GCp and Batteries

kaoru117 · Post by **kaoru117** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:19 pm

Well, I've started building a wood cased GCp on a whim for trips and the like and I've figured out how to connect the screen and controller, but I'm stuck with the batteries.

So, to get to the point, what kind of batteries would you recommend for powering a GCp? I know it draws 12V, but how many mA? Also, does it remain the same with the screen attached?

And, as for wiring, how would I go about either being able to recharge the battery or just bypass the battery by connecting the portable to the wall?

Thanks.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:01 am

I dont think anyone has been able to build a GCp with a Battery Pack built in, or any type of Battery.

Best choice would be to buy a Car Adaptor Specifically for GC and there you go You have a Portable Gamecube.
and those Car adaptors for GC are pretty Cheap, Ive seen em as low as 5 bucks.

http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/zz-gc-carla

Post by **benheck** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:41 am

The GC will run off, hm, I think it's 8 AA batteries.

I used 2500mAH Ni-MH. However these will NOT run a Wii.

-Ben

PS: I found this topic on the "Recent Post" thing of the prototype site. Cool, huh?

www.benheck.com/WordPress1

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:06 pm

benheck wrote:PS: I found this topic on the "Recent Post" thing of the prototype site. Cool, huh?

www.benheck.com/WordPress1

Yeah. That recent posts thing: KICKS GRRRRASS!!!!

I have a battery that will run a gc. It's in my topic MALO MART if you want it.

SS

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:31 pm

Jongamer wrote:I dont think anyone has been able to build a GCp with a Battery Pack built in, or any type of Battery.

Best choice would be to buy a Car Adaptor Specifically for GC and there you go You have a Portable Gamecube.
and those Car adaptors for GC are pretty Cheap, Ive seen em as low as 5 bucks.

http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/zz-gc-carla

Try saying that to Me, Turbotax, Gamelver, and the one other guy

Gamecubes only use about 12-14 Volt Batteries. Very easy to find and use.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:19 pm

i get a decent life too ~4-4.5 hours

Zzebotes13 · Post by **Zzebotes13** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:17 pm

yeah, what's with the "nobody's been able to make an internal battery pack"
- on a different note, who do i talk to about getting portablizer written under my user name. I think i been here for a year

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:21 pm

by making a portable

kaoru117 · Post by **kaoru117** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:16 pm

Well, thanks for the help. I will be sure to keep you all aware as the project progresses.

So far, I have taken all the boards out of the case and wired a controller in. It works perfectly, even though I got my left and right switched up and at first wired the controller into the fourth slot rather than the first. I hope I serve as a cautionary tale to anyone who sees this. It still works, as I was playing Resident Evil 4 five minutes prior to writing this.

Hopefully, I'll have the screen in a week or two and the case made a week after that.

Da Shimsta · Post by **Da Shimsta** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:13 am

I am workin on my own portable Gamecube and it will run off of 3a = 3000ma 12 volt batteries

It'll run much lower also

Also since non of you guys seem to realize this, if a device draws 2 amps at 12 volts, and its connected to a 12 volt 4 amp battery then it will draw 2 amps from that battery and leave 2 amps for another device

If you put to much amps through a device it wont fry it unless its at too many volts

As long as the voltage is correct and your total amperage for both your monitor and cube is compensated for in the batteries then your fine

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:29 pm

Da Shimsta wrote:Also since non of you guys seem to realize this, if a device draws 2 amps at 12 volts, and its connected to a 12 volt 4 amp battery then it will draw 2 amps from that battery and leave 2 amps for another device

This is correct if by "4 amp battery" you mean "a battery rated for maximum 4 amps"

however, most batteries dont say what their maximum current is, they say what their total capacity is, in amp-hours.

this is a common misunderstanding around here, so lets jsut clarify once again that

amps != amp-hours (in English: amps are not amp-hours! -Gamey

)

if you have a 12v battery pack with 4Ah, then it says that it will provide 4 amps for an hour, or 1 amp for 4 hours, or 4 mili-amps for 1000 hours. or any other combination that equals 4Ah when you multiply amps and hours together

however, it gives no information about the current capacity of a battery, 4 amps could still be too much for it, for all you know.

realistically though, large rechargeable packs can easily do like 10A of current. this only becomes a problem when you start talking about AA or 9v batteries, which cannot supply much current.

so actually while im on the topic, a Gamecube will might not run off 8AA batteries, and here is why:

8AA batteries have a capacity of roughly 3Ah @ 12v. This means they might run a 3A gamecube for 1 hour. BUT. AA batteries can not supply 3A at once. its just too much for them. the gamecube might not turn on, it might reset constantly, or it might just die after 20 minutes. People have had problems with this before, even on relatively weak N64 portables running on AA batteries.

furthermore, AA cells have a very high internal resistance, that means that as the current goes up, their voltage goes down. trying to take 3A from a 12v AA pack might make its voltage immediately drop to 9v or something.

also, non-rechargeable AA batteries experience a pretty steep voltage profile when they are discharged. a "dead" AA battery is only putting out something like .9v. A half-dead one is sitting around 1.2v. keep that in mind when you try to power portables off of them.

Da Shimsta · Post by **Da Shimsta** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:09 am

Im not stupid, im just to lazy to write amp hours

I thought that people would realized what i mean...

Any way max amps are totally useless information to us, so quite frankly i dont think anyone would have gotten the 2 confused

thanks...

And about batteries,

12 volts is what the gamecube needs as a constant power

use a battery that has about 14.4 volts because if you have a 12 volt battery that is 90% charged its only giving like 10.5 volts which the gamecube doesnt run off of.

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:28 am

Harshboy wrote:
Jongamer wrote:I dont think anyone has been able to build a GCp with a Battery Pack built in, or any type of Battery.

Best choice would be to buy a Car Adaptor Specifically for GC and there you go You have a Portable Gamecube.
and those Car adaptors for GC are pretty Cheap, Ive seen em as low as 5 bucks.

http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/zz-gc-carla

Try saying that to Me, Turbotax, Gamelver, and the one other guy

Gamecubes only use about 12-14 Volt Batteries. Very easy to find and use.

My bad, I thought no one was able to build one with Batteries because all the GCp I saw all still had to be plugged into a wall.

ATOMICMAN · Post by **ATOMICMAN** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 9:48 am

2x 7.2v rc car batteries should do it or buy a 12-14v rechargable.

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