works. but if you trim then you must use a custom regulator or if you want a custom regulator you might as well not get a rev c board.

connecting was easy the last time I did it but I could not get it to work at all for months before which caused me to give up on my gcp for months but now its coming along nice.
I was probably getting stuff backwards to cause it to not work because after taking my time and working out all the upside down and sideways or inverted pictures and diagrams it worked my first try.

 

[Diminuendo]

if you want to keep the disc drive the rev 3 is the wrong way to go, otherwise it is plug and play, you just need to find a place for the Wasp in your case.

Now to use a disc drive you want the V4 or V5.

if you were willing to shell the $75 for the Wasp and V3, you might as well drop the extra $25 for the V5, as it is also plug and play; you just replace your existing disc drive with the new one, and the wasp is incleded in the $100

The V5 is really esay to install if you have intermediate soldering experence. Mega will tell you to use the legs from the previous disc drive connector you use, but I just buy a 90c pac of resistors and snip off the legs to them. just solder the inside pins first

 

[Blargaman91]

The Wasp 3 from that site should work on anything motherboard version because it comes with Swiss installed, with autoboot.

 

[naimlessone]

I do not want to keep the disc drive on the portable as I'm looking to maximize the battery life as much as possible, and eliminating that would help a good deal in that aspect.


The site says that v4, v5, and v6 are temporarily out of stock, but are quite a bit cheaper. I guess I'm not quite sure what the correct one would be for my needs or for use with the wasp. From what I understand, the wasp drive should plug and play with any of them (unless I'm completely misinformed on how this drive is supposed to work), but the v4 is designed for the actual GameCube unit, not so much for portables.

The most I would want to trim the board to would be the medium cut from Ashens trim guide. I have no real need to go more than that as I wouldn't dream of trying to make a super small portable that would require a smaller cut (my hands are too big for such tomfoolery). In fact, until I get my GameCube shipped to me, take it apart and actually see how big/small everything is, I'm not gonna be sure just how I would trim it, if I need to at all.

I don't really see where/how you attach the v3 drive to the board (looks like it plugs in somewhere on the GC mobo by the picture I see).

I like how the Megadrive v6 is designed for easy soldering installation though. Wish it was in stock

 

[megalomaniac]

since you plan a meduim mainboard cut, then you should go for either V3 or V5.
V4 is really designed for home consoles, not portables
V6 is a little harder to solder unless you have a good iron and a lot of experience



V3 pros:
- uses the same DVD drive plug so it just "plugs" right into the mainboard with no effort at all...think of how easy a USB stick plugs into a computer....thats what you can expect from V3
- no soldering required except for the lid switch and pin29 switch

V3 cons:
- you need to keep the mainboard drive plug which could add unwanted height to the portable. Considering its such a simple way to connect maybe its worth to keep the plug at least for a first GC portable attempt..



v5 pros:
- not difficult to solder
- two to four wire solder for 3v, lid, pin29 (depending on your desired configuration for switches)
- eliminates the dvd drive plug

V5 cons:
- some people still manage to have a tough time because of their lack of soldering experience or maybe improper prep work
- mainboard DVD drive port is recommended to be removed else could lead to issues with pcb mounting





there are youtube videos of these boards
v3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXKAUT4jyOA
v5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-mVIXYUB58

 

[naimlessone]

Mega, you are the builder of those drives correct?

If i'm right, do you have an estimate as to when there will be more megadrive v5s ready to purchase?

 

[megalomaniac]

estimate....soon

 

[naimlessone]

sounds good my man lol