Brainskin's GBoy Rev3

[Brainskin]

Hey guys,

So I am coming from no experience in electronics, have been learning the basics and some small soldering projects to lead up to tackling the Gboy for the past month. Well, The time is here!

I am still waiting for my light blue kit, which should arrive this week! therefore decided to go ahead with steps that don't require the kit

I got a bargin Wii Black from Ebay, Homebrewed and BBloaded (Wifi and VGA patched)

Initially felt bad for possibly bricking or at best Frankensteining a perfectly working Wii, but after finding out its a no GC controller port ver, I decided that thing gotta go (GC fanboy here)

The trimming process went way better than I thought with slow and steady planing (Let me know what you think of the trim? Still can't test it without a PMS, the guided mentioned to use a multimeter, I am guessing to check for continuity? not sure which points to test?)

After extensive sanding and cleaning I did the U10 relocation and went smoothly!


So I decided I go ahead and connect 3.3v, 1.8v, 1.15v and 1v to wii motherboard, in addition to USB D+ and D- and composite wiring.

I know I want to do the MX and Bluetooth relocation so I did the wiring, but will not connect to the wii board until the gboy is up and running.

To by honest my biggest fears is frying something. I will make sure I am very careful with wire connections. But is there any advise while using a multimeter, especially when testing the PMS?

Thanks guys for building a great community!

 

[CrazyGadget]

Your trim looks good! Just to confirm, did you sand both the main board and the MX board with 220, 320, 400, 600, and 800? Once you've done that, you can check your resistances between all of your voltage lines (see thread: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/wii-trim-resistances.2602/).

Your solder joints, while not horrible, look like they could use a little bit of improvement. A joint should look fairly uniform and shiny, without any lumps, bumps or peaks. Are you using flux other than the stuff in your solder core? It's best to use flux on every single joint to ensure a solid connection.

Since you said you are fairly new to this, here is some advice I live by for soldering: Put some flux on the pad of whatever board you are working on, then tin it with a bit of solder. Strip your wire, cut the lead down to the minimum amount of exposed wire (this is very important, you may want to go back and trim some of the excess on the wires you've already soldered), then flux and tin it as well. Add a little more flux to the pad, press the wire against the pad on the board, then use your iron to merge the two together. This gives me a perfect joint every time. Since flux burns off very quickly, it's often necessary to reapply. Just be sure to clean it up with some IPA and a toothbrush or q-tip!

One more thing, the USB data lines need to be twisted together *very* tight to ensure there won't be any interference in them. To do so, I believe there is a link in the manual to how to use a power drill to do it. If you don't have one, you can still get a very tight twist doing it by hand by tacking them to the wii mobo, then giving both of them a decent amount of tension and taking your time to twist them. Again, a power drill is best, but not completely necessary.

Be sure to keep us updated throughout the project! Double checking everything helps avoid mistakes that could kill the whole project. Best of luck!

 

[Brainskin]

Your trim looks good! Just to confirm, did you sand both the main board and the MX board with 220, 320, 400, 600, and 800?

Yeah, the board and MX chip were sand from 120 to 1200. I can clearly see the 4 lays when viewed sideways.

Once you've done that, you can check your resistances between all of your voltage lines (see thread: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/wii-trim-resistances.2602/).

Thanks for letting me know, I got similar numbers +/- 5 ohms, but seems like some solder joins were hard to read from except with certain positions.

Your solder joints, while not horrible, look like they could use a little bit of improvement. A joint should look fairly uniform and shiny, without any lumps, bumps or peaks. Are you using flux other than the stuff in your solder core? It's best to use flux on every single joint to ensure a solid connection.

Since you said you are fairly new to this, here is some advice I live by for soldering: Put some flux on the pad of whatever board you are working on, then tin it with a bit of solder. Strip your wire, cut the lead down to the minimum amount of exposed wire (this is very important, you may want to go back and trim some of the excess on the wires you've already soldered), then flux and tin it as well. Add a little more flux to the pad, press the wire against the pad on the board, then use your iron to merge the two together. This gives me a perfect joint every time. Since flux burns off very quickly, it's often necessary to reapply. Just be sure to clean it up with some IPA and a toothbrush or q-tip!

Thanks for the feedback! yeah, you are correct, I did not use any flux, I though the solder core is sufficient. I'll make sure I use some flux and will probably redo some of the joints.

One more thing, the USB data lines need to be twisted together *very* tight to ensure there won't be any interference in them. To do so, I believe there is a link in the manual to how to use a power drill to do it. If you don't have one, you can still get a very tight twist doing it by hand by tacking them to the wii mobo, then giving both of them a decent amount of tension and taking your time to twist them. Again, a power drill is best, but not completely necessary.

I actually used the drill method, but i didn't go all the way since I still not sure whats the distance to the USB port. Once I get the kit i'll trim to appropriate length then twist. I think I shot my self in the foot since I might pull the wire from the via while twisting.

Be sure to keep us updated throughout the project! Double checking everything helps avoid mistakes that could kill the whole project. Best of luck!

For sure, will keep you updated! Thanks again.

 

[Brainskin]

Finaly received my Gboy kit!

I started out with installing the shoulder buttons, right one kept getting stuck, so with a little sanding its much better, I still get that plastic sound, but it doesnt bother me. Unfortunately the top right screw does not thread anymore so I need to find a work around, maybe hotglue?

Next Installed the USB-C. Power button feels good, went smooth .

The PMS placement was straightforward, but getting that fan wires between it and shoulder button PCB was a challenge, I kinda wish if I did the wires prior.

So I connected the Battery clips and wired the main powerline and fan.

Next will do the usbc wire connection with The PMS!

 

[Alvaro]

looks sick gl!

 

[Brainskin]

Update:

Made the connections between the PMS and USBC:

1) connected the Button, VSYS, 5v, SDA and SCL. Shout out to BitBuilt team for updating PMS to have dedicated pads. I found pads next to 5v that were not labeled but Cofirmed with a multimeter that it has continuity to 5v. So I assumed thats where the 5v USB-C wire goes.

2) connected charge and ground 22 AWG wires between the two pcbs.

Now for the first test:

Wires in place
Battery correctly positioned
on button pressed for 2 seconds

And the FAN is spinning

Edit:
Also tested the USB-C to computer, that connected USB sound was never so satisfying!

Data transfer to the SD card is seemless

 

[Brainskin]

Update:

Worked in the other side of the case:

Installed the screen after the inducer removed.

Installed the Switch Sticks and GC+2.0 PCB.
the B button was getting stuck so I had to constantly shave the button not the case(easier, more accurate and can replace it if I mess up) with a craft knife. it works great now!

Unfortunately, 3 screws did not thread, one of them is for the right stick.

Note to self, even if screw does not go all the way, the moment there is little resistance stop turning.

I tried hot glue, did not work so well. So I need to find a bigger screw and maybe try tiny screws and use the stick holder. Any suggestions?

Next I connected power for LCD (5v) using 22 AWG wires.

Also connected the LED wires, starting to get really crowded on the left of the PMS.

Time for test #2:LED

Turned on the power

only green light works

after trouble shoorting and re-doing the connections several times I found this:



Doh!

VSYS and Red are flipped

Switching them around made all the colors LED work! I am just glad the LED did not burn!


Now time for the wii to enter the field!

since I got most of the connections done before had it made my life easier, but did have one set back.

All the power lines (3.3v, 1.8v, 1.15v and 1v) done and confirmed!

composite and ground connected!

the set back was the data line . unwinding and rewinding the magnetic wire made the line gett disconnected so many times. so I decided I will probably redo it after testing if the wii works.

Test #3: powering up the wii!

Power turned on
And the screen is black


The guide trouble shooting suggesting switching to composite mode, so connected the included LCD button PCB to middle port, pressed the inpute and I got this:

We are getting somewhere!

the data line is still giving me nightmares, After attaching it properly the GBoy was rocking the bitbuilt bootup screen!

So whats next?

Well it turns out my wii trim is a but bigger to fit the case by around 1cm (mainly because of the right lower screw port). I really want to avoid using the dremel again now that I know the wii works. I might end up sanding the wii board. what do you guys think?

 

[Alvaro]

Update:

Worked in the other side of the case:

Installed the screen after the inducer removed.

Installed the Switch Sticks and GC+2.0 PCB.
the B button was getting stuck so I had to constantly shave the button not the case(easier, more accurate and can replace it if I mess up) with a craft knife. it works great now!

Unfortunately, 3 screws did not thread, one of them is for the right stick.

Note to self, even if screw does not go all the way, the moment there is little resistance stop turning.

I tried hot glue, did not work so well. So I need to find a bigger screw and maybe try tiny screws and use the stick holder. Any suggestions?

View attachment 14553

Next I connected power for LCD (5v) using 22 AWG wires.

Also connected the LED wires, starting to get really crowded on the left of the PMS.

View attachment 14554

Time for test #2:LED

Turned on the power

only green light works

after trouble shoorting and re-doing the connections several times I found this:
View attachment 14555
View attachment 14556

Doh!

VSYS and Red are flipped

Switching them around made all the colors LED work! I am just glad the LED did not burn!


Now time for the wii to enter the field!

since I got most of the connections done before had it made my life easier, but did have one set back.

All the power lines (3.3v, 1.8v, 1.15v and 1v) done and confirmed!

composite and ground connected!

the set back was the data line . unwinding and rewinding the magnetic wire made the line gett disconnected so many times. so I decided I will probably redo it after testing if the wii works.

Test #3: powering up the wii!

Power turned on
And the screen is black


The guide trouble shooting suggesting switching to composite mode, so connected the included LCD button PCB to middle port, pressed the inpute and I got this:

View attachment 14558

We are getting somewhere!

the data line is still giving me nightmares, After attaching it properly the GBoy was rocking the bitbuilt bootup screen!

View attachment 14561

So whats next?

Well it turns out my wii trim is a but bigger to fit the case by around 1cm (mainly because of the right lower screw port). I really want to avoid using the dremel again now that I know the wii works. I might end up sanding the wii board. what do you guys think?

View attachment 14559

im not the one to be giving advice but sanding would take a while to get a cm off. You could just use a dremel with a vacuum to get all the dust and quickly cut a measured portion and just resmooth the edges again.

 

[Brainskin]

im not the one to be giving advice but sanding would take a while to get a cm off. You could just use a dremel with a vacuum to get all the dust and quickly cut a measured portion and just resmooth the edges again.

Good point, but I ended up sanding a couple of days ago and it wasnt too bad. Took around 20 mins and got it just right to fit the case.

Moved on to button connections, which I did the controller wii via before, so it was only a matter of 3.3v, ground and the 6 wires from shoulder buttons to main button PCB.

Unfortunately while testing the buttons the start was not clicking, its too flat on the other side to push the PCB. Maybe I triemed too much earlier? so I improvised and used hotglue to create an extension. after a few prototypes:

found the one that is not too big to make the PCB unscrewable, but big enough to click. and it works!

but wait, now the left analog stick is not working:

Probably because of a hot glue burn or solder iron? I ordered a replacement that will take a while to arrive, I may take out the stick from a broken joycon I have around if the order takes too long. will work on VGA and audio connections. For now, I am happy with what I have so far

 

[Brainskin]

Update:

Still waiting for the Joystick seems it will take another week. I decided to move on:

1) VGA:
I already have composite, why switch to VGA? Thats what I have been telling myself. But after the making it work the difference is night and day!

I knew this part is going to take time, so made sure I waited to the weekend to make it happen. had Magnet wires twisted a little longer since I may switch to 480p at somepoint. the initial technique I used to solder the wires didnt go so well:
running the wires through the via first, then iron with a blob of solder. Although the wires are fixed in place, there is no connection.

so I used what the guide recommended, tin the via first, strip the wire with solder then solder the wire. a few of the wires I did are not going inside the via, more of a surface connection. is this okay?

The guide is well made explaining which vias to do. Kudos to the color coded diagrams!!

The result, vibrant colors

Update 2:
Did the sound connection, the vias are right next to each other, but still doable. It actually took less time compared to VGA since there is no drill coiling and I guess I got more efficient.

volume works and digitally controlled with Z and Y, Really nice touch!! The sound quality is really good!

Update 3:

Got the MX chip relocated with pins 11-14 connected in addition to 3.3v, GND and button battery connected.

The guide mentions to use CheckMX homebrew app to see if its working, which I couldn't find anywhere, does anyone have a clue where I can find it?