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DeTree72
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I’m sure this is somewhere in the forums, but I can’t find it for the life of me. Would it be possible to run a trimmed wii with custom regs off of a 3.7v battery powering a 5V booster that can deliver 1A?
Also, is there anything that can be done to lower the amp draw within this range?
Also, is there anything that can be done to lower the amp draw within this range?
Like a phone charger battery pack? Short answer is technically you sort of could, but it's not a great idea.
For starters, you'd need a higher amperage than 1A. Try getting a 2.1 or 2.4 pack instead. One cell will run your portable for maybe an hour or so if it's a conservative portable. The wii will need more than 1a at 5v.
On another note, I've bought a ton of those single cell packs and they are all unreliable. Because they're cheap, manufacturers tend to crap out on parts.
Your wii will only use the amps it needs, giving it more won't hurt it. In fact, giving it more is a good idea so it doesn't run dry on power. 5v is fine though.
I would recommend getting a larger capacity pack with a higher amperage rating. Even the smallest wii portables should have room for at least two cells. Gman was able to fit four into his dmg gameboy case. The packs with the green Panasonic cells are generally quality
For starters, you'd need a higher amperage than 1A. Try getting a 2.1 or 2.4 pack instead. One cell will run your portable for maybe an hour or so if it's a conservative portable. The wii will need more than 1a at 5v.
On another note, I've bought a ton of those single cell packs and they are all unreliable. Because they're cheap, manufacturers tend to crap out on parts.
Your wii will only use the amps it needs, giving it more won't hurt it. In fact, giving it more is a good idea so it doesn't run dry on power. 5v is fine though.
I would recommend getting a larger capacity pack with a higher amperage rating. Even the smallest wii portables should have room for at least two cells. Gman was able to fit four into his dmg gameboy case. The packs with the green Panasonic cells are generally quality
If you are planning on using a battery pack, here is a high quality pack you can use. It is the one i am using in my next portable.
https://www.anker.com/products/variant/PowerCore-13000mAh/A1215011
https://www.anker.com/products/variant/PowerCore-13000mAh/A1215011
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The Wii Anatomy Guide has a bit of info but I'll explain a little more here
The U10 is nessessary for the console to boot. It checks the 3.3v line and tells the console when it is at a proper voltage level to boot. The U5 is a completely different chip, is not needed, and should be removed. The place where the removed U5 WAS is a convenient place to move the U10 to. It doesn't NEED to be placed there, but it's the easiest and cleanest way to do it. The U9 chip is the same chip as the U10, but is not needed to boot. Should you screw up your U10, the can be wired up in it's place.
The U10 is nessessary for the console to boot. It checks the 3.3v line and tells the console when it is at a proper voltage level to boot. The U5 is a completely different chip, is not needed, and should be removed. The place where the removed U5 WAS is a convenient place to move the U10 to. It doesn't NEED to be placed there, but it's the easiest and cleanest way to do it. The U9 chip is the same chip as the U10, but is not needed to boot. Should you screw up your U10, the can be wired up in it's place.
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The stock Wii board had 2 3.3v lines, a standard one, and one that was always on, even when the system was off. We call the second "always on" line the 3.3v standby line. It is used for things like powering the Bluetooth module while the console is off, so the Wii can be powered on using a remote.
The U9 serves the same function as the U10, but for the 3.3v standby line. On portables, we have no need for standby functionality, so we merge the two lines. As a result, we don't need the U9
This is something I've been wondering. How precise do the resistors need to be? What kind of range are we talking? Specifically I need the range for the Wii regulators, 1V, 1.15V, 3.3V, and 5V.Needs to be at least 0.05w (1/20w) or greater. The resistance will set the output voltage on the PTH08080s, here is a table of resistances to voltages
The datasheet recommends to use 1% resistors, but I've gotten away with 5% ones that I measured with a meter. Try to get as close as you can, erring on the side of slightly lower resistance than needed.
Also note if you don't have the exact resistors you need you can put two standard resistors in series or in parallel to get the desired resistances. For myself personally I have a resistor kit with many different standard resistors but not the exact ones needed for the regulator. Although I wouldn't use more than 2 resistors or it gets messy.
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Wiring resistors in parallel won’t change a thing. All it does is create two paths for the electrons to flow and electricity always takes the path of least resistance. But as Jeff said, resistance is additive, so for example if you have a couple of 1 Ohm resistors, you can connect them end-to-end to get 2 Ohms.
Wondering if you knew of any guides about this. I can't find any good information on how to get button inputs on a pie work with retropie, can't find anything out there for it, except for wermy's Gameboy Zero, and he uses a separate board for keyboard emulation (and is kind of expensive).
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Finding good information about PI portables is damn near impossible, so don't feel bad.
Controllers for any raspberry pi device can be accomplished in two seperate ways. First, if you don't need analog you can attach buttons directly to the PI's gpio and use an adafruit program to map the buttons to keyboard presses. Secondly you can use a Teensy microcontroller (LC is the cheapest at 12 USD but will do what you need). By using a teensy you can write custom code, use any analog stick you want, and create a controller for any device that can accept USB HID inputs. You can even make a 3ds slider into a mouse like I did. The only drawbacks are additional cost, an extra board, and the use of a USB port.
Also, if you do build a PI portable, there are plenty of DMG Gameboy build clones to look at for guidance. Most of these builds are noob friendly, but if you want something original you will have to lone it. Also, these builds don't use the best components when it comes to customization or connectivity, so some of these components might be unsuitable for a customized build.
For batteries, you can buy lipo cells, 5v charge boards and 5v 2.5 amp discharge boards all on ebay. You can use a simple switch to connect the cells to one board or the other. Just connect the output of the discharge board to the PI and the input of the charge board to your barrel roll jack.
Don't use a premade portable battery pack. These systems are often uncapable of being modified in any way. Additionally, you can do what I reccommended earlier cheaper and with more battery capacity.
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Are there any cheaper screens that aren't touch screens? Also soldering in hdmi seems like a pain in the ass, and I'm sure as hell not gonna be able to fit a whole header in there. For battery solutions, I have heard good things about these charging modules, and I was just thinking of a generic LiPo cell like this. Or possibly using the battery charger board that is commonly used on portables, this with two of those cells in series, I also saw one using a step of converter to get 5v from a single 3.7v cell (would that work well?). For a case, possibly something from small from polycase, then some frankencasing of DS lite button holes (and of course DS lite buttons). What do you think of these?
To answer your questions:
- The Pi3 and Pi Zero can both output composite video, the zero has an easy dedicated through-hole for it. So you could use a small composite screen instead of HDMI if you wanted.
- Those TP4056 boards are pretty good. They handle charge and discharge protection all in one, so they're good to start out with. Just be aware that they don't step up the battery output to 5v like the Adafruit ChargeBoost boards.
- The 500mAh battery you've linked will work, but it won't give you much playtime (about an hour I think, depending on the draw of other components).
- I don't know if the red board would work well for this application. AFAIK you'd still need a step down reg to give the Pi and screen a usable 5v. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about that.
- DS Lite, 3DS and SNES/Super Famicom buttons are commonly used for portable Pi systems. All 3 are easy enough to buy in full sets on ebay. Which to use is up to you, I like the Super Famicom buttons for their colour and size.
- Polycase is a good place to get a case from, there are a good many options for size and shape. I recommend having a look at the AG-85/AG-54 and SL68. They're pretty compact, but still have ample room for a 3.5" 4:3 screen, a Pi and a good battery.
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This is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.
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Screens:
RetroPie (I'd presume you would use it), and the Raspberry Pi in general doesn't really give a clear composite output. If you want to use a composite screen, then go for it. However, I do recommend a HDMI screen. Most of the small HDMI screens are marketed to work with the PI anyway, and they usually include a little adapter for this purpose. In short, If you buy an HDMI screen you won't have to wire HDMI by hand unless you want to.
Batteries:
This is where I think most Pi portables have their greatest weakness. Now, if you are using a PI ZERO, due to its wayy low power consumption, you could probably get away with using something as small as 1000mAh. But, if you are using a PI 2 or 3 you should definitely have 8000mah for a good 4 hour battery life. These cells can be hard to find, but HERE is an option.
Battery Boards:
Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be. Systems for the Wii, GC, and N64 are very much different than what the PI requires. With an X number of batteries in a parallel arrangement, you can use the charge boards you already found and then THIS step up board. Again, put the X parallel arrangement on a switch allowing the cells to connect to either the step up or charge boards. Connect the output of the step up to the PI and your barrel roll jack to the charge board.
Buttons:
No one else does this, but I prefer to use an off-brand Wii Classic controller for my buttons. You can get these really cheap, and they give you more buttons than any other commonly used donor. HERE is one that I bought. I wouldn't however use the analog sticks, boards, and pads that come inside these controllers, as they are usually low quality. Place some tactile switches on some perfboard and use 3ds sliders instead.
Case:
Polycases, 3d printing, and vacuum forming are all viable options as long as you know what you are doing. However, another good method is to use sheet ABS.
1. Design the size of your box. You will need to know all 3 dimensions.
2. Trace your box pattern on your sheet ABS. Cut away all that is not to become your box.
3. Score the front side of the ABS. Gently bend the sides in to form the basic box shape. Be careful, as the sides can snap completely away easily.
4. Tape the four corners together. Using super glue, glue the inside seams of the box and then the outside seams. Tape can be removed after all the inside seams have been glued.
5. Sand the outside glue edges. The effect that you want in the end is a flat plane to bride the two sides together.
6. Trace all of the holes you will need to put in your new case for your controls, components, connectors, and etc.
7. Make the holes. Start by using a drill to remove large chunks of plastic, and then use X-Acto knives to remove plastic down to the edges of your traces.
8. Frankencase in your buttons from your donor.
9. Spray paint your case.
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