GCP Worklog "Gamerang"

[dmnchief001]

Hi,

I am making a worklog for my gamecube portable, which I will call Gamerang, because I envision it to look slightly like a boomerang. (Now I find out that gamerang is already taken as a game rental service, sob!)

Anyways, here is my initial sketch:

Ok, gamerang is stupid... The motherboard was printed to scale. The casing might end up being slightly larger due to my conservative motherboard trimming

The first step I did was follow ShockSlayer's and Tchay's guide, viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1654 . I use this guide as a basis. Following the tutorial, I opened the case, took out the motherboard, and popped off the ports.

As of this post, I have audio, video, controller, and now MEMORY CARD working on my trimmed motherboard. That memory card took FOREVER for me to solder in correctly. I think my soldering skills increased tenfold!

On the trimmed motherboard, I left the original voltage regulator intact. Can someone please explain to me how a custom voltage regulator can increase battery-life? I know you are decreasing the voltage, but you are increasing the amps, so the power should remain the same no matter what voltage you use.
EDIT: Nevermind. I think I found the answer: "Get yourself a decent switching regulator, as switching regulators hold the extra power and then release it, thus using almost all of the power of the batteries. Linear regulators like the one you have release the extra electrical energy as heat."
So how much extra battery life will I get by making my own switching regulator? If I'm only losing 20 minutes, is it work it?
EDIT2: I have been told that no extra battery life will be gained by using a new regulator. It's only purpose is to make the portable smaller and possibly create less heat.

Here is my trimmed motherboard:

EDIT: That P2 in the image above should be a P1. Note that this is a REV. C board. Therefore, I can't do any omgwtf type trims. This trim isn't even the maximum trim for the Rev C board, because I wanted to keep the original voltage regulator.
Also note that my video is coming from Pin 4, not Pin 8 like described in Ashen's guide: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=9329
EDIT: Ashen has let me know that the Pin 4 is S-Video, not composite. Pin 8 should be composite, but for some reason, pin 8 or the other pins in his guide don't work for me.
Also, Ashen NEVER said to use the 3.3V pin I originally used to power the controller. My apologies to Ashen. I simply misinterpreted his guide viewtopic.php?f=36&t=9329.

Here is my memory card that took me all night to add to the motherboard:

Ashen's guide (viewtopic.php?f=36&t=9329) didn't explain what to do with the bottom six pins on the memory card. I found what I needed in his other post: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=8893&view=next . I know he said it's silly to repost all the pin relocations. I'm simply showing others where I found them.


Anyways, tonight I will add the Wiikey Fusion.

I have some more questions:
Can I assume that I can add a thick layer of hot glue on my board to ensure that all my wires will stay put?
Is the bios battery needed for any games?
Can anybody recommend a good, small, but most importantly, QUIET heatsink fan?

I see SonyQrio's fan looks interesting:
http://i.imgur.com/lNNpw.jpg
but he says in his video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeHIzToX ... r_embedded that the fan is extremely quiet... is that sarcasm?

Anyways, I hope I didn't ask too many questions, and wish me luck!

 

[superben51]

GCP Worklog "Gamerang"

The custom regulators can be run off of 7.4v but the default one needs a 14.8v battery pack. So you can save some money or get double the battery life by building a custom reg.

 

[dmnchief001]

Re: GCP Worklog

The custom regulators can be run off of 7.4v but the default one needs a 14.8v battery pack. So you can save some money or get double the battery life by building a custom reg.

So doubled battery life? That sounds fantastic!

I thought the default battery would need to be 12V since that's what the gamecube's power supply outputs.

 

[Prog]

The 12V line can be run on less than 5V.
You aren't going to double the battery life. You'll have the same power draw, and therefore the same life. However, you won't have to use more than 12V, because that's what the stock regulator requires. Instead, you can use 7.4V Lithium-ion batteries.

 

[dmnchief001]

The 12V line can be run on less than 5V.
You aren't going to double the battery life. You'll have the same power draw, and therefore the same life. However, you won't have to use more than 12V, because that's what the stock regulator requires. Instead, you can use 7.4V Lithium-ion batteries.

But there will be a gain in battery-life due to a higher quality switching regulator being used rather than a linear regulator, right?... maybe 10 to 20 minutes?

I honestly don't mind buying something like this 12V 4500mA Li-Ion battery pack to be used with the original voltage regulator:
http://www.spytecinc.com/12-volt-li-ion ... -pack.html

 

[Prog]

No, not really. Same amount of power drawn, according to ZenLOC, now LOCtronics, who engineered it.
You will get less heat, though.
PS. That battery is a gyp.

 

[dmnchief001]

No, not really. Same amount of power drawn, according to ZenLOC, now LOCtronics, who engineered it.
You will get less heat, though.
PS. That battery is a gyp.

I find that odd too. I've always been under the impression that high voltage and low current is cooler than low voltage and high current.
For example, if I have 12V 0.1A flowing through a resistor, the resistor will live to see another day, but if I have 0.1V 12A (Same power) flowing through a resistor, the resistor will burn to a crisp, as most resistors I play with aren't really rated for more than 500 mA.

PS. What does GYP mean? I honestly haven't started looking at batteries yet. That battery was just the result of a quick google search.

Finally, now I start the wiikey fusion soldering. I'm so excited! Is it weird that I'm having more fun building this thing than actually playing the games?

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

GCP Worklog "Gamerang"

It's not weird at all

 

[Prog]

Gyp, as in rip off? Pronounced Jip?

 

[FierceDeity]

A custom regulator doesn't save battery life, it saves space and lets you use 7.4 volts. That lets you use 2 3.4v lipo cells to get 7.4v instead of 4 cells to give you 14.8v. The only way to save battery life with a custom reg is to give the CPU and GPU lower voltages.

Can I assume that I can add a thick layer of hot glue on my board to ensure that all my wires will stay put?

I would not recommend it. Hot glue can melt at high temperatures, good ventilation will prevent that, but better safe then sorry. Also, if a wire does pop of or something breaks, it's a pain in the ass to fix. When I'm working on stuff I use small amount of hot glue to hold wires down, then epoxy them later. I only use small amounts and don't cover important things so when something breaks I can fix it. Some people use hot glue for securing wires, but I don't like to.

Is the bios battery needed for any games?

I'm not really sure, but why not ad it. It's super easy and it lets you keep the date and time.

Can anybody recommend a good, small, but most importantly, QUIET heatsink fan?

Tchay spent forever to find this fan, it's awesome

Lastly, if you not already using it, you should use rosin core solder. It will make soldering so much easier and will look neater.

 

[dmnchief001]

Heh. Thanks FierceDeity for warning me about the hotglue. The only bad thing is that I JUST added the hotglue to the memory card points.

Thanks for the fan! The ebay post doesn't state the decibel, but I'll take Tchay's and your word and buy it.

Also, I'm using 60/40 Rosin-core 0.32'' solder to make beautiful solder jobs as shown below ;-):

Soldering those wires to the cable took EIGHT HOURS!!! I did check every pin though and the wires are all connected. Yay! I'm now going to go die...

 

[public-pervert]

What a beautiful soldering job! :S

 

[juankamq]

man, without the minimal intention to hurt you, work with those wires in this projects, totally fail, you have to use something more flexible, like ide cables because those wires are not flexible you could break the traces or the wire itself, and it's really anoying hace to re-solder the wires, but aniway, just my opinion, good luck

 

[dmnchief001]

man, without the minimal intention to hurt you, work with those wires in this projects, totally fail, you have to use something more flexible, like ide cables because those wires are not flexible you could break the traces or the wire itself, and it's really anoying hace to re-solder the wires, but aniway, just my opinion, good luck

No pain, no gain. I did realize my disadvantage when watching one of Tchay's videos. I think I'm going to go ahead and use these wires. I'll just have to bend each wire to the correct position a little more carefully. If a wire does come loose, I have the other end of the cable to start over.

Finally, does anyone know why I'm only getting a black and white video output? I'm pretty sure I have both an NTSC gamecube and an NTSC tv.
I originally thought that the black and white video was due to the disk drive not being plugged in, but I now know that this is not the case.
Remember, I am using pin 4 on the AVE N -DOL A chip instead of the pin 8 like Ashen said to use. I did this because pin 8 didn't give me any video and pin 4 did.

Also, in regards to the fan, is Tchay's fan the T4506F05MP or the MCF-G04P05-1?

 

[Ashen]

This worklog: I don't even...

You're getting black and white video because you're pulling from one of the two pins that output S-Video. Did you try pulling composite video from the OTHER relocation points I showed in my rev C cutting guide?

Also, I don't remember or see where I ever said you/anyone should pull 3.3v for the controller from the MX chip like you had originally tried to do. Please don't blame me for your mistakes. My guides are pretty spot on except for a few minor things already mentioned in the threads themselves that I need to fix.

 

[dmnchief001]

Hi Ashen,
I'm sorry that it appears that I'm blaming your guide for my problems. That was not my intention.

Did you try pulling composite video from the OTHER relocation points?:

Yes. I get a black screen on those pins, but this black screen might be the result of my motherboard trimming. After my motherboard trim, I also lost audio on what looks like brown caps.
On pin 8 on the AVE N -DOL A chip, I get flashes of white at times, but I get these white flashes on the other pins on this side of the chip as well.

Also, I don't remember or see where I ever said you/anyone should pull 3.3v for the controller from the MX chip like you had originally tried to do:

Ok, I figured out my mistake. In your image as shown below, you labeled the image as "Controller Ports and MX chip Relocation."

I assumed that the pin you labeled blue on the MX chip was to be attached to the blue cable on the controller. I now know that this is not the case. Again, my apologies.

This worklog: I don't even...

...sniffle...

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

have you tested that wiikey setup to make sure it works?

 

[dmnchief001]

have you tested that wiikey setup to make sure it works?

Not yet. I soldered the grounds together this morning, but I spent more time trying to get color video.

Then I went to work, and played with electronics there

Are there any objections to this fan?
http://www.impactcomputers.com/05k5494.html

 

[FierceDeity]

Dang, that fan is a nice find. Zenloc found that same model on pchub, but they've been sold out for awhile. I may have to buy a few, but they're pretty expensive.

 

[dmnchief001]

Ok. It seems that I bought the wrong type of switch for the Wiikey fusion. I bought Radioshack's smallest switch, but it was a six pin, double pole double throw (DPDT) contact configuration. Luckily, I didn't fry the wiikey fusion. When I power my gamecube, the wiikey LEDs flash blue and red, but then instantly turn off. I later get the error message on my gamecube.

Also, I think I found out why I'm not getting a composite signal on pin 8:
"When I connected the composite video to my TV using the default resistor this cable has built in, it had some problems (the video signal was very weak, and everything was near complete white on screen), so I decided to use a variable resistor to calibrate the resistor to the correct value." viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1654
I am currently using NO resistor between pin 8 and my tv. Therefore, when I go to Radioshack today, I will purchase two three pin switches (that only have NC, NO, and C pins) and a POT.
Does anybody know what range POT I need to purchase?

Update: I wanted to stick the original resistor in line between pin 8 and my TV. I opened the composite cable plug to try and find the original resistor, but there was no resistor or circuitboard in there. I also spent a few minutes trying to get the DVD drive's POT working between Pin 8 and my TV. I still don't get a signal on my TV. It's just a black screen. I actually never got a pure white screen like what happened in ShockSlayer's tutorial, so I must be having a different problem than a simple addition of a POT. I only get white flashes on the screen if I poke at Pin 8 with my composite wire.

Finally, I set out to find this alternate pin. I know it's PAL, but it was worth a shot:

It appears that this pin at this location does not exist on my Rev C motherboard. Instead, I have what looks like the start of the integrated voltage regulator.

Does anyone know of any other pins to try for composite video on a Rev C motherboard other than the three pins (which don't work for me) in Ashen's image below???: