First portable: do you see any glaring errors with my plans?

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:50 pm

Hello,
I'm working on my first portable here, and I'm taking an odd approach to it. I'm using the old SNES, which I've recently found out has ample room inside the case for all sorts of things. I'm turning it upside down and mounting the monitor and controller to the top. My biggest question right now is power. I have two 9.6v radioshack RC car batteries. I plan on wiring these up in parallell. I used a voltmeter to find out that they actually have a standing voltage of around 12v, though I don't know what the internal resistance might be. Anyways, I'm using the Zenith gamecube monitor. I'm looking to mess with the circuitry as little as possible, and from testing things out, it looks like the SNES will run off of one battery and so will the screen, so they should both run off of the two in parallell unless one eats up too much current. I don't know how long it'll run, but I think it should, at least. If this is the case, is there any need for additional circuitry? I do know there's a 12v to 7.2v circuit in the Zenith, but if I can leave that in, I think I'd prefer not to mess with it much. That's about where it stands at the moment. Any suggestions are welcome!

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:53 pm

sounds good from what i read good luck

Metroid fan · Post by **Metroid fan** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:55 pm

Yeah that should work just hook up the battery to the screen and then if it has two 7805 regulators then hook up the snes to the top one to get power. Could you send in some pics of the screen and stuff?

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:13 pm

As far as pictures of the screen, this link (http://store1.yimg.com/I/i-market_1861_5923347) might show you some stuff, but my computer seems to be having trouble uploading stuff lately. I'm documenting the whole thing though, so I'll have some eventually. Anyways, I just powered up the SNES using one battery and the screen using another. Could you clarify what you mean regarding the 7805s? It doesn't seem like I need to bug with them. I think I can just hook the screen and system in parallell and run it off of the two batteries in parallell. My only real concerns are A) will the screen munch all the current and B) will putting two Ni-Cads in parallell make them degenerate because if one is slightly less charged then the other will charge it back up. But these batteries were on clearance at Radio Shack, so I figure they'll do for now. If I need to invest in a camcorder battery later, maybe I'll do it. Anyways, fun times, and I'll keep this post updated as best I can.

Metroid fan · Post by **Metroid fan** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:36 pm

Yeah just do what your doing I thought you were doing somthing else so umm yeah.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:26 pm

Blew a fuse. How'd I do that? Anybody know? It's the little 1.5 amp one. Blowing fuses makes me sad.

(FYI, everything else works when I jump the fuse, though I'm running it off wall power for the time being)

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:01 pm

First find a replacement for the fuse (you really need a fuse). Next is to set it put to run on batteries. Now thats not hard very easy its what I did to my PSone (currently incomplete).

Next once your done add the screen.

Then the controller.

Then put it in the case you have or designed.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 9:49 am

Balls.
Fried my SNES. Not going to give up, though the fire WAS rather discouraging, and singed my carpet. Word to the wise - don't jump the fuse except to see if you've blown something. If you HAVE blown the fuse, get a new one, don't keep jumping it. Because then if you mess something up again, you fry the whole thing. Anyways, now that I have to get a new system, I'll probably hop on an N64 this time. Even though I hear they're even easier to fry.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:22 pm

were you working on it on your carpet

cartpet=short circuit city
try a desk or newspaper

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:42 pm

Come on. My post tells you to replace the fuse. Also the N64 is much harder to power as it lacks an onboard power regulator.

It would be best to stick with Atari, C64 DTV, NES, SNES, Radica, or a PSone.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:04 pm

i think the atari can be pretty hard if under certain circumstances i sure as hell couldnt get jeffs workin with a psone screen

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:47 pm

True, you need Ben's new video mod, the old one won't give you a signal suitable for a PSone screen.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:35 pm

i did the mod but it didnt work for me i think i did something wrong