Worklog Nintendo Wii Classic Edition

[Lemoncake]

Yep. The OM6…

Thank you so much, Stitches. One more clarification: for all these voltages that need to be supplied here, do I just take them straight from the pads on the PSU Plus or do I first wire the PSU Plus voltages to all their spots on the mother board and then steal the voltages from the mono itself? (Also, there is no 12v pad on the PSU. Where do I take it from?)

 

[Stitches]

Thank you so much, Stitches. One more clarification: for all these voltages that need to be supplied here, do I just take them straight from the pads on the PSU Plus or do I first wire the PSU Plus voltages to all their spots on the mother board and then steal the voltages from the mono itself? (Also, there is no 12v pad on the PSU. Where do I take it from?)

That's up to personal preference. I find it more convenient to run supply wires from the regs to the Wii, and then use the Wii as a distribution board to run the other components.

If you're using 12v input from your USB-C supply, you can just run a wire from VIN on the PSU to the 12v line on the Wii

 

[Lemoncake]

Okay, so the PSU Plus has been wired up (mostly without issue*)! I feel pretty good about all of the connections, but just to be safe (because I’ve heard all sorts of horror stories about shot Wiis from minor wiring mistakes), is anyone willing to quickly “check my work” on this one? I colored coded all the wires by voltage, and just an FYI, I only connected one GND wire (does that matter)? Here are the photos:

*I accidentally removed a tiny component here. Is this going to be a major issue and if so, how should I go about fixing it?

 

[Stitches]

Okay, so the PSU Plus has been wired up (mostly without issue*)! I feel pretty good about all of the connections, but just to be safe (because I’ve heard all sorts of horror stories about shot Wiis from minor wiring mistakes), is anyone willing to quickly “check my work” on this one? I colored coded all the wires by voltage, and just an FYI, I only connected one GND wire (does that matter)? Here are the photos:
View attachment 30465View attachment 30466View attachment 30468View attachment 30469View attachment 30470View attachment 30471View attachment 30472View attachment 30473
*I accidentally removed a tiny component here. Is this going to be a major issue and if so, how should I go about fixing it?
View attachment 30475

Few things:

• That green wire that you've run from the USB 5v pins to C110 doesn't serve much purpose. C110 is directly connected to the 5v pin on the AV port, so only one of those green wires needs to exist.
• You can remove the 1.8v supply wire from the PSU if you're leaving the LDO on the Wii. Unlike the PMS-Lite, the PSU doesn't need a 1.8v reference connection.
• You need to short the jumper on the PSU by the 5v regulator to enable 5v output.
• Always use a second ground wire. It keeps the bad luck fairies away.
• All that burnt flux residue needs to be cleaned off to prevent transient shorts.
• C294 is a 100nf capacitor that belongs to the RAM, and is probably required for reliable operation. It can be replaced by transplanting any other 100nf capacitor from the trimmed off bit of the Wii, or another dead Wii. You can consult the capacitor tab of Shank's Wii Super Thread to find a suitable donor.

Decent job all around

 

[Lemoncake]

• You can remove the 1.8v supply wire from the PSU if you're leaving the LDO on the Wii. Unlike the PMS-Lite, the PSU doesn't need a 1.8v reference connection.
• You need to short the jumper on the PSU by the 5v regulator to enable 5v output.

Decent job all around

Got it.Thanks so much for the input! How do I short the jumper? Do I just bridge the two unmarked pads opposite the regulators? Also, are there any downsides to keeping the LDO?

 

[Stitches]

Got it.Thanks so much for the input! How do I short the jumper? Do I just bridge the two unmarked pads opposite the regulators? Also, are there any downsides to keeping the LDO?

Yeah you just put a blob over the pads to allow VIN to flow to that regulator. The LDO is less efficient and so will use more power, but that's moreso a concern for battery powered systems. For wall powered systems leaving or removing the LDO makes no difference.

 

[Lemoncake]

Yeah you just put a blob over the pads to allow VIN to flow to that regulator. The LDO is less efficient and so will use more power, but that's moreso a concern for battery powered systems. For wall powered systems leaving or removing the LDO makes no difference.

Sorry, I should've asked this earlier, but do I bridge the pads near the top or the middle of the PSU Plus? Also, when testing, can I just attach the alligator clips from the power supply (set to 12v 1.5ish amps) straight to the vin and GND pads on the bottom of the PSU Plus?

 

[Stitches]

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Sorry, I should've asked this earlier, but do I bridge the pads near the top or the middle of the PSU Plus? Also, when testing, can I just attach the alligator clips from the power supply (set to 12v 1.5ish amps) straight to the vin and GND pads on the bottom of the PSU Plus?

5v is the top one, 1.8v is the middle one. The jumpers serve as a switch to supply power to the respective regulator, so whichever regulator is right next to the jumper is the one that it controls.
Don't use clips on the PCB pads directly, there won't be enough surface contact by the teeth of the clips against the flat plane. What you can do, though, is solder a short wire to each pad, and then grab the other end of the wire with the clips. That would allow for sufficient surface contact as the strands of the wire will shift to fit the teeth.

 

[Lemoncake]

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5v is the top one, 1.8v is the middle one. The jumpers serve as a switch to supply power to the respective regulator, so whichever regulator is right next to the jumper is the one that it controls.
Don't use clips on the PCB pads directly, there won't be enough surface contact by the teeth of the clips against the flat plane. What you can do, though, is solder a short wire to each pad, and then grab the other end of the wire with the clips. That would allow for sufficient surface contact as the strands of the wire will shift to fit the teeth.

Great! I can just clip it straight to the wire without needing a power switch or anything? By the way, I’m using this Kungsberg power supply. Do I attach the clips to positive and negative or positive and ground? Also, can I adjust the current/voltage while it is connected to the Wii or should I do it before?

 

[Stitches]

Positive and negative, and set the voltage before connecting the Wii. Connect the negative clip first, and the positive one second.

 

[Lemoncake]

Positive and negative, and set the voltage before connecting the Wii. Connect the negative clip first, and the positive one second.

Then, after it’s connected to the Wii, set the amperage? And if I’m remembering correctly, it’s 12v and 1.5 amps, isn’t it? I’m assuming it should be on constant voltage, not constant current. Sorry for being so obnoxious with all these questions. I just want to make absolute sure I’m doing everything right.

 

[Stitches]

Then, after it’s connected to the Wii, set the amperage? And if I’m remembering correctly, it’s 12v and 1.5 amps, isn’t it? I’m assuming it should be on constant voltage, not constant current. Sorry for being so obnoxious with all these questions. I just want to make absolute sure I’m doing everything right.

Constant voltage, yes. If you force the full current you might burn the Wii out. I don't think you need to set the amperage if you're on contstant voltage mode tho. The amp meter should just tell you how much current is being drawn

 

[Lemoncake]

Okay, first test has been made. I hooked it up to the power supply and the monitor, but no video on the screen (all I got was the standard “no signal” icon). However, power appears to have been circulating through it normally, as the CPU and GPU began getting warm and the amperage fluctuated around a common number (it was about 0.3). A strange issue was that the Wii’s fan would not turn on despite being plugged in. Any suggestions?

 

[CrazyGadget]

You should be looking at about 0.8A / 9.6W @ 12V. Looking back at your previous post, it looks like you haven't relocated the U10, so the Wii will not boot.

 

[Lemoncake]

You should be looking at about 0.8A / 9.6W @ 12V. Looking back at your previous post, it looks like you haven't relocated the U10, so the Wii will not boot.

I actually wondered about relocating U10 earlier in the project, but since I’m an idiot I completely forgot to confirm that with you all. THANK THE LORD that I saved one of the U10 chips when trimming my MX chip or I would be in some hot water right now. I read on the 6 layer trimming guide that the relocation is the same for all revisions of Wii, so I’ll get on that as soon as possible.

 

[Lemoncake]

I actually wondered about relocating U10 earlier in the project, but since I’m an idiot I completely forgot to confirm that with you all. THANK THE LORD that I saved one of the U10 chips when trimming my MX chip or I would be in some hot water right now. I read on the 6 layer trimming guide that the relocation is the same for all revisions of Wii, so I’ll get on that as soon as possible.

Actually, hold up. I’m not sure if the chip I have is U9 or U10. Can I solder it in and test it or will that risk destroying the Wii if It happens to be U9? Also, I doubt this, but is there any chance I can remove U10 off a working Wii and not damage anything? That is, will the untrimmed Wii still work without U10?

 

[CrazyGadget]

U9 and U10 are the same part. For seeing what combination of U9 / U10 the Wii will work without, check out the U10 Troubleshooting Guide.

 

[Lemoncake]

U9 and U10 are the same part. For seeing what combination of U9 / U10 the Wii will work without, check out the U10 Troubleshooting Guide.

So I can use U9 on my trim instead of U10 since they are the same component? (That would be really nice because I don’t want to take apart my personal Wii :/ )

 

[CrazyGadget]

 

[Lemoncake]

Sorry to bother you all one last time, but I’m getting conflicting info here. The Trimming Guide mentions cutting the trace on the pad where you solder the U10, but when I reread the guide on the Manual’s page, it said nothing about that. If I do in fact have to do that, do I just take an exacto knife and slice into the motherboard along that spot?