First portable N64 WIP

[eurddrue]

Wait Do you have a protection circuit for those batteries!? And silly palmer, the expansion pak won't work at 3.16v, so thus DK64 won't.


I'm a kiddin'

 

[opinionatedman]

Wait Do you have a protection circuit for those batteries!?

Yes, it is hard to see. I have it wrapped in electrical taped a few inches off of the batteries. I spent quite a bit of money on them and am doing my best to make sure there is no way that they can be shorted out. Part of the reason of I have not hooked it up to the N64 is because I have been double checking everything, and triple checking.

I considered putting in an expansion pack, but the height would be an issue, and I don't have any games that require it. I always had the jumper pack until I bought 2 more N64s, they both came with an expansion pack.

As for a short progress update, some good and some bad. The good is I have the Control pad relocated, working on relocating the memory pack. I decided to attach the controls onto the sides like ShockSlayer did on one of his Gamecube portables. That eliminates the need to try and hinge the screen, didn't really want to do it that way anyhow. It also eliminates me cutting the aluminum up to make button holes.

Any suggestions on the audio? I know I am going to hate working on it, I have 10 or so broken pairs of headphones that I have never been able to fix. I have taken apart countless audio related things, so I have plenty of speakers, hopefully an amplifier somewhere. The problem is finding the parts. What is best for a portable, mono or stereo? I am hoping if I have room for 2 speakers to do so.

I plan on adding a headphone port, do I need a switch to flip between audio out and headphone out?

I am going to hope 3.16 works, trying it later tonight. I am off work the next 2 days so I have plenty of time to work on it!

 

[opinionatedman]

Going to work on the battery today. Got the built in control done for the most part:

All I have left to do is extend the joystick. And find a place for it on the portable.... I got so caught up in relocating the memory pack I had forgotten all about the joystick. D pad is in the way.... probably going to move it.

The audio is not working, I used the audio out, attached a male-male plug on both ends, attached it to a thing that turned the 2 phono plugs down to a 3.5 mm jack, attached a volume control, then attached the end to a female-female 3.5 mm jack (output for headphones) then I attached headphones, no sound. I guess I need an amplifier, I was wondering if this little black chip will work, the one in between the 4 blue capacitors:

It has 8 pins, 4 on each side. If it is what I need then yay!

 

[XCVG]

What are you trying to do with the audio anyway? You can connect headphones directly to the N64 and get (weak) audio, but yeah you probably need an amplifier. Does your screen have one? If not, you'll have to build one.

 

[opinionatedman]

For the audio, I am trying to have it go to internal speakers, to the A/V jacks, and to a headphone out port. The way I hooked it up I thought I would get audio, didn't hear anything. The screens did not come with an amplifier, they were part of a bunch of dynex portable DVD players. Me and my friend saved a whole bunch of screen and split them between us. I don't even have the speakers that came with the player. If anyone knows of a good audio guide out there that would help I would love a link. I have seen this thread: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=438

I have read moddedbybacterias PDF with the headphone port, and after rereading the previous thread I realized there was writing on the chip:

TDA2822M
W99EN303

ST MAL

And I got the guide: http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datashe ... Xqwxzy.pdf, though to someone like me it doesn't make much sense. For example, where it says output (1) and output (2), to get stereo would I have to wire 2 of the speakers together for stereo, and connect 1 lead from each stereo to each of the outputs.

Would I have to wire a switch to flip between my 3 designated outputs?

 

[XCVG]

Okay, audio out from the N64 can be split between the A/V out and the headphone/speaker amp. There are headphone jacks you can get which will switch between headphone and speaker when you plug headphones in. Lastly, scroll down the datasheet and you will find some diagrams.

 

[opinionatedman]

Decided to skip the audio for now, I have a rough idea of how to wire it up, but it is rough, I might have to make a quick thing in paint to see if I am thinking it out correctly, which I am probably not.

But, great news: It is running off of batteries!!

Basically all I have left is audio and casework. Unfortunately this is my last day off for the week, so I can only work on it when I have time.

 

[PalmerTech]

Try it with a game other than SSB, just to be safe. SSB uses very few pins, I had a faulty cart slot once that worked with SSB and no other games.

 

[opinionatedman]

Try it with a game other than SSB, just to be safe. SSB uses very few pins, I had a faulty cart slot once that worked with SSB and no other games.

Had me worried for a second, went down and tried it with the nearest game, James Bond-The World is Not Enough. It worked : ) The only reason I had that game nearby was for testing the memory pack slot... I don't know how many pins that game utilizes, I might grab a heavy cartridge tomorrow and try it.

I gotta say I would be very discouraged if I came this far and found out that it only word with SSB.

 

[PalmerTech]

Try it with a game other than SSB, just to be safe. SSB uses very few pins, I had a faulty cart slot once that worked with SSB and no other games.

Had me worried for a second, went down and tried it with the nearest game, James Bond-The World is Not Enough. It worked : ) The only reason I had that game nearby was for testing the memory pack slot... I don't know how many pins that game utilizes, I might grab a heavy cartridge tomorrow and try it.

I gotta say I would be very discouraged if I came this far and found out that it only word with SSB.

I was not trying to get your hopes down, I just wanted to make sure.
DK64 uses a lot of pins, as does Pokemon Stadium 2.

It is probably fine, but 'ya can never be too sure.

I can't wait for more progress!

 

[Basement_Modder]

Are these the batteries you're using, by any chance?

 

[opinionatedman]

Actually yes, while trying to figure out what batteries I wanted to use, I read a post somewhere (probably here or at benheck) that said something along the lines of "use these batteries, this charger, and this protection circuit". I went with that selection. I wanted to use Li-Po batteries, but didn't know much about them, or protection circuits. I was saved a lot of time, and they were very easy to use. Was that you who made that post?

 

[Basement_Modder]

Actually yes, while trying to figure out what batteries I wanted to use, I read a post somewhere (probably here or at benheck) that said something along the lines of "use these batteries, this charger, and this protection circuit". I went with that selection. I wanted to use Li-Po batteries, but didn't know much about them, or protection circuits. I was saved a lot of time, and they were very easy to use. Was that you who made that post?

It was

 

[opinionatedman]

Didn't want to post anything till I accomplished something worthy of posting.

Cut heat sinks to proper size, still need 1 more. I briefly made a Gamecube extension cable (having a broken Gamecube and no use for it I figured why not). I attached a fan for cooling. I recently got a hold of some speakers gratis from my friend Jared, wired everything up and viola, sound! :thumb:

I have some pictures, but my camera battery sucks and it is charging again, so maybe sometime later. All I have to do is casework.....kind of excited, but overall not looking forward to casework.

I might have to change out the speakers for something smaller though. Time will tell. By the way thanks Basement_Modder for the battery suggestion

PalmerTech, I agree that you can never be too sure, so I just checked the setup with Pokemon Stadium 2, works great! I have the rest of the day today, after 10 tomorrow, and all Saturday to get this project rolling!

 

[Basement_Modder]

Cut heat sinks to proper size, still need 1 more.

Old graphics cards have good heatsinks.

I briefly made a Gamecube extension cable (having a broken Gamecube and no use for it I figured why not). I attached a fan for cooling. I recently got a hold of some speakers gratis from my friend Jared, wired everything up and viola, sound! :thumb:

Old iBook speakers are really nice, and tiny, too.

I have some pictures, but my camera battery sucks and it is charging again, so maybe sometime later. All I have to do is casework.....kind of excited, but overall not looking forward to casework.

My camera takes AA's, and they take forever to charge.

I might have to change out the speakers for something smaller though.

See above^

By the way thanks Basement_Modder for the battery suggestion

I found no problem with 'em, so I posted it.

 

[opinionatedman]

Back/Top of case:

Front/Bottom of case:

Rear:

Speakers:

My Mess:

In the case:

And the front:

Now the late update(s). Everything was in the case, looking nice, getting closer to finish, several setbacks happened, different things that stopped working and were fixed, the last of which was the controller itself. Troubleshooted everything, finally had to un-expoxy it, found out it was a really really small surface mount component that completely dislodged itself. It had 6 leads, one was completely broken, and the wires were too tiny to solder anyhow. Since the whole controller board was trash, that meant the memory cartridge slot, which consisted of at least 16 hours of work (had to redo the entire thing because it did not work), is no longer going to be added to the portable. It's a shame that I put so much work into it and now I can't use it, but oh well.

Currently I relocated the analog stick and z button, but I ran out of solder again. I just place an order on DealExtreme, I had read a thread on here that linked to them. Got a lot of solder, a brass sponge (tired of using my wet sponge), some tinning thing to keep tips fresh, and heatsinks.

 

[Basement_Modder]

Buy the huge thing of solder from ratshack, It'll last a lifetime.

Also-nothing is too small to solder. Send me the controller board, and I'll resolder the thing for ya', given you pay shipping both ways.

 

[opinionatedman]

I will keep that in mind if I somehow mess up something really tiny, like those chips. I actually took a picture of the item that broke off, on of the leads was completely gone, nothing to solder to. Couldn't even get a good shot of it.

 

[zeturi]

I just thought... out of nowhere. I replaced my heatsinks on my xbox with iceberq 4s, just like the people who make slimboxes. They're something like 3/4 of an inch tall.

Unless you're aim is a very tiny n64p, I'd give it a shot. They keep my xbox running 20 degrees cooler. And they're only $14 each. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835110107

 

[XCVG]

I just thought... out of nowhere. I replaced my heatsinks on my xbox with iceberq 4s, just like the people who make slimboxes. They're something like 3/4 of an inch tall.

Unless you're aim is a very tiny n64p, I'd give it a shot. They keep my xbox running 20 degrees cooler. And they're only $14 each. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835110107

Fourteen bucks is a lot of money for a heatsink.