Worklog Evil's first Louii ( Zomblouii )

[Evilemi]

Hi! I've been wanting to build a portable for over 2 years. It first started when I saw the retroflag GPI, then the GamePi, but I finally found this beloved forum and tossed every other portable. So now here we are.

So my goal is to build a Louii I'll get the Switch buttons, 38 wire and kapton tape tomorrow. The only part I'm not convinced are the flux and the batteries, but we'll first make sure everything works

I still need a case, I'll wait a little to see if Ginger will release the updated stl's.

Wish me luck!

 

[Evilemi]

My first update.

IT'S ALIVE AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL

PS I couldn't figure the optimal cable length. But I wish @GingerOfOz could guide me

 

[Evilemi]

Good news and a bad new.
USB works, aswell as the mod to run the screen at 3.3V

I'll be the first one to say that my soldering skills could improve, this is mostly due to my $2 flux and $10 iron soldering.

Because I installed rvloader 1.4 and forgot to enable vga. I'll be working on the gc+ until I can at least navigate in the menus.

The bad new is I lost my kingston adapter with my scandisk 400Gb inside

 

[Evilemi]

So as I said, this project began about a year ago, the wii had RVloader 1.4 and I knew it had VGA turned off (I remember I didn't know what it was, got scared and said no). So I worked on the most improvised way to make the GC+ work with minimal controllers just so I can enable VGA and Install RVL 1.5.

And this Frankestein was borned. I had little hope it would work, you see I'm learning and I have a lot of bad practices like soldering and making a mess, I'm a lot more focused on making sure evertything works and I know I will have to redo most of the wiring. But I get really excited when things work.

So as you guessed it... It didn't work the first time.

I double check continuity and OMG those 3.3V and data lines were really hard, also my soldering iron is not the best, but I tried again and....

Tadaaa!!!

So now it's time to wire VGA, after that I may do the audio before putting everything in the case and try my best to re wire everything.


Wish me luck!
Until next time

 

[Evilemi]

New update:

I wired VGA and those H and V sync were extremely hard. As I have mentioned many times before my equipment is really cheap. But the difference between composite and VGA is night and day.

I want my case to be PETG but my settings suck, so I printed some iterations of the case.

So my wiring needs a lot of work, I will re do most of it.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[Stitches]

Looks good, but if you're leaving the 1.8v reg on the board then you don't need the 1.8v wire from the PMS

 

[vipe_202]

He's using a pms-lite in an earlier photo, so that would be needed

 

[Evilemi]

Looks good, but if you're leaving the 1.8v reg on the board then you don't need the 1.8v wire from the PMS

Thanks but actually you do.

 

[Evilemi]

So the project died because of a fried pms F

 

[Stitches]

Thanks but actually you do.
View attachment 21646

I didn't know that the lite needs a logic supply, my bad

 

[Evilemi]

Aaaaand the project revived. It's been a long time, and I've been doing so much.
TLDR;

I got a new PMS-Lite and some chips to bring back the fried one Yaaaaaaaaaaay
@GingerOfOz released the new files for the Louii.
I got new batteries, soldering station and flux.
I killed 2 Wii's by following Ginger Stream because he connects voltages on the back so I got a short on 3.3v and ground, tried again and shorted 1.15v and ground. So didn't feel like risking again.

Let's get started!

So I ordered a new PMS, and some chips to try to bring back the old one. They took more time than expected because I live in a different country and I needed a mule.

as you can see those chips are really tiny, but I'm sure we can bring it back, btw that's gonna be the name of this portable. Zomblouii, because it's a zombie and blue...

Speaking of blue, Ginger released the new STL's Unfortunately he didn't include the 4 botton layout and the Dpad was very expensive, So I looked at the inventor files and realized the Louii was originally a 4 button design and then he extrudes the middle section. So if you disable extrusion 151-153 you get a 4 button layout. I know the merged files had been uploaded to the original thread but cura couldn't open them. I also did some minor modifications to allow a better joystick and battery fit.

So if you noticed I used a lighting rod as a soldering iron a $1 flux. And now I realized it was a mistake, my solder would be really messy and the tip was too big for some vias. So I got a new soldering station (T245, T210)and chipquik flux yeeey.

Because I wanted a fresh start I trimmed a new wii, it passed the resistances test and it booted, then I followed Ginger Stream where he would use an exacto knife to scratch the surface of the wii to allow voltages on the back. I swear I was being cautious but I somehow shorted 3.3v and ground. I still can't see where the short is but it's there.

Then I tried again and I did the same thing, this time with 1.15V and ground. I was so mad so I decided not to go that route and solder them on the front with a 3rd wii.

Aaaand now it works.

Oh I will order the PCB's but FYI the original mounting thing still work.

This build has proven to be a real challenge, tbh it's a personal goal at this point.

 

[Evilemi]

Small yet important update:

The PCB's arrived, I noticed they are different from the one @GingerOfOz used, there is no L LT pad, also I wanted to use the Joystick button, one PCB has the pad but the other one doesn't.
Also I ordered the wrong connectors, this need to be top contact.


I wired VGA and it works, I just need to test audio.


IMPORTANT ADVICE!
MAKE SURE YOUR LED IS NOT DUCKING REVERSED!

Sometimes the A will be on the opposite side which is a huge pain.

A dpad is on the way. Not sure if it'll fit but I hope it does.

I will also do some final cable management because the space is really tight. I think the GC presses against the batteries.