YAP64/2: XCVG's N64p Project
- Thread starter XCVG
- Start date
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Well, I'm unbusy again so I put together a PTH08080 circuit.
Here's a Blurricam shot of the device. The PTH08080 is way smaller than I expected. These things are REALLY tiny, but not hard to solder to. The spacing is weird so it wouldn't fit into perfboard, so I had to freeform. At school we have equipment to make custom PCBs but I don't want to wait that long. I salvaged the 1.8K resistor from something a long time ago. The leads were kind of short so it was a bit hard to solder. The 100uF capacitor is from my parts bin, I hope 16V is okay. I used lamp cord for power wiring, kinda thick but I don't have any speaker wire on hand and I don't want to take any chances with small wire.
Testing the regulator. The power supply I made quite a while ago from a kit. It's awesome and really useful, but only 1 amp so useless for testing big stuff. I have a burly 12V power supply for that. Anyway, the multimeter is kinda junk but works okay, and I've had the alligator leads for years. The multimeter reads 3.4V, I hope that's okay.
The kit was just bare-board, no switches, binding posts or case. Came with headers but no mates. This container is way too big, which turned out okay because the transformer fits inside too (should I mod it to be internal?). The switch is pretty cool but flexes the case when flipped, and the binding posts are from my almost-exhausted stash. The LED board was whipped together crudely from scrap perfboard, a random LED and 1K resistor. It works okay and hasn't died yet.
Next up- testing my screen to see if it works on 7.4V.
Here's a Blurricam shot of the device. The PTH08080 is way smaller than I expected. These things are REALLY tiny, but not hard to solder to. The spacing is weird so it wouldn't fit into perfboard, so I had to freeform. At school we have equipment to make custom PCBs but I don't want to wait that long. I salvaged the 1.8K resistor from something a long time ago. The leads were kind of short so it was a bit hard to solder. The 100uF capacitor is from my parts bin, I hope 16V is okay. I used lamp cord for power wiring, kinda thick but I don't have any speaker wire on hand and I don't want to take any chances with small wire.
Testing the regulator. The power supply I made quite a while ago from a kit. It's awesome and really useful, but only 1 amp so useless for testing big stuff. I have a burly 12V power supply for that. Anyway, the multimeter is kinda junk but works okay, and I've had the alligator leads for years. The multimeter reads 3.4V, I hope that's okay.
The kit was just bare-board, no switches, binding posts or case. Came with headers but no mates. This container is way too big, which turned out okay because the transformer fits inside too (should I mod it to be internal?). The switch is pretty cool but flexes the case when flipped, and the binding posts are from my almost-exhausted stash. The LED board was whipped together crudely from scrap perfboard, a random LED and 1K resistor. It works okay and hasn't died yet.
Next up- testing my screen to see if it works on 7.4V.
Gonna play some gmod while I wait...
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Alright, imagehost is working again, update time.
Trimmed this Tremor Pak Plus a little, and relocated the switches from one side to the other. I could trim it a little bit more on the bottom, but that's about it. Will be powered off the main 3.3V line, I don't get why it was originally powered by batteries. It will go either on the top or the side of the case, not sure yet.
Ahh, removing the AV jack. Last time I tried to desolder it, it didn't work very well and I lifted some pads. Bacteria's guide says to Dremel through it with a diamond cutting wheel. First, I don't have a diamond cutting wheel. Second, saying my generic pseudo-Dremel has no torque is a huge understatement. So I just hacked through it with a hacksaw. It probably put quite a bit of stress on the board, but it worked. After that it was a simple matter of prying, bending, and snapping the remains off.
Here it is, with a video cable temporarily soldered on for testing. The pins are kind of close together but there's still enough room to solder wires on. I'll probably use similar shielded wire to connect to the screen.
Woohoo, it still works. I also bypassed the power switch, sorry, no pictures. I wanted to keep the switch but tore it apart getting it off. Anyway, the controller ports are gone, and I don't have a controller yet anyway.
Going to Victoria this weekend, will probably pick up a 3rd party controller then. Maybe a Super Famicom too, man I wish I could afford one of those suckers.
Trimmed this Tremor Pak Plus a little, and relocated the switches from one side to the other. I could trim it a little bit more on the bottom, but that's about it. Will be powered off the main 3.3V line, I don't get why it was originally powered by batteries. It will go either on the top or the side of the case, not sure yet.
Ahh, removing the AV jack. Last time I tried to desolder it, it didn't work very well and I lifted some pads. Bacteria's guide says to Dremel through it with a diamond cutting wheel. First, I don't have a diamond cutting wheel. Second, saying my generic pseudo-Dremel has no torque is a huge understatement. So I just hacked through it with a hacksaw. It probably put quite a bit of stress on the board, but it worked. After that it was a simple matter of prying, bending, and snapping the remains off.
Here it is, with a video cable temporarily soldered on for testing. The pins are kind of close together but there's still enough room to solder wires on. I'll probably use similar shielded wire to connect to the screen.
Woohoo, it still works. I also bypassed the power switch, sorry, no pictures. I wanted to keep the switch but tore it apart getting it off. Anyway, the controller ports are gone, and I don't have a controller yet anyway.
Going to Victoria this weekend, will probably pick up a 3rd party controller then. Maybe a Super Famicom too, man I wish I could afford one of those suckers.
Basement_Modder
He who mods in thy basement.
Try tapping A/V off the fuses.XCVG said:
Here it is, with a video cable temporarily soldered on for testing. The pins are kind of close together but there's still enough room to solder wires on.
Just hook up 3.3v to pin 6, 7.4v to pin 7 (thats how I remember it, lol) and GND to any GND point on the switch area (outer pins.) That way, you needn't bypass anything.XCVG said:
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Basement_Modder said:Try tapping A/V off the fuses.XCVG said:
Here it is, with a video cable temporarily soldered on for testing. The pins are kind of close together but there's still enough room to solder wires on.
I did that last time because I lifted the pad.
Basement_Modder said:Just hook up 3.3v to pin 6, 7.4v to pin 7 (thats how I remember it, lol) and GND to any GND point on the switch area (outer pins.) That way, you needn't bypass anything.XCVG said:
Too late
ShockSlayer
Probably SS
Nice analogy, will have to remember that one!
SS
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Well, I've changed out the resistor on the regulator, tested it, good. I've wired up the power too, but I'm too nervous to try it. I've checked the board for solder splats, poked around with the multimeter, seems good. I'll look it over one more time and then test it, and I'll post a detailed entry. Stay tuned!
snowpenguin
Frequent Poster
I'm tuned!
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Well my imagehost was being screwy so I couldn't post my update. Tomorrow I'll fix that. Also, I went to the used game store, but they didn't have any 3rd party controllers (they were out of stock, people had already bought them all). I have no other sources, so I'm basically *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ed for a few months. I can't deal with the controller wings, FPS mode, or the integrated tremor pak plus until I have a controller. That means a bit of casework and a bit of wiring to do and that's about it for now.
$10 sound good for one of them shipped? $2.50 price payed + 5.00 shipping + $2.50 profit?
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Well, progress has been slow (read: non-existant) but today I've finally got back on track. I realized that there's no point sulking about not having a controller; plenty of other things to do on the portable.
First, let's get that big planned update that never happened out of the way:
Mah N64 running on... TI POWER!
Wiring of the test rig. I used the Wii screen's power adaptor to connect to the 12V power supply. The jack on the N64 is off the Wii screen and connects to the N64 and TI card. I used quite thick wire, I think it's lamp cord. Speaker wire would have been better but I didn't have any in my bucket of wire.
Trimmed down my Tremor Pak Plus and now it doesn't work. There's a wire on the back to bypass one of the wrecked traces. It still doesn't work. Don't know if the wire isn't connected well, if I cut something important I missed, or if it just won't work even on bypass without batteries.
Now that the old old update is done, time for some newer stuff. After I failed to get a controller I didn't touch my portable but now I'm back on it. Did a little bit today:
Got rid of the old cartridge door holder and replaced it with these toothpicks and a lot of hotglue. Better airflow, more room, less cutting. Ugly, and not as sturdy. Inspired by this mod.
On a side note, my imagehost is not working again so I uploaded to my Wordpress site. About the only decent use of it so far. Also, I'm probably getting another N64 soon, and some controllers. Might get lucky but they are probably both Nintendo. I still need a first party controller as well to make the wings. Kinda wasteful, using three controllers (one official Nintendo for the wings, one third party for the guts, a different one entirely for the joysticks (maybe XBOX?)) but it's all I can think of. The joystick donor and Nintendo controllers can be broken though...
First, let's get that big planned update that never happened out of the way:
Mah N64 running on... TI POWER!
Wiring of the test rig. I used the Wii screen's power adaptor to connect to the 12V power supply. The jack on the N64 is off the Wii screen and connects to the N64 and TI card. I used quite thick wire, I think it's lamp cord. Speaker wire would have been better but I didn't have any in my bucket of wire.
Trimmed down my Tremor Pak Plus and now it doesn't work. There's a wire on the back to bypass one of the wrecked traces. It still doesn't work. Don't know if the wire isn't connected well, if I cut something important I missed, or if it just won't work even on bypass without batteries.
Now that the old old update is done, time for some newer stuff. After I failed to get a controller I didn't touch my portable but now I'm back on it. Did a little bit today:
Got rid of the old cartridge door holder and replaced it with these toothpicks and a lot of hotglue. Better airflow, more room, less cutting. Ugly, and not as sturdy. Inspired by this mod.
On a side note, my imagehost is not working again so I uploaded to my Wordpress site. About the only decent use of it so far. Also, I'm probably getting another N64 soon, and some controllers. Might get lucky but they are probably both Nintendo. I still need a first party controller as well to make the wings. Kinda wasteful, using three controllers (one official Nintendo for the wings, one third party for the guts, a different one entirely for the joysticks (maybe XBOX?)) but it's all I can think of. The joystick donor and Nintendo controllers can be broken though...
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
I don't want to use PSP sticks. I've tried a PSP and I hated the stick. I need a real stick, and unfortunately wings are the only way to do it. I thought about it and I don't really want wings, but I want a good stick (actually two) so I have to use wings.
Also, a bit of an update. The top now has a plastic cover, but unfortunately I don't have a picture. I also ripped off one of the side panels because it was flimsy crap. Need to borrow some plastic from school. Also maybe I can get some of the parts from the teacher. Also got to heat up the glue gun and do some reinforcing. Need to buy third party controller, maybe more grinding bits for fake dremel, shop gloves. Wonder if mechanix gloves are worth the ripoff price. Must stop talking like this.
Also, a bit of an update. The top now has a plastic cover, but unfortunately I don't have a picture. I also ripped off one of the side panels because it was flimsy crap. Need to borrow some plastic from school. Also maybe I can get some of the parts from the teacher. Also got to heat up the glue gun and do some reinforcing. Need to buy third party controller, maybe more grinding bits for fake dremel, shop gloves. Wonder if mechanix gloves are worth the ripoff price. Must stop talking like this.
XCVG
ModRetro Legend
Made a crappy 3D model because everyone else seems to be doing it nowadays. This is a WIP and is missing a bunch of things, like switches and jacks. The basic design is all there, though. It's not drawn to scale at all.
The house is a mess because we're getting new carpet, got to move stuff around and such. Hopefully I'll be back on track by Wednesday or Thursday. I have to buy some more plastic and get some parts from the electronics teacher.
