Portable 64 Project

bokan · Post by **bokan** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:47 pm

Hello! Before I start describing where my 64 is at, I'd like to thank you guys for maintaining such a helpful community here. Don't take the fact that I probably screwed things up as a knock on the tutorials posted here

Please note that all images are enormous, and will kill 56k connections.

My friend and I have been wanting to build a portable N64 for a while now and, after finally getting the parts in the other day and reading just about every thread on this site (and printing out a bunch of wiring diagrams) started building the thing. We got the case off (which was a lot of fun) and all of the metal plating unscrewed on the inside. I think it is the late revision 1999 model. What I have in terms of heatsinks is a set of 1x1 cm metal ones ( I think they are for RAM) and a CPU heatsink stolen off of an old performa, but these issues are peripheral to the central one of how to power the thing off of a 7.2 v rc battery:

I did the wiring mostly like this http://img279.imageshack.us/img279/7915/n64p8lv.jpg
diagram, except that I have not put in the switches, as it seems like using the built in power switch and screen switch will work fine. I am not sure if a master switch is needed, however. The ones I had were pushbutton and not slide toggles, so I may go back and add at least this one if it is necessary.

I have two main problems. The first is that (I think) my wires are too thin to support this amount of current. One of them melted apart when I plugged it in ( I don't think it was a short). I used some thicker wire (the copper stuff visible in the pictures) for some of the wiring, and I think I am going to just desoldier some of the thin wire and replace it with this stuff.
The second is the voltage converter. I think I wired it correctly

but I am not sure what the line marked 'ground' is supposed to be. Is it the negative line? If not, does the negative line ever have to get stepped down to 3.3 volts?

Also, two of the power contacts appeared to have been soldiered together when I opened up the machine. I broke this connection, but am not sure if it was supposed to be there or not (I believe it was the leftmost two contacts if looking at it upside down with the power plug side toward you).
What was this?

Also: I am using a gamecube screen instead of the Psone screen. I am not sure how to get the power to it exactly. See what I mean here:

Am I going totally astray here, or are there just a couple things I need to fix?

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 3:08 am

Firstly, welcome to the community.

Secondly, please keep your pics small, max of 700 pixels wide and not over 3800, it isn't necessary, and is slow to view even on broadband - anyway, there is little point as monitors are lower resolution anyway. Also, please embed your pics to your post and not links.

Power cables need to be electrical wires rather than very thin ones, although data can pass fine via very thin cables (cart relocation, audio, etc).

There are two types of "ground" - if it relates to power, then it refers to the battery negative terminal, if it relates to a mobo then it is the "common ground" which all buttons and contacts use for one of their two connections.

The battery should be fine but don't expect long playtime with it.

As to the switches, that depends on the system you make, although it is wise to have a master on/off switch; when on it can power the screen, step-down regulator and main power to the N64.

Can't tell from your photos about the step-down regulator wiring. If your multimeter says about 2.9 - 3.5v (aim for 3.1-3.3) when used with your battery, and the regulator can take up to 1.5 amps then you are fine (or 1 amp if you only want to use the Jumper Pak).

Easy way to see what the power cables are to the screen is to open the screen, I presume you are going to make a contained portable and not bolt the screen onto a case (ugly); then you see the power lines concerned. Run the system and use multimeter if you don't know which is positive and negative lines. If you are using composite, then you only have 2 connections here too, one is composite, one is ground. If RGB, this is harder to find the connections, either look for pinouts (Google or use this forum) or trace back via the plug connections.

Make sure you check all wires and power works as it needs to before you turn your system on...

bokan · Post by **bokan** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:18 am

* images fixed *

I think I'm going to start re-wire everything with the beefier wires then see how things look.

tyromaniac · Post by **tyromaniac** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:46 pm

Is this surge of new portables using the Intec Screen because of that auction I posted from ebay? Hope it works for you either way. Looks good to me.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:30 pm

bokan - Excellent, see it looks far better now on the topic having the pics here without external links.

As mentioned before, use thicker electrical wires for the power terminals (anything carrying current), whatever thin wires you have lying about for everything else.

Good luck, keep us posted.

tyromaniac - The PSone screens give good quality visuals (not perfect, but certainly very good), didn't someone say a while back that the GameCube screens looked worse? Anyway, I have two spare PSone screens for future projects, so will stay with them.

bokan · Post by **bokan** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:40 pm

I rewired everything with thicker wires and nothing melts now when I turn plug in the battery, which is something at least

Looking at the voltage converter, it reads 3.2 - 3.3v when the battery is working at full capacity, so I think I'm good there.

However, the 64 itself appears to have fried during the process (it won't even work using the regular power plug). Once the new one I ordered comes in, I'm going to see if I can't just soldier the power setup onto it.

I also went and got some switches, which I will splice in eventually.

The reason for this screen is that it is used in http://stadsport.revhost.net/n64m.html. I ran it on the screen earlier when the board still worked, and it looked very good to me. I can't say if it was better than the PSone screen, however.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:53 pm

I purchased one in the past because it was going for $35 at a local store, but it doesn't even compare to the PSOne or Zenith screens in my opinion.

bokan · Post by **bokan** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:46 pm

While I wait for the new board, a couple of things have been bugging me:

1) how exactly should I attach heatsinks (if they are necessary at all on the early model 64... can I put them on top of the existing heatsinks to get more dissipation)? Do I just glue them on top with thermal glue?

2) Are tac switches really necessary for the controller, or can I just take apart the controller board and let the buttons stick out of the case?

3) I have a small fan that I intend to use. Where is a good place to put this wiring-wise, and where should it be directed?

4)I am intending to run the system and the screen off of one battery (the screen is supposed to have 12 volts at least). Is this plausible? Will I get 20 minutes of battery life? If it's a problem, should I try and get a second R/C battery (would make it a pain to charge).