Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

[brentphx]

My parts list and links so far (only parts that have shipped):
Gc (Obviously)- early revision w/ IPL1.0 Dol-CPU-10
Controllers (a pile of wired/wireless to pick from)
Batteries/protection circuit/charger
Screen: 7” Pillow TFT LCD from ebay
Case: the good ole ZN-40 or maybe the 45 (or technically both)
WKF
Zenloc Custom regulators for 5v,3.3v,1.9v
Caps/resistors- I found a vendor with the exact spec resistors for the regulators, no mixing and matching.
Tact switches (rubber) and clicky and some shorter ones and juuuust in case some tiny ones
SPDT, DPDT, and Normally Open switches from radioshack
10k ohm Wheel Pot
Headphone jack (switchable)
Portable speakers/amp
Female power connector
Heat sinks

Wire, 30g kynar and 22g solid from RS
Diamond Dremel wheels Harbor Freight
Solder and iron
Epoxy/CA Superglue: HF or Hobby Lobby, big ole pile of different options
Hot Glue/gun
Test leads
Desoldering wick (best invention EVER)
Stepping bits, drill bits
Sand paper: course through fine
Large particle board for portable workspace safety
Safety glasses, gloves
Hand tools
Drill Press, the poor man’s CNC

Forums and Guides read, bookmarked, and re-read… check
Confidence level: high
Probability that I will finish this without killing a bunch of pcb’s: low (shut up brain! I’m doin this!!)

Planned mods:
The screen is basically as large as the zn case, I have one zn-40 and one zn-45 and I plan to join a section from the middle of one into the other (think limo style). I’ll try plastic welding (friction welding) them with abs fill rod and if it works I’ll post a how-to guide.

WKF instead of DD

Charge and play wiring

Switchable p1/p2

Considering trying video out

Work so far:

Parts received, GC opened and boards removed. I have set the DD aside for Tshooting or pot removal in case I need one. Portable speakers gutted for amp/speakers.

The GC mobo fits inside the zn-40 without modification, I may not need to trim the board. I definitely don’t want to get overly confident in my first portable and try to set any records for size.

Need to solder the batteries to the protection pcb today for testing everything.

I have soldered up the custom regulator chain, testing Vout against batteries today once they’re ready. Will also test the monitor’s composite-in, check for dead pixels, quality etc. while I have the batteries out.

Regulator pics (chained together per a post I found, seemed easier than running ground for each):



Will try to start soldering up the WKF ribbon today or it’ll have to wait until next week. This project is a surprise for the family so I can only work on my toys between 1 and 5p m-thurs when no one is home and only if work allows. I plan to tackle this first so I don’t waste any time modifying the board only to find I messed something up for wiring the wkf. Get the hard stuff out of the way first, ya know? Nothing groundbreaking in the design, most of it is sampled/stolen from other people's portables... but, that's what first attempts are for right?

 

[brentphx]

Batteries successfully wired to the pcb, charged for 30sec to reset the protection circuit. Regulator tested- outputting 5v, 3.3v, and 1.8v as expected.

Successful first steps although I am not able to power my 7" screen on 7.4v. The screen just flashes but won't power up. Now to decide whether to add more batteries or to use a small screen. The 4.3" screen that I have powered up beautifully on 7.4v and I put a bit of Zelda through it via n64 as a test... but it's just not 7" (insert adult humored joke here).

 

[brentphx]

Can anyone give me a reason why this battery pack wouldn't work??

12,9,or 5V at 2A... plenty of mah... I suppose my real issue would be screen + audio + gc pulling more than 2A. From this guide, it would appear that I may be better off with a newer rev board if they do indeed only pull 1.5A... but that would only leave 500mah for the screen... might just be time for an experiment!! The math in W looks promising (V*A=W)... that's 9.24W consumed by the GC leaving ~9W for the screen which should only need ~4.5W.

 

[brentphx]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

Update 9/9/13
Completed soldering the wkf ribbon cable. Wires soldered per this guide and this guide.

All pins tested out with my multi meter showing no bridging or bad connections. 30 gauge Kynar is a beeeeeotch to strip, I gotta say! Will try to start wiring the wkf to the mobo tomorrow. No more for today, my eyes hurt now.

 

[DuHasst0]

Re: Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

No more for today, my eyes hurt now.

I understand what you mean, staring at those small writes and ffc wires will make you go cross eyed.

 

[brentphx]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

A little experiment on my part to see if I CAN use the backup batteries... Here are the innards of the battery pack. I do have the batteryspace 3.7 5Ah packs which ARE smaller and lighter, but they just won't push a 7" screen.

I'll start testing things out with the board after work today if time permits. This is the pack I went with...

 

[brentphx]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

Here's a quick writeup on the Anker backup battery pack, I tossed it out to my Google Drive folder if anyone wants to see the details. It's a pdf so I didn't have to deal with formatting all of the image links... laziness on my part.

 

[Blargaman91]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

Kynar wire is probably the best kind of wire to use, but you can also try IDE wire from old computers. With that kind of wire, you can put the end of the iron on an unstripped wire and the insulation will melt back just enough for perfect exposure length, and it'll be tinned too. Just a suggestion, since you mentioned troubles stripping that Kynar stuff.

I don't know what your exact plans are for the use of space in your portable but if you have the room, since your using a ZN case, you may be able to fit some small cylindrical battery cells in the sides. Plenty of them on batteryspace.com offer high mAh density for their size.

 

[brentphx]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

Just a suggestion, since you mentioned troubles stripping that Kynar stuff.

I don't have issues stripping kynar, was simply a commentary on the size of the wire... and on stripping sooo many little wires.

Regarding plans for the case...from the first post- "The screen is basically as large as the zn case, I have one zn-40 and one zn-45 and I plan to join a section from the middle of one into the other (think limo style). I’ll try plastic welding (friction welding) them with abs fill rod and if it works I’ll post a how-to guide."

I also bought some plasti-fix to bond the case together. I picked up the starter kit for this because I can always use it at home when the kids break stuff on their toys. I will cut one case in half, then cut the middle out of the other case... bond them to fit... then finish the area where the top/bottom meet. That's pretty much the final steps as I'm not 100% certain whether I'll need the zn-40 or the 45 yet, depends on height of everything in the case once it's all wired up and running on the bench.

And for batteries- That's why I bought, tested, then wrote up the quick pdf about the Anker backup batteries... I plan on using them instead of the batteryspace packs. I'd have to have a set of three at least to get 11.1v if I wanted to be able to power the screen... with the Anker, it has a step up regulator built in to give me 9 or 12v... no work, no testing, comes with a protection circuit and charger, just crack open the backup unit and rewire the batteries to save space and have them side by side vs stacked. And, it's cheaper

 

[brentphx]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

WKF wired and tests out... fingers crossed


Slot A gecko and Slot B mem card


OMG almost done... don't F it up now!!

 

[randomdude4321]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

can i ask what guides you are following (if any)? also im not familiar with the gecko-sd combo for gamecube, what do those do (and do they add to the function of the wiikey, or are they separate?)

 

[brentphx]

Re: [Worklog] Brentphx's first attempt at a GCp

Pretty much following the guides on m.b.b. and on modretro (with a tip of the hat to ShockSlayer)for both the GCp and the n64p that are nearing completion.

The SD Gecko is used in the flashing process and can be read by the wkf, see link here that shows using sd gecko. If I ever need to flash, I want to be able to. Swiss has a memory card emulation function that needs SD Gecko on slot A, i believe. and, the WKF slot is read only, again- per my understanding. The fact that the official swiss guide said the words SD and Gecko so many times told me I needed to order one. I got this one, it took almost a month to get here!

I will reconcile all of the guides that I followed once I know what steps I used from each and follow up with a finished product post listing all parts, links, and guides to give credit where credit is due.

 

[brentphx]

Well, delayed on testing the GCp... the heatsinks I ordered from dealextreme apparently arrived at my local post office Friday. They say they tried delivering Sat even though no one ever came to the door. I filled out the 're-deliver' form online requesting today... I was working in my office 10 feet from the door with a window to the walkway ALL DAY. Lazy ass never came to the door, just filled out another 'we missed you' form and dropped it in the mailbox. This is BS. Now I get to try requesting that they deliver it Thurs or go 10 miles and stand in line to pick them up.

 

[DuHasst0]

I had the same problem with the postal service, kept just doing the little orange notice sorry missed ya instead of walking to my front door.

 

[brentphx]

I know they're union, but geez... it makes me look forward to the post office going under and everything being handled by ups/fedex. At least that way junk mail won't be subsidized, maybe then I'll get to opt out. It just pisses me off, the post office could not be less convenient for me to get to. I even put my cell # in the comments/instructions section so they could call and tell me to come outside.

 

[DuHasst0]

Honestly it's luck of the draw on your delivery person for the mail, and it may be faster or even a better experience to just get it from there. Just don't say anything to the manager cause you get your mail for a couple weeks.

 

[brentphx]

Too much work to do, not enough time...

 

[randomdude4321]

are ram heatsinks really adaquate on a GC? O.o

 

[brentphx]

shouldn't be a problem provided you have good enough thermal transfer and move enough air... but then every single step I take on this project has been new to me. I come from the server world and I've cooled much more powerful and hot systems with less.

arctic alumina and 12k rpm fans ought to do it...