Question Calling all noobs (noob question thread)

[GingerOfOz]

Welcome to the community! I'd recommend that you read through all the Wii guides over and over and over again. These will help you determine which Wii you want, as well as help you to understand some of the basics better. Check out this guide on regulators as well. This thread has a bunch of high quality parts that have been tested and used in other projects, but there is no set "shopping list" for parts. It's up to you to pick the parts that you want for your portable.

With wire gauge, definitely get some stranded 22 gauge wire for power lines (solid core can break as many of us have learned and troubleshooting that really sucks) some 30 gauge wire, and 32 gauge magnet wire for the tiny things on the Wii.

From here, I'd start reading through a bunch of worklogs. Go into the Wii section, and if a Worklog has more than say 1000 views it's pretty much a guarantee that there's useful information in it. I'd also reccomend reading through this whole entire noob thread. Even though there are 97 pages of it and at times it is repetitive, it's an extremely valuable resource.

Your biggest tool for moving forward from here is research. The design you envision can only happen if you research the way to make it happen. We are here to help though, so if something in particular is confusing, then we're here to help.

Good luck! I really hope this project makes it off the ground!

 

[Madmorda]

Ok here goes
Hi guys im new to the modding wii scene. Since i saw this thread was for noobs i want everyones input on this.
What are the materials that i need to make a wii portable. And by materials i mean wii, resistors,lcd ,batteries,wires(which gauges) etc. I am pretty good at soldering stuff. But i justneed help with materials and maybe some pics of what wires goes where. Like where does the lcd,batteries need to be hooked up too and such. I know this is a lot to ask for and everyone has thier own way,but if i get input from alot of people then i would know exactly what does what. Sorry for the long post and thank you to whomever helps.

Hi welcome to the modding scene! There are some things that you won't know you need until you get there, but there are some things you can buy up front.

-At least one wii console. You probably want a four layer wii since they are all around more effecient. All non white wiis are four layer. You can also check inside the battery tray of white wiis to find out the revision. CPU 40 and higher is four layer. Check out the thread on Wii Serial Numbers to see more on identifying the revision of white wiis.
-Different gauges of wire. I recommend getting a few different sizes. Like Ginger said, 22 gauge stranded is best for power lines. For smaller data lines, enamelled magnet wire is probably the best way to go. I have 28, 30, and 32 gauge, but mostly use 28 and 30.
-Tact switches. Most likely you'll need some kind of tact switches. There are the soft orange ones in the BOM, but you may want hard ones for volume buttons, screen options etc.
-A controller. Most people use buttons from some kind of controller or console. Gamecube, wii u, wii classic controller, ds lite, and 3ds are fairly common for a wii portable. You can use anything you want though
-Joysticks. You can use regular gamecube joysticks, but if you are using a GC+, you can use any joystick you want. Many people use 3ds joysticks since they save space.
-If you want to integrate a sensor bar, you can use infrared LEDs.
-Heatsinks and fans. You will need to figure out a cooling system. You may have to try multiples of these to find what works best, since some fans are louder or don't fit quite right, etc.
-Speakers. You will need some speakers. I usually pull mine out of broken electronics (mostly portable dvd players since they are dirt cheap where I live) but you may want to order some if you want a certain size or shape.
-A screen. Searching TFT LCD will show you some backup car monitors. The smaller ones are 3.5, 4.3, and 5". There are also 7" and higher that can accept other types of video, since the small ones really only do composite. These moniters are about $15-25 from China.
-Sandpaper. It's a good idea to get a variety. Like 300, 500, 600, 800 etc. If you want a really smooth finish, you can try a really high grit to lightly sand your paint job.
-Switches. Every portable has a power switch, right?
-Ports. Depending on what you want from your build, you will need some kind of port. A charging port and a usb port, but also maybe a video out port and whatever else you want.
-Battery. This is a much more complicated decision, so it's important that you understand how to implement the battery before buying one.
-Regulators. Many people use Texas Instruments PTH08080WAH regulators. With these, you will need some capacitors and resistors.

How are you making your case? If you are Frankencasing, you will need:
-A case to start out with and modify.
-Bondo glazing and spot putty
-Bondo body filler
-Primer
-Epoxy for plastic

Paint.
You are gonna need paint and clear coat. Don't go cheap on your paint. I have written a couple painting guides that are in the Guide Submissions forum that you might find helpful.

Obviously you will need a soldering iron with a tiny tip and solder. Wire strippers, a triwing screwdriver, and a good dremel also come in handy, although you could work around those if you absolutely had to.

All in all, what you will need varies so extremely case by case that it's difficult to pinpoint what you will need. Many parts you will have to buy more than once for your first build. Some of it though is just nice to have around. You can order 100 hard tact switches on ebay from China for 79 cents and free shipping, so it's worth it to look around and order some generic stuff early since shipping takes a few weeks. Hopefully though this gave you an idea of what you MIGHT need for your build. Of course you may not need some of this or opt for different parts, but this list is fairly common for portables.

 

[Enrique]

How much space do you guys recommend should be between the lcd and buttons/controls
Oh and when you guys mean 3ds sliders do you mean by the 3ds joysticks?

 

[GingerOfOz]

Yes, 3DS sliders and 3DS joysticks are the same thing.

As for space between controls and screen, do whatever is comfortable. On my last portable, my screen stuck out with a large bezel, and I learned that if any buttons are near anything that sticks out, your finger is going to rub along it forever.

This was my original print. It sucks.

This is what it became. Much, much comfier.

If your screen is flush/sunk in with the rest of the front of the case, I'd say put your controls as close to the screen as you can. Your controls will still have to have some space between the screen due to the fact that TFTs have the silver bezel around them. Since my next design has a flushish screen, I'm able to have my B button right along the edge of my screen, and save width.

oh boy sneeky peeky

You can see that with the second way, I'm able to put my B button right along the edge of the screen, but from the front there's still a nice gap because you can't see the screen bezel from the front. The button guides for the B button will take some engineering, but it should all work out. So button distance depends on the design on the rest of your case, but at this point I'm a bigger fan of the second method.

Good luck!

 

[Enrique]

That error usually means there's an issue with the flash drive. You can also try redownloading the PortablizeMii USB files and putting them on your flash drive again. For some reason the flash drive I use with my portable does that same thing when I try to use it with other PortablizeMii'd Wiis.

Oh ok thanks for the explanation

Oh and I just have one last question for today
Is there a way to change the background on portablize mii?
My eyesight is kinda bad so all the dark colors kinda makes it hard to see the words and such again thanks for all the help guys I really appreciate it

 

[Stitches]

Oh ok thanks for the explanation

Oh and I just have one last question for today
Is there a way to change the background on portablize mii?
My eyesight is kinda bad so all the dark colors kinda makes it hard to see the words and such again thanks for all the help guys I really appreciate it

Yeah you can change the theme, the pack comes with a few choices. I think it's in Settings in the dock at the bottom of the screen.

 

[Enrique]

Ok I got it to work with no errors

Here is my LCD board
My LCD is a TFT 7"
I was wondering if there was anyway to make it work at a lower voltage
Right now I'm using a 12v AA battery pack
And I want to make sure that it can run on lower voltage so it won't take up a lot a power
When I start assembling the portable

 

[cheese]

Check the voltage on this pin of the unmarked chip on the right side.

 

[DeoNaught]

What is the best way to check for shorts, I thought it would be to use a continuity check on a multi-meter, but I saw somewhere the best way to check is to look at the resistance using a multimeter.

 

[GingerOfOz]

What is the best way to check for shorts, I thought it would be to use a continuity check on a multi-meter, but I saw somewhere the best way to check is to look at the resistance using a multimeter.

Continuity is a good first check. If your multimeter does pick up continuity on a line, then you should measure for resistance to make sure it isn't a super low number like 2 ohms. A good example of this is the 1.15v line on the Wii, which generally has a resistance of 30 ohms, which is low enough that my meter picks up continuity, when in reality that's a perfectly acceptable level for it to be at.

 

[Ewhizz]

Most squishy tacts feel pretty close to the original membrane, just with a lesser tactile feedback on full press. The squishy tacts are mainly used over membrane for ease of wiring and custom placement. They work equally well, it just depends on what you're trying to achieve.

Are you aware if Digi-Key sell ones in the BOM (which are on eBay) or similar ones? The postage to get them to me in Aus is very high for the ones on eBay , thanks

 

[Stitches]

Are you aware if Digi-Key sell ones in the BOM (which are on eBay) or similar ones? The postage to get them to me in Aus is very high for the ones on eBay , thanks

Yeah the shipping for that is bogus. I couldn't find an active part match for them on digikey, this is the closest thing still in production. Unfortunately we just can't get the BOM ones, but regular squishy tacts can be bought from most anywhere. While slow to ship, this is where I got mine a long time ago. Any of those listings has upwards of 50 per order.

 

[Enrique]

Would this be good for the 22 gauge wire
https://www.ebay.com/itm/371251803318

 

[cheese]

Yep, that'll work good too with the multiple colors

 

[qazwsx_00]

is this capacitor important? i cut it off by accident.

if it's not, help my wii wont boot after trimming and i've wired everything right and there are no shorts

 

[jefflongo]

is this capacitor important? i cut it off by accident.

if it's not, help my wii wont boot after trimming and i've wired everything right and there are no shorts

It's not necessary to boot but it can cause some stability issues. I don't think it's why your Wii isn't booting though. Have you checked to make sure there's no shorts with a multimeter and successfully relocated your U10?

 

[Ewhizz]

Hi guys,
Is wiring bluetooth only necessary to play wii games with a wiimote? Or can you still play wii games with a gamecube controller without bluetooth? Secondly can 'stuffing up' a bluetooth relocation destroy the entire motherboard?
Thanks

 

[MasterNate]

The wii does a check for bluetooth when it loads into a wii game, so you wont be able to play wii games at all. It is possible to code out that bluetooth check, but I dont know anything about that.

And it depends what you mean by stuffing up.

 

[Supreme Device]

Hey, if I'm using the red CMB board, is it okay for me to use a charger like this, or do I need a smart charger like in the BOM?

 

[Stitches]

Hey, if I'm using the red CMB board, is it okay for me to use a charger like this, or do I need a smart charger like in the BOM?

For the red board, that's perfect. It'll be able to charge the batteries and run the console with power to spare.