Worklog PriiMiium

[thedrew]

Portables are hard work, expensive, and time consuming. So I thought, "Do I really want to put myself through this again and make another portable?"

The answer is yes.

Features:

- 5" IPS 800x480 LCD via Aurelio's Direct Drive
- Wii PMSv2
- GC+2.0 and U-Amp integrated on custom controller boards
- Maybe SLA Printed Buttons
- 25mm thickness or less
- 3.7v 8000mah Lipos
- Bluetooth audio instead of headphone jack

 

[Shank]

I like it. Those handles look like hips/thighs. Maybe the name could have something to do with that, say, Thunder Thighs?

 

[thedrew]

I think you're onto something Shank. Whiite Thiighs has a nice ring to it! Or maybe Wii and Hips together, Whiips! These names are literally making me lol haha

 

[thedrew]

This project is not dead, just takes me a long time for updates with no motivation haha.

So...

Direct Drive was released, so I snagged one while they were hot and before they sold out quick. There's my motivation, thank you @Aurelio !

Not much of an update but decided to start working on the bottom half. I curved the bottom handles more since the others in the previous picture were a bit pointy. With my goal in mind of having this just 25mm thick or less, I bought some Lipos that were supposed to be 12mm thick, but are actually 11mm thick. Score! They are 4000mah 3.7v cells, and they both tested over 4000mah with my battery drain tester, so it's nice that they are actually genuine.

Quick and dirty shot of the current progress:

Played around with some vita sticks which was the original idea, however they look too small on this portable and I think I prefer the switch ones.

Still waiting on parts, but so far the bottom half it 12.5 mm thick and everything is flush except the motherboard will be sticking out about 3mm-5mm above the edge. Still gives me plenty of room to fit everything in the top half and easily have this 25mm or less.

 

[thedrew]

Relocated the nand and trimmed this sucker. AVE was also chopped off, so had to wire the direct drive to make sure it still works.

That's all for now thanks.

 

[Aurelio]

Months later and still have no name for this portable...

Anyway, relocated the nand and trimmed this sucker. AVE was also chopped off, so had to wire the direct drive to make sure it still works.

View attachment 16820

That's all for now however I plan to have more updates very soon.

Nice trim! Just in case you're wondering, those "errors" are caused by BBLoader trying to force VGA, but not finding the AVE. Nothing to be worried about. Also you should twist the 54MHz line (which can also be grabbed from TP232 (if your trim doesn't remove that) with GND to avoid glitches

 

[thedrew]

Nice trim! Just in case you're wondering, those "errors" are caused by BBLoader trying to force VGA, but not finding the AVE. Nothing to be worried about. Also you should twist the 54MHz line (which can also be grabbed from TP232 (if your trim doesn't remove that) with GND to avoid glitches

Thank you! Yeah I had a feeling the error wasn't a big deal since usb is not wired and I was getting video without the AVE. But that's good to know! I'll twist the 54MHz with GND just in case. Glad you let me know because otherwise I wouldn't have done that haha. Luckily I still have TP232

 

[thedrew]

Been working consistently on this lately and have a pretty decent update now.

Finally have a name for it lol

The case is mostly done, just have some minor tweaks here and there.

I changed the button layout to a more Gamecube style instead of the ds style.

I have finished the most daunting task in my opinion, and that's the button boards, (my first time btw). This is my least favorite part of the build process...

The ABXY board has an integrated GC+2.0 and will be using an LRA motor from an old iPhone 6+. I've tested many motors and my favorites were wiimote motors but didn't have enough space to fit two (one on each side) and having just one was too weak of a vibration in my opinion. However I can use just one LRA motor since it is a more powerful vibration and the 6+ motor feels the best of the LRA motors I've tested. The Z button is also built in on the edge of the board and will be using this tact: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/panasonic-electronic-components/EVQ-P40B3M/3182241

The pics below are for the DPAD board that has an integrated LM49450 and will be used with WiiHUD so I can eliminate volume buttons and control it via button combos instead. I'm using ffc connectors for cleaner internals and less wiring between the boards.

Speaking of audio, I have been messing with the idea to forgo the headphone jack and use bluetooth instead.
I was testing this module here

It has an AUX in which I was under the impression is analog L/R/GND, but to my surprise it actually transmits the audio from the headphone jack of the U-AMP I was testing wired via i2s, which means this module is not transmitting the audio source but the speaker output source it seems. So I have ordered a newer version of this board with an updated chip and an smd crystal rather than this bulky one on this board. It is this one in particular: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002007618195.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.5a0f4c4dGbpLje

The latency is rather low so very low lag which makes for awesome game sessions via bluetooth. Goodbye headphone jack.

I plan on wiring a switch between headphone sense and ground on the LM49450 so I can switch between loudspeakers and bluetooth easily while cutting off the audio of the internal speakers in headphone/bluetooth mode.

I have also created an acoustic chamber for the speakers to allow for more depth of sound. I designed it to protrude in a way that holds down the LCD as well. I'll have to show you guys that later, have further testing to do on that but here it is.

Next I removed the USB port from the PDV2 board as it wouldn't fit in the case and wired an sd2usb adapter underneath.
This is the adapter I used: https://electron-shepherd.com/microsd-to-usb-converter/
I also replaced the power button with one of the same footprint but a shorter profile to also fit better in the case. Here is the switch that I used: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/apem-inc/MJTP1117/1795496

For the heatsink, I'm using the usual 35mm fan and copper plate combo with 2 tweaks. I bought a copper plate from the BB store back in the day, but felt very light and bent easily. So I ordered a copper plate from eBay and cut it down to size and feels higher quality in my opinion. I then welded on a copper heatsink with solder paste for the best thermal conductivity. This system should stay pretty cool to the touch. I think this exact solution should become, if not already, the wii portable standard heatsink setup.

More to come in the next month or so. Just need to design 3 more simple boards and send everything off to the fab!

 

[Moon-sar]

Really great project, i love your case design, the microsd to USB mount looks very clean.

 

[thedrew]

Received my boards today and populated them to realize I read the schematic of the ffc connector wrong that connects the two controller boards together, so now the ffc cable plugs in from the opposite direction lol. No big deal, I will replace the ffc with a different one that will work with this layout anyway. I may just leave it but it because it still works, but doesn't look as clean.

I'm using different dual tact buttons than the usual. I personally didn't like how the ones felt from the BB store back in the day, so I'm trying these out from digikey. They seem to have a more distinct click between the first and second press, but have yet to test them in a case so will update you guys later on that.

 

[DeadTreeCarcasses]

Been working consistently on this lately and have a pretty decent update now.

Finally have a name for it lol

The case is mostly done, just have some minor tweaks here and there.

I changed the button layout to a more Gamecube style instead of the ds style.

View attachment 18206
View attachment 18207
View attachment 18208
View attachment 18209

I have finished the most daunting task in my opinion, and that's the button boards, (my first time btw). This is my least favorite part of the build process...

The ABXY board has an integrated GC+2.0 and will be using an LRA motor from an old iPhone 6+. I've tested many motors and my favorites were wiimote motors but didn't have enough space to fit two (one on each side) and having just one was too weak of a vibration in my opinion. However I can use just one LRA motor since it is a more powerful vibration and the 6+ motor feels the best of the LRA motors I've tested. The Z button is also built in on the edge of the board and will be using this tact: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/panasonic-electronic-components/EVQ-P40B3M/3182241
View attachment 18212
View attachment 18213

The pics below are for the DPAD board that has an integrated LM49450 and will be used with WiiHUD so I can eliminate volume buttons and control it via button combos instead. I'm using ffc connectors for cleaner internals and less wiring between the boards.

View attachment 18210
View attachment 18211


Speaking of audio, I have been messing with the idea to forgo the headphone jack and use bluetooth instead.
I was testing this module here
View attachment 18214

It has an AUX in which I was under the impression is analog L/R/GND, but to my surprise it actually transmits the audio from the headphone jack of the U-AMP I was testing wired via i2s, which means this module is not transmitting the audio source but the speaker output source it seems. So I have ordered a newer version of this board with an updated chip and an smd crystal rather than this bulky one on this board. It is this one in particular: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002007618195.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.5a0f4c4dGbpLje

The latency is rather low so very low lag which makes for awesome game sessions via bluetooth. Goodbye headphone jack.

I plan on wiring a switch between headphone sense and ground on the LM49450 so I can switch between loudspeakers and bluetooth easily while cutting off the audio of the internal speakers in headphone/bluetooth mode.

I have also created an acoustic chamber for the speakers to allow for more depth of sound. I designed it to protrude in a way that holds down the LCD as well. I'll have to show you guys that later, have further testing to do on that but here it is.
View attachment 18215

Next I removed the USB port from the PDV2 board as it wouldn't fit in the case and wired an sd2usb adapter underneath.
This is the adapter I used: https://electron-shepherd.com/microsd-to-usb-converter/
I also replaced the power button with one of the same footprint but a shorter profile to also fit better in the case. Here is the switch that I used: https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/apem-inc/MJTP1117/1795496
View attachment 18216
View attachment 18217

For the heatsink, I'm using the usual 35mm fan and copper plate combo with 2 tweaks. I bought a copper plate from the BB store back in the day, but felt very light and bent easily. So I ordered a copper plate from eBay and cut it down to size and feels higher quality in my opinion. I then welded on a copper heatsink with solder paste for the best thermal conductivity. This system should stay pretty cool to the touch. I think this exact solution should become, if not already, the wii portable standard heatsink setup.
View attachment 18218

More to come in the next month or so. Just need to design 3 more simple boards and send everything off to the fab!

hey, curious what thickness of plate you ended up going with? Might steal you idea of welding the plate to the heatsink, if not just super polishing both sides to get them dang flat.

 

[thedrew]

hey, curious what thickness of plate you ended up going with? Might steal you idea of welding the plate to the heatsink, if not just super polishing both sides to get them dang flat.

It is a 1mm copper plate I bought off eBay a while back and just cut it to size.

It was something like this but wasn't exactly this one since I bought it a couple years ago.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/303675452175?hash=item46b477ab0f:g:jqgAAOSwHxVW7QSB&LH_BIN=1

 

[DeadTreeCarcasses]

It is a 1mm copper plate I bought off eBay a while back and just cut it to size.

It was something like this but wasn't exactly this one since I bought it a couple years ago.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/303675452175?hash=item46b477ab0f:g:jqgAAOSwHxVW7QSB&LH_BIN=1

I actually found this https://www.techingredients.com/product-page/thermal-epoxy after watching their epoxy series on youtube. I think I'll end up lapping the bottom of my 30x7mm fan, heatsink, copper plate and just thermal epoxy them together rather than mess around with a torch and Al to Copper solder paste!

 

[Stitches]

I actually found this https://www.techingredients.com/product-page/thermal-epoxy after watching their epoxy series on youtube. I think I'll end up lapping the bottom of my 30x7mm fan, heatsink, copper plate and just thermal epoxy them together rather than mess around with a torch and Al to Copper solder paste!

Can confirm thermal epoxy route is much easier

 

[thedrew]

Almost ready for final print with Shapeways

I'm using their nylon powder printing service. Anybody have any experience with nylon for a portable?

 

[StonedEdge]

Personally it wasn’t that great for the money I paid when I got the G-Wii done, was way too expensive for the quality. I didn’t like the texture very much, but it was super easy to post process compared to a 3D print.

 

[thedrew]

I’ve decided to first build a prototype to make sure all the fitment and functionality is there. Maybe will be the final version if looks good enough haha.

Thanks to the 4layertech team for those cascaded edges, as I was able to wire all the power lines from the under side of the board for tidy power wires.

Back half is complete.

These shoulder button SMD dual tacts are awesome. The problem I was having with the usual ones that were sold on the Bitbuilt store was the force of the dual clicks were too close to each other to where I would end up pressing both down instead of just the first click. The tacts I’m using now have a very distinguished first click and second. The force is farther apart and more comfortable.

 

[Benge]

Very clean portable with a lot of nice idea, can't wait to see it fully assembled.
Nice to see a Bluetooth compatible portable Wii

I definitely need to test this !

 

[thedrew]

Prototype 99% done

Honestly, building a rough draft prototype is double the effort since you then need to transfer all the internals to the final product, but it’s super helpful to see all the flaws when put together.

 

[JustinTime007]

I think you're onto something Shank. Whiite Thiighs has a nice ring to it! Or maybe Wii and Hips together, Whiips! These names are literally making me lol haha

I was sitting in class when i read Whiite Thiighs and had to try so hard not to laugh and draw attention to the fact i wasn't paying attention it's still killing me haha you're killing it man