Question Battery For Portable Gamecube

[Joe DiCristo]

Hello!

Thanks to this forum I have been making great progress and I am feeling more confident in completing this seemingly impossible Gamecube Portable project! However, one question that still troubles me is the choice of battery. I am thinking of keeping everything 12V to ensure stability in all of my components (higher voltage may ensure better battery life so I might be wrong here) and I want something that can give my portable the perfect balance of battery life and bulk. I was looking at this battery on amazon and I was about to pull the trigger on it. Is this a good option to go with? Or is there something better that you guys recommend?

Battery: https://www.amazon.com/Talentcell-R...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YN5A0QZYCDMTW1876VKN

Screen: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5-Digital-TFT-LCD-Module/465794691.html

Speakers: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BDREHQ...olid=2VP91W8KQTOES&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Thanks,
Joe

 

[cheese]

That battery almost certainly 1) doesn't actually have a 6Ah rating at 12v and 2) has a boost circuit to take the 3.7v/7.4v from the internal cells to the 12v output. While it's not inherently wrong, there is a lot of wasted power converting from that to 12v, and then back down to lower voltages the parts actually use.

While I don't have any experience with that screen, it looks decent. Someone else will probably say if it's bad

Finally, those speakers, while not terrible, are a tell that you've looked at some old guides for suggestions as to how to make your portable. If you are not too far into your project I may suggest switching to a Wii since it does everything a gamecube does, but uses less power (so you can get more time on the same size battery). I'm sure someone else is going to make a post saying something similar at some point, that tends to happen around here

Some suggestions for things to look at are the BOM which has a list of parts you may find useful on any portable, along with the Wii trimming guide if you decide to switch to a Wii. We don't have much in the way of info on the gamecube on here, if you decide you'd like to stay the route of a GC, so you will have to look elsewhere for guides, but you can still ask here for help along your build!

 

[Joe DiCristo]

That battery almost certainly 1) doesn't actually have a 6Ah rating at 12v and 2) has a boost circuit to take the 3.7v/7.4v from the internal cells to the 12v output. While it's not inherently wrong, there is a lot of wasted power converting from that to 12v, and then back down to lower voltages the parts actually use.

While I don't have any experience with that screen, it looks decent. Someone else will probably say if it's bad

Finally, those speakers, while not terrible, are a tell that you've looked at some old guides for suggestions as to how to make your portable. If you are not too far into your project I may suggest switching to a Wii since it does everything a gamecube does, but uses less power (so you can get more time on the same size battery). I'm sure someone else is going to make a post saying something similar at some point, that tends to happen around here

Some suggestions for things to look at are the BOM which has a list of parts you may find useful on any portable, along with the Wii trimming guide if you decide to switch to a Wii. We don't have much in the way of info on the gamecube on here, if you decide you'd like to stay the route of a GC, so you will have to look elsewhere for guides, but you can still ask here for help along your build!

Thanks for your reply! I have finally decided to switch to a Wii after coming to the conclusion that there is no real reason to spend $100+ on a Wiikey fusion when I could just buy a $20 Wii. So, I have decided on getting 4 of the Panasonic batteries and building custom regulators. However, what "protection" board should I get for the battery? I heard about a known "red board" that is adequate, but I don't see it in the BOM that you linked me. Can you help me find it?

 

[MentSrix]

I use the 12v Talentcell battery packs as-is for powering a GC and a Wii. They work fine, but they drop below 10.5 volts as the batteries deplete which causes one of my monitors to flicker. They are nice battery packs to use in a pinch, come with a wall charger and a cable to daisy chain them together or charge while using.

I've heard of people taking these apart and using the protection circuit they come with. I'm a novice so not really sure whether that is a good idea or not.

 

[GingerOfOz]

I use the 12v Talentcell battery packs as-is for powering a GC and a Wii. They work fine, but they drop below 10.5 volts as the batteries deplete which causes one of my monitors to flicker. They are nice battery packs to use in a pinch, come with a wall charger and a cable to daisy chain them together or charge while using.

I've heard of people taking these apart and using the protection circuit they come with. I'm a novice so not really sure whether that is a good idea or not.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't try to use that method in a handheld portable, but it does sound good for what you're doing.

Anyways, here's the red board. It takes care of cell protection, balancing, and you just need a power supply to charge your batteries with.

 

[Joe DiCristo]

@GingerOfOz Ok, thank you so much! Also, do I need to use the "smart charger" with the red board or will any charger work?

 

[Stitches]

Any DC power supply within the red board's range will work, it handles the smart charging internally. A 9v 3A supply is recommended if you intend to make use of charge and play.

 

[Joe DiCristo]

Any DC power supply within the red board's range will work, it handles the smart charging internally. A 9v 3A supply is recommended if you intend to make use of charge and play.

Ok, thank you so much!

Edit: @Stitches Will the red board work with 4 of the 3.7V Panasonic cells? The picture only depicts two and I want to make sure it won't over volt anything.

 

[Stitches]

Ok, thank you so much!

Edit: @Stitches Will the red board work with 4 of the 3.7V Panasonic cells? The picture only depicts two and I want to make sure it won't over volt anything.

Yes it will work with 4 cells, you just wire them as two pairs like so with the middle connection going to BM:

One thing I would do, though, is to fully charge all 4 cells before you wire them to the red board.

 

[Joe DiCristo]

Yes it will work with 4 cells, you just wire them as two pairs like so with the middle connection going to BM:

One thing I would do, though, is to fully charge all 4 cells before you wire them to the red board.

Thanks! How do you recommend charging the cells before putting them on the red board? Will I need to buy a smart charger for them that connects to the wall?

 

[SabelToothTiger]

Any DC power supply within the red board's range will work, it handles the smart charging internally. A 9v 3A supply is recommended if you intend to make use of charge and play.

Doesn't the red board only accept 1A in?

 

[Stitches]

Doesn't the red board only accept 1A in?

The red board accepts 3A in, but it will only ever charge the batteries at 1A. The rest of the power passes through to the output pads.

Thanks! How do you recommend charging the cells before putting them on the red board? Will I need to buy a smart charger for them that connects to the wall?

The cell pairs should be as similar in voltage as possible. You could charge them externally before wiring them, or you could just wire two up, charge them with the red board, remove them, wire up the other two, charge them, then wire all 4 to the red board. That way they should all be the same. I'd check the charged cells with a multimeter just to be sure, though.

 

[SabelToothTiger]

The red board accepts 3A in, but it will only ever charge the batteries at 1A. The rest of the power passes through to the output pads.

I believe you have it backwards, it takes 1A in but can supply 3A from V-out

 

[DeoNaught]

I believe you have it backwards, it takes 1A in but can supply 3A from V-out

read it again, but slowly, so you can hear how it sounds

it says 1A in the desc of the board, plus stitches has one of the boards, he won't use it again, because it only charges at 1A, I believe he would use it if it gave 3A, heck I would.

Sooouurrrcceee
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intelligent...2S-Packs-18650-lithium-Satellite/311721987212

 

[SabelToothTiger]

Yeah the 1A output current is talking about the power source not the board. That's why it says "compatible with 9~15v 1A output current"

So it takes in a maximum of 1A to charge the batteries. The V-out is more.

Edit: where did you find out extra current is passed through?

 

[Stitches]

Yeah the 1A output current is talking about the power source not the board. That's why it says "compatible with 9~15v 1A output current"

So it takes in a maximum of 1A to charge the batteries. The V-out is more.

Edit: where did you find out extra current is passed through?

No, dude, listen. Every listing for some reason has different conflicting information, but what I said is correct. The red board is rated for sustained 3A 9v-15v input. That's 3A of input voltage at any one time. If DC power is supplied to Vin on the red board, it will stop outputting power from the batteries, and charge them at a max rate of 1A. All excess input current not used by the board for charging is then passed through the red board's Vout pin via a nearby diode. If you input 12v 3A, just under 1A of that will be used to charge the batteries. The other 2A will then power whatever the red board is connected to.

The red board has been pretty heavily tested by myself and Miceeno, who made a thread about these boards and battery capacity data here. We know how it works.

 

[SabelToothTiger]

Will all current be passed through V-out if the batteries are fully charged?

I am familiar with that thread, I've posted there and purchased said red board because of that thread. What I didn't know was that the listing information is sometimes false according to you. If you tested it then I'm inclined to believe you over an engrish description. I was merely defending what I had read from the listing which I assumed was correct.

 

[Stitches]

Will all current be passed through V-out if the batteries are fully charged?

I am familiar with that thread, I've posted there and purchased said red board because of that thread. What I didn't know was that the listing information is sometimes false according to you. If you tested it then I'm inclined to believe you over an engrish description. I was merely defending what I had read from the listing which I assumed was correct.

Yeah, if the batteries are fully charged it will pass through all of the input current, barring an infinitesimal amount for trickle charge and the balancing circuit.