Worklog [Nintendo WiicUbe] Portablized Wii in Wii U Gamepad

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
Looks nice, tho i gotta say, maybe try using magnet wire for wiring up buttons as there isnt really any current flowing anyways and magnet wire is super thin thus compact. You could also make select act as wiimote sync or maybe reset?
Do you have any tips on stripping magnet wire? I have 34 AWG magnet wire and have tried the sandpaper trick as well as heating the end with both a lighter or the soldering iron, both proved to unreliably strip the enamel on the wire and sometimes melt away the wire itself. Out of frustration, I used 34 AWG silicone (super flexible) wire instead.
 

BocuD

.
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
468
Likes
605
Location
The Netherlands
Portables
3
Do you have any tips on stripping magnet wire? I have 34 AWG magnet wire and have tried the sandpaper trick as well as heating the end with both a lighter or the soldering iron, both proved to unreliably strip the enamel on the wire and sometimes melt away the wire itself. Out of frustration, I used 34 AWG silicone (super flexible) wire instead.
Yeah, for stripping it you just put some solder on your iron, then heat it up a bit more then your normal soldering temp and then just dip the end if the wire in the hot solder for a second or so. That way it should be both stripped and tinned.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
Yeah, for stripping it you just put some solder on your iron, then heat it up a bit more then your normal soldering temp and then just dip the end if the wire in the hot solder for a second or so. That way it should be both stripped and tinned.
I'll give this a shot, thanks for the advice.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
@BocuD I put on a good audio book and resoldered everything using 34 AWG magnet wire with your stripping/tinning advice. I checked continuity on each lead and everything seems to be in good order; looks great too. Thanks for the suggestion and advice, this is definitely an improvement!

Just have to wire the data, vcc, gnd, as well as the rumble motor and the controls should be 100%.
 

Attachments

fibbef

Wizardry V Completer
.
Joined
Nov 10, 2016
Messages
606
Likes
1,625
Looks tons better! Not that your previous wiring job was bad, but thick is thicc. Glad you got the knack of magnet wire!
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
I'm having some difficulty determining the pinout of the slide potentiometer I'm using in my build. I pulled a datasheet from the manufacturer and found that the bottom two pins are ground and the top right pin is unused (a "dummy"). That leaves the top and bottom left pins and the bottom right pin (2T, 1T, & 3T in the datasheet) to be the wiper and the 5v vcc.

Does anybody have experience with these potentiometers and knows how to determine the correct pinout?
 

Attachments

Last edited:

BocuD

.
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
468
Likes
605
Location
The Netherlands
Portables
3
You should be able to use a multimeter to measure resistance. The resistance between 5v in and GND should always stay constant even while moving the slider. Then the resistance from the wiper pin to ground should always change when moving the slider. I have to say though this might be a different kind of potentiometer (stereo) which just has 2 channels that both go to ground instead of acting like a voltage divider. In this case just wire GND to GND and wire each channel of the amp input to both channels on the potentiometer. This way when its 0Ω audio will be shorted to GND thus 0% volume, while at 10kΩ (whatever) it'll be as good as untouched.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
You should be able to use a multimeter to measure resistance. The resistance between 5v in and GND should always stay constant even while moving the slider. Then the resistance from the wiper pin to ground should always change when moving the slider. I have to say though this might be a different kind of potentiometer (stereo) which just has 2 channels that both go to ground instead of acting like a voltage divider. In this case just wire GND to GND and wire each channel of the amp input to both channels on the potentiometer. This way when its 0Ω audio will be shorted to GND thus 0% volume, while at 10kΩ (whatever) it'll be as good as untouched.
Thanks, @BocuD. I'll try and see what I can determine with my multimeter.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
I came into contact with a Lithium-Ion Polymer battery manufacturer in China and was able to get a custom-made flat-pack Battery. This is two 10000mAh batteries put in parallel to make a 3.7v 20000mAh (74wh) battery. It measures in at 4.44" (112.73mm) long, 2.57" (65.17mm) wide, and 0.87" (22.13mm) thick. This gets around the space (and weight) problem several 18650 batteries introduce.

I plan on using this along with an Adafruit Powerboost 1000c to step the 3.7v input from the battery (4.2v fully charged) to 5.2v going to the display, Wii regulators, and audio amp. The Powerboost 1000c also provides charge protection and play and charge functionality.
 

Attachments

BocuD

.
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
468
Likes
605
Location
The Netherlands
Portables
3
I’m sorry to disappoint but a powerboost 1000c wont be powerfull enough. As its name suggests its only capable of powering stuff up to 1000mA. This would give you 5W, which doesnt come close to the amount of current you’ll need to power a portable. I suggest you read through the battery guide first, then use the red 2S CMB in there with a 2S lipo setup, which then connects to the regulators and supplies them with at least 6V (when the batteries are dead). Since you have 2 cells everything should work fine like this, though considering the capacity of your cells charging will take a while.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
What if I used a charging circuit pulled from a powerbank that initially had a 20000mAh LiPo in it? I didn't use it because I was unsure of the cell inside, but it cuts off charging once the battery reaches 4.2v. It outputs both 5v 1A and 5v 2A via the two USB A ports.
 

Attachments

BocuD

.
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
468
Likes
605
Location
The Netherlands
Portables
3
You would be cutting it very close. The average portable consumes just above 11w iirc and I doubt that those 2 outputs are separate, resulting in only being able to supply 10W at most (probably the same supply, just different resistors to tell a sink how much current to pull)
I'd go for the red board, as it also has charge and play and will definitely be able to supply enough current. It will be more efficient as well as the output is unregulated, so straight from the batteries, instead of first boosting 3-4.2v to 5v and then regulating it down again for the wii and lcd and all.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
Ok, just to clarify, you are recommending that instead of having the two LiPo cells (3.7v 10000mAh (37wh) each) setup in parallel (equalling @3.7v 20000mAh (74wh)) to set them up in series (equalling @7.4v 10000mAh (74wh)). This way, the regulators are supplied ~7.4v to disperse down to 5v, 3.3v, 1.15v, & 1v to the rest of the system components (Wii, display driver, amp, etc.). This would also increase the wattage from ~10w to ~14w. Is this understanding correct?
 

BocuD

.
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
468
Likes
605
Location
The Netherlands
Portables
3
Ok, just to clarify, you are recommending that instead of having the two LiPo cells (3.7v 10000mAh (37wh) each) setup in parallel (equalling @3.7v 20000mAh (74wh)) to set them up in series (equalling @7.4v 10000mAh (74wh)). This way, the regulators are supplied ~7.4v to disperse down to 5v, 3.3v, 1.15v, & 1v to the rest of the system components (Wii, display driver, amp, etc.). This would also increase the wattage from ~10w to ~14w. Is this understanding correct?
Pretty much, except for the last part.
It would increase the amount of current the system can draw to the point where you don't have to worry about it. When using a boost converter like on those powerbank things there will always be some limit to how much current you can pull and once you reach it the system will just shut down. So in this case, lets say the entire thing needs 12W to run it would be fine with the red board setup, but the boost converter can't handle that so either the voltage output would drop and it would overheat and die, or it would shut down before the wii and stuff get a chance to boot up. The thing with the red board is that it connects the batteries pretty much directly to the regulators when its not charging, resulting in the only limiting factor being the C rating of those cells. And if they really are 10000mah, assuming they are 0.5C (most are way higher but that doesn't matter for now) you could still draw 5A, which would be around 37W max.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
When I requested the dimensions of the battery, they asked what discharge current I preferred and it was recommended that it utilize a 5A (2C) continuous discharge current with a 10A peak PCB.
 

BocuD

.
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
468
Likes
605
Location
The Netherlands
Portables
3
When I requested the dimensions of the battery, they asked what discharge current I preferred and it was recommended that it utilize a 5A (2C) continuous discharge current with a 10A peak PCB.
If 5A would be 2C you were either ripped off or they mislabeled 5A as 2C. If the entire pack is 20000mah 2C should be 40A, and if the entire pack is 10000mah 2C would still be 20A. I suggest you read the battery guide again, it explains everything from capacity to charging and C ratings and all that.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2018
Messages
44
Likes
43
Location
Ohio
Portables
3
The C rating is actually 5C. It appears I've misread how that is calculated.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top