ZN-40 SNES, coming right up sir! (7/31/08: DONE!)

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:43 am

The ones I used are from eBay, they're 7.2v, 2400 mAh each and wired in parallel for a really long battery life. However, the system can be run off of just one if I wanted to. Do a search for "infolithium L" batteries on eBay and you'll find a bunch of cheap knockoffs that work just as well as the Sony batteries.

Batteryspace.com works just as well. I love that store!

dragonball345 · Post by **dragonball345** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:45 am

brian i think I know the exact batteries your looking at as there they look identical to the ones you used in your project. Do you think I should go for 3 in my gamecube project and did you wire in a protection circuit since they're lithium I have a battery charger that will work with them already.

nuky nuclear · Post by **nuky nuclear** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:12 pm

Life of Brian wrote:The ones I used are from eBay, they're 7.2v, 2400 mAh each and wired in parallel for a really long battery life. However, the system can be run off of just one if I wanted to. Do a search for "infolithium L" batteries on eBay and you'll find a bunch of cheap knockoffs that work just as well as the Sony batteries.

Batteryspace.com works just as well. I love that store!

which work better, the internal batteries like you used on the white zn-40 SNES or the external batteries you used on the black zn-40 SNES?

Post by **Skyone** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:12 pm

Definitely one of the neatest portables I've seen out there, congrats! Keep it up!

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 10:27 pm

Thanks, Skyone. I really do need to finish this sucker. Fortunately my family's overhaul on the garage (and my workbench) is almost finished so I'll have my workspace back.

As for nuky's question, the li-poly's are better hands down, but I wouldn't recommend them for someone with no experience. They still make me a bit wary - I don't want any accidents to happen with those suckers!

I don't have any "protection circuit" for the li-ion's used in my black one - they are connected directly to the screen and and also to a voltage regulator for the SNES. Haven't ever had any problems. The only hard part to using those particular batteries (infolithium L and similar camcorder type batteries) is figuring out how to mount them and connect to the terminals. They're kind of goofy.

dragonball345 · Post by **dragonball345** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:14 pm

I guess I'll just set up some fuses and stuff In mine did you use a smart charger to charge yours or just a step down to get the voltage from the wall to 7.2 volts before feeding it into the batteries. I wanna put your screen to use.

nuky nuclear · Post by **nuky nuclear** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:07 pm

another question, did you just use the dremel to cut the controller board?

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:30 pm

I purchased a charger made specifically for that type of battery off of ebay. I think it was $14 shipped.

Yes, I used a dremel to cut the controller up. I use a rotary tool to do most of my cutting. I also use razor blades and files to shape pieces just the way I want them.

nuky nuclear · Post by **nuky nuclear** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:45 pm

ok thanks i didnt want to start cutting and find out that the dremel doesnt work for it well. I also was wondering will having a controller port affect the voltage needed? also what about push button triggers for L and R, would that also affect the voltage or will i be fine with 7.4 volts? Also i am trying to find a jack for the plug so i can plug in the charger to the system, any ideas where i can find one? sorry for all the questions, i just want to get this done right.

nuky nuclear · Post by **nuky nuclear** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:11 pm

lovablechevy wrote:
nuky nuclear wrote:thanks for the help. these arent the ones for the ipods are they?
no. they are these batteries, this pcb, and this charger.

hope that helps! good luck!

what type of dc power jack do i need to get to connect the charger to the system.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:41 am

Update time. It's so close to being done I can taste it! Maybe if I stopped licking it I would finish sooner...

One reason (of many) that this project has taken so long is I've had to redo the paint job on the case a few times for one reason or another. I get pretty meticulous so something like this was just not acceptable:

I had to sand it down, add more spot putty, reinforce the inside of the case with some JB Weld, and then repaint, reapply clear coat, and then use rubbing compound to bring it to a shine.

The guts, exploded out in the open for your viewing pleasure. The wires are a bit of a mess, but I'm just testing to make sure all is working well.

Testing the batteries. I received these batteries in the mail 4 months ago, and yet they still had almost a complete charge! Truly, lithium polymer batteries are made of magic.

I was extremely nervous wiring up these batteries. One slip of a wire and... ugh! Luckily all went well. This is the protection circuit board wired up according to this PDF diagram.

Can't have magical batteries without a magical charger. It knows when the batteries are charged and has a little light that will change to green when done.

Bubbles · Post by **Bubbles** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:47 am

Looks nice, no surprise there though.

Good work!

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:23 am

Great news - I have all day tomorrow to work on projects, so I'll be finishing this portable up as well as posting a "finished" video to YouTube.

I've hit a snag, though - the right audio is NOT WORKING! It's just static for the right channel. I get the same problem even if I plug in headphones. This indicates it's a problem from the source, but when I try hooking the speakers up to just the mono output source on the SNES I get no audio at all. We'll see if I can get it cleared up tomorrow.

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:16 am

Yep, that charger pwns. I've had two, the first one I had crapped out on me due to a defect. Thank God it didn't screw up my batteries. I recommend setting it up on its side, that thing can get REALLY hot. Actually, I've been planing on making some air vents in it and installing a fan, but, whatever. your batteries seem much smaller than mine, so it probably wont get as hot. By the way, in that one pic I saw you wired up your own protection circuit, that must have been a major scare. I always feared working on mine. I recommend you get it pre-wired to the batteries next time you order.

Nice work so far, I've been steadily watching your progress, its always fun to watch epic awesomeness come together.

SS

Valium · Post by **Valium** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:30 am

I have the exact same problem with one of my Zenith screens. Except, not only is one of the speakers not working, the volume is extremely low. When you find out what happened to yours, post it here.