Worklog Creamsicle G-Wii rev 2 "Shwii" Worklog

[Schmeeker]

DAY 1:
Hello everyone! I've been planning to make a G-Wii all summer and now... I'm finally starting!

Quick shoutouts:
@Gman for... everything
@Kranimations_YT for the BOM
@CalebPikmin for THEIR BOM
... Basically, if you've ever linked a part on BitBuilt, I want to shoutout to you. You're all great. The 4LayerTech store guys are great. Thank you everyone!

Our story so far...
View attachment 18501

So I put together everything that I could figure out, and there were a few things bothering me.

1. These little screw holes. I've seen a couple other builds with little tabs that screw in and hold the screen and LED in place, but I didn't see these in the files. Are they completely essential? I don't have super easy access to a 3D printer, but I could maybe get something small printed. Does anyone know where I can find the files for these tabs?​

2. My heatsink is a little taller than my fan. Will this be a problem? I also don't have any thermal paste, will that be a problem?​

3. My face buttons won't fit. It's really weird, because the D-Pad worked fine, and the shoulder buttons worked as well. But I cannot physically get the buttons in with the caps on. Are my buttons too big? Are they too tall? Are my screw posts too short? I have absolutely no idea. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated.​

In other news, I have some miscellaneous questions:

1. Do I even need the LED? I've seen a couple people leave it out in their builds because of RVLoader's new features.
2. My copper plate is absolutely MASSIVE, what kind of tool should I use to cut it?
3. Is the G-Boy guide still accurate for most of the wiring steps?

Thanks again everyone! I'll keep you posted as I progress!
Schmeeker

 

[huddlestone]

the colors...

 

[gaymerandrea]

Looks great so far! Love the colors!
I’m also new to this but I’ll try my best to answer some of your questions:

1. I’m pretty sure the LED is optional. I’ve seen a lot of people leave it out of their builds because it’s too bright. Its main purpose is to indicate battery life, which I believe can be checked through RV Loader if you’re using the RVL PMS 2.
2. You should be able to cut the copper plate using a dremel with a metal cutting wheel.
3. As for wiring, I’ve been mostly referencing the G-Boy guide, The Definitive Wii Trimming Guide, and other people’s worklogs. If you’re using parts from 4LayerTech, there are some helpful wiring diagrams underneath the item listings on their website.

 

[cheese]

For the screen tabs you can cut up a plastic card and screw in little pieces.

You will need thermal paste so the wii does not overheat. At the very least, make sure the copper plate is making good contact with both the cpu and gpu.

 

[Schmeeker]

Thanks again, cheese!

 

[Schmeeker]

Hello everyone! Sorry for the big gap in between updates.
I've been really busy lately, but I've done some work on my portable!

Specifically, I trimmed my Wii motherboard...

Used a grinder on my heatsink to make it nice and level...

And did the worst soldering ever done by man!
I'm 100% going to redo this, as it is absolute garbage.

I'm kind of proud of the fan wires and the PMS-PD wires though.

I have some new questions, however.

1. My face buttons still won't fit into the G-Wii case, and I've been having trouble with the start button as well. Do I need to cut/shorten the buttons so that they'll fit? Am I just doing it wrong?
2. I'm just going to use kapton tape to hold the battery wires onto the batteries, is that what I'm supposed to do?

Thank you all so much for staying with me, and I'll do my best to make more frequent updates soon.

Schmeeker

 

[CalebPikmin]

Hello everyone! Sorry for the big gap in between updates.
I've been really busy lately, but I've done some work on my portable!
View attachment 19422
Specifically, I trimmed my Wii motherboard...
View attachment 19423
Used a grinder on my heatsink to make it nice and level...
View attachment 19424
And did the worst soldering ever done by man!
I'm 100% going to redo this, as it is absolute garbage.
View attachment 19425View attachment 19426
I'm kind of proud of the fan wires and the PMS-PD wires though.

I have some new questions, however.

View attachment 19427View attachment 19428View attachment 19429

1. My face buttons still won't fit into the G-Wii case, and I've been having trouble with the start button as well. Do I need to cut/shorten the buttons so that they'll fit? Am I just doing it wrong?
2. I'm just going to use kapton tape to hold the battery wires onto the batteries, is that what I'm supposed to do?

Thank you all so much for staying with me, and I'll do my best to make more frequent updates soon.

Schmeeker

What up my brother!!!? So let me tell you... it took me 2 sets of gamecube buttons to get my portable right. I failed a lot on this process because I was new to it.

So for all your button questions.. let me tell you. In my opinion its the toughest part of the build to get the buttons just right.

What need to do it cut and dremel and sand or just sand a whole bunch. I had cut my buttons too short at one point... and had to use a small washer underneath my A and B buttons lol..

You can use electrical tape or normal tape to have a good grip will cutting or sanding. Just take it slow because you can't put plastic back on.. (unless you want to build up with ghetto washers like I did lol).

Here are some pictures to show you what I mean and the struggle. PICTURE DUMP TIME.

Btw.. I could use that D pad I trimmed down. I ended up using the other one and redoing the trim and sanding on it... The D-Pad is tough to get just right.

Also.. its really a matter of what you want for the, "feel" of your X & Y buttons. I ended up sanding a little bit of and angle for them so my thumb glides from the A & B button right up to the X & Y without too much trouble. Also for the start button on top you can use that squishy tact button but you got to cut off the side peices and sand down a bit so the button doesn't smash the crap out of it like it is right now.

Also for the A and B button once you have it right.. you can carefully superglue the squishy tact in place on the back plates of the buttons. I would suggest a small amount and then having the buttons face down when they adhere to the glue because you DON'T want superglue in your tact switches.

@SparkleBear gave me all this advice and without it I would not have great buttons!

 

[Schmeeker]

I'm back again, and I unfortunately have barely progressed.
I re-did the PMS wiring and I'm way happier with it now. However, when I taped up a battery and pressed the power switch, all I got was a faint, high-pitched noise that stopped when I released the power button, and then I couldn't recreate it. Then, I left it (without the battery connected) for a couple hours, reconnected the battery and got the same result. I've tested with a multimeter, and the PMS was not outputting voltage from any voltage pads after the noise, and I didn't test it during the noise.

Did I fry my PMS? Any advice would be MUCH appreciated as I have no clue as to what is happening.
Here's my new, prettier (not good, but better) wiring:

Thanks again for staying with me throughout my slow progress. Sorry!

Schmeeker

 

[CalebPikmin]

I'm back again, and I unfortunately have barely progressed.
I re-did the PMS wiring and I'm way happier with it now. However, when I taped up a battery and pressed the power switch, all I got was a faint, high-pitched noise that stopped when I released the power button, and then I couldn't recreate it. Then, I left it (without the battery connected) for a couple hours, reconnected the battery and got the same result. I've tested with a multimeter, and the PMS was not outputting voltage from any voltage pads after the noise, and I didn't test it during the noise.

Did I fry my PMS? Any advice would be MUCH appreciated as I have no clue as to what is happening.
Here's my new, prettier (not good, but better) wiring:
View attachment 20073View attachment 20074

Thanks again for staying with me throughout my slow progress. Sorry!

Schmeeker

I think it might be the exposure of wiring from each connection potentially being the issue. Also the connections need some more love.

I would suggest shortening the exposed wire and having a solid solder point. Check out some tutorials online on correct solder points. I messed up a lot with cold soldering at first. Good luck! Send more pictures after!

 

[thedrew]

Your wire is WAY too exposed and can easily short out components and fry the PMS or other components. You only need to trim the insulation off the wire like 1mm or less for small connections and maybe 1mm-2mm max for large connections. Essentially, the insulation of the wire should be as close to the pad you are trying to solder to as possible. Here is an example of small and larger wire. Should look more like this:

Make sure to use flux as well to disburse the heat evenly and to help the solder flow better to get a clean connection!

 

[Schmeeker]

Wow, I haven't come back here in a while. Sorry to bump this dusty old thread, but I just wanted people that I haven't given up entirely, I just took a break. I did not expect my life to get as hard as it did. Thank you so much for your contributions everyone and I'll be back with a progress update soon.

I do have a few new questions:

1. What's going on with the "coming soon" on 4layertech on the PMS boards? Does it have to do with the chip shortage?
2. On an unrelated note, how can I test my PMS? Just wire it up to power, hold the button and use a multimeter on the different pads?
3. What kind of wire do you guys prefer? The wire I have is quite stiff and annoying to use, it's just cheap aliexpress wire, stranded PVC-coated 30AWG wire (yellow wires).
4. I also have 22AWG wire (red + black wires) for the power and stuff, and I'm having a hard time cramming those fat wires into the little holes on the boards. Am I just supposed to solder it on top?

In the meantime, I'm going to pick up some battery clips and some flux once I get the time/money, and I'm also going to screw around with some circuit projects, see if I can improve my soldering ability.

On a personal note, I'm slightly annoyed that right after I committed to this project, the Ashida boards came out, streamlining so much of this process, but c’est la vie, I guess. I'm glad that other beginners such as myself have a new, less daunting entry into this hobby now.

Thank you so much everyone!
Again, sorry to bump this thread, but I'll (hopefully) be posting more often now that my life is a little less intense.

 

[Schmeeker]

Hello everyone!

Sorry for being the deadest thread of all threads, but my life has been... somewhat insane lately.

I re-did all of the connections and am really pleased with how they came out! I was a little confused as to how I was supposed to wire up the batteries, but I tried it anyway. At this point, what can I do to test the connections? Would I just use a multimeter on the pads of the RVL-PMS?

@thedrew thank you so much for the tip about flux, I brought out some rosin-core solder and it was so much easier!

I've attached pictures, and I'm sure you guys are tired of seeing the same boards wired together over and over, and I plan on actually progressing through this build at some point. No promises, however, as school threatens to take all of my free time this coming year.

Thanks to everyone for helping me and guiding me through this, I hope to make you all proud.

Thanks,
Schmeeker

 

[Stitches]

Hello everyone!

Sorry for being the deadest thread of all threads, but my life has been... somewhat insane lately.

I re-did all of the connections and am really pleased with how they came out! I was a little confused as to how I was supposed to wire up the batteries, but I tried it anyway. At this point, what can I do to test the connections? Would I just use a multimeter on the pads of the RVL-PMS?

@thedrew thank you so much for the tip about flux, I brought out some rosin-core solder and it was so much easier!

I've attached pictures, and I'm sure you guys are tired of seeing the same boards wired together over and over, and I plan on actually progressing through this build at some point. No promises, however, as school threatens to take all of my free time this coming year.

Thanks to everyone for helping me and guiding me through this, I hope to make you all proud.

Thanks,
Schmeeker

Yeah just turn it on and probe it with a multimeter. If the voltages look goodly, you can connect it to the Wii.

Btw your battery diagram concerns me. The PMS is a 1S system, meaning all the battery positive wires should be together, and all the negative wires should be together. If you put any of the cells in series it will kill the PMS.

 

[Schmeeker]

Yeah just turn it on and probe it with a multimeter.

Fantastic! Thank you!

Btw your battery diagram concerns me.

Crap. By 1S, you mean all the batteries need to wired individually to the pads? Okay. Thank you, that would have been bad, especially considering how hard it would be to find a replacement. In order to test the PMS, would I need to charge the batteries with a USB-C cable?

Thank you so much!
Schmeeker

 

[Stitches]

Fantastic! Thank you!



Crap. By 1S, you mean all the batteries need to wired individually to the pads? Okay. Thank you, that would have been bad, especially considering how hard it would be to find a replacement. In order to test the PMS, would I need to charge the batteries with a USB-C cable?

Thank you so much!
Schmeeker

They don't neccessarily need to be wired "individually", you can daisy chain the wires from cell to cell if it's convenient. You just have to make sure all the positive wires go to B+ and all the negative wires go to B-.

As shown here