Worklog XL-DMG-N64P

[Bamboo]

Hey all! In the middle of portablizing an n64. My first attempt at a project like this and I am more than open to feedback on what I've done and my plans going forward.

Tore apart the board as demonstrated by the bacman videos... wish I hadn't done it that way now because I can't test anything until it's being fed power.... but this was 3 years ago when i started and I didn't know better then lol



Live and learn!
Using a plastic case for screws and stuff I had lying around as the bones of the case. My goal is to create a functional n64p that looks like a big DMG gameboy brick. No board trimming, profile style, straightforward portable. Instead of soldering wires for cartridge relocation, I decided on a "de-location/relocation" hybrid strategy by using right angle header pins bent on the underside of the board and soldered to the contacts where the ext slot pins used to be.




From there I used the 50 pin ide cable to create a harness to go from the header pins to the cartridge slot




So that's step 1 down. Id like to know your thoughts on that technique and what I plan on doing next.

Next up, I just received my 7" tft LCD pillow back up monitor off Amazon and I'll be stripping it down and wiring up the composite signal/ground to the board shortly. The screen runs on 9-12v so my main power will be li-ion 3sp1 11.1v batteries with protection circuit. I have the pth08080wah, 2k resistor, 100uf cap to step down the power for the 3.3v line.

For charge and play. I'm going to go the safe route and do the dpdt switch as outlined by @ShockSlayer on this site (thanks!)

Using trimmed stock heatsink. Will also connect small fan to flow air.

For audio, I am waiting on the pam8803 which I'll wire to the L/R/5v/ground points on the board. Just received some small speakers suggested in one of the BOMs.

Building in a 1st party controller for now as it is the only one I had readily available and I'm trying to do this whole thing on a budget.

Frankencasing is the name of the game, cannibalizing the old n64 in every imaginable way to make the inner structure this will need. Cleaning it up with bondo and epoxy, sand and paint.

Any thoughtsor insights as I proceed? Ill be posting progress here as I go.

Thanks to everyone who is active in these forums! If not for all the already available info I would have destroyed this thing just trying to open the cover

 

[Stitches]

Hey all! In the middle of portablizing an n64. My first attempt at a project like this and I am more than open to feedback on what I've done and my plans going forward.

Tore apart the board as demonstrated by the bacman videos... wish I hadn't done it that way now because I can't test anything until it's being fed power.... but this was 3 years ago when i started and I didn't know better then lol



Live and learn!
Using a plastic case for screws and stuff I had lying around as the bones of the case. My goal is to create a functional n64p that looks like a big DMG gameboy brick. No board trimming, profile style, straightforward portable. Instead of soldering wires for cartridge relocation, I decided on a "de-location/relocation" hybrid strategy by using right angle header pins bent on the underside of the board and soldered to the contacts where the ext slot pins used to be.




From there I used the 50 pin ide cable to create a harness to go from the header pins to the cartridge slot




So that's step 1 down. Id like to know your thoughts on that technique and what I plan on doing next.

Next up, I just received my 7" try LCD pillow back up monitor off Amazon and I'll be stripping it down and wiring up the composite signal/ground to the board shortly. The screen runs on 9-12v so my main power will be li-ion 3sp1 11.1v batteries with protection circuit. I have the pth08080wah, 2k resistor, 100uf cap to step down the power for the 3.3v line.

For charge and play. I'm going to go the safe route and do the dpdt switch as outlined by @ShockSlayer on this site (thanks!)

Using trimmed stock heatsink. Will also connect small fan to flow air.

For audio, I am waiting on the pam8803 which I'll wire to the L/R/5v/ground points on the board. Just received some small speakers suggested in one of the BOMs.

Building in a 1st party controller for now as it is the only one I had readily available and I'm trying to do this whole thing on a budget.

Frankencasing is the name of the game, cannibalizing the old n64 in every imaginable way to make the inner structure this will need. Cleaning it up with bondo and epoxy, sand and paint.

Any thoughtsor insights as I proceed? Ill be posting progress here as I go.

Thanks to everyone who is active in these forums! If not for all the already available info I would have destroyed this thing just trying to open the cover

That IDE trick is nothing short of genius! Keep us updated my dude. (btw the cart slot pins touching EXT pins aren't going to affect console function, are they?)

 

[Bamboo]

That IDE trick is nothing short of genius! Keep us updated my dude. (btw the cart slot pins touching EXT pins aren't going to affect console function, are they?)

Thanks! I don't think it will cause any issues since it is just replicating what the ext pins did in the first place, touching the cartridge pins to make the connection.

Hopefully anyway

 

[Bamboo]

Basic stuff this evening. Since I ripped out the factory on/off switch, I followed the noob guide to jump the contacts and soldered the leads between 1-2 as well as 7-8.



Next, I had taken apart the casing for the wires for the LCD screen, stripped and tinned the tips. I soldered both grounds from the screen together and connected them to one of the ground strips on the side of the board.



Lastly, I connected the composite line to the 'V' contact. I'm learning not to overdo it too much with these wire to board connections! Took me way too long to connect one lousy wire lol Soldering noob here.



Just waiting for all the rest of the stuff to come in. The more I look around these forums, the more i want to revise case design and the project in general to make this smaller... you guys are bad influences

 

[Bamboo]

Does anyone have any good links for smart chargers and specifically charge ports? I can find all these chargers but where do people get the female side that you install in the portable?

 

[Matthew]

You can search 'Female barrel connector' on Ebay. I pulled all of mine from random broken electronics I had laying around. Just make sure that it fits the charger you purchase.

By the way, that IDE cartridge relocation trick is one of the sexiest things I've ever seen. And I've had @Aurelio take a shower in my home. I will definitely be doing that on my next portable.

 

[Bamboo]

You can search 'Female barrel connector' on Ebay. I pulled all of mine from random broken electronics I had laying around. Just make sure that it fits the charger you purchase.

By the way, that IDE cartridge relocation trick is one of the sexiest things I've ever seen. And I've had @Aurelio take a shower in my home. I will definitely be doing that on my next portable.

So just to be sure before purchasing... I got this battery pack to hold 18650 cells in 3S1P for 11.1v. I want to get this charger from battery space (1.8A) with the 5.5x2.1x10mm male barrel connector, and then this listing for female barrel connectors that should fit the charger. Would that work?

And thanks! My driving motivation for doing the cartridge relocation this way was my lack of experience soldering and I wanted to try to reduce the number of times that would be a variable to me screwing up everything lol I remember someone talking about it on the bacteria forums years ago but never saw pictures. And sexier than an @Aurelio shower? #lifetimeachievementaward

 

[Matthew]

While you don't actually need 11.1v for the n64, that charger/battery pack/barrel connectors looks fine.

I didn't say sexier than Aurelio but that IDE wiring is pretty darn close.

 

[Bamboo]

While you don't actually need 11.1v for the n64, that charger/battery pack/barrel connectors looks fine.

I didn't say sexier than Aurelio but that IDE wiring is pretty darn close.

My screen requires 9-12v which is why I went with that battery setup. Otherwise it would have been the standard 7.4

 

[Matthew]

Makes sense, most screens can be modded to work with 5v and lower though, not that it matters really. If 11.1v works best then go with that!

 

[Bamboo]

So... I'm not great with electronics troubleshooting so I'm kind of at a loss right now.

I wired up video, power, and the cartridge and went to test it out using a 9v battery as the power source just to see if it would load up. The LCD turns on and then the screen just flickers. I'm not sure if I should be checking the cartridge relocation or a power issue or if the board is toast. Is the battery not enough to boot up a game? I figured a 9v battery could last a couple minutes at least to just check stuff out

Any suggestions electronic gurus?

 

[Crazzyleprechaun]

I would suggest posting pictures of where you connect composite, where you connect power and maybe the cart slot relocation as well. We won't be able to answer any questions without pictures unfortunately. However I would recommend testing with a different source of voltage if you can because it could be the battery not being able to power the N64.

 

[Stitches]

So... I'm not great with electronics troubleshooting so I'm kind of at a loss right now.

I wired up video, power, and the cartridge and went to test it out using a 9v battery as the power source just to see if it would load up. The LCD turns on and then the screen just flickers. I'm not sure if I should be checking the cartridge relocation or a power issue or if the board is toast. Is the battery not enough to boot up a game? I figured a 9v battery could last a couple minutes at least to just check stuff out

Any suggestions electronic gurus?

If you're talking about a generic 9v like the kind you'd put in a smoke alarm, it's probably not outputting enough current. You need something with more grunt, try a 12v 2amp power supply. You can pick them up for cheap on ebay.

 

[Bamboo]

I would suggest posting pictures of where you connect composite, where you connect power and maybe the cart slot relocation as well. We won't be able to answer any questions without pictures unfortunately. However I would recommend testing with a different source of voltage if you can because it could be the battery not being able to power the N64.

If you're talking about a generic 9v like the kind you'd put in a smoke alarm, it's probably not outputting enough current. You need something with more grunt, try a 12v 2amp power supply. You can pick them up for cheap on ebay.

So this is the setup currently:

11.1v 3s1p li-ion batteries


Positive line goes to dpdt switch center pole. Negative line to board. Two positive leads run from the switch on pole, 1 to the 12v point on the board and 1 to the pth08080





Did the standard wiring for the pth08080. Positive line from switch to #1/top left corner. 100 cap. I used a 2k resistor. Ran ground off for it off the resistor line to the board. Checked output and it checked out at 3.14v.



This is the top of the board. Fed the positive line from the switch to the 12v point. Tied in the positive line from the screen to meet there as well. Grounded battery to the board at this area and the ground from the pth08080 as well.



There seemed to be two grounds coming from the screen for the two available sources. I grounded both to the board on the strip.



Ran the screen video line to the composite point on the board.



Ran the 3.3v positive line to the correct points on the back of the board.





Here's the setup for the cartridge relocation. Right angle headers soldered to the back of the board, ide cable to connect the cartridge.

Had some time to tackle some troubleshooting. Here's what I've determined:

Continuity checks out for every pin for the cartridge relocation from the board to the cartridge pins (through the ide cable!)

Pth08080 is outputting 3.14v.

5v power point by the composite is receiving correct power.

Screen is powering on without issue. Blank blue screen, AV2 input sign showing on top.

Game plugged in and it doesn't load when i power it on.

Main chips get warm after it has been running for awhile. Dont know if that means anything or not.

Thoughts guys?

 

[Stitches]

So this is the setup currently:

11.1v 3s1p li-ion batteries


Positive line goes to dpdt switch center pole. Negative line to board. Two positive leads run from the switch on pole, 1 to the 12v point on the board and 1 to the pth08080





Did the standard wiring for the pth08080. Positive line from switch to #1/top left corner. 100 cap. I used a 2k resistor. Ran ground off for it off the resistor line to the board. Checked output and it checked out at 3.14v.



This is the top of the board. Fed the positive line from the switch to the 12v point. Tied in the positive line from the screen to meet there as well. Grounded battery to the board at this area and the ground from the pth08080 as well.



There seemed to be two grounds coming from the screen for the two available sources. I grounded both to the board on the strip.



Ran the screen video line to the composite point on the board.



Ran the 3.3v positive line to the correct points on the back of the board.





Here's the setup for the cartridge relocation. Right angle headers soldered to the back of the board, ide cable to connect the cartridge.

Had some time to tackle some troubleshooting. Here's what I've determined:

Continuity checks out for every pin for the cartridge relocation from the board to the cartridge pins (through the ide cable!)

Pth08080 is outputting 3.14v.

5v power point by the composite is receiving correct power.

Screen is powering on without issue. Blank blue screen, AV2 input sign showing on top.

Game plugged in and it doesn't load when i power it on.

Main chips get warm after it has been running for awhile. Dont know if that means anything or not.

Thoughts guys?

My theory is your PTH isn't supplying enough voltage. The N64 needs 3.3v, but you're giving it 3.14v, which drops even further when under load. I'd say get a 1.8k ohm resistor to replace your 2k one and see if that changes anything.

 

[Noah]

How long is the IDE you're using for the cartridge slot relocation? Normally I find that 5 inches is about the longest I can go before things start to get weird.

 

[Bamboo]

My theory is your PTH isn't supplying enough voltage. The N64 needs 3.3v, but you're giving it 3.14v, which drops even further when under load. I'd say get a 1.8k ohm resistor to replace your 2k one and see if that changes anything.

I read a bunch of threads and topics saying that undervolting anything between 3.1 and 3.3 is usually fine. I thought a 1.8k may slightly overvolt the 3.3 line. To negate that variable though, I did order some 1.87k resistors just in case it is as you say! Do you know if there is a way to check voltage output to a pin or area to determine if the board/chips are fine?

How long is the IDE you're using for the cartridge slot relocation? Normally I find that 5 inches is about the longest I can go before things start to get weird.

The cables are less than 5 inches! I remember reading when you and others hit that snag!

 

[Stitches]

I read a bunch of threads and topics saying that undervolting anything between 3.1 and 3.3 is usually fine. I thought a 1.8k may slightly overvolt the 3.3 line. To negate that variable though, I did order some 1.87k resistors just in case it is as you say! Do you know if there is a way to check voltage output to a pin or area to determine if the board/chips are fine?



The cables are less than 5 inches! I remember reading when you and others hit that snag!

Undervolting shouldn't damage anything afaik, but you can check the voltage under load from the 3.3v pin at controller ports I think. Just check it with your multimeter while the console should be on.

 

[Bamboo]

Undervolting shouldn't damage anything afaik, but you can check the voltage under load from the 3.3v pin at controller ports I think. Just check it with your multimeter while the console should be on.

The controller ports as well as the 3.3v pins at the cartridge all seem to be running at 3.13v steadily. I'm going to go over the cartridge relocation again to see if maybe something isn't connected cleanly. I think the power is good and my video is wired up right. It's the only thing I think it could be without it being a dead board

 

[Stitches]

It could also be that your (shit) ultrafire batteries aren't outputting enough current.