What's the resistance between 1v8 and GND? It should sit around 36 ohms. It sounds like you have a short there.
I was hoping to avoid this; HELP!!
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That's.... very strange. Can you post a picture of you taking that meausurement, like where your probes are on the board, and your multimeter settings?
Labrat46
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I have taken and attached the below, showing the multimeter and the points on the board and some close-ups.
Even on 200k ohms, the meter kept rising until it hit 1.
Attachments
Ah, I meant the resistance between 1v8 and gnd on the Wii, not the PMS. Also B- is not directly connected to GND iirc, you need to have your negative probe on a GND pad.
Labrat46
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Ahh, well that does change the game. The resistance is 36.1 Ohms between 1.8V and GND on the Wii.
Thank you, i'll note that down for any further measurements; appreciate it.
This is incredibly sus:
That could potentially be shorting the 1v8 and 3v3 rails together. Others have already said it, but I will emphasize its importance: you *need* to trim down the amount of exposed wire to just enough to cover the joint. Having an excess of exposed wire on a joint makes it *really* easy for shorts to happen. Even if these are just wires for testing, you don't want to risk damaging anything. In the same vein, you need to tin your wires and pads prior to soldering them together. Doing so will significantly increase the quality of your joints.
That could potentially be shorting the 1v8 and 3v3 rails together. Others have already said it, but I will emphasize its importance: you *need* to trim down the amount of exposed wire to just enough to cover the joint. Having an excess of exposed wire on a joint makes it *really* easy for shorts to happen. Even if these are just wires for testing, you don't want to risk damaging anything. In the same vein, you need to tin your wires and pads prior to soldering them together. Doing so will significantly increase the quality of your joints.
Labrat46
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Fair enough to all these points.
Let me follow these points up now and unsolder the Wii board, trim it all, tin it all and i will report back.
(Just as an aside, this white wire was removed prior to retesting the PMS board)
Many thanks,
Labrat46
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I think I am even more confused now than before!!
After removing all the cables from the Wii & PMS, shortened and cleaned 'em up, the PMS won't power on when I connect GND.
How can I attempt to locate a short? I can't physically see anything that would be causing it, but is there another way?
Flux residue can carry fine hairs of conductive material that cause transient shorts. Give a good isopropyl alcohol scrub to all of your soldering and see if anything changes
Labrat46
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OK, let the cleaning begin!
First, I tried scrubbing the PMS board with isopropyl and a toothbrush with everything attached, tested and no good.
As I couldn't get a proper clean across the whole board, I have taken all the wires off, PROPERLY scrubbed it. (3x scrubs with new dash of isopropyl each time), re-soldered, rescrubbed and I am still in the same boat. All seems to work (the fan turns on) when I have everything attached bar the GND wire.
Add this and its a paperweight again.
Ahh! I thought this was going to be fun; building a Wii portable... I don't think I have been this frustrated in a long time.
What do you mean? Troubleshooting is half the fun! Haha jokes aside, I killed 2 Wii trims before I got my third working. I had to rebuild my ashida entirely because I had a mystery short that only appeared when I closed both halves and screwed the unit together.
@Stitches actually helped me resolve the majority of issues I was facing in a work log I had about my ashida. You're in good hands.
As for the short. It's still only when you attach the 1.8v wire to the Wii?
EDIT: What gauge wiring are you using?
If 3.3v was shorted into the 1.8v line as was previously suspected, the Wii might be dead.
I burned 2 Wii's without trimming nor using custom regs. Still have no idea why.
Labrat46
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You aren't wrong, even after the frustration, I have still come back to troubleshooting! If I really hated it, I would put it up on the shelf and forget about it.
The behaviour on the circuit has changed since desoldering, cleaning and resoldering. The PMS starts up fine (that is to say the fan spins fine) when I have all the voltage lines connected, but when I connect the GND it refuses to turn on.
I am running 22AWG wire for all the voltage lines, smaller for the switch, fan and battery terminals.
Its amazing having the help you are providing, I have been completely lost otherwise, so thank you to all have added to this discussion.
Labrat46
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I am starting to suspect this, but was wanting to be hopeful!
Labrat46
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So it's possible it died without my intervention...?
Wait. Are you using smaller than 22awg for the battery terminals? Those need to be 22awg MINIMUM. I use 18awg for my battery terminals.
All power from PMS to Wii, grounds, and battery wires need to be at least 22awg or you'll have power feeding issues.
Labrat46
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Sorry, have just checked and they are 22AWG from the battery to PMS, and PMS to Wii.
(They are trimmed and tinned jumper cables)
Should I try thicker cables between the batteries and PMS?
You could try larger gauge wires for better voltage delivery. Also make sure your battery voltage is 3.6-3.7 volts.