Discussion Ideas, questions, etc, Post em here!

Ethan

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Just saying if you can manage to remove that many components from the board that cleanly just go ahead and trim the board the work there looke like plenty skilled hands for the job

getting it to boot with the pms after being trimmed is way easier then trying to before trimming
 
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Hello guys, i am new here. :)
I have a question about soldering on the Wii Motherboard. I can't seem to proper tin the legs of the RVL Chip. (i try to hdmi mod my wii btw)
i already bought a new flux as i had a really bad chinese one before. Also, a guy in a german forum suggested me to use my soldering iron around 333° but the solder used on the board is more likely to melt around 400-450° i found out. my applied (lead free) solder won't make a proper connection and it is all just a big blob of solder on top of the chip legs.
That's the Tin i use, here's the newly bought flux.

when i look at videos like here (around 07:00), it seems way more easy and straight forward than what i can do with my current items.
Cann anyone guide me through here?

thanks in advance. :)
 

Ethan

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Hello guys, i am new here. :)
I have a question about soldering on the Wii Motherboard. I can't seem to proper tin the legs of the RVL Chip. (i try to hdmi mod my wii btw)
i already bought a new flux as i had a really bad chinese one before. Also, a guy in a german forum suggested me to use my soldering iron around 333° but the solder used on the board is more likely to melt around 400-450° i found out. my applied (lead free) solder won't make a proper connection and it is all just a big blob of solder on top of the chip legs.
That's the Tin i use, here's the newly bought flux.

when i look at videos like here (around 07:00), it seems way more easy and straight forward than what i can do with my current items.
Cann anyone guide me through here?

thanks in advance. :)
330 is in Celsius hope you werent using freedom units

also if you having issues with soldering and saying leadfree in the same sentence, i suggest getting some leaded solder, its got a lower melting temp and makes life way easier

Ethan
 

Stitches

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WII WONT BOOT WITH RVL-PMS

I wanted to test my Wii before I started to trim it to make sure that it was working still after I removed all the on board regulators I wired up all the voltages as shown in this pics. But the led light on the motherboard won't light up as if it's receiving no power from the RVL- PMS which doesn't make any sense to me I check the voltages and they all seemed to be correct and I also tried to connect the video output cable to a tv to test if it was working but not showing a visual indicator that it was. I have bbloader installed on it as well. Any ideas of how I could figure out if this Wii is working or not?
View attachment 17147View attachment 17148View attachment 17149View attachment 17150
Your solder joints are a bit cold, and that wire you're using is thin solid core. You need 24AWG stranded for power, minimum.
 
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Hello was woundering how I could get the LCD to power on with 3.3v instead of the 12v?, I can't find any guides anywhere about how to do this but the LCD screen is the 5" screen from bitbuilds siteView attachment 17373
The screen needs more modification to run on 3.3v than running on 5v, something about the display backlight I think it was needs at least 5v. I read it a while back on the discord. The screen will run on 5v easily. I believe I'm alright to post this pic, I removed my wire connectors to solder directly but the green x component you'd removed and 5v is listed. This is the mod I did for my 5" LCD in my PS2 portrait build.
 

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The screen needs more modification to run on 3.3v than running on 5v, something about the display backlight I think it was needs at least 5v. I read it a while back on the discord. The screen will run on 5v easily. I believe I'm alright to post this pic, I removed my wire connectors to solder directly but the green x component you'd removed and 5v is listed. This is the mod I did for my 5" LCD in my PS2 portrait build.
Thank-you !! Got it to power on but it just says no sync
 

Typro

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Hello I was thinking about maybe making a super simple wii portable and I would like some advice on the best way to go about it. I have a ds lite top screen that I'm not using and I was wondering if I could use that somehow. I also would like help hacking the wii to be able to emulate other consoles and also transfer the discs to files to not use the disc drive. I might trim the motherboard slightly or I might just leave it. I want to take the casing off either way most likely. If there was a casing I could buy for my project or 3d print, that would be great. I wouldn't want to go overboard with this project as it is high-risk and I'm not going for a super expensive and fancy console. I'm just looking for a console that can be played on tv, emulate, run without discs, and also occasionally be played in handheld mode at decent quality. It also needs buttons obviously and I'm not sure what to do about that but I think 3ds sliders and buttons with a d-pad would be cool and sleek. Any help or advice would be highly appreciated! Thank you! :)
 

Wesk

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ayude a los amigos a alguien que pueda decirme los valores de amperaje para los voltajes de una wii los voltajes de 3.3 voltios 1.0 voltios y 1.15 voltios por favor
Be aware this is an English only forum.

To somewhat answer your question, as long as your regulators can provide at least 2 amp you'll be fine.
 

Typro

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I'm looking to make this project sometime pretty soon so any tips about just how to build a general wii portable and then make it your own would help a lot too. Also, is it possible to use a touchscreen on a wii portable for scrolling through the menu and specific apps/games/software?
 

Stitches

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Hello I was thinking about maybe making a super simple wii portable and I would like some advice on the best way to go about it. I have a ds lite top screen that I'm not using and I was wondering if I could use that somehow. I also would like help hacking the wii to be able to emulate other consoles and also transfer the discs to files to not use the disc drive. I might trim the motherboard slightly or I might just leave it. I want to take the casing off either way most likely. If there was a casing I could buy for my project or 3d print, that would be great. I wouldn't want to go overboard with this project as it is high-risk and I'm not going for a super expensive and fancy console. I'm just looking for a console that can be played on tv, emulate, run without discs, and also occasionally be played in handheld mode at decent quality. It also needs buttons obviously and I'm not sure what to do about that but I think 3ds sliders and buttons with a d-pad would be cool and sleek. Any help or advice would be highly appreciated! Thank you! :)
Can't use the DS-lite screens I'm afraid, you have to use a screen and driver board that takes standard video inputs like composite and VGA.
For softmodding the Wii, youtube has many videos on how to execute LetterBomb and install the Homebrew Channel and Priiloader. After doing that, read this post and follow the instructions to install RVLoader, which will be the software that runs your games from a USB drive.
Emulators are pretty easy to install, just search for the console you want on wiibrew.org and read the pages for the emulators and try them out. Just remember that if you trim the Wii you will need to relocate the MX chip for some of them to function.
If you want to rip any disks you own, you can use a Wii homebrew app called CleanRip. It will rip the disk image to your USB drive, so make sure you're using a drive large enough to hold all the images you want, or you'll have to do them in batches and move the files to your computer for storage. I'm unsure if CleanRip creates .iso or .wbfs images from Wii disks, so if it ends up making .iso files you will need to convert them into .wbfs files yourself on a PC. You will also have to manually adjust the filenames and move the files into the correct folders for RVLoader to be able to see them. Btw we legally can't help you find ROMs online, so please don't ask.
All the currently open source case designs use trimmed Wiis. Mostly the standard OMGWTF trim. Gman sells his beginner friendly G-Wii case, PM him on the forum if you want to buy one. Else, you'll have to design/build a case yourself.
3DS sliders can be good for very low profile designs, but we mostly use Nintendo Switch joycon sticks now. Some larger cases like the G-Wii just use the original Gamecube controller sticks and buttons, which is generally easier for a first timer and we generally recommend trying a G-Wii first.

As for advice, I always recommend having a scroll through a couple of dozen completed systems in The Cutting Edge and having a look at the internal shots to get an idea in your head of the basic design and assembly principles, then checking the worklogs for those builds in the Wii section to see the "step by step" on how they were assembled, what challenges were encountered, and how they were resolved. This isn't a hobby where anyone's going to hold your hand, but if you spend the time and do the research, ask half decent questions and listen to feedback, I'm sure you'll be able to do it.

Also building a portable can be hecking expensive, so be prepared to spend at least $600 in parts, replacement parts, and tools.

I'm looking to make this project sometime pretty soon so any tips about just how to build a general wii portable and then make it your own would help a lot too. Also, is it possible to use a touchscreen on a wii portable for scrolling through the menu and specific apps/games/software?
Check the above paragraph. For the touchscreen, it is possible, but you'd have to either contact JacksonS (the last guy to successfully achieve that) and ask about his implementation, or design/program/assemble your own bluetooth module emulator. You don't really need touchscreen though, as RVLoader features a Wiimote emulation software that uses standard physical Gamecube controls.
 

Typro

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Can't use the DS-lite screens I'm afraid, you have to use a screen and driver board that takes standard video inputs like composite and VGA.
For softmodding the Wii, youtube has many videos on how to execute LetterBomb and install the Homebrew Channel and Priiloader. After doing that, read this post and follow the instructions to install RVLoader, which will be the software that runs your games from a USB drive.
Emulators are pretty easy to install, just search for the console you want on wiibrew.org and read the pages for the emulators and try them out. Just remember that if you trim the Wii you will need to relocate the MX chip for some of them to function.
If you want to rip any disks you own, you can use a Wii homebrew app called CleanRip. It will rip the disk image to your USB drive, so make sure you're using a drive large enough to hold all the images you want, or you'll have to do them in batches and move the files to your computer for storage. I'm unsure if CleanRip creates .iso or .wbfs images from Wii disks, so if it ends up making .iso files you will need to convert them into .wbfs files yourself on a PC. You will also have to manually adjust the filenames and move the files into the correct folders for RVLoader to be able to see them. Btw we legally can't help you find ROMs online, so please don't ask.
All the currently open source case designs use trimmed Wiis. Mostly the standard OMGWTF trim. Gman sells his beginner friendly G-Wii case, PM him on the forum if you want to buy one. Else, you'll have to design/build a case yourself.
3DS sliders can be good for very low profile designs, but we mostly use Nintendo Switch joycon sticks now. Some larger cases like the G-Wii just use the original Gamecube controller sticks and buttons, which is generally easier for a first timer and we generally recommend trying a G-Wii first.

As for advice, I always recommend having a scroll through a couple of dozen completed systems in The Cutting Edge and having a look at the internal shots to get an idea in your head of the basic design and assembly principles, then checking the worklogs for those builds in the Wii section to see the "step by step" on how they were assembled, what challenges were encountered, and how they were resolved. This isn't a hobby where anyone's going to hold your hand, but if you spend the time and do the research, ask half decent questions and listen to feedback, I'm sure you'll be able to do it.

Also building a portable can be hecking expensive, so be prepared to spend at least $600 in parts, replacement parts, and tools.


Check the above paragraph. For the touchscreen, it is possible, but you'd have to either contact JacksonS (the last guy to successfully achieve that) and ask about his implementation, or design/program/assemble your own bluetooth module emulator. You don't really need touchscreen though, as RVLoader features a Wiimote emulation software that uses standard physical Gamecube controls.
Could I use an old foldable DVD player with speakers and screen already on? This would make everything easier as I wouldn’t have to buy everything new like a case, screen, or speakers and I could easily cut specific parts of the case to make it fit ports, buttons, joysticks, etc. and work decently well. It also has video in and out ports, headphone jack ports, volume control wheel, on and off switch, brightness wheel, buttons for dvd controls(although I think I will change those), and a dvd reader that I could possibly use but I don’t know how that works and if that would be possible. I have 2 of these DVD players so I’d also have multiple parts and cases in case something goes wrong. Is this possible?
 

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Stitches

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Could I use an old foldable DVD player with speakers and screen already on? This would make everything easier as I wouldn’t have to buy everything new like a case, screen, or speakers and I could easily cut specific parts of the case to make it fit ports, buttons, joysticks, etc. and work decently well. It also has video in and out ports, headphone jack ports, volume control wheel, on and off switch, brightness wheel, buttons for dvd controls(although I think I will change those), and a dvd reader that I could possibly use but I don’t know how that works and if that would be possible. I have 2 of these DVD players so I’d also have multiple parts and cases in case something goes wrong. Is this possible?
It's possible, yes
 

Typro

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If I were to 3D print a box for extra space on the back of the WiiU to hold the main unit, could I make a WiiU portable? I know it wouldn’t fit in the normal case but I don’t know if anybody has just tried using a larger case.
 

Stitches

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If I were to 3D print a box for extra space on the back of the WiiU to hold the main unit, could I make a WiiU portable? I know it wouldn’t fit in the normal case but I don’t know if anybody has just tried using a larger case.
Yes, you can 3D print a box extension for the gamepad for extra space. In fact, to date, that has been the only way anyone has managed to complete a Wii portable using a Wii U gamepad case.
 
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Hello. i hope this is the right place to post this...
i'm making a laptop Xbox 360, and wanting it as flat as possible, i decided to remove most of the conectors, including the Microsoft video output, since it has HDMI.

but while cutting it with a Dremel, my hand failed me, and this happened...

IMG_20210629_175537.jpg


IMG_20210629_175236.jpg


Can this kind of damage be fixed, and if so, how do I go about it ?
 

Luca

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Looks like you're lucky, you've only shaved off some of the first layer of the PCB.

Area 1 looks fine, the right trace might need some solder to bridge the gap, but I don't know if you need to since it looks intact.

Area 2&3, you'll need to use some magnet wire to repair those traces like I showed below. Scratch off the solder mask to expose the copper some more and solder to that.

Area 4, you've knocked off two "EG2A" components. I've no idea what that designator is for, I've never seen it anywhere before but it looks like maybe a capacitor for filtering the HDMI signal since it's wired in parallel to the signals. So you should get an output without these, but make sure to repair those two traces. You could stick one end of a wire to the bottom of the "000" resistor and one to the via above area 1, but make sure to scratch off the solder mask first.

I noticed some damage next to area 2, but I can't quite see what happened there. A closeup of that area would help but from what I can see maybe it doesn't need repair at all.

1624996544376.png


It may sound daunting if you've never done this before but it's definitely doable! Good luck dude
 
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thanks, you are great help already.

here's my best shot of the damaged area. the trace seems cut off, but i dont know what that trace is about

IMG_20210629_133609.jpg


I think i'll start a thread once the project is well underway (USB and Ethernet relocated, active cooling solution found, case designed, ...)
 

512

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So I have two main questions.

Is it alright for me to add solder pads to a battery that is compatible with a Gameboy color cartridge? I know that they have some without but is it a good idea to add my own to one that doesn't have any?

and second, which would be the best console to start with? I was thinking either Wii or SNES but I'm not 100% sure which would be a better first build
 
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