Worklog My attempt at making a gamecube portable

[WolfSquatch]

Yes! GameCube portablizing is not completely dead!

 

[juankamq]

Hello everyone. I have a big update

I've received my boards for the controller and audio on saturday. To be honest, i didn't had much hope as this is my first custom pcb ever and I felt it was pretty big of a project. But to my surprise, the controllers worked perfect first try, I can't tell you how excited I am.

It's amazing how little stuff you need to make the stock controller IC to work

All the mounting holes are aligned and the recess I made for the 3ds sliders worked awesome. I'm very impressed of myself lol

I'll solder and wire up the audio part between today and tomorrow. I hope I have the same luck as the controller part haha

 

[Panchuflenks]

hello bro!.
nice worklog
Have u tested the console runtime with batteries? (are u using 1s2p config?) i tested mine with the recommended regulators and i get around 1:45 hrs of power with "5000" mha 7.4 battery pack. IDK if its the real capacity of the pack because i bought it from aliexpress a time ago.
why 2s1p? cause i need 5v to power on the screen, audio amp and some microcontrollers and i don't want to use a boost converter for the 5v rail. maybe is a mistake but i think the power efficiency is less stepping up than stepping down the voltage.
also. if u have any questions I'll be glad to help (:
see ya!

 

[juankamq]

hello bro!.
nice worklog
Have u tested the console runtime with batteries? (are u using 1s2p config?) i tested mine with the recommended regulators and i get around 1:45 hrs of power with "5000" mha 7.4 battery pack. IDK if its the real capacity of the pack because i bought it from aliexpress a time ago.
why 2s1p? cause i need 5v to power on the screen, audio amp and some microcontrollers and i don't want to use a boost converter for the 5v rail. maybe is a mistake but i think the power efficiency is less stepping up than stepping down the voltage.
also. if u have any questions I'll be glad to help (:
see ya!

Hey man, nice to see you here!.

I'm using 2s1p configuration which gives me 8.4 to 6.4v that's plenty to power everything. I'm getting 1 hour of play time on batteries, which is what I wanted.

I should've used other type of batteries, but that's what I had lying around... Maybe next revision(if it ever happens.

I've already "finished" this project, but the BMS stopped working and i'm waiting for new ones so I can finally close it and upload final images

Buena suerte con tu proyecto!

 

[juankamq]

Hello everyone. I'm very happy to announce that i've finally finished this project.

My battery chargers finally arrived and was able to solder and test them, here's the final product:

In my hand for size reference:

Here's a quick video:


Edit:
Although I really loved the finished product, here's a few things I'd do different...

1. Place the regulators in the fan path so they can cool down
2. Redesign the L,R and Z triggers, they were very hard to make them work
3. Add a bluetooth audio transmitter
4. Use li-po pouch batteries, they are much easier to work with.
5. Place the pads for the controllers and audio on the bottom of the pcb for easier assembly

My next portable will be a wii, but it won't be very soon

 

[CrazyGadget]

 

[WolfSquatch]

Beautiful work, congratulations.

 

[thedrew]

This is dope to see a GC portable! Looks great man!

 

[juankamq]

This is dope to see a GC portable! Looks great man!

Beautiful work, congratulations.

Thank you guys! I really appreciate your comments

 

[Stitches]

Beautiful

 

[Spencer-R]

Hi a bit late to the party but I’ve been slowly working on repurposing a spare DOL-001 motherboard into a slim and the one thing that’s a roadblock for me is the power regulator board. Can you share more detail on what you did to regulate power and cut down the space that board takes?