The J-Wiitch Lite/Mini

[jeremy_lugodas]

Ever looked at your Switch Lite and thought, “I wanna play Twilight Princess on that?”

Introducing, the J-Wiitch Lite.

(Note: I was not aware there was a portable project named the “Strike Wiitch” before coming up with the name. The name is a mashup of “Wii” and “Switch Lite,” but KarIslandOtaku beat me to the punch and I was 7 years too late.)

It’s a Wii portable entirely inspired by the Nintendo Switch Lite. It uses all the essential PCBs from 4LayerTech including the PMS PD, the GC+, and the PMS Lite to fit the theme (along with aftermarket DS Lite buttons.) It also includes hall-effect joysticks and dual-action shoulder buttons.

To make the build as thin as possible, I ended up using two lithium packs that, honestly, don’t have the best battery life (a little over an hour,) but with a regular 5v USBC charger, you can play it while the battery depletes just as fast as it can charge.

Now, if you haven’t noticed by the bad cable management, this project had a very specific deadline, which is my main bragging point.

The entire design and assembly was completed within a week.

The first rough print of the faceplate was printed on a Saturday afternoon, and the first game was played on it the next Saturday evening. As someone who suffers from ADD, this was a huge accomplishment.

All this being said, the project still has some issues that need to be worked out, namely how the power button needs adjusting, the Z2 input won’t work, and I can’t find a Wiimote to connect it to. However, I’m eventually planning on putting together a parts list and posting my cad files somewhere in the future, whether or not people are interested. So if you’ve read this far, let me know if you want to make it better than what I did.

This is also my first presentation of one of my projects so let me know if you’d like to see them too. Or not.

EDIT: The J-Wiitch Mini, the successor to the J-Wiitch Lite, is also featured in this thread so I don’t spam The Cutting Edge.

 

[cy]

How big is that screen? If that's the size of a Switch Lite, I'm pretty sure that's not a screen we've seen used in the community before. Also, those dual tact triggers have an interesting design, how have those been working out for you? Again, really neat project overall!

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

How big is that screen? If that's the size of a Switch Lite, I'm pretty sure that's not a screen we've seen used in the community before. Also, those dual tact triggers have an interesting design, how have those been working out for you? Again, really neat project overall!

Thanks for the continued support! The screen is just a standard 5 inch screen I harvested from a backup camera setup. I’m aware that VGA is the standard for most portables, but for my preferences, composite video does the trick.
The dual action trigger system is surprisingly simple as well as it is convenient. They use a squishy tactile switch for the analog press and a 4.3mm switch for digital press. I just use the amount of travel with the squishy switch to make it flush with the harder switch, so if the trigger is pressed further it’ll activate the second button.

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

I posted this on my general discussion thread but I might as well mention here that there has been a 4.3 inch screen that I’ve wanted to use for years. Because of that, I’m working on a J-Wiitch Mini as the successor to the J-Wiitch Lite. I’ll emerge from my cave soon!

 

[Stitches]

Very well done!

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

Very well done!

Means a lot coming from staff and administrator! Thanks!

 

[Stitches]

Don't worry about the name btw. There are only so many viable puns, some overlap is inevitable. No-one really cares all that much

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

Don't worry about the name btw. There are only so many viable puns, some overlap is inevitable. No-one really cares all that much

Thanks for the reassurance

 

[Stitches]

Sometimes people straight up create a newer updated version of someone else's old project and just tack their name or an extra word onto it to differentiate between the two. As long as you're not undercutting someone's commission business, most anything's fair game if you give credit. More cool builds are more cool builds ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[loopj]

Damn this is really clean, nice work!

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

Sometimes people straight up create a newer updated version of someone else's old project and just tack their name or an extra word onto it to differentiate between the two. As long as you're not undercutting someone's commission business, most anything's fair game if you give credit. More cool builds are more cool builds ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah I avoid undercutting hard work and try to give people their credit, even if there’s some parallel thinking involved

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

Damn this is really clean, nice work!

Thanks a lot!

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

Update on the J-Wiitch Mini:

This time around, I definitely let my ADD get the better of me and I lost some motivation, but it’s finally getting close to complete.

One of the main factors this has taken so long for me is when I made the initial motherboard trim, I cut through the Nand traces in an attempt to make the board small enough for the case. However, I recently started a new job that motivates me to troubleshoot, and I finally sat down, sanded the motherboard, and connected the 6 traces I severed.

Here it is powered on minus buttons and MX chip.

Hopefully tonight I’ll have it playing Super Mario Sunshine.

 

[jeremy_lugodas]

At long last, the successor of the J-Wiitch Lite: The J-Wiitch Mini.

It has the same internal layout as the J-Wiitch Lite, aside from the 4.3 inch lcd and the excluded bluetooth module.

It was so satisfying to finally use the screen I had set aside for years and to overcome the challenges this build presented me. It may be time for me to finally wire VGA to one of my next builds…