Nintendo TWiiLite(Spencer's WiiP)

[Spencer Richardson]

Hey guys!! I've been working on another Wii portable and thought I better get a work log started.
Im really hoping to finish this one in time for the contest!

I'm planning on:

-A 3d printed case

-ds lite face buttons, 3ds sliders, duel tact 3d printed shoulder buttons. And GC+ of course!!!

-5" 16:9 vga 800x480 screen(I'll be using composite until a vga solution is available)

-OMGWTF trim with Bluetooth relocated(no wifi or mx chip)

-a jackery 10050mah 5v portable charger with 2 2.4amp outputs. I did a lot of research on this because I used a low quality battery pack with shiz cells inside, which made my portable pretty darn hefty and only about 1600mah per cell. Theres 8 cells in there... haha sooo this battery pack is much better. It's using 3 Sanyo(owned by Panasonic I believe) 3350mah cells and the pass through charging works like a charm. I tested the battery pack and it powered my first portable for about 3.5 hours so they're good cells. I'm very happy with it!

-super duper audio amp by @JacksonS

-35x35x7mm heatsink fan accompanied by some copper and thin heatsinks(I haven't done too much testing yet, but it pushes a good amount of air so I think it should work really well. It's also really quiet which is nice).

-stock Wii video port so I can use component out

-built in IR LEDs

-and this may be a weird idea, but when I thought of it, I was stoked out of my mind(I had this epiphany at like 3am when I was tossing and turning thinking about/planning my portable while half asleep. Haha I can't be the only one that happens to!).....so, I'm going to add a camera accessory screw mount to the bottom of my case and then use one of those flexible, rubber grippy tripods as a stand for my portable! I bought a really heavy duty one for larger cameras so I should literally be able to mount my portable ANYWHERE. Like trees, the back of a chair, or just set up as a tripod. I'm so excited about it honestly. Haha that's where I got the stupid name from. I'm painting it gray and black, so when the tripod accessory is on it will resemble a squid. Haha kinda dumb maybe but I like it.

I have most of the parts, but there are a few I'm still waiting for. I'll keep you updated on my progress!

 

[Spencer Richardson]

Here's what my case is looking like so far. I still have ALOT of work to do on it. This is my 1st time working with 3d design so it took me forever to get it this far. Haha

 

[Spencer Richardson]

It's not too pretty, but the reg setup is done.

 

[Shank]

This is my 1st time working with 3d design so it took me forever to get it this far.

When you are designing for 3D printing, be sure to consider how the printer actually makes it. It needs a something below it for the printer to apply plastic, be it the print bed or another 3d printed layer. I mention this because the indentions for your 3ds sliders look like they don't, assuming you plan to print it face down, which means they probably won't come out very well.

 

[Spencer Richardson]

When you are designing for 3D printing, be sure to consider how the printer actually makes it. It needs a something below it for the printer to apply plastic, be it the print bed or another 3d printed layer. I mention this because the indentions for your 3ds sliders look like they don't, assuming you plan to print it face down, which means they probably won't come out very well.

Oh yeah I guess that's probably not going to work out too well... thanks man!

-merge posts-

So I've used electrical tape to create a little tunnel type thing for my cooling system. I plan on doing the same for the intake, so the air comes right in and then straight out of my portable. It makes sense in my head that this would be effective, but I don't know too much about thermodynamics. So is this something I should do? Probably a stupid question but I just want to be sure.

 

[Matthew]

So I've used electrical tape to create a little tunnel type thing for my cooling system. I plan on doing the same for the intake, so the air comes right in and then straight out of my portable. It makes sense in my head that this would be effective, but I don't know too much about thermodynamics. So is this something I should do? Probably a stupid question but I just want to be sure.
View attachment 2463
View attachment 2462

While electrical tape may work, kapton tape would be better. It can resist high temperatures and is fairly cheap. Just something to consider

 

[Spencer Richardson]

While electrical tape may work, kapton tape would be better. It can resist high temperatures and is fairly cheap. Just something to consider

Such a cash money reply!!! Thanks man. I'll most definitely get some!

 

[Spencer Richardson]

So I got around to trimming my wii. I've sanded the heck out of this thing but I'm still getting a short on the 1.15v line and possibly on the 1v line as well. I'm getting about 30 ohms resistance on my 1.15v line and about 150 ohms on my 1v line. I just keep sanding this thing and can't kill the short. I'm using a 4 layer board and have sanded up to 600 grit. I'm not really sure what to do. I'm posting some pictures, one of them being of the side view of my wii. Do I need to sand until the copper vias lines are gone? They're not really near the 1.15 volt line so I don't know.

 

[cheese]

I just keep sanding this thing and can't kill the short

no short

 

[Spencer Richardson]

no short

No short??

 

[GingerOfOz]

30 ohms is normal on a 1.15v line, so you don't have a short there . The same thing happened to me too.

 

[Spencer Richardson]

30 ohms is normal on a 1.15v line, so you don't have a short there . The same thing happened to me too.

Well I'm an idiot... if you all had seen me going HAM sanding this thing, you'd be busting up in sure. Well thanks!!! I'll get it all hooked up and see if she boots!

 

[The Next Guy]

Quick question for you, what resistance do you get for the 3.3v line?

 

[Spencer Richardson]

Quick question for you, what resistance do you get for the 3.3v line?

598

Edit: so I've hooked up the refs and composite and it's not booting. I'm getting really low voltage drops on all 3 lines.. what could that mean?
3.3 drops to 1.92
1.15 drops to 0.18
1 drops to 0.25

Thats not good

Edit: I probably just need more ground and I'll check the ground connection I have now and see how that goes.

 

[Spencer Richardson]

Soooooo the problem wasn't that I didn't have enough ground, it's that I had no ground... I checked for continuity between all my wires and my ground from my regs to Wii had no continuity. So that was annoying. But I'm glad I found it sooner than later. So once I fixed that, my wii booted! now that that's all figured out, I can get the ball rolling!

Also, my screen came in the mail today and I'm very pleased with it. It looks crisp, runs on 5v, and is pretty darn thin!

 

[Stitches]

Soooooo the problem wasn't that I didn't have enough ground, it's that I had no ground... I checked for continuity between all my wires and my ground from my regs to Wii had no continuity. So that was annoying. But I'm glad I found it sooner than later. So once I fixed that, my wii booted! now that that's all figured out, I can get the ball rolling!

Also, my screen came in the mail today and I'm very pleased with it. It looks crisp, runs on 5v, and is pretty darn thin!
View attachment 2528

That board looks familiar.....

 

[Spencer Richardson]

That board looks familiar.....

Do you have the same one?

 

[Madmorda]

That board looks familiar.....

Do you have the same one?

I don't want to talk about it lol

 

[Spencer Richardson]

Ahhh I got this one on eBay from buy display... it doesn't advertise component like yours. You're talking about the wayengineer one right? What Exactly was wrong with it again?

 

[Stitches]

Ahhh I got this one on eBay from buy display... it doesn't advertise component like yours. You're talking about the wayengineer one right? What Exactly was wrong with it again?

The primary issue we had was that IT DOESN'T WORK. It refuses to accept component in. VGA doesn't work either, so our boards are basically just overpriced composite drivers.