J64 Beta worklog

[blaze3927]

Well this is all about the J64 Beta

cost (AUD)/material:

2 n64's: $3

1 worldtech 7 inch portable dvd player: $40

1 project box: $10

ram expansion: free

hot glue, elec tape, capacitors, regulator, etc...: $5

controller: $30 (ouch impulse buying)

cost so far: $88


so far:
started last week with three n64's, first attempt failed epicly with the cart slot relocation as I soldered the pins to the actual hole of the cart slot not the expansion port pins. desoldered that tried again on a new n64 board. all things worked fine with progress slow but smooth. cart slot relocated, heatsinks added, av ports soldered, power soldered, controller soldered (till need to do tact switches) board trimmed, basic case construction started.
It is a beta because once this is done I will probs make a vacuum formed case as school is buying a vacuum forming table yay!
heres some pics


above: front of case with protctive screen on the lcd at the moment



innards so far



the whole bunch of ...stuff together



above would be the back of the joystick from the third party controller, good because it's the exact same as the psone/two joystick and has a tact switch which I will double as ...i dunno:D



trimmed n64 board with heatsinks and n64 logo which is the power light (white LED) and I will use as the start button (av port is now cut off)



power switch/ back of board


comments:
I really must reccomend the worldtech portable dvd player, the mainboard is small, comes with charger, charge protection circuit built in, 3000mAh 7.4v li-poly battery, dual headphone jacks, av in (doubles as av out), remote etc...
screen quality is great, and here comes the weirdest part. I ran down the battery the other day and charged it from scratch, after a full charge I decided to plug in conkers BFD and time how long the battery will last with fan on, ram expansion in, volume up to good level, and screen brightness on a highish good level. and two hours 47 mins later the battery conks out, two hours 47 mins does seem a bit strange (strange as in I expected it to only go for a hour and a half) for a 3000 mAh 7.4v battery.
any ideas?

Also the image produced when video is soldered directly to the mainboard is a bit pale/whighted out, do i need a capcitor on the video line or something?

thanks

[blaze3927]

update:
drilled all holes for buttons/logo (cept z button cos its going on the back of the case). started to desolder and relocate the memory/transfer/rumble pak port.

[banditpaw1]

YAY! My ps1/2 idea was useful go me!

Nice job much farther than i got.

lol made the same cart slot mistake.

[blaze3927]

lol yeh when I saw your thread i thought that'd be great but im not sure what for yet...

[banditpaw1]

lol yeh when I saw your thread i thought that'd be great but im not sure what for yet...

Yah Im using mine for start!
I like ss L R and Z-button ideas....

[zealot2009]

OMG I bet you got that project enclosure from Jaycar I got a similar one but less thick.

[blaze3927]

dick smith actually

[zealot2009]

I saw the exact same box at Jaycar (And dont me. It makes me feel )

[banditpaw1]

Are you still selling the screen pad you have seen my offers...

[blaze3927]

Problem:
after connecting the whole controller to tact switches, I noticed the joystick was loose so I soldered it back using trial and error to get any sort of working movement, I'm finally able to move left and right but it's mixed up as In i move up it goes right, i move down It goes left, btw I can only get horizontal movement, now the annoying this is is that I only have two wires connected when that occurs (from the joystick to the board) when connecting the other two nothing else happens.
any ideas on what the problem is ( As in do i need a new controller board or just a joystick)?:
BTW:
The 3rd party controller I'm using uses a psone joystick except its got it on a pcb that only has four wires going to the board.
All other buttons work fine

[banditpaw1]

first did you break any pins? needs to have 6. second are you sure its wired wright? last did you read my last post?????

[Skyone]

Why people use hot glue to secure heat sinks boggles me.

[thewise1]

Well when you think about it, your average portabilizer doesn't have very many options.

[blaze3927]

I saw the exact same box at Jaycar (And dont me. It makes me feel )

sorry no offence intended

Why people use hot glue to secure heat sinks boggles me.

Hot glue is just temporary so if something goes wrong I can get them off easy, once everything is ready to go I'll be using a compound paste to secure them.

Are you still selling the screen pad you have seen my offers...

Sorry sold

first did you break any pins? needs to have 6. second are you sure its wired wright? last did you read my last post?????

Yer its a third party controller that uses a psone type joystick, only four wires, Im guessing they'll be Vcc, Gnd, X, and y, but it only goes left and right (see my last post)

[bacteria]

Why people use hot glue to secure heat sinks boggles me.

Normally, thin wires are used to stretch across the heatsinks, and these wire ends are secured to the board to keep heatsinks in place. Thus, hot glue is not on the chips directly, so function fine - as you imply, it would be daft to use hot glue directly on the chips as by definition, if the chips need cooling then their temperature would exceed the temperature hot glue would melt, so defeat the object. If however wires secure the heat sinks in place and the hot glue is away from the chips, then no issue with melting; especially if a fan is used.