Worklog MasterNate's First Wii Portable

[MasterNate]

After a couple of months of gathering information, it is time to begin my first wii portable. I have planned out almost everything and want your input to tweak some of my ideas.

Materials:
1. 1 untrimmed 6 layer Wii

2.Astar PD-3020 portable dvd player for 7" screen and speakers

3. Case will be decided by poll.

4. GC+ board for controls

5. A bunch of different tact switches to connect to GC+

6. Battery able so supply 12v.

7. PortabalizeMii

Here are some pictures of the parts I have collected so far. Pardon my bad phone camera.

Here are a couple links for a battery. Do u guys have any suggestions?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Portable-12V-...3D141728974752&_trksid=p2056116.c100408.m2460

http://m.ebay.com/itm/141728974752?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275&_mwBanner=1

http://alexnld.com/product/dc-12v-1...rTzBU8Clx2twVhE1Jo4FH0nIcTKrYMOVGcaApTq8P8HAQ

Wish me luck as I start my journey.

 

[Spencer Richardson]

After a couple of months of gathering information, it is time to begin my first wii portable. I have planned out almost everything and want your input to tweak some of my ideas.

Materials:
1. 1 untrimmed 6 layer Wii

2.Astar PD-3020 portable dvd player for 7" screen and speakers

3. Case will be decided by poll.

4. GC+ board for controls

5. A bunch of different tact switches to connect to GC+

6. Battery able so supply 12v.

7. PortabalizeMii

Here are some pictures of the parts I have collected so far. Pardon my bad phone camera.
View attachment 2582 View attachment 2583 View attachment 2584
Here are a couple links for a battery. Do u guys have any suggestions?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Portable-12V-12000mAh-Li-ion-Super-Rechargeable-Battery-Pack-with-Plug-for-CCTV-/381408453538?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20150519202348%26meid%3Dc9724b8486d343fba778b717b92f5bf0%26pid%3D100408%26rk%3D10%26rkt%3D25%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D141728974752&_trksid=p2056116.c100408.m2460

http://m.ebay.com/itm/141728974752?_trksid=p2385738.m2548.l4275&_mwBanner=1

http://alexnld.com/product/dc-12v-1...rTzBU8Clx2twVhE1Jo4FH0nIcTKrYMOVGcaApTq8P8HAQ

Wish me luck as I start my journey.

Don't use any of those batteries. they are likely garbage.

 

[MasterNate]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. I was looking at the batteries in the BOM and don't know how to get the 3.7v batteries to equal the 12v I need to boot the Wii.

 

[jefflongo]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. I was looking at the batteries in the BOM and don't know how to get the 3.7v batteries to equal the 12v I need to boot the Wii.

If you put the batteries in series you add the voltages so with 4 batteries you would get a 14.8v nominal voltage. The Wii can handle quite a bit over 12v. Just make sure you have a protection circuit designed for that.

 

[Shank]

Are you planning on trimming the wii? If not, you should consider using a 4 layer board instead, since it will use less power and run cooler. 4 layer boards aren't harder to work with when untrimmed, the only harder part is bluetooth relocation, which you won't be doing.

If you are using an untrimmed board, the best thing to do for batteries would be to get 2 of these 2 packs of panasonic cells and a 14.8v battery holder with built in protection. Yes you can find the "same cells" advertised for cheaper, but they are probably fake, and not worth the risk. Using a battery holder with built in protection means you don't have to worry about wiring up the protection circuit properly or soldering to the 18650s. Its a good balance between difficulty and expense. If you are using a trimmed board with custom regulators, use this 7.4v battery holder instead.

 

[MasterNate]

How good of battery life would that setup give me @Shank ? This is with a 6 layer board.

 

[Shank]

Depends on your other components, and if you are using stock or custom regulators, but if I had to ballpark it I would say 2.5-3 hours

 

[MasterNate]

So, I just placed my order for the batteries, case, tact switches, and joysticks. Thanks for the battery advice @Shank . I got the batteries that you recommended. Now the only thing I don't have worked out is the buttons. How do I get the squishy tact switches to stay in their place? And also, where is a good place to get buttons for my portable?

 

[Shank]

Life of Battery = Amp Hours of Battery / Amp Hours Drawn

In a series connection, voltage is added, not current or capacity. In a parallel connection, current and capacity are added, not voltage. Use these rules to determine your total capacity, and then divide by Amp Hours Drawn to derive the Life of Battery. Remember that multiple series connections can be in parallel with each other and vice versa.

I don't think he knew any of those values given that they are not well documented, and that this is his first time. I think he was just looking for a ballpark estimate. However, that information will be useful for him should he want to run measurements and get a more exact number

As for mounting the tact switches, perforated circuit board works well. As for buttons, people like to reuse buttons from gamecube controllers, DS systems, or Wii U buttons. Its completely up to you and what buttons you want your portable to have!

 

[MasterNate]

Just got my batteries in the mail. They seem like very nice quality.

 

[Shank]

@Shank If you only need singe-sided perfboard, you can get a lot more board for a lower sq cm cost on Amazon HERE.

That's only single sided, which may or may not work for his purpose. From my experience, the green ones I linked are higher quality than the brown ones, and have solder mask on them. They tin easier and the pads don't fall off as easily, from my experience. Not all brown circuit board is bad, and not all green is good, but it depends on construction quality.

 

[MasterNate]

Look what just came in the mail!! I am so excited. It is much smaller than expected.

Question for the Wii wizards out there. With the ZN series cases from polycase, the face of the case has sloped edges. What do i do with a controller around the edges of the case?

 

[cheese]

What do i do with a controller around the edges of the case?

Put the controls inside the sloped part, or cut into it, it depends on how far in it goes.

 

[MasterNate]

Does anybody have any examples of casework that they did with the ZN-45 Case from Polycase? It would be nice to see some examples that I could work off of.

 

[cheese]

First result that came up on Google for "gamecube portable zn45"

 

[MasterNate]

Thanks @cheese. I couldnt seem to find anything when i searched myself.

 

[MasterNate]

I am trying to remove my wii components like gamecube mem card slot. I have been using my heat gun but cannot seem to get the pieces off. Anybody want to give me some technique and tips?

 

[Stitches]

I am trying to remove my wii components like gamecube mem card slot. I have been using my heat gun but cannot seem to get the pieces off. Anybody want to give me some technique and tips?

Is it a heat gun like for shrink wrap and plastic work, or a proper hot air desoldering gun?

As for tips, if you're careful you could use a dremel cutting wheel to carefully chop off most of the big bits and use a small set of wire cutters to preen off the metal and plastic to get better access to the pins. Then you can grip the pins from the top and pull them out one by one as you melt the solder underneath Otherwise, maybe try some flux and a desoldering braid or solder pump.

 

[MasterNate]

Thanks @Stitches . But i actually just used old fashioned brute force and a screwdriver. It worked out well and i made sure there were no shorts and stuff. But i was looking at the audio and video points on the wii board and saw something i didnt understand. Why are there spots for 5v and 12v? It just seems like a weird spot.

By the way, for my case, i decided on the Serpac S-series x9x case. I am still deciding on the thickness. I have to configure everything first before i buy the case.

 

[Stitches]

Thanks @Stitches . But i actually just used old fashioned brute force and a screwdriver. It worked out well and i made sure there were no shorts and stuff. But i was looking at the audio and video points on the wii board and saw something i didnt understand. Why are there spots for 5v and 12v? It just seems like a weird spot.

The memory card has a 5v line for accessories. There were some specialist peripherals for certain games that plugged into the memory card slots that needed 5v. Some debugging and dev stuff too I think. As for 12v, it was used to power the onboard audio amp and sensor bar. One 12v line from the AV pins goes straight to the orange plug above the AV socket. The other 12v and 5v pins in the AV could just be Nintendo leaving room for future accessories that might need 12v to run. Being a console, they can leave stuff like that sitting there as a maybe later thing.