Worklog Portable Wii WVI (WIP)

[thedrew]

Hey guys, been lurking for quite some time and have been a member of the Benheck and Modretro forums for quite some time. You guys do some really amazing work. I'm not a gamer, however when I was young I really enjoyed them and grew up with Nintendo consoles. My favorite being the Gamecube. I wanted to make this project for a while now and finally have gotten started. I don't want a portable because I don't game often at all (maybe 5 times a year haha) and when I do game, I don't leave the house nor care about online play, multiplayer, and all that.

I am making a portable Wii WVI (Wireless Video Interface). I haven't done any electronic work yet, just mostly casework, which is very much frankencased... Here we go!

Here is the case I'm using: https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=SRH75B-ND

Grid lines for the cuts:

ABXY and DPAD were cut from a 3ds XL and super glued in.

I cut the plastic bezel of the screen plastic because I don't have the tools/technique to make a perfectly squared screen hole. Super glued that in as well.

The first sanding layer just to see how smooth it will be and looks and feels great!

So I originally wanted to purchase a GC+ for simplicity and convenience and wanted to use the 3ds sliders.. However, I stumbled upon an issue. Wireless. The GC+ is not wireless and to be honest, would be too complicated to figure all of that out. So I decided to just buy a wireless gamecube controller and just wire it up. This project I'm keeping simple. It won't be perfect but I don't care as long as it looks decent and works fine. So I bought a Moga Hero controller because it has tiny joysticks, not sliders, and has joystick caps that come with it. Luckily I was right and it does have 10K joysticks and are the same mini joysticks you can get from Digikey.

Moga circuit board and faceplate:

These things are tiny. They are a perfect size. They joysticks also click when pressed in like a Playstation controller!

I cut the pcb with just the joysticks as that is all I need:

Cut the joystick holes as well from the faceplate and now they are currently glued in and am just waiting for the glue to dry:

This is currently where I am at. Will post an update next week when I receive the rest of the parts I am waiting for.

 

[o1230sponge]

This is an interesting project, would love to see as this progresses.

 

[DeoNaught]

Nice! are you going to use a 5in? or a 4.3in?

 

[GingerOfOz]

Looks great so far! But what do you mean by the GC+ not being wireless?

 

[thedrew]

Nice! are you going to use a 5in? or a 4.3in?

I will be using a 4.3". This is the screen to be exact: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-3-Car-TFT...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Looks great so far! But what do you mean by the GC+ not being wireless?

Thanks! I mean you have to wire up the data lines to the console. Since I want this to be completely wireless I need a wireless controller that transmits the data to the receiver that is plugged in the console rather than run through wires.

 

[MasterNate]

So, is this project basically a wii u gamepad for the wii?

 

[GingerOfOz]

Thanks! I mean you have to wire up the data lines to the console. Since I want this to be completely wireless I need a wireless controller that transmits the data to the receiver that is plugged in the console rather than run through wires.

So then are you designing some sort of receiver that connects to a GC port on the Wii? I believe that Nintendont allows you to connect most BT controllers via a USB cable to the Wii, but that won't help you with wire issues.

 

[thedrew]

So, is this project basically a wii u gamepad for the wii?

In a nutshell, yes. I never had a wii u so I'm not 100% sure how it functions but I have held the gamepad and that thing is pretty heavy/clunky in my opinion.

So then are you designing some sort of receiver that connects to a GC port on the Wii? I believe that Nintendont allows you to connect most BT controllers via a USB cable to the Wii, but that won't help you with wire issues.

I actually didn't know that haha. But what I am doing basically is just wiring up an already wireless 3rd party gamecube controller premade from Pelican I believe. I don't have the knowledge to design a transmitter or receiver for the gamecube. So just keeping a simple with one that was already created.

 

[Madmorda]

But what I am doing basically is just wiring up an already wireless 3rd party gamecube controller premade from Pelican I believe. I don't have the knowledge to design a transmitter or receiver for the gamecube. So just keeping a simple with one that was already created.

Your casework looks great I'm also a little bit confused though. If it's a wireless controller, where are you getting the video input from? If it has to plug in, then what is the point of the wireless controller? I only ask because in my experience, third party wireless gc controllers have issues.

 

[o1230sponge]

I haven't looked that far into it, but I've always heard the Wii U gamepad has it's own GPU in it. It simultaneously rendered it's own video, and receives information to be rendered over a WiFi connection to the Wii U.
Don't know how accurate it is, but I'll look into it some more and tell you what I find.

Edit: It doesn't render the video, but it does use a specialized WiFi connection to transfer the video and other information between the gamepad and the Wii U. It's built upon the Miracast WiFi technology.

 

[thedrew]

Your casework looks great I'm also a little bit confused though. If it's a wireless controller, where are you getting the video input from? If it has to plug in, then what is the point of the wireless controller? I only ask because in my experience, third party wireless gc controllers have issues.

Thank you! So I will be using a wireless controller so I don't have to have any controller wires attached to the wii. For the video, I will be using a composite AV transmitter/receiver system. Yeah I know "composite" is not that great but it will do and doesn't actually look that bad on this little screen. The controller will be 2.4GHz, so I'm using a 5.8GHz AV transmitter/receiver so there won't be any issues with interference with the controller and AV transmitter/receiver together in the same enclosure. I personally haven't had any issues with 3rd party wireless controllers, but if I do I will just get a Wavebird.

I haven't looked that far into it, but I've always heard the Wii U gamepad has it's own GPU in it. It simultaneously rendered it's own video, and receives information to be rendered over a WiFi connection to the Wii U.
Don't know how accurate it is, but I'll look into it some more and tell you what I find.

Edit: It doesn't render the video, but it does use a specialized WiFi connection to transfer the video and other information between the gamepad and the Wii U. It's built upon the Miracast WiFi technology.

Thank you for the info! I thought about using Miracast on a pc to transmit HDMI using Dolphin, but I have heard a lot of issues gaming with Miracast due to lag.

 

[cheese]

Glad to see other projects besides a portable, interested to see how it turns out!

 

[thedrew]

Glad to see other projects besides a portable, interested to see how it turns out!

Thank you!

Should have an update by tomorrow morning on the case and button placement.

 

[thedrew]

Update:

Glue dried for the joystick holes and sanded it down. Filled in little imperfections and did a full sand and everything is smooth to the touch until I sand it with finer grit to make it perfect. I haven't yet figured out where to put the speaker holes since everything is such a tight fit... Also have to figure out how to permanently secure the analog sticks to the inside as there are no screw posts... don't want to use glue... I'll mess with it and see what I come up with. The buttons have screw posts though. Any ideas?

Teaser

I want to go with a matte black paint job for this one.


Just to give you guys an idea of how small the joysticks are compared to a regular 10k joystick:

They're the size of the PS Vita sticks but feel way better.

 

[thedrew]

Update:

I realized I didn't leave room for front facing speakers...

So this is the 2nd best to front facing speakers. At least it's better than on the back of the case.

Cut 3DS XL speaker grills out:

and put em here. Just glued them in and letting them dry overnight.

Will be updating more on the electronics than the case as the case is almost done. I realized that the case is a bit unsymmetrical... I honestly didn't design the case beforehand, just kind of improvised as I went without much measuring or aligning. Oh well haha. Doesn't look too bad.

Question: Has anyone experienced the 4.3" eBay screen driver boards getting very hot? I have two 4.3" eBay screen drivers and they get so hot that I can't touch the board.The chip itself and all the capacitors are honestly so hot it concern me to maybe go with a different driver for the screen. Any answers and recommendations are much appreciated, thanks!

 

[fibbef]

Great project! I was actually going to do the exact same thing but dropped the project when I realized how small the BitBuilt guys were able to shrink the Wii board.

So, is this project basically a wii u gamepad for the wii?

I started building mine out of a Wii U shell, so yes.

 

[thedrew]

Update:

Still waiting on a couple parts but getting close to done!

Casework is nothing to write home about, but is decent and came out better than I thought to be honest...

Figured out how I want to mount the joysticks. It kind of takes up a lot of room which is a bit annoying but it works great. I cut two pieces of wood of the precise thickness I need for the joysticks to be raised enough to fit perfectly in the holes.

I then screwed in the wood blocks into the back of the case and then the joysticks I screwed in to the top of the blocks.

Also added the batteries.

I have done more but haven't taken pictures yet. I know there is not a lot of interest in this thread but I will still continue to update until the project is complete. Thanks guys!

 

[Noah]

That is some mighty fine case work. I look forward to seeing this complete!

 

[thedrew]

@Noah
Thank you! The pictures make it look better but you can see the imperfections easily in person... I have almost everything done except the controller. I've fried two of them somehow so they say third time is the charm! Will have this complete next week if I don't fry the controller again...

 

[DeoNaught]

I had an idea for your controller,
You could use a Classic pro controller and a wiimote,
because then you already have wireless, and the classic uses the wiimote, and the wiimote is easily connected through sync button, so you could use the pad on almost any wii.

Know what i mean?

How is the lcd boards coming?