GCP skinkt Worklog

[skinkt]

So as a way to keep my questions in just one thread, Im creating this one for my current GCP project. It's still unnamed, but anyways, here is where I am so far with the case. I took inspiration from the 360's controller, and the GC Lynx, wich I loved. It will have a 7in screen, so space isn't really a problem.

Im currently working on the heatsink. I stuck the stock fan on the stock heatsink, and it's gonna be placed in the back of the case with some holes for vent. The thing is, should it suck the hot air out of the case? or blow INTO the heatsink? Wich direction is better? I also thought of cutting a wall of the fan so it blows to the side through the heatsink... any advice on the matter?

 

[Shank]

Interesting take on the shape.I can see this as being comfortable for someone with bigger hands. Xbox 360, tied with the gamecube, has my favorite controller.

Your case is very clean. Im curious how you made it.

As for the fan I believe it should be blowing from the heat sink outward

 

[skinkt]

Indeed, I have big hands, that's why the 360 controller felt like a good inspiration. I made a wooden mold with TONS of sanding to make the corners smooth and comfortable. I then cut the shape of the corners of the controller and stuck em inside these holes, and used bondo to smooth the gaps. After the franken-mold was done I vacuum formed it with 2mm plastic. The result was pretty good except for a little wrinkle here and there.

 

[Blargaman91]

I really love your case. It will make a great system for sure.

should it suck the hot air out of the case?

You always want to suck the air out of the system, blowing hot air out.

 

[ttsgeb]

That's some pretty sexy stylin' you got there.
I approve.

 

[skinkt]

The only downside is that it probably won't have batteries. I'm from Chile, and the shipping rate from batteryspace is ridiculous (80+ dollars just for the shipping), and I'm struggling to find something here that would work, plus the smart charger... It's a shame cause I ordered a wasp from badassconsoles and it should arrive next week with awesome shipping cost.

Edit:
I found some in Ebay (free shipping). Would these work the same way the batteryspace ones do?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-7V-4000-m...378?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27ee3c04f2
or
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-7V-5000-m...US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item19ee6ac960
plus
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Li-ion-Poly...t=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item565c099d68
http://www.ebay.com/itm/One-PCM-Pro...647?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3372a94f77

 

[EddyWouldGo]

Your case looks great man! Should be a really smart portable.

For the fan, there's lots of contradicting theories when it comes to case cooling, but I would agree with dysclexi.
You want a negative pressure inside according to articles like this one so if there is only one fan it should blow out, but don't forget some holes to let air in.

For the batteries it's difficult, lots of li-ion batteries coming from china/hong kong on ebay are terrible.
(Nearly everything comes from China in the end, but some are made to high standards for the reputable manufacturers)
Most have hugely overstated mAh ratings, and are generally poor quality.
Read some reviews of li-ions from brands like Ultrafire in this link. and you will see what I mean.

The reason batteryspace.com is popular with people on here in the U.S. is that they have proven quality batteries at good prices, but yeah, their international shipping is crazy.

I would suggest buying 18650 cells from a known brand (Sony, LG, Sanyo, Samsung etc.).
You can find cheap, quality branded 18650's at fasttech.com like these ones.
(Shipping for batteries is not free like it says, but still pretty cheap.)
You can also buy a battery holder (with integrated protection circuit) from them which will put the cells in the series/parallel configuration you want easily, and make them easy to mount in your case.

Please post on here when you recieve your stuff from badassconsoles, I'm waiting for a megadrive and don't know how long the aduana will take!
(Vives en Stgo? Vivo en el centro!)

Peace!

 

[skinkt]

The thing is, with the 18650 cells (4) I wouldnt get enough hours of game time... And the ebay LiPO's are between 4-5000mAh... (Si soy de stgo!)

EDIT: Could I wire 8 18650 cells? for like 6000mah? Could I still use the 4s PCM if I wire them parallel and series?

 

[Shank]

but I would agree with dysclexi.

Thank you for going all dyslexic on my dyslexic-ified dyslexic username. Don't know if you did that on purpose, but I actually laughed out loud

 

[EddyWouldGo]

The thing is, with the 18650 cells (4) I wouldnt get enough hours of game time... And the ebay LiPO's are between 4-5000mAh...

My point is that the batteries you linked to on ebay, in reality, may be as little as 1000 mAh. On the website I linked there are many examples of unknown Chinese batteries which when tested have a quarter or less of the stated capacity.
Cachay?

(Si soy de stgo!)

Bacán!

EDIT: Could I wire 8 18650 cells? for like 6000mah?

For a gamecube if your screen will run off a 7.4v pack (not the stated input, but in real life if you feed it from a pack) then you shouldn't need anything more.
So 4 x 3000 mAh 18650's (in a 2 series, 2 parallel holder) would give you 6000 mAh @ 7.4v.

Thank you for going all dyslexic on my dyslexic-ified dyslexic username. Don't know if you did that on purpose, but I actually laughed out loud

Yeah, your username hurts my brain. Couldn't even try and spell it "right".

 

[skinkt]

Wait wait wait, shouldn't I need a custom regulator to run the gamecube with anything lower than 12v? I got my screen working and I had to give it power from the 12v spot on my rev C board...

 

[EddyWouldGo]

Wait wait wait, shouldn't I need a custom regulator to run the gamecube with anything lower than 12v? I got my screen working and I had to give it power from the 12v spot on my rev C board...

Ah, okay, I hadn't read carefully enough and just assumed you were going to make custom regulators.

If you do want to run the system off batteries it would make a lot of sense to.

I might have spare suitable regulators if so, I can look...

So you got the screen working again?!?

 

[skinkt]

Yeah, finally got it working (had to buy another one), at least with the av to composite cable. Im now struggling to find where the audio should go...

 

[skinkt]

I REALLY hope someone can help me out with this. My wasp+megadrive kit arrived after a month, and after some few tries with the soldering, finally got everything to work. I even played a game of Smash on it. But now I tried to turn it on, and suddenly the gamecube isn't working anymore. The screen is powering up (it's soldered to the backside of the power connector, the thing that has the fan connector), and it's receiving the 12v that it needs, but the gamecube itself isn't receiving any power, I used a multimeter and it's showing 0v on every place besides the power connector, and the processors aren't getting warm.

What could it be? Did the motherboard die? I just turned it off, and after a few minutes, when I tried to turn it on it just wasn't working no more.

Here are pics of the screen working but not the console.

EDIT: I desoldered everything from the gc mobo, and it still doesnt turn on, guess the mobo is death?

 

[skinkt]

I just bought another cheap gamecube, assembled everything again, and now it's working great with the wasp and swiss.

I started working on the controller, so I cut it in two pieces and it fits perfect on my case, as it was a main point when I did the design. The thing is, I soldered the traces from the front and the back with wires and now the entire right half ain't working. Any suggestions why it didnt work? (Not a single button from the ABXY side is working)

 

[Diminuendo]

I honestly use a GC knockoff controller from ebay, they are a lot less fussy to get soldered up

 

[skinkt]

It looks like I missed the continuity soldering from trace to trace. I tried from trace to the main chip and it worked, at least for the B button. I'll redo all the soldering to the main chip and I'll post back hopefully with good results.

 

[skinkt]

I'm finishing my work on the case, but I had a question. When my screen (and whole system) turns on, it goes to ntsc mode (a little NTSC appears on the screen), and I have to press the source button on the screen for it to go to the AV mode (composite). Anyone knows a way so I can make it boot up on AV mode when I turn it on? Its a little detail but would be awesome if I can work it out.

 

[Blargaman91]

You might try connecting the two button terminals, or bridging the button, so that the button is "permanently pressed". I don't know if that would achieved the desired effect on your screen.

 

[skinkt]

You might try connecting the two button terminals, or bridging the button, so that the button is "permanently pressed". I don't know if that would achieved the desired effect on your screen.

mm, don't think so, as it also got TV mode and radio mode, 4 steps with the same button...

Anyways, I have another question: What kind of connection should I use to make a 4 player external adapter like the one zack did on his portable?