Worklog Jeff's First Portable :NOGC: Edition

[jefflongo]

Following the death of my GC portable, I will not let my first portable go unfinished. This portable will be designed similarly to how I wanted the GC portable to be, but with improvements such as it being a Wii and adding an additional 2 batteries. I will not be using a PowerMii for this build because I still have regulators and a charger which I would prefer not go to waste. Unfortunately I will not be submitting to the contest this year because I'd rather put out the best product I can rather than rush to enter. It's a bit of a bummer but I'll be satisfied with how this portable turns out in the end. The goal is to have a minimal compromise portable. This portable will consist of:

• ZN 40 case
• 4 18650 batteries
• 4" screen
• Composite out
• 4 internal controller ports (with a switch between internal and external p1 controls)
• Charge and play solution

Update 1 (5/27/17)

Update 2 (7/14/17)

Update 3 (7/15/17)

Update 4 (7/16/17)

Update 5 (7/19/17)

Update 6 (7/25/17)

Update 7 (8/29/17)

Update 8 (9/22/17)

Update 9 (10/3/17)

Update 10 (11/16/17)

Update 11 (12/6/17)

Update 12 (12/30/17)

Update 13 (1/3/18)

Update 14 (1/4/18)

Complete! (1/21/18)

 

[jefflongo]

Okay so here's my current progress. I installed no-wifi PM and it seemed to be working well. Tested out the bluetooth relocation towards the outskirts of the board just to see if I could do it and it worked so I feel confident for that. Went ahead and trimmed the board and I think it looks okay. Tested resistances between voltage lines and ground and there were no obvious shorts. Please feel free to point out if anything doesn't look right. Performed the U10 relocation without much hassle so I hope that works well. Next on the agenda are to build the custom regulators and wire up video to see if it works. Do I need USB wired up just to verify it working? Here's some pics of the trimmed board and U10 relocation.

 

[ShockSlayer]

Without USB, you'll get a black screen for a little bit before the no USB screen will pop up. It's fine to test, but I'd reccomend wiring up USB anyways.

 

[jefflongo]

After much troubleshooting, I could not get this first board to work. In hindsight I should have dealt with U10 and bluetooth before trimming, a mistake I have not made again. Got a new 4 layer board and hooked up U10 and bluetooth. Took a few tries to get bluetooth working properly but now both seem to be working perfectly. The board boots and functions properly with a Wiimote. Now I am ready to trim this board, with hopes that I will not encounter problems this time around. Here are some pics of the U10 relocation, bluetooth relocation, and other preparations before the trim. I will be salvaging the controller ports, video connector, USB ports, and power connector because those are always nice to have. Hopefully I can get to trimming tomorrow!



I also have my 4 regulators ready to go after the trim is complete. Tested output voltages and they all look good.



As for the case plan, this is my current layout idea.

 

[jefflongo]

Okay I got around to trimming the Wii today. I think it turned out pretty good. Hopefully this works this time around, I'm going to hook up the regulators/screen and give it a test tomorrow. Feel free to point out if anything looks questionable!

 

[jefflongo]

So, funny story. Before I wired up my Wii, I decided to use the extra U9 from the second board to try replacing the current U10 on the old non-functioning board. I was planning on trying this with the U9 from the first board but I sadly misplaced it. Turns out replacing the U10 IC worked! I then wired up the second board to verify if it was also working and I had success there as well. So now I have two fully functional trimmed 4 layer boards. It's always nice to have an extra. I will continue working on this second board and next on the to do list is clean up the wiring/hook up USB. Then it'll be time to start thinking about the internals design. Glad this worked out!

 

[jefflongo]

Okay so I've been putting in a lot of work on this. Wired up USB first and foremost and that went pretty easily. Not much to say there. Made sure to twist the wires to prevent interference, and because of the location they are going to be in the case, I got to keep the wires pretty short.



Next I trimmed my controller ports. I chose to use gamecube controller ports because the pins are on the back as opposed to underneath. I just did a slight trim on the top which only required me to add a 5v wire to one point. This is great because all of the 5v, 3.3v, and ground connections are internally connected which makes the wiring a lot cleaner.



I did run into some issues where the Wii would boot to priiloader only or the screen would be white with flashing black stripes everywhere. This was definitely concerning, and it took a lot of troubleshooting to fix this. I had a reset wire, but it was disconnected. But it turns out removing that wire fixed my issues. Now we're booting into PM!



I now need to get the case design finalized that @Shank is going to laser cut for me. The Wii is going to be facing upside down in the case where a fan on the bottom will intake and exhaust out the side panel of the case. Hoping to make more progress soon!

 

[jefflongo]

Been a bit since an update but here goes.

I rewired the GC controller ports with the 34g magnet wire found in the BOM as opposed to my current 32g magnet wire. This made things a lot easier as the wire actually fit in the vias this time and I feel it will be a much more stable connection. Also went ahead and put the P1 internal/external controls switch that I forgot to wire up.

Currently I spent some time working on the video signal. I cut off the sensor bar plug from the AV connector to salvage it. Replaced the test video line wire I used with the shielded wire from the wifi antennas. Added a DPDT switch to switch between the internal (screen) video and the external AV connector. The other portion of the switch provides and cuts power to the screen (and later audio amp).

Here's some pics of the progress (excuse the mess of wires, I promise it'll be cleaned up once it's in the case).



I have spent some time working on the case design too. I (with help from @Shank) designed the cutouts for the side portions of the case. These will be where all the I/O will be on the case.

Bottom panel (from left to right): L, USB, exhaust, Z, R


Top panel (from left to right): AV out, controller ports, charging port, wall power port


The face of the case will remain about the same as my old design although I will probably rearrange the switch locations and I haven't decided whether or not I will use gamecube sticks or 3ds sliders (may have to go with sliders due to the height of the sticks and the batteries being underneath them) but I'm trying to make it work with the stock sticks.


I still need to finish the bottom face of the case design but that will be very easy, just a spot for the fan and possibly the IR led locations. Still making progress!

 

[jefflongo]

So it's been over a month since the last update, but I promise I'm still working on this.

First things first, realized I had the board oriented the wrong way for my thermal solution, so I had to rotate the board 180 degrees which meant rewiring everything (I had already shortened all of my wires). Not sure how I didn't notice that but it wasn't that huge of a deal.



I also wired up my reset switch which I was having issues with (the Wii would boot to priiloader every time as if the reset switch was shorted to ground) but adding a 10k pull-up resistor seems to have fixed that.


I also got to work on the battery circuitry. Wired up my 2s2p pack after charging both sets of cells up fully and got the wire lengths adjusted to fit properly in the case. I got a generic barrel jack to replace the one that came with the charger due to its excessive length and everything is looking good.



The reason it's been so long since this update is because of plans with the case. Originally, @Shank was going to laser cut the case but because his lab banned laser cutting ABS, we are searching for a work around, with CNC being the likely choice. I drew up the completed case design as a vector so it should be ready to be attempted soon. Hoping that turns out well, and if that is the case I'll release the files for the design.



Once the case is ready, I should be ready to make quick progress. Still on the to do list is the cooling setup (which I have plans for), audio amp/speakers, IR LEDs, internal controls, and of course mounting everything. I have all the parts ready to go so I'm excited to get a move on. Just want to give @Shank a huge shout out for all the help and effort on his end. I think this is going to turn out very clean when we're done!

 

[Gman]

I might be mistaken but it appears you have a 7.4v battery configuration and you are soldering the mains to the 5v input spot on the screen?

 

[jefflongo]

I might be mistaken but it appears you have a 7.4v battery configuration and you are soldering the mains to the 5v input spot on the screen?

It's hard to tell in the picture but I have a DPDT switch which switches video input between the internal and external connector while simultaneously providing/cutting 5v to the screen.

The mains power is going to a separate switch for powering the system on.

 

[Gman]

It's hard to tell in the picture but I have a DPDT switch which switches video input between the internal and external connector while simultaneously providing/cutting 5v to the screen.

The mains power is going to a separate switch for powering the system on.

If you are going to power it from 5v, you should remove the inductor from the 5v regulator on the screen. It may be working now, but I've had a long term problem that the screen will eventually short out and not work until that inductor is removed.

 

[jefflongo]

If you are going to power it from 5v, you should remove the inductor from the 5v regulator on the screen. It may be working now, but I've had a long term problem that the screen will eventually short out and not work until that inductor is removed.

To clarify, you mean this inductor, correct?

 

[Gman]

To clarify, you mean this inductor, correct?
View attachment 4025

I believe that's right

 

[jefflongo]

Alright it's been a long time coming but here's my update. I'm making some big changes with regards to the design of this portable. I decided to scratch the ZN 40 case since it's been more effort than it's worth and I have delved into the realm of CAD. Because of this change, I can afford to use a bigger screen for my portable so I am swapping to a 5" 4:3 display (shoutouts to @Gman !). I spent the last two weeks learning the basics of Fusion 360 and have modeled every component going into my case. While I'm waiting on the screen, I've begun work on the bottom half of the case. After quite a bit of time, I finally finished my first revision and I think it turned out pretty good. The dimensions of the bottom half are 215x135x28mm. The top half won't be as tall because I just wanted all the ports on one side of the case. Please leave me some feedback on my design!

 

[Spencer Richardson]

Your case is money. It's so clean. I've been learning fusion 360 as well and making my case in it. I've REALLY loved it!!

 

[Bakuku]

Looking good!

 

[Davuld86]

Everything in this case is laid out nicely, you can tell that there was a lot of planning done. Looks really clean!

 

[DeoNaught]

You'r case is amazing, I love how you planned everything out.

 

[cheese]

That spinning gif tho :O
You may have an issue getting the power port in there, even though it fits, gotta leave enough room to slide it in.