Gamecube Infinite Worklog

[kinect360]

GAMECUBE INFINITE WORKLOG

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Lets begin with what I've got planed/done:

Gamecube portable with 7" screen:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/190900590428?var ... 1497.l2649


Battery pack:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/400649869799?ssP ... 1497.l2649

Apparently the chinese lie about the mAh but even if I get 8000mAh I will be happy.

Casing:

Case is almost ready to be shipped to me, gman only needs to cnc then it is done.

Wiikey Fusion:

Wired Wasp Fusion that I got from mega

Sound:

Iluv speakers from amazon

Also would like to have a headphone jack on the portable as well, so if anyone knows how to get that wired up that be great to know.




Pictures here:

WorklogPhotos.zip

(1.86 MiB) Downloaded 316 times

UPDATE 1/28/14

Ordered iLuv Speaker off of amazon, will be getting it next week.
Getting Wasp Fusion from Mega
Removed hot glue and applied epoxy instead
Posted picture of broken trace
Cleaned GPU off for BoFoSho



UPDATE 1/31/14

Sketch of front of the GCP and back, subject to change
Corners will not remain like that, hopefully will be flush to the top.
Any critisim is welcome



How does one wire controller one to the mobo while keeping controller 2 port available for the gamecube portable?
http://kyorune.com/modding/article.php?id=84 <--- Trying to following this but not too much info on how I would do that.

UPDATE 2/14/14

Wired up the wasp fusion and it is working great now after a long journey of trying to get it to work.

UPDATE 2/16/14



Whats left to do/coming soon:

Case to be done soon
Wiring controller and controller port 2
Replace thermal pads

UPDATE 2/19/14

Cut and sanded mobo, turned out pretty good imo being the first time I use a dremel.

Wired SD Gecko, genesis emu works but n64 wont find roms ... (They are in the proper folder)

Removed vga, composite and power from screen board as they were too bulky.


UPDATE 2/21/14

Re-Wired SD Gecko with an adapter this time, looks much better and its clicky

Cut out new thermal pads for the heatsink, these will perform much much better

I need a volume adjustment pot like the one on the gameboy, in Canada we no longer have radioshacks I have no clue where I could get one besides taking it from my gameboy. lol




Put on the new thermal pads, runs at 34c on idle and with a load didnt go past 39c for two hours. I ran wind waker and had him spinning the entire time.

This is a incredible amount of improvement from the nintendo thermal pads. I would get 40-44c at idle. 10c different is amazing.

If anyone wants some of these I can sell them pre-cut and everything for cheap.

To do list:
Finish wiring speakers
Case
Connect memory card
Wire Controller stuff

UPDATE 2/23/14

Wired up 251 block memory card to the gamecube!

Casing is almost complete

Got a gameboy from a friend, he gave it to me for putting a letter in the mail for him. lol

I will be taking one of the wheel pots from it for the portables speakers.

Click on the link below for pictures



Controller board ffc is pretty much done for, I have to bend it certain ways just to get the controller working so I will be forced to wire that soon.

UPDATE 2/27/14

Good news and bad news,

Good news: got the battery pack in

Bad news: No idea what the capacity is.

Here is a picture of the pack disassembled, it was huge at first and there was some Styrofoam in the pack so the lipo packs wouldnt move around or to give off the idea of a bigger/heavy pack.
I have no clue how battery wiring work, I know there is series and parallel thats about it. There doesnt seem to be some sort of smart charger attached either? If anyone could help me out that be great. No markings or anything on the packs either.

[BoFoSho]

Nice to see a new GCP log here.
Looks like you have everything figured out.
You might want to look into an amp/speaker combo like Ashen uses. (Powered, Portable iPod Speakers.)
For VGA you need a Component cable, I believe. (correct me if I am wrong Mega)
Gman makes decent cases from what I have seen so not a bad choice there.

Criticism
I would work on cleaning up your soldering work a little… or maybe the hot glue is making it look like a lot more solder.
Try Flux, thinner solder, thiinner soldering tip if it seems a little messy to you.
Clean off that GPU, that thermal paste is right on the edge

My advice:
Work at a slower and steady pace,
Don't worry about breaking parts, it creates stress and that leads to mistakes.
Can't wait to see more progress!

[kinect360]

Nvm on the vga if I need the component cable.

I've been told to get iLuv Speakers so these would work im guessing :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/iLuv-ISP110-Por ... 4d164db009

For the solder, its all hot glue gunned so nothing will move/short so I don't really care about it atm, pretty sure the GC wont get to solder melting temps either. lol

Thermal paste will get reapplied once the portable is complete, simply cant be bothered to wipe it off at the moment, will be applying arctic silver 5.

How well do GC Portables handle with heat? Will some vents and the stock fan do just fine?

Can't get the DD to insert/eject anymore so if you know more about that let me know.

[megalomaniac]

get rid of the hotglue..
solder first, confirm the results of soldering with that part of the solder job working properly, then epoxy...
hotglue is not to be trusted


also post a nice large clear pic of that ripped trace
and also the current condition of you attempt to repair it...
pics will help troubleshoot the issue to get everything working again..

[kinect360]

The gamecube works fine thats why I hotglued it lol, why is hotglue not to be trusted?

I should de-solder and remove glue from everything just to redo it for epoxy?..

[megalomaniac]

removing the hotglue without pulling the wires you have already soldered...
test everything once hot glue is cleaned off...
verify everything works..
then epoxy...


highly recommend using "ashen certified, ashen approved" products: viewtopic.php?p=11057#p11057

[BoFoSho]

To remove hot glue use rubbing alcohol.
use a q-tip to get it on and and let is soak.
Rubbing alcohol is handy for cleaning as well, cart connections and all.

[kinect360]

Thanks for the tips, I will do that then epoxy and post pictures. As for the DD drive issues, even if the trace was screwed, wouldn't pin 23 on mobo still work? I will post pictures when I get back home.

[kinect360]

Updated the log with all info you guys requested!

[BoFoSho]

Soldering looks good! Trace should not affect it as long as it is after where you are soldering to and it is not shorting.
As for batteries, Check out BatterySpace.com
They are excellent and reliable.
There is a LiPo guide by HailRazer on ModRetro you should look at for an idea on the batteries.

If you need help with the batteries, just let me know.
Thanks for cleaning that Thermal paste by the way

Edit: Forgot to say how organized your work log is! Really nice job so far!

[megalomaniac]

As for the DD drive issues, even if the trace was screwed, wouldn't pin 23 on mobo still work?

pin 23 or pin 12?
dont get confused if you are looking at GC or Wii pinout..

the mainboard lid sense gets its signal from the disc drive lid switch...which is plugged into the connector where you have the pulled traces...

since you no longer have a usable connector, you can cut the blue lid switch cables and strip them a bit to solder to those two points like you showed in the pic...
then hold the switch closed....that should work...


another thing to consider is you might have a faulty switch or its not broken for some other unknown reason....so...if you put a disc in the drive, then jumper those two solder points together the lid will be permanently closed. connect the drive back onto the mainboard and power on the GC. it should spin the motor and try to read the disc..

if anything you can determine if everything is still functional using that quick dirty workaround...

[kinect360]

I hooked it up originally to the blue cable board, it was working great like that so I decide to just attach it the daughter board instead with a longer wire. So the switch is functional, which pin is it, 23 or 12? I tried pin 23 under the mobo and had no luck there and also followed the trace and no luck there either.

As for the batteries I already have the 12v 9800mah on the way here, I would like to use those. Should I run the entire unit off 12v or 5v for efficiency? GC is able to go off 5v and so is the screen but they are both capable of taking 12v as well.

[BoFoSho]

12v would be ideal for the screen,
So use 12v.

[hailrazer]

That battery is most likely the same as they've always sold. Less than 1500mAh last ones i checked. You probably won't get more than 30-40 minutes of battery life with it.

[kinect360]

If I only get 1500mAh I will be opening a dispute and getting a refund lol. The battery is pretty big just to be a 1500mAh so I believe its probably more.

[hailrazer]

Yea I thought the same thing. It should be more according to it's size. But all the ones I bought were less than 1500mAh and yes I filed a complaint and got my money back.

Maybe they've changed but really why would they.

[Ashen]

Listen to Hail.

www.batteryspace.com

[kinect360]

Any recommended batteries then off of batteryspace? Should I still be looking for 12v or something like 5v?

[kinect360]

Attached the switch back to the points where I previously tried and no luck again. Pics attached of what it looks like. Also checked continuity and all seemed well.

Note:
Red wire is ground, no more black wires left atm.

[Ashen]

Since you're keeping the stock regulator go with either a 11.1v or 14.8v li-ion pack. 5000mah+ will get you a nice/decent playtime.

I'll look at a DD daughterboard later and see if I cant figure out what you're doing wrong.

[megalomaniac]

Red wire is soldered to the wrong point
I'm not at a computer right now so I can't post a photo of the correct location...

[kinect360]

Edit, got it working, your right it wasn't at the right spot

[kinect360]

Will I be able to wire Wasp Fusion to the mobo and get rid of the DD daughter board? Or does it need to stay? Also, holy crap batteries are expensive on battery space. Whats my next step now on keeping player 1 for portable controls and having player 2 slot on the top of the portable? Is this possible while removing the controller board?

[theclaw]

No disc drive is a big decision. Tons more portable, but audio streaming games are an issue.

[kinect360]

Having a DD is not an option for me unfortunately, which games use audio streaming?