Question Building a Portable Wii : 4Layer's PCB Shortage

[Shipyu]

I'm a huge fan of electronic projects and I really would like to do my own portable Wii. I own a 3D printer and have some skill in 3D modeling, printing, soldering, PCB conception...

I've started to search for more information about how the motheboard trimming works, what components would I need and I saw that 4Layer was selling some nice boards.
Currently, only the RVL-Amp and the PMS-PD-2 are available. For the power supply board, none are available on the 4layer site !

I've found out that the RVL-PMS-1 was now open-source on github and I was wondering if that would be worth buying the components by myself and building it, even if this board is now "outdated" with the release of the v2.
One more concern is that most of the ICs are no longer available (on mouser) and when searching for alternatives, I'm able to get pretty good replacement but they all have very minor differences compared to the original chips (for example, minimum voltage would be 2.8V instead of 2.5V). Would the board still work?

So my setup would be :

1. RVL-AMP for sound
2. PMS-PD-2 for USB C charging, game storage and power button
3. Custom RVL-PMS-1 due to chip shortage DIY
4. I still need to figure out how the controller inputs are given to the wii. I've heard about the GC +2 but didn't do much research on the subject yet

There is maybe another way of doing it, maybe I should just wait for PCBs to be available on the store but I'm kinda time-limited.

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

 

[Shipyu]

Ooch....
I really have no idea how I'm gonna do it now...

 

[Stitches]

Sadly due to the global silicone shortage you're either going to have to wait for the PMS boards to restock, or you can use the PD2 to handle just USB data transfer and use PTH08080 regulators with a 2S cell arrangement for power delivery. You could also ask @CrazyGadget if he has any of his clone PSU boards still available for sale.

 

[Shipyu]

Thanks for your reply

So it isn't a good idea to order components and PCB to make my own RVL-PMS1? If I manage to gather all the parts and the pcb and make it work, there is no way it works with the PD2? Then I could use one USB C board I'll find on aliexpress and connect the USB by another way.

I've done a little research about the PTH08080 regulators and they're quite expensive. I'd rather wait for new stock on 4layer if making the RVL-PMS1 is not doable... (TBH, I'd love to build a PCB by myself ^^)

 

[Stitches]

You're unlikely to find the chips needed to build a PMS1. And yeah even if you did, it won't work with the PD2. You can wire USB the normal way and use a different USB-C PD module exclusively for charging if you can make a PMS1

 

[Shipyu]

You're unlikely to find the chips needed to build a PMS1

I just ended my researches for the missing components.

1. Regulator Buck 4A 16V TLV62095RGTR has been replaced with a ISL8014AIRZ-T7A. It's different on two points : min Voltage is 2.8V instead of 2.5V. Frequency is 1.2MHz instead of 1.4MHz
2. Regulator Boost 5V 4A TPS61232DRCR has been replaced with a TPS61230DRCT. Instead of delivering 5V it can deliver from 2.3 to 5.5V.
3. NVDC charger BQ25895MRTWR has been replaced with a BQ25898DYFFT BGA. It gives 4A max isntead of 3.1A. It's gonna be a pain to re-do the PCB and set all the traces to the right spot on the BGA to get it working

So... That seems quite complicated but I found some replcacement parts that looks similar. I have no idea how could I check if it'll work or not though...

 

[honigbrai]

1. Regulator Buck 4A 16V TLV62095RGTR has been replaced with a ISL8014AIRZ-T7A. It's different on two points : min Voltage is 2.8V instead of 2.5V. Frequency is

You would need to redesign parts of the pcb to work with the ISL8014AIRZ-T7A

 

[Shipyu]

You would need to redesign parts of the pcb to work with the ISL8014AIRZ-T7A

That's not really an issue, I've been teached how to design PCBs for 4 weeks during an internship but the files they gave on their git is kicad files and I'm only used to using Eagle
If someone could confirm me that these components would work, I'll then redesign the PCB

 

[honigbrai]

Yes, the componets should work. But you would need to replace the pic with an other model or battery gauge(I don't know if the BQ needs i2c to work)

 

[Shipyu]

you would need to replace the pic with an other model or battery gauge

I'm quite a newbie on the topic and didn't get what you wanted to explain there. What do you mean by "the pic"?
Also about I2C, I only heard about it like twice before so I may need to do more research on that...

 

[Stitches]

I just ended my researches for the missing components.

1. Regulator Buck 4A 16V TLV62095RGTR has been replaced with a ISL8014AIRZ-T7A. It's different on two points : min Voltage is 2.8V instead of 2.5V. Frequency is 1.2MHz instead of 1.4MHz
2. Regulator Boost 5V 4A TPS61232DRCR has been replaced with a TPS61230DRCT. Instead of delivering 5V it can deliver from 2.3 to 5.5V.
3. NVDC charger BQ25895MRTWR has been replaced with a BQ25898DYFFT BGA. It gives 4A max isntead of 3.1A. It's gonna be a pain to re-do the PCB and set all the traces to the right spot on the BGA to get it working

So... That seems quite complicated but I found some replcacement parts that looks similar. I have no idea how could I check if it'll work or not though...

Technically all these chips will do their advertised jobs, but I can't say whether the existing firmware will play nice with the different charge controller out of the box. Even with a PCB redesign, you may still need to make alterations to the firmware to enable BMS function

I'm quite a newbie on the topic and didn't get what you wanted to explain there. What do you mean by "the pic"?
Also about I2C, I only heard about it like twice before so I may need to do more research on that...

PIC is a type of microcontroller used in the PMS to handle advanced functions that need configuration, like communication with other components

 

[honigbrai]

I just took a little look at the differences in the i2c registers, there are some changes, but nothing that's too big. Reg01 and Reg3 were changed much, the other changes are minor.(e.g. Reg0C the NTC_FAULT got more sates) I would recommend to definitely use the BQ25898D over the BQ25898, because most of the features of the BQ25895M are still in the BQ25898D.