Bacteria's N64/GBA combined portable - Nintendo 64 Advance
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cowsgoquack101
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bacteria
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Time for some updates again!
The Jumper Pak, as it is when you just remove it from its casing, as I had done a while back:
Deemeled off the unwanted area (no contacts present on the parts removed). Pic not too good, but basically you can remove much of the sides (ground only) and above the tiny holes in the mobo where the contacts jump from one side of the card to the other.
I then removed the old fan, and put in the new one. You see the rear of the fan, as the fan blades side are on top of the heatsinks. As you will notice, it is not a massive fan, actually an ideal size.
Side view, showing the height of the modded Jumper Pak is no higher than the fan unit - ideal:
As there was interest in the fan I acquired, I took a pic of the rear of the fan, which shows its specs (I can't get a better image than this with my camera from a small area):
More updates to follow soon!
The Jumper Pak, as it is when you just remove it from its casing, as I had done a while back:
Deemeled off the unwanted area (no contacts present on the parts removed). Pic not too good, but basically you can remove much of the sides (ground only) and above the tiny holes in the mobo where the contacts jump from one side of the card to the other.
I then removed the old fan, and put in the new one. You see the rear of the fan, as the fan blades side are on top of the heatsinks. As you will notice, it is not a massive fan, actually an ideal size.
Side view, showing the height of the modded Jumper Pak is no higher than the fan unit - ideal:
As there was interest in the fan I acquired, I took a pic of the rear of the fan, which shows its specs (I can't get a better image than this with my camera from a small area):
More updates to follow soon!
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bacteria
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Started the relocation of the memory card and rumble pack part, did a quarter of the work, ran out of time, will continue tomorrow.
As the height of my fan (and Jumper Pak) are now quite low, I need ideally to lower the height of the memory pack, which does after all, mean relocation. I therefore need to solder two extensions as I also need the rumble pack.
Pic below is after I attached the bottom row (a quarter of the work needed), using the thin IDE cables I shown earlier. The wire colours don't matter, it was just a way if something failed, to make it easier to trace the problem wire(s). The blue splodge is blu-tack which I used to secure the items to the desk to stop them moving and make the soldering easier!
After finishing, and testing each contact with my multimeter, I hot-glued the wires together and to the pins for extra strength. The thin card I used (in pic below) is to stop any stray wire touching another contact when I do more soldering - also provides a barrier for the hot glue so it doesn't wander to my next soldering positions.
Working with these wires are so much easier than the ones I used before. This soldering part takes a while, each wire needs stripping and tinning, and soldering; there are 96 solder points to complete after all (3 x 32 pins, and 32 of them, on the controller, are double contacts).
I should be able to finish this (hopefully) tomorrow, then I can test them.
As the height of my fan (and Jumper Pak) are now quite low, I need ideally to lower the height of the memory pack, which does after all, mean relocation. I therefore need to solder two extensions as I also need the rumble pack.
Pic below is after I attached the bottom row (a quarter of the work needed), using the thin IDE cables I shown earlier. The wire colours don't matter, it was just a way if something failed, to make it easier to trace the problem wire(s). The blue splodge is blu-tack which I used to secure the items to the desk to stop them moving and make the soldering easier!
After finishing, and testing each contact with my multimeter, I hot-glued the wires together and to the pins for extra strength. The thin card I used (in pic below) is to stop any stray wire touching another contact when I do more soldering - also provides a barrier for the hot glue so it doesn't wander to my next soldering positions.
Working with these wires are so much easier than the ones I used before. This soldering part takes a while, each wire needs stripping and tinning, and soldering; there are 96 solder points to complete after all (3 x 32 pins, and 32 of them, on the controller, are double contacts).
I should be able to finish this (hopefully) tomorrow, then I can test them.
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bacteria
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vskid - Agreed. I did this a while ago, before I was as experienced with modding. In saying that, the method I am using is a bit easier to do, so I believe is probably a preferred option ultimately (soldering points on the contacts are quite small; with my method it is easy to see what solders where), even though it means sacrificing a couple of controllers "for the greater good". Fortunately, controllers are quite cheap.
My rumble pack is disassembled, I need the mobo, the motor will be from a GameCube controller I had (better motor). If I don't get enough "rumble", I can wire in the second motor I have as backup! The rumble pack will be wired to the controllers 3v power. The memory pack can stay as it is, I will only take it apart to re-wire a tact switch to the existing one (Scoot memory pack) and reseal it.
As always, there are various options to get to the same goal. My controller with the two boards (memory pack and rumble pack) will be situated alongside the cart, behind the cart slot, so there is enough height and airflow; you will see later in the project what I mean. I won't have to gain any height in my console by using my method of mounting.
I have to incorporate a cart slot assembly anyway, so I am using up the available space for the controller and its load of wiring. All buttons will be connected via wires to tact switches from the controller to the case.
I am trying to make my portable as small as I reasonably can.
My rumble pack is disassembled, I need the mobo, the motor will be from a GameCube controller I had (better motor). If I don't get enough "rumble", I can wire in the second motor I have as backup! The rumble pack will be wired to the controllers 3v power. The memory pack can stay as it is, I will only take it apart to re-wire a tact switch to the existing one (Scoot memory pack) and reseal it.
As always, there are various options to get to the same goal. My controller with the two boards (memory pack and rumble pack) will be situated alongside the cart, behind the cart slot, so there is enough height and airflow; you will see later in the project what I mean. I won't have to gain any height in my console by using my method of mounting.
I have to incorporate a cart slot assembly anyway, so I am using up the available space for the controller and its load of wiring. All buttons will be connected via wires to tact switches from the controller to the case.I am trying to make my portable as small as I reasonably can.
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bacteria
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I had the same problems again with soldering wires to the reverse of the pins. AARGHHH! I was very careful to make sure each wire was well soldered and no wire touched any other, yet it still didn't work. (!). I removed the connections from the controller, rebooted (took a couple of times before all was ok again and the memory card stopped showing errors). Quite a few hours of soldering wasted!
Ok, time to try the other option, as vskid suggested (I had it in my mind to do this anyway if my previous method failed).
Removed the metal casing from the card slot
Dremeled the sides down so I can get to the connection wires inside.
Forced a thick(ish) screwdriver in to force the card slot open without damaging the connections inside
I then moved the wires away from the casing by levering each one with a small screwdriver. I need to get to the contacts so they are easy to solder to.
Separated the two halves to make it easy to work with
Positioned the memory card (a Scoot 1mb one) in place, making sure the contacts are going to be soldered to the right places!
Half of the card is wired. Soldering to the card was much easier than I thought...
I then tested each contact on the memory card to make sure no adjacent contacts were touching, then secured the wires in place with hot glue on the chip (the wires are there anyway) and electrical tape on the wires.
I need to do the other side of the card tomorrow, and test it to see if it works fine. If it does, I will try attaching the rumble pack too... (fingers crossed).
Ok, time to try the other option, as vskid suggested (I had it in my mind to do this anyway if my previous method failed).
Removed the metal casing from the card slot
Dremeled the sides down so I can get to the connection wires inside.
Forced a thick(ish) screwdriver in to force the card slot open without damaging the connections inside
I then moved the wires away from the casing by levering each one with a small screwdriver. I need to get to the contacts so they are easy to solder to.
Separated the two halves to make it easy to work with
Positioned the memory card (a Scoot 1mb one) in place, making sure the contacts are going to be soldered to the right places!
Half of the card is wired. Soldering to the card was much easier than I thought...
I then tested each contact on the memory card to make sure no adjacent contacts were touching, then secured the wires in place with hot glue on the chip (the wires are there anyway) and electrical tape on the wires.
I need to do the other side of the card tomorrow, and test it to see if it works fine. If it does, I will try attaching the rumble pack too... (fingers crossed).
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bacteria
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Yes, I figured out the pattern with my multimeter, but had got a bit fed up with being ginger with the wires to solder to the 32 solder points on the rear of the card, also this amount of wires is a little thick overall - whereas I can flatten the connector down to an acceptable height (and dremel some of the plastic from the connector if needed, to make it lower) and have far easier points to solder to. Personal choice really; either solder to the rear and dremel off the connector or split open the connector and use that - either way the connector is useless anyway as it is too high and needs to be trimmed!
When I solder all the points on the reverse of the card, I will boot up the N64 and test with my multimeter where the power goes into the memory card. I need to hook this up to a switch to select between the rumble pack and memory card. No issues with the rumble pack power; uses batteries, I will put a switch on that directly. This configuration will then work in a similar fashion to the Tremor Pack Plus, which has both cards installed but alternates the power when you press a switch, to change between the two cards; however the rumble pack has more rumble so is a better option.
More pics to follow soon - I have put aside the next 3 hours or so to work on this project...
When I solder all the points on the reverse of the card, I will boot up the N64 and test with my multimeter where the power goes into the memory card. I need to hook this up to a switch to select between the rumble pack and memory card. No issues with the rumble pack power; uses batteries, I will put a switch on that directly. This configuration will then work in a similar fashion to the Tremor Pack Plus, which has both cards installed but alternates the power when you press a switch, to change between the two cards; however the rumble pack has more rumble so is a better option.
More pics to follow soon - I have put aside the next 3 hours or so to work on this project...
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bacteria
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I decided I needed to lower the connector further, so back to dremeling again!
I bent each of the pins down, making sure no wires touched any other. I tested this also with a multimeter to check no adjacent connection was touching.
I then bent back each of the remaining wires in turn, tinned them, and soldered a wire to this pin and the corresponding contact point on the memory card; I then fully bent back the pin to make it as low as possible. In the pic, I have completed three wires in this method, the forth is bent half way in preparation for soldering (illustration purposes).
If you notice, I have used electrical tape to secure the wires in place on the bottom row. If a wire became loose for any reason, I can easily re-solder it if needed then.
Both sides of the connectors and their corresponding connections on the memory card are now soldered. Electrical tape keeps the wires from moving about by keeping them in a bunch at each end.
Now here's a wierd thing.
Perhaps my previous method of carefully soldering stacks of wires to the rear of the controller was fine, seemed no reason why it wouldn't be after all.
I gave up previously because I kept getting the error message from the memory pack. I assumed (reasonably) that something was wrong with my soldering or I had shorted somewhere.
I got exactly the same message again. I checked each wire for contact, including under the board to the memory card contacts directly, each one worked and no rogue wires were touching any others. Booted up again a few times, same problem. I then thought it a good idea (don't know why) to desolder the controller wires from the N64 mobo to make sure everything works fine without the controller attached (as it would). When I booted up again, I got a pic of the N64 controller in the centre of the screen, on a black background, with a question mark above it. Ok, I thought, it must have got a bit confused, so I resoldered the controller wires back to the N64 again, rebooted again, and presto; game ran and detected the memory card (no errors). I thought "great", so turned N64 off and on again, back to the error message. Aargh! Desoldered the wires to the controller again, booted back to the pic of the "?" controller, turned N64 off, resoldered wires again, system worked. This time I left the system off before booting for a few seconds longer - seemed to have resolved the issue.
Strange! It has been working fine since then. 
Each time I boot up it works. No idea why, but the N64 itself must have got a bit confused and then sorted itself out.
Does anyone know why this happened please? Comments appreciated!!
I found the positive and negative terminals for the memory pack by tracing the wires from the incoming power. The memory card has a battery to keep its volatile memory from deleting, but the card needs power to save and load data (to function). The positive and negative pins are connected to the memory card side with the microchip (rear of the card in other words). 2nd pin from left is positive and last pin on right is negative terminals. I am getting 2.89v from this, as I have running through the N64 mobo from the car adapter. This voltage is fine to also run the rumble pack.
Below is a diagram of how I plan to go this - any comments?
Probably last update for day now - tested the contacts of the rumble pack; pack thoughts are:
Positive terminal from battery - only seems to connect to the rumble motor.
Negative terminal connected to the rumble motor and the same pin as per the memory card.
Logically, the same positive pin connection on the rumble pack has to be the 3v power in, so this means the rumble motor needs the external batteries to function as opposed to taking power from the board. (I am using an official "N" rumble pack BTW).
For the purpose therefore of wiring, the positive terminal from the controller pin needs to go to the positive battery connector on the rumble pack AND the 2nd pin on the contacts. The negative terminal from the controller pins needs to connect to the negative battery terminal on the rumble pack AND the negative pin on the contacts (last pin on right). This removes the need for a battery pack. If there isn't enough "rumble", a second motor can be used too (I have a second one if I need it).
Comments??
This means that the 3-way switch can power the memory pack OR the rumble pack at any one time; which is therefore the same as removing a card and putting another one in - as per the Tremor Pack Plus principle. This would also mean no chance of losing or corrupting saved game data from the memory card as both cards will not run at the same time.
I just hope, when I do this work, the N64 mobo doesn't throw a wobbler as it did before!!
(updated pic above to reflect new update).
I bent each of the pins down, making sure no wires touched any other. I tested this also with a multimeter to check no adjacent connection was touching.
I then bent back each of the remaining wires in turn, tinned them, and soldered a wire to this pin and the corresponding contact point on the memory card; I then fully bent back the pin to make it as low as possible. In the pic, I have completed three wires in this method, the forth is bent half way in preparation for soldering (illustration purposes).
If you notice, I have used electrical tape to secure the wires in place on the bottom row. If a wire became loose for any reason, I can easily re-solder it if needed then.
Both sides of the connectors and their corresponding connections on the memory card are now soldered. Electrical tape keeps the wires from moving about by keeping them in a bunch at each end.
Now here's a wierd thing.
Perhaps my previous method of carefully soldering stacks of wires to the rear of the controller was fine, seemed no reason why it wouldn't be after all.
I gave up previously because I kept getting the error message from the memory pack. I assumed (reasonably) that something was wrong with my soldering or I had shorted somewhere.
I got exactly the same message again. I checked each wire for contact, including under the board to the memory card contacts directly, each one worked and no rogue wires were touching any others. Booted up again a few times, same problem. I then thought it a good idea (don't know why) to desolder the controller wires from the N64 mobo to make sure everything works fine without the controller attached (as it would). When I booted up again, I got a pic of the N64 controller in the centre of the screen, on a black background, with a question mark above it. Ok, I thought, it must have got a bit confused, so I resoldered the controller wires back to the N64 again, rebooted again, and presto; game ran and detected the memory card (no errors). I thought "great", so turned N64 off and on again, back to the error message. Aargh! Desoldered the wires to the controller again, booted back to the pic of the "?" controller, turned N64 off, resoldered wires again, system worked. This time I left the system off before booting for a few seconds longer - seemed to have resolved the issue.
Strange! It has been working fine since then. Each time I boot up it works. No idea why, but the N64 itself must have got a bit confused and then sorted itself out.Does anyone know why this happened please? Comments appreciated!!
I found the positive and negative terminals for the memory pack by tracing the wires from the incoming power. The memory card has a battery to keep its volatile memory from deleting, but the card needs power to save and load data (to function). The positive and negative pins are connected to the memory card side with the microchip (rear of the card in other words). 2nd pin from left is positive and last pin on right is negative terminals. I am getting 2.89v from this, as I have running through the N64 mobo from the car adapter. This voltage is fine to also run the rumble pack.
Below is a diagram of how I plan to go this - any comments?
Probably last update for day now - tested the contacts of the rumble pack; pack thoughts are:
Positive terminal from battery - only seems to connect to the rumble motor.
Negative terminal connected to the rumble motor and the same pin as per the memory card.
Logically, the same positive pin connection on the rumble pack has to be the 3v power in, so this means the rumble motor needs the external batteries to function as opposed to taking power from the board. (I am using an official "N" rumble pack BTW).
For the purpose therefore of wiring, the positive terminal from the controller pin needs to go to the positive battery connector on the rumble pack AND the 2nd pin on the contacts. The negative terminal from the controller pins needs to connect to the negative battery terminal on the rumble pack AND the negative pin on the contacts (last pin on right). This removes the need for a battery pack. If there isn't enough "rumble", a second motor can be used too (I have a second one if I need it).
Comments??
This means that the 3-way switch can power the memory pack OR the rumble pack at any one time; which is therefore the same as removing a card and putting another one in - as per the Tremor Pack Plus principle. This would also mean no chance of losing or corrupting saved game data from the memory card as both cards will not run at the same time.
I just hope, when I do this work, the N64 mobo doesn't throw a wobbler as it did before!!
(updated pic above to reflect new update).
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bacteria
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Just spent a lot of time trying to figure out why I couldn't set up a simple two way switch to cut off the power to the memory card and switch to an alternative (ie rumble pack). Very simple electronics after all...
If you look at the pic above which shows the positive and negative terminals on the memory card, I hadn't noticed but the positive terminal has a trace to the same corresponding pin on the reverse of the card; so of course any attempt to use a switch would fail as there was an alternative route for the power! I simply clipped off the wire on the reverse side of the memory card, so now only one terminal provides power to both sides.
I hooked up a 3v LED to show when the memory card is powered, I will do the same for the rumble pack too. Nice touch I thought, the switch will be located probably on the top edge of the case, an LED on each side of the switch to indicate which is selected.
Now when I have the switch in one direction the LED illuminates and the game runs straight away. When the switch is in the other direction, the LED is off and the game stops at the initial screen, recommending you install a memory pack to save your game progress. It now works fine, in other words. This other direction on the switch of course will be for the rumble pack when it is wired up.
I spent so long working out this problem that I didn't have any more time to attach the rumble pack. I won't have time to progress this project until Monday now, need to spend the weekend with my wife; however I will have most of Monday and a large chunk of Tuesday available to this project. Assuming the rumble pack works fine I intend to progress on to make the cart slot, then work out what goes where in my home-made case. I can then start to piece everything together.
I haven't done the pics for this yet, but I have also hooked up the speakers to the system and all works fine. I am using 55mm speakers, as I did the the BigBoy Advance project, although I will mount them better this time with flusher mounting. I like better sound than the naff range the PSone internal speakers give, which means larger speakers, and the installation problems they give (trade off). I need to get to bed now, working nights again tonight, so need the sleep... will post "how-to" for the speakers on Monday with pics, as per usual; as well as further updates on this project.
If you look at the pic above which shows the positive and negative terminals on the memory card, I hadn't noticed but the positive terminal has a trace to the same corresponding pin on the reverse of the card; so of course any attempt to use a switch would fail as there was an alternative route for the power! I simply clipped off the wire on the reverse side of the memory card, so now only one terminal provides power to both sides.
I hooked up a 3v LED to show when the memory card is powered, I will do the same for the rumble pack too. Nice touch I thought, the switch will be located probably on the top edge of the case, an LED on each side of the switch to indicate which is selected.
Now when I have the switch in one direction the LED illuminates and the game runs straight away. When the switch is in the other direction, the LED is off and the game stops at the initial screen, recommending you install a memory pack to save your game progress. It now works fine, in other words. This other direction on the switch of course will be for the rumble pack when it is wired up.
I spent so long working out this problem that I didn't have any more time to attach the rumble pack. I won't have time to progress this project until Monday now, need to spend the weekend with my wife; however I will have most of Monday and a large chunk of Tuesday available to this project. Assuming the rumble pack works fine I intend to progress on to make the cart slot, then work out what goes where in my home-made case. I can then start to piece everything together.
I haven't done the pics for this yet, but I have also hooked up the speakers to the system and all works fine. I am using 55mm speakers, as I did the the BigBoy Advance project, although I will mount them better this time with flusher mounting. I like better sound than the naff range the PSone internal speakers give, which means larger speakers, and the installation problems they give (trade off). I need to get to bed now, working nights again tonight, so need the sleep... will post "how-to" for the speakers on Monday with pics, as per usual; as well as further updates on this project.
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bacteria
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Thanks for your comments! We have a postal strike at the moment (2 day one), so hopefully your TI card will get to me early next week! I am hoping it comes on Monday or Tuesday as I will have plenty of time then to play with it and build it into my case.khaag wrote:This thing looks like it's turning out pretty freaking awesome! Hope you get the DC/DC soon!
My rig works fine with the car adapter at the moment, but one thing I have noticed is that if my system hasn't been running for a short while and I turn it on, nothing happens, quickly turn it on and off again and it fires up fine. I guess that may be something to do with the car adapter? Anyway, it works fine.
Once the TI arrives, I intend to use it in this mod in preference to the car adapter (once it arrives), assuming I can get it working fine. I had to use the car adapter before as it is all I could get to get 3v from; however I may have to use some of its parts when the TI card arrives...
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bacteria
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That is what I thought, fortunately I have booted the system over a dozen times now and on each occasion it has worked absolutely fine, but yes, the power supplied to the system is perhaps "a bit borderline", hence why I need to turn the system on, off and straight back on again to get the system working.marshallh wrote:I'd guess the mempack doesn't work because your car adapter is supplying a voltage too low - it expects 3.3v and is getting 2.89.
I bought a TI card from khaaq, once it arrives and I have got it working I will substitute the car adapter for the TI card so I can run the rig off an external battery pack in the future if I wish to - probably some chunky "D" cells at about 15000Nimh as I don't have to be worried about battery weight or size with an external pack. Adding the rumble option to the system as it is at the moment might put a bit too much strain on the system, it will be interesting to see - if this works fine, then at least it proves that you can have everything running with the car adapter if you want to (and can't get a TI board, which has been my problem for a while - hence the car adapter - thanks for offering to sell me one khaaq, appreciated!). When his board comes I will test it, then buy another one from him, as I intend as next project, to completely revamp my BigBoy Advance project and make big improvements to it!