About a year has passed, and... well...
I'm picking it up again!
Pick up your jaws. Yes I know it's amazing that I'd actually do something besides use up space and oxygen, but I've grown sick and tired of the shoebox full of parts filling up my shelf space. It has been just sitting there... mocking me...
Well anyways, the main reason I stopped working on the PSonep was a lack of portable power. I have a 9v RC battery, but it's only 1000mah and it's Ni-Cd. (Blech) But now I have another option that I think will be pretty flexible; homemade battery packs!
It started a couple weeks ago when I stopped at the closest RadioShack to my house. (Besides the crappy tiny one in the mall.) There is a big yellow banner under the sign: "STORE CLOSING". I go in, expecting to pay the usual $5 for a light bulb and a package of resistors, but the drawers were moved to the front with a sign: "All items in drawers 40% off". WOOHOO! I grabbed the parts to make a power regulating circuit (a 7805 and some resistors=7808), some alligator leads (50% off!) and a dozen things of resistors (I admit I bought one just because it was in the old style packaging, but outdated retail junk intrigues me for some reason.
). I check out the EC batteries. The 1600mah Ni-Mh battery pack alone was 5 bucks. The same battery plus a charger in the same box was $30. 
They had some Infolithium-looking batteries for $5 apiece, but the back of the package said "Recharge before January 2003". 
(Plus a charger woulr have been expensive...) So I keep looking and wind up at the battery pack things. I just grabbed the 8xAA holder because it held common AA size batteries, and it was only 50 cents after discount!Why did I settle on this pack?
1. It holds the 1800mah Ni-MH rechargeable AAs we have for the camera.
2. It has a standard 9v-like connector on the end, and I have plenty of 9v battery terminals from my gameboy radio turned DetonatoRadio project. (So called because it resembles a homemade explosive device)
3. It's the right size and shape to fit into some otherwise empty space in the design.
Basically it will work something like the battery in Ben's latest NES Portable (the nPod); the batteries will be loaded into the pack, and the pack will slide into the case and clip onto the hard 9v connector within. Once the batteries are drained, it will be simple to replace them with fresh, convenient AAs. The pack will have anywhere from 5 to 8 batteries in it. This won't hurt the PSone motherboard at all because it is on an 8 volt regulated circuit. (the PSone doesn't mind 7-9 volts. Any mroe than that and the onboard 7805 will generate too much heat, which it dissipates directly into the motherboard.) The Intec screen will be on unregulated power, because it works just fine on 7 volts, and it was designed to run off 12.
So with this I'll be able to use regular disposable AA batteries, the rechargeable Ni-Mh batteries, my rechargeable alkalines, and (in dire emergencies) "heavy duty" AAs or regular 9v batteries. (each of which would run it for roughly 60 seconds.
)Flexibility is always good.
Now, about the case. I plan on re-using the half of the PSone case that has the disc lid, and replacing the bottom with a redesigned version that has the screen and half the battery holder on it. The standard PSX AV output will be left behind along with the Player 2 controller and memory card connectors, so I can hook up the other Intec controller for mobile 2 player gaming! (will need seperate batteries for the second screen though...) The Intec screen will be more or less left intact, I'll probably dremel off some extraneous plastic to make it fit better. Not too sure about heat dissipation, though, because I don't plan on doing an LED mod because I'm cheap. I don't think there would be too much of a heat problem from the inverter if I bury it inside the case and leave the metal heat sink intact... Might have to make a duct of some sort...
So yeah, long story short I'm doing some work on my PSonep again. The case will be half Frankenmod, half "Ben Style" (pieces of plastic screwed together.) All that really remains is coming up with a plan, getting some plastic, and building it!
My hands are weary; I guess that means I'm done with this post.
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