Question Wii portable in a WiiU gamepad

[Leseratte]

I recently discovered this forum and I find it really fascinating how small the Wii mainboard can be cut and still work, and how many features people manage to cram into their Wii portables.

Most of the portable builds include making a custom case for the build - but would it theoretically be possible, or has someone even tried, to use a WiiU Gamepad as a case for a Wii portable? Can the screen be used by the Wii with some driver board or would it be necessary to rip it out and put a standard Composite screen in the gamepad?

Is there actually enough space in the Gamepad to fit a cutted Wii, some battery, and the included screen and buttons and such?
If not, could one 3D-print an extender of some kind that could be placed in between the glossy and non-glossy parts of the Gamepad to extend its height a bit to allow for some more room?

I think such a portable would look really awesome, even if one needed to 3d-print a black riser to increase the thickness of the gamepad.

I have never built a Wii portable and I will definitely start with an easier portable (if I do so), but if this "gamepad portable" is possible it would look really cool.

Has anyone done that before? Can the screen, touch, buttons, possibly even the charging circuit and battery of the gamepad, be used for the Wii? I've looked around on this forum but I haven't found a Wii portable inside an actual WiiU gamepad.

 

[Shank]

I recently discovered this forum and I find it really fascinating how small the Wii mainboard can be cut and still work, and how many features people manage to cram into their Wii portables.

Welcome to the forums! Be sure to read through all the guides, as many of us put a lot of work into them to ensure they answer most common questions.

Most of the portable builds include making a custom case for the build - but would it theoretically be possible, or has someone even tried, to use a WiiU Gamepad as a case for a Wii portable?

Sure, its possible. A few people have started on them, but nobody has really finished one. They all either got distracted by other projects, or decided to go with a different design. My first project I planned was a Wii in a Wii U gamepad.

Can the screen be used by the Wii with some driver board or would it be necessary to rip it out and put a standard Composite screen in the gamepad?

No, not without some insane reverse engineering and advanced FPGA shenanigans. Instead, go with this screen. Its a 6.2" screen, and supports both composite and VGA using @Aurelio's Wii VGA patch. You can find links to this screen and many other useful portablizing parts in the Portablizing BOM.

Is there actually enough space in the Gamepad to fit a cutted Wii, some battery, and the included screen and buttons and such?
If not, could one 3D-print an extender of some kind that could be placed in between the glossy and non-glossy parts of the Gamepad to extend its height a bit to allow for some more room?

As big as the Wii U Gamepad is, there isn't much room on the inside due to its organic geometry. You are gonna have to dremel out a lot of the internals. IIRC, you won't be able to fit the usual 18650 batteries in it without an extender like you mentioned. An extender could give you a lot more room to breathe though.

Can the screen, touch, buttons, possibly even the charging circuit and battery of the gamepad, be used for the Wii?

Screen: No
Touch: No
Buttons: Yes
Charging circuit: No

 

[YveltalGriffin]

Welcome to BitBuilt! Lots of people, including Gman, Bakuku, and Bungle have made portables in Wii U gamepads. They're ergonomic, but you're right that you'd need a spacer or extra compartment to hold everything. It's probably possible to fit a Wii in a stock gamepad, but I don't suggest trying it for your first or second portable.

As for reusing circuitry, it's not really possible. The gamepad screen is not compatible with any video output the Wii provides and no driver boards are available AFAIK. You'd need a new LCD, like the 6.2" one in the BOM. The touch functionality cannot be retained either, unless you have an extensive background in reverse engineering and you want to try to spoof the Wiimote IR camera. (Aurelio is working on Wiimote emulation that will make this easy for the end-user anyway.) The battery can be reused, but you'd need more than one for any kind of usable battery life, so it makes more sense to use fresh/new batteries anyway.

edit: ninja'd

 

[Leseratte]

I already did read most of the trimming guides, and I am currently trying to get a cheap 6-layer Wii and a gamepad on eBay. Hell, if I don't get that to work then I've wasted some money on a Gamepad but can still try to build another portable.

I will wait until I get a Wii, try some of the trimming, get four of those custom regulators (why the heck are they so expensive), and in the improbable case I haven't fried the Wii by then I will order that screen you've linked.

Yeah, I already thought it would be a very tight fit in a stock gamepad thats why I had the idea with that extender. Do you know if someone already made such an extender and if there would be a 3D model around somewhere? I do have access to a 3D printer to print that if I actually happen to use a WiiU gamepad, but I have never designed anything to 3D print so that would take a few times as well and I can't really do hundreds of test prints on that printer.

EDIT: About that touch thing, didn't someone on this forum make a ATTiny program / some other code to emulate the wiimote IR camera according to the touch input on some touchscreen? Or was that Aurelio's emulation you are talking about? (That is one thing I hate about the WiiU Wii VC games, having the touchscreen not work, and it would be cool having that working in a Gamepad portable with some Touchscreen overlay thing over the screen.

 

[Paul3854]

I already did read most of the trimming guides

I would recommend also reading all worklogs and questions posted on the wii forum in case someone already asked the same question.

I am currently trying to get a cheap 6-layer Wii

Why get a 6-layer Wii? They use more power and they generate more heat than the 4-layer. (Also I find harder to trim)
Please read more about it about Wii Revision Identification!

and a gamepad on eBay

Don't be in such a rush, first do a ton more research and then start working on wii. Usually casework is the last part in my opinion as you don't want to have a case and a nonfunctional Wii.

Wii, try some of the trimming, get four of those custom regulators

Side note I recommend doing all relocations first and then the trimming, it's easier to test your relocations when you still have all the ports intact.

I haven't fried the Wii by then

Is this your first time doing any soldering or do you already have experience, because if not I'd recommend practicing on dead boards.

 

[cheese]

I actually still have mine, still need to finish it at some point

Shank is right, you can't fit 18650s without a spacer. It's also quite the squeeze as it is, I had to remove some caps on the wii, and move other components around on my driver board to make it thin enough to fit. I also have an extremely thin fan to cool the system. In my picture, you may be able to see I had to do a bit more trimming, use flat pack cells, I had to cut out a lot of support material (as you can see with all the scrapes on the bottom of the shell), and in some places I even had to swap some screws with smaller ones so the heads wouldn't interfere with other parts.

I would suggest modeling your own extender. I would suggest making a couple test prints to make sure you've gotten your shape right before modeling everything (eg print 1mm tall to make sure the ends line up with the gamepad).

EDIT: About that touch thing, didn't someone on this forum make a ATTiny program / some other code to emulate the wiimote IR camera according to the touch input on some touchscreen? Or was that Aurelio's emulation you are talking about? (That is one thing I hate about the WiiU Wii VC games, having the touchscreen not work, and it would be cool having that working in a Gamepad portable with some Touchscreen overlay thing over the screen.

That is @JacksonS who made TouchMii, but I don't think it works with the touch matrix that comes on the gamepad.

 

[Leseratte]

Why a 6-layer-Wii? Well, the link you posted says 6-layer-Wiis are easier for newcomers to portablizing (because of Bluetooth Vias) so I thought I'd start with one of those. Is that not the case?

I already have some solder experience and I do have a cheap soldering iron (this one), although most of my soldering was with through-hole components with a bit more space around parts. But I do have two completely dead Wii mainboards laying around which I will try some of the relocating on (obviously without a way of testing them since the boards are dead, but they should still be good to practice).

 

[Paul3854]

Well, the link you posted says 6-layer-Wiis are easier for newcomers to portablizing

The thing is the bluetooth vias is the only pro of 6-layer Wiis. You could find the 6-layer expansion a tide confusing. Also using a 4-layer will save you battery life by a ton. And since you are trying to fit the Wii into a Wii u gamepad (even if you are extending it) the cooling could be bulky to cool a 6-layer compared to a 4-layer. Most modders are using 4-layer board for the pros it gives. I originally tried using a 6-layer and everyone advised me not to. But if you really determined to use a 6-layer that is your choice.

 

[Leseratte]

Just tried removing the U10 from an old bricked wii mainboard - guess I need a smaller, better soldering iron and a huge magnifying glass. U10 is still attached and the board looks like it started melting ...

 

[Koksi_90]

Just tried removing the U10 from an old bricked wii mainboard - guess I need a smaller, better soldering iron and a huge magnifying glass. U10 is still attached and the board looks like it started melting ...

you can also use the U9.
So I have to remove a scalpel pushed under the chip and pressed slightly while heating up.
Maybe it's because of your soldering iron

 

[Leseratte]

I know I can also use U9. But I'll probably first get a better soldering iron. I planned to get a new one anyways, so now would be a good time. I do have another broken Wii I could get U9 / U10 from but if the mainboard already looks like this with U9 I don't want to know how it would look when I tried soldering to vias or traces.

 

[Koksi_90]

I know I can also use U9. But I'll probably first get a better soldering iron. I planned to get a new one anyways, so now would be a good time. I do have another broken Wii I could get U9 / U10 from but if the mainboard already looks like this with U9 I don't want to know how it would look when I tried soldering to vias or traces.

i think you should learn to solder on broken PCBs and then desolder the U9/10

 

[Paul3854]

Just tried removing the U10 from an old bricked wii mainboard - guess I need a smaller, better soldering iron and a huge magnifying glass. U10 is still attached and the board looks like it started melting ...

Don't practice on the u10 as I believe it's interchangable so if you break both u10 and u9 on your working Wii you gave 2 more. I use a different solderer (the one with adjustable temperature) but they have the same tip and I removed the u10 easily so size shouldn't be a huge problem. Also how are you removing the chip? The best was of doing it is putting flux on both sides and then getting solder on your tip and brushing both sides with your solderer to try getting both sides. The side of the u10 with 3 pins are all ground so you can just glob it together with solder to make it easier. While heating both sides use something (I used tweezers) to push it slightly on a side with no pins. I recommend pushing it in the direction away from the u9. Eventually you'll just have it slide out. If you have a heat gun many people recommend using that to heat up both sides. About your problem with melting your u10 I would recommend getting an adjustable solderer so you can use a lower temperature.

 

[cheese]

Also probably put a lot less solder, what you have there is waaaay too much

 

[Stitches]

Just tried removing the U10 from an old bricked wii mainboard - guess I need a smaller, better soldering iron and a huge magnifying glass. U10 is still attached and the board looks like it started melting ...

The board isn't melting, that's just flux from your solder wire. You definitely need a better iron, that cold blob isn't a good result.