Worklog Attempting to put a Wii in a Wii U Gamepad

[CrazyGadget]

A couple of notes:

• Be sure to remove all of the components around the edge of the trim that were trimmed though. Having half-components still on can cause shorts / other weird stuff.
• All of those joints look very cold. Make sure that your iron is set to a good temperature (I usually keep mine in the 650-700F range), you have a good tip (a chisel with a large, fat surface area to make contact with the pads is good), and are using good solder and plenty of flux. The combination of those things should lead to some better joints.
• I would recommend against having the PMS sitting on top of the Wii like that. Using electrical tape on both would work, but would be pretty sketchy. Electrical tape ends up breaking down the adhesive residue just gets all over everything... plus it would be much better to have some kind of secure mounting system for all of your boards. Better than having everything floating around in the shell. Maybe you could 3D print some kind of skeleton to mount everything on, then epoxy that into the gamepad? Just spitballing...
• Did you check your resistances between your voltage rails on that trim prior to connecting it to the PMS? If not, I would undo the PMS joints (which you'll do to clean up the joints anyway) and check those before applying any kind of power to the board.
• 4LayerTech sells RVL-NTC replacements on their site.

Hope this helps!

 

[Tech Flare]

A couple of notes:

• Be sure to remove all of the components around the edge of the trim that were trimmed though. Having half-components still on can cause shorts / other weird stuff.
• All of those joints look very cold. Make sure that your iron is set to a good temperature (I usually keep mine in the 650-700F range), you have a good tip (a chisel with a large, fat surface area to make contact with the pads is good), and are using good solder and plenty of flux. The combination of those things should lead to some better joints.
• I would recommend against having the PMS sitting on top of the Wii like that. Using electrical tape on both would work, but would be pretty sketchy. Electrical tape ends up breaking down the adhesive residue just gets all over everything... plus it would be much better to have some kind of secure mounting system for all of your boards. Better than having everything floating around in the shell. Maybe you could 3D print some kind of skeleton to mount everything on, then epoxy that into the gamepad? Just spitballing...
• Did you check your resistances between your voltage rails on that trim prior to connecting it to the PMS? If not, I would undo the PMS joints (which you'll do to clean up the joints anyway) and check those before applying any kind of power to the board.
• 4LayerTech sells RVL-NTC replacements on their site.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the tips, I will definitely try to eventually make a good 3D printed shell for all the components, but as of now I don't have the time. I want to get everything working at least before I go back to college, and then maybe if i'm home for a weekend or over a break I will have time to work on the enclosure. The PMS will have to be on top of the Wii motherboard due to space constraints. It isn't ideal, but I don't think it will hurt, especially if I create a little enclosure for it eventually.

I tested all the resistances of the voltage rails after removing the wires, and everything checks out flawlessly except for the 3.3v. For some reason I am getting absolutely no reading whatsoever. Not even a 0. The multimeter just doesn't pick it up, and I tried multiple 3.3v locations just to be safe. Anyone have any idea why this might be?

 

[Tech Flare]

It's been a few days since my last update, but unfortunately, I have not made much progress. I soldered the PMS to the Wii, the battery to the PMS, and the composite video cable to the Wii in order to test it. I also soldered the U10 wire from the Wii to the PMS. Here are some pictures of the setup so far:

When I turn on the Wii with the PMS I can tell the Wii is running as the CPU and GPU get warm to the touch, but the screen just kinda flickers for a second and then goes totally black. No error message or anything. Is there anything I can do to test further or fix this issue? I could try and solder on the PMS-PD and see if getting the USB to be recognized fixes anything, but I don't think I should until I can confirm that the video output works. Please advise.

 

[Retro95]

There's several things that could prevent the board from booting. You stated that you got zero readings when checking the 3.3v rail against ground? Have you tried measuring that again to rule out a short? Did you place tape over the CPU/GPU before cutting the board?

I'm also seeing a lot of inner copper board layers showing along the edge of your trim. This could be causing a short.



After confirming that there are no shorts I would measure the voltage on the Wii itself to ensure that you are getting proper voltage to the Wii components.

Anything larger than a 5% drop can prevent the Wii from booting.

Other than that, I can't offer any additional advice that CrazyGadget hasn't already stated.

I'd recommend heeding his advice in an earlier post, and cleaning up your soldering joints, and ensuring your resistance checks are good before applying power.

 

[Tech Flare]

There's several things that could prevent the board from booting. You stated that you got zero readings when checking the 3.3v rail against ground? Have you tried measuring that again to rule out a short? Did you place tape over the CPU/GPU before cutting the board?

I'm also seeing a lot of inner copper board layers showing along the edge of your trim. This could be causing a short.

View attachment 28974

After confirming that there are no shorts I would measure the voltage on the Wii itself to ensure that you are getting proper voltage to the Wii components.

Anything larger than a 5% drop can prevent the Wii from booting.

Other than that, I can't offer any additional advice that CrazyGadget hasn't already stated.

I'd recommend heeding his advice in an earlier post, and cleaning up your soldering joints, and ensuring your resistance checks are good before applying power.

Thanks for the tips. I'll try re-sanding the board and cleaning some things up to see if that fixes the issue.

 

[Retro95]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try re-sanding the board and cleaning some things up to see if that fixes the issue.

Keep in mind that when taking measurements on your 3.3v line with the PMS and battery connected it will show below 10ohms. Mine showed 4ohms when measured, but it's not a short.

 

[Tech Flare]

Ok, I tested the voltages while the wii was powered on, and everything looks good. The wii is definitely outputting some sort of video signal, it's just a blank black screen. When I turn off the wii the monitor shows that the signal was lost. After doing these tests, I desoldered all the wires from the wii to test the resistances again. Here's what I got:

Wii Revision:	RVK-CPU-02
Trim Type:	OMGWTF
Notes:	Put the "COM"/"Ground" probe of your multimeter on the voltages on the left!
	Measure without anything attached to your Wii
COM \ +	1v	1.15v	1.8v	3.3v
GND	121.1	44.5	36.7	8.7k	Ohm
1v		173.6	160.3	6.3k	Ohm
1.15v			88.5	8.72k	Ohm
1.8v				6.2k	Ohm
3.3v					Ohm

according to the wii resistances guide, everything looks great. Now that this testing has been done, I am going to go back and sand down the motherboard a little more and see if I can't clean up any dremel marks. I will post again soon with updates.

 

[Retro95]

Did you test the voltages on the PMS board or the Wii itself?

I would resolder your u10 wire. Based on your previous photo it's definitely in the hole of the via, but doesn't look like it's actually soldered to the via itself.

Make sure to remove a bit of the solder mask so the via is nice and shiny. I use the tip of an exacto blade and GENTLY scratch the solder mask off, lots of flux, and get a nice shiny solder joint.

 

[LCandell]

If you're still working on this project, you should check this guy's work:

Mundo Yakara: wii

He used a wii U gamepad and posted in the threads which components were used with aliexpress links

 

[Tech Flare]

If you're still working on this project, you should check this guy's work:

Mundo Yakara: wii

He used a wii U gamepad and posted in the threads which components were used with aliexpress links

Wow this is awesome! I'll definitely take a look at these videos. I've been at school and I'm graduating soon, so I haven't had time to work on this project, but I plan on eventually finishing it one way or the other. Hopefully these videos can help me out.

 

[LCandell]

Wow this is awesome! I'll definitely take a look at these videos. I've been at school and I'm graduating soon, so I haven't had time to work on this project, but I plan on eventually finishing it one way or the other. Hopefully these videos can help me out.

Hope so!
If you need help with the spanish you can tell me