Zack's NEW Gamecube Portable Worklog

[zack]

Yes, I have six stock regulators that are all outputting high voltages. It's weird how I'm having the same issue with six of them. Some gamecubes fried, I presume because of the high voltage, but my current board seemed to work fine with one of the stock regs.
Nevertheless, I wont be using one of the stock regs. I just finished building my custom regulator, but I have some issues with it. When I first tested it, I was getting unusually high voltage outputs. 7v for the 5v line, 4.5v for the 3.3v line, 2.5v for the 1.9v line. Suddenly I test it again and the voltage outputs are dead-on perfect.
I'm glad it's working and all but I have no idea why it was outputting wrong. Now this is bugging me because I don't want it to suddenly start outputting high voltages again.

Edit: Here's pics of the completed regulator

 

[brentphx]

That's a good looking regulator!! Nicely done, very clean!

 

[Blargaman91]

I know, so clean... mine looks like CRAP because I couldn't find proto board with the right size holes. You have a way of making everything so neatly, zack.

And considering it IS so neat, I don't think there could really be any problems with voltage. I'd say that the fried GameCubes you have died of mysterious causes unrelated to high voltage, and your meter is just having a fit. You might replace the battery, really! Still my opinion, though, basing off my own experience.

 

[zack]

Thanks, I think it just takes lots of practice, after all this is the 4th custom regulator I've built.
The battery in my multimeter did die shortly after making those tests, then it read fine after replacing it. I was leading to suspect the multimeter battery regarding the high voltage readings from my reg, and especially now that you mention the same thing, I'm sure this was the case. Good to know, that's one less thing to worry about.

Also here's a general update pic. You can see I have the regulator installed, and some ports hooked up like the DC in, AV out, and controller ports.

(Full size http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/6233/4ddl.jpg)

And now for an issue I'm having regarding audio... The audio seems to work just fine when I connect the points on the board directly to some headphones, but when I wire it though the AV out port with an AV cable, parts of the sound disappear. It's all warbled and cut off, so you can only hear certain parts of the gamecube's audio. I'm lost on this..

 

[megalomaniac]

this is coming along pretty good....

 

[zack]

Thanks mega. Also I take back what I said about having issues with sound. Apparently you have to have BOTH ground pins on the AV port connected.

 

[Blargaman91]

Since you have that really nice screen there, it makes me wonder, are you going to have VGA video in this portable?

 

[zack]

Since you have that really nice screen there, it makes me wonder, are you going to have VGA video in this portable?

No, I will be using composite. For one, component cables are expensive (obviously), and this screen does not support a VGA signal at the frequencies I need. Composite quality doesn't look all that bad after all.

 

[Blargaman91]

Yes, I've always thought composite video looks pretty great even on low-resolution 3.5-inch screens, but some people just don't like the "dot crawl" or whatever it is. I don't notice it.

 

[Thundure]

What breakout board model are you using for your Wiikey Fusion? How's it working? Any latency issues?

EDIT: Nevermind, saw you had the FFC36.

 

[zack]

Just posted the next video update for my GCP


The video was filmed a couple weeks ago, so there has been new progress since then.

I finished modding the controller board and trimming it down. I have all the wires ready to attach to the buttons, but I'll be doing that a bit later.

I got the replacement part for my screen. There is a small on-board power regulator that was accidentally fried due to reverse polarity. After replacing the part, the screen works now

Also I got my audio amp fixed. I didn't take any pics of it separately, but you can see it built into the GCP right here.

I made some minor improvements and adjustments to the side panel on the top of my case, and laser cut a new one. Improvements include the addition of L and R buttons, the SD card slot moved up a bit, the cutout holes for the reset and lid switch are re-sized, slot B is facing the right way, and text on the labels made larger.

Also here's a general overview pic. (Tape is temporary)

 

[Blargaman91]

This just made me remember that I forgot to drill a hole for a reset switch in my portable. Too late now . I would recommend some kind of flat cells for batteries because, even though they're unreliable (I guess), through testing I've found they just seem to last longer than cylindrical ones.

 

[zack]

Yeah, still debating on batteries. The li-ion cylindrical ones seem to all be 18mm in diameter, which is cutting it dangerously close to fit in my case. On the other hand, all li-po flat batteries seem to be either too big or too small.

On another note, I'm having a couple of issues with my GCP. One is an issue I'm having with my screen. Whenever pressure is applied to certain parts of the LCD or controller board, I'm having video issues in which the image will become slightly green and colors are limited. If more pressure is applied, it becomes worse with a purple tint. This has been occurring on its own as my screen is held in the case. I may have to buy a new LCD if I can't figure this out.

Also, I did something very stupid. While trying to cut some glue with a razor blade, I chopped right through the ribbon cable for the SD card.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Blargaman91]

Hm, the workings of an LCD are unfamiliar to me but it sounds like one of the thins sheets of whatever material is inside the LCD may be bent or positioned incorrectly. You could get to those by unlatching the little metal hooks that hold everything in the screen's metal frame. But it could be a poorly seated FFC, too, though that would probably result in a more glitchy output, not discoloration. I just think it's unlikely and electronics on the PCB are malfunctioning.

There are some distributors on the internet that sell 12-pin FFC's that would work for the Wiikey, I can't imagine they're too rare.

http://www.mouser.com/Connectors/FFC-FP ... ?P=1z0wxoq

Just an example site. I know Mouser is pretty expensive.

 

[Gamerlolwind]

Hay zack,
I saw your newest video update, looking pretty sweet there man
Can't wait to see the awesome GCp finished.

Question: for using buttons on the tact switches for l/R that are done with dual tact switch mod and the tacts for the ABXY, what buttons would be a good choice to place on top of the tact switches as I'm really having trouble with mounting/finding good buttons for my ABXY LR tacts?

I tried the gamecube ones with the shell for ABXY, no dice .

And for the L/R nothing on the gamecube shoulder parts.

 

[gman]

This portable is coming along perfectly. Everything is so neat and I can tell your doing your best to make sure it is perfect. Just wondering, what kind of fans are you using? I recommend covering the top of the heatsink so air will flow through it better and not go into your portable at all.

 

[Blargaman91]

Just a question, is this portable going to have some kind of rumble feature? I think that would be well worth it if done right.

 

[zack]

Whoaa, sorry for the lack of reply.

Hm, the workings of an LCD are unfamiliar to me but it sounds like one of the thins sheets of whatever material is inside the LCD may be bent or positioned incorrectly. You could get to those by unlatching the little metal hooks that hold everything in the screen's metal frame. But it could be a poorly seated FFC, too, though that would probably result in a more glitchy output, not discoloration. I just think it's unlikely and electronics on the PCB are malfunctioning.

There are some distributors on the internet that sell 12-pin FFC's that would work for the Wiikey, I can't imagine they're too rare.

http://www.mouser.com/Connectors/FFC-FP ... ?P=1z0wxoq

Just an example site. I know Mouser is pretty expensive.

About the screen, I talked with some guys at the lab and found some answers. The glitching and discoloration is most likely due to the fine ribbon cables and data lines directly connected into the LCD. Apparently it's a common issue when pressure is applied, so I'll just be extra careful and I put some foam in between the LCD and controller board. Hope that'll work, I still need to test things and see.

Hay zack,
I saw your newest video update, looking pretty sweet there man
Can't wait to see the awesome GCp finished.

Question: for using buttons on the tact switches for l/R that are done with dual tact switch mod and the tacts for the ABXY, what buttons would be a good choice to place on top of the tact switches as I'm really having trouble with mounting/finding good buttons for my ABXY LR tacts?

I tried the gamecube ones with the shell for ABXY, no dice .

And for the L/R nothing on the gamecube shoulder parts.

I haven't had any experience with physically modding two switches together into "one", but I imagine if you did a search on digikey you could find some matches. Just get some tact switches with different operating forces so you'll know that one switch will always press before the other.

This portable is coming along perfectly. Everything is so neat and I can tell your doing your best to make sure it is perfect. Just wondering, what kind of fans are you using? I recommend covering the top of the heatsink so air will flow through it better and not go into your portable at all.

The fans I'm using are from digikey, part# 259-1557-ND. If I were to buy fans again though, I would get the 259-1569-ND. They're basically the same fan but less wattage and quieter, with the compromise being slightly less airflow (which I think is worth it considering I'm using two of them). Also I did cover the heatsink. That yellowish plastic on the heatsink is kapton tape. It's extremely insulative and heat resistant (seriously I couldn't even melt it with my soldering iron).

Just a question, is this portable going to have some kind of rumble feature? I think that would be well worth it if done right.

I considered having a rumble feature, but tore up the controller board and got rid of the rumble circuit. Also I have very little room for a giant motor. At this point I don't think internal rumble is necessary, but I will still have support for an external controller with rumble. Maybe for my next portable though

 

[zack]

List of small updates to my GCP:
1. I got my replacement ribbon cable for the wiikey's SD card, so that's working now. I had to reroute it into a slightly new position. I also got a new start button because I lost mine.

2. I laser cut some extra holes in my case and added 3 switches to the front of the GCP, and also a volume control knob. The knob is 3D printed to work with my rotary pot.

3. Now that I'm done cutting the case, I started gluing things in like the speakers, switches, power LED, and the controller board. I also wired up the switches, so you can now easily control the fan speed, turn the internal A/V off or on, or switch between internal and external controls.

4. I've been working on adding internal controls. This is a small piece of perfboard with 5 buttons for A, B, X, Y, and Start.

Also here is video update #4. This video pretty much goes over everything I just mentioned, as well as everything else since my last video update.

 

[zack]

I did the L and R button mod that converts the analog trigger to digital. You know, this one viewtopic.php?f=36&t=8383
The L and R buttons work, and they are the first controller buttons to be complete.