Wii Portable V2.0 Progress and Questions

[Jonathan Holt]

So, I posted a few questions about possible batteries for the new wii portable I'm making, and decided just to make a general thread for progress and questions because I don't want to make a bunch of different topics (mods, you can combine the battery topic with this one if you want)

With that said, I got the screen I ordered in today. I went with a similar idea that I did on my previous one, which is using the lcd from a slave unit DVD player. It already has composite out which makes it easy to wire to the wii, and it comes with a speaker already. I went with a smaller screen (7") this time since I bought a housing enclosure to fit it in.

Buuuuut, I didn't realize that this particular slave unit attaches to the main unit via USB. I'm not sure if the video goes out through the usb as a analog or digital signal, so I don't even know if I can wire it directly to the wii. I've included a picture of the board. Can anyone look at it and tell me if it looks like it can be wired to the wii?

 

[Cojiro]

So what are you saying the problem is? That the composite in is attached to the main board, and the main board is attached to the lcd driver board via USB, and you want to be able to connect composite directly to the driver board? What is shown in the picture, just the driver board?

 

[Jonathan Holt]

So what are you saying the problem is? That the composite in is attached to the main board, and the main board is attached to the lcd driver board via USB, and you want to be able to connect composite directly to the driver board? What is shown in the picture, just the driver board?

What is show here is all that is included in the slave unit lcd screen. This connects to the main unit that has the DVD player and main screen. On the previous one of these I used (it was a different model), the main unit connected to the slave unit via an aux cord that had 3 channels (R/L audio and video) so that was easy to connect directly to the wii. But this model doesn't have an aux in or anything, it connects to the main unit via USB.

What I was trying to figure out is whether the way it operates is by receiving a digital signal from the main unit via USB which the board outputs on the display, or if it works the same as the other one I worked with and the usb simply carries the R/L audio and video signal (in other works, the usb isn't used for data transfer, just a composite adapter if you will). I wasn't sure if just looking at the board in the picture above would give a clue as to which of those it is.

If it is a digital signal, there won't be any way (that I know of) to connect the lcd directly to the wii. But if the usb is carrying an analog signal, then I can just rewire the usb port to the correct pins on the wii.

Hope that doesn't sound too confusing...

 

[Cojiro]

Never heard of anything like that. Links/model number of the parts you are using? What are those ports on the left? The USB port you are talking about, and headphone jack? If it were me and I thought that the USB might be carrying composite video, I'd just plug it into a tv or something to test it. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[Blargaman91]

If you find that that screen doesn't work, this 7" screen supports component video from the Wii, which is pretty much the best quality possible out of a Wii. It doesn't come with speakers, but there is a spot for an audio amplifier IC you can add and the settings do have volume control.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

OK, thanks. The ports on the left are just headphone out and the usb port. I'll tink we with it in a day or two and see what I can figure out.

 

[Aurelio]

If you find that that screen doesn't work, this 7" screen supports component video from the Wii, which is pretty much the best quality possible out of a Wii. It doesn't come with speakers, but there is a spot for an audio amplifier IC you can add and the settings do have volume control.

It does have the spot for an audio amp, but needs a lot of extra work since the board is designed to have mono input and mono output, with no headphone support

 

[Jonathan Holt]

It does have the spot for an audio amp, but needs a lot of extra work since the board is designed to have mono input and mono output, with no headphone support

Thanks, I'll look into it. I am looking to find a screen for under $30 though, I've already invested around $100 and I have yet to buy a battery pack. I'm planning on selling this one, so I want to keep an eye on how much I spend.

Sooooo, bad news on the slave dvd screen I bought (see picture in OP), I tried every combination that should work and I couldn't even get the screen to come on. Supposedly the screen is powered off 12V, so it should have worked with the wii charger, but to no avail. I looked up a 4 pin USB pinout diagram, but I didn't have any luck. So I will return this screen and look into getting another one.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Here the latest update on the project:

Originally I wanted to keep the disc drive, but with the housing I got, there was just no way. Also, the board hung out of the housing about half and inch or so, so some trimming had to be done. Luckily, the only thing that was on the part that had to be trimmed was the eject button (not gonna need that), and the ground (or negative maybe) for the clock battery, which I'm not too worried about.

I have the sensor bar port, video port, and power ports desoldered from the board and have the wires hooked up to them so I'm ready for the next step on those. I hooked everything up (using the screen from my other portable wii) and everything still works so far.

I decided to go with a regular oem 7" lcd screen without and audio amp, and just ordered a separate stereo audio amp and a couple speakers. They should be in in about a week or so.

The next step is to get all the spots I need cut out on the housing measured out and do some cuts. I also have to desoldered the usb port and reposition it somewhere so there will be easy access to it once it's all put together.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Here's some pictures with my current progress. I've got all the wires for the power and video/audio output soldered and secured with some hot glue. The wires for the positive and negative power might look a little funny; I was concerned that the gauge wire and insulation might not be able to handle the current without melting long term, so I used 4 wires for each (for a total of 8 wires) to disperse any heat from the current.

I also have two ribbon cable connectors connected to the end of the power wires, one for the wii itself and one for the LCD. I will also be adding a third to power the speakers since I had to get a separate audio amp for them. Those should be coming in next week.

I still have to make my cuts in the housing for the gamecube ports and the memory card slot. I'm undecided as to whether I am going to make the SD card accessible, and also whether I am going to move the USB ports. If the USB port is accessible, it seems redundant to have the SD card, except that the SD card is a little more aesthetically appealing since it can be mostly hidden. If I keep the USB ports in the same spot, they will be recessed into the housing about 1/2 and inch...I'm not sure how much of an eye sore that will be, but moving the USB ports will be a pain...feel free to chime in with suggestions to anyone whose had a similar problem.

I'm hoping to finish this up in a couple weeks, we'll see how it goes...

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Latest update:

I'm getting very close to being finished. All I have left is mostly some tweaks and some fine tuning on the housing and such. Still unsure if I'm gonna do an internal battery.

I've got all the connections for the screen and speakers done. I got my audio amp hooked up and my speakers (surprisingly loud for those little things). I felt pretty silly because I bought a step down converter to being the 12v power to 5v for the audio amp, and after getting it all set up I realized there is a 5v pin on the multi AV port... So yeah. I'll probably be getting rid of that converter now lol

I've got a hole cut out of the housing for the lcd, and I'm in the process of bondo-ing the lcd housing into the wii housing. It looks like crap now but it'll be nice after I'm done.

All of my wiring has headers so they can be easily disconnected from the different components.

I have to cut a hole for the usb port; that's the last hole I have to cut (and the hole for the screen to go to the wii board). I am going to use bondo to attach the front panel (where the GameCube port holes are cut out) to the controller and memory card ports of the wii.

Here are some pictures, as well as a video of everything working.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Update: I finished the bondo on the screen housing and applied the first layer of spray paint today. I used a dark gray gloss finish, it looks better in person. I'll take some better pictures when I'm done.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Finally to the assembling stage. I'm getting everything situated and hot glued into place for the bottom half of the laptop, basically everything except the screen. It looks like I'll have room for a 3000mah or so battery, so I will probably do that. I've got a couple cuts to do, but that's almost done.

I also still have to do some spray painting (I hate that part), but I'm very close to finished.

Here's a look at the main board and components all in place:

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Quick update: Last week I was about 1 day from finishing everything, and I fried the motherboard -_- I still have no idea what I did, but I had to get a fresh board. I started getting the new MB set up, I made the necessary cuts with my Dremel, and I've got some of the components removed. I'll be getting all the wiring back up to snuff, and then I'll be right back on track. Hoping to be done within a week. I'm planning on working on it a lot this weekend.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Quick question: I'm making progress on the new wii MB, but I noticed everything seems to work fine as I'm testing things, but I have no green Led indicator when the system is on. I still have the red stand-by led, but when I power on the system the led turns off.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Bump on the question above, also quick progress update:

I'm very close to being finished. I've completed the screen and housing, along with the wii sensor bar (see picture below), and I've hot glued all the components and wiring in place on the MB.

I just finished the buttons (except putting the sync button in the housing). The dang buttons literally took me about 5 hours. I sent through a lot of failed ideas. I already had two big rectangular cuts in the board for buttons and then realized a much better button design, but the holes were already cut so I had to work with that. Next time around I'm going to just solder another button to the board and glue it in the housing so I don't have to make a button from scratch.

Pretty much all I have left to do is get the speakers in place and drill speaker holes, secure the video and power cable, and finish spray painting the housing. So close to being done!