Question 2 questions about making a GameCube Portable!

TrisGV

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Hi!

So I've started work on a GCP and wanted to ask a couple of questions!

1. I have a DOL-101 Motherboard, can I directly plug in a 12v battery or do I need to step the voltage down to 11.1v? If so, how do I do that? What's the easiest and safest way, because I'm not that experienced yet :D

2. What would be the ideal wire gauge? I've been told about 20 for power lines, but wanted to know what was the best and safest gauges for the intended use, be it power or signal.

Thanks!
 
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I've heard that a lot! I'd really like to give it a shot with a GC, besides I've already started. Do you know the answers to my questions?
The electronics section in the guide hub has good info on battery regulation and wiring. I tend to use 22awg stranded wire for power and 34awg magnet wire for signals. Shielded wire is good for analog signals or others subject to interference. You can get this from the wifi antenna leads.

I'd like to say that you're going to save yourself a lot of frustration and wind up with a much better completed project if you migrate to a Wii. It's more stable, draws less power, requires less extra hardware, and can do what the GC can do and more.

Best of luck with your project
 

jefflongo

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I've heard that a lot! I'd really like to give it a shot with a GC, besides I've already started. Do you know the answers to my questions?
As someone who was making a GC portable, I was almost done and it randomly died for no reason. Ended up being much less work to use the Wii (and got a exponentially better result) than to replace the GC motherboard. Just know it's not too late to switch to a Wii just because you have a GC motherboard ready to go, because there's a lot more work required to get anywhere with the GC that you can bypass with a Wii.

Anyway to answer your question, you can simply input 12v. The GC stock board accepts 12v with the stock power supply, I'm not sure where this 11.1v number is coming from. You can input anywhere between 12-20v with the stock regs. Though if you're creating your own battery pack you will need to use a 4s1p configuration for 14.8v if you don't use custom regulators.

22awg is suitable for power lines, but that's about as thin as you should go. 20awg will be good too (probably better since the GC consumes quite a bit of power). I find 18awg to be far too thick though.

EDIT: ninjad
 

TrisGV

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The electronics section in the guide hub has good info on battery regulation and wiring. I tend to use 22awg stranded wire for power and 34awg magnet wire for signals. Shielded wire is good for analog signals or others subject to interference. You can get this from the wifi antenna leads.

I'd like to say that you're going to save yourself a lot of frustration and wind up with a much better completed project if you migrate to a Wii. It's more stable, draws less power, requires less extra hardware, and can do what the GC can do and more.

Best of luck with your project
Thanks for the help! I may also make a Wii Portable too since it seems to be much easier. The GC is my favourite all time console so I'm gonna give it a chance!
 

TrisGV

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As someone who was making a GC portable, I was almost done and it randomly died for no reason. Ended up being much less work to use the Wii (and got a exponentially better result) than to replace the GC motherboard. Just know it's not too late to switch to a Wii just because you have a GC motherboard ready to go, because there's a lot more work required to get anywhere with the GC that you can bypass with a Wii.

Anyway to answer your question, you can simply input 12v. The GC stock board accepts 12v with the stock power supply, I'm not sure where this 11.1v number is coming from. You can input anywhere between 12-20v with the stock regs. Though if you're creating your own battery pack you will need to use a 4s1p configuration for 14.8v if you don't use custom regulators.

22awg is suitable for power lines, but that's about as thin as you should go. 20awg will be good too (probably better since the GC consumes quite a bit of power). I find 18awg to be far too thick though.

EDIT: ninjad
Thanks! I've already taken off the 2 serial ports and the video out port, so with that done I'm just going to give it a try. It really sucks to hear that yours died! If I get too frustrated with this project, I'll definitely move onto a Wii Portable, just have to get familiar with modding!

The information you give helps a lot for my project! So thanks again!
 
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