Custom Gamecube Regulator!! Wiikey Fusion/WODE compatible!!!

Includes PS2, Xbox 1, GameCube (but not the Phantom Game Console)

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Nimphious
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Re: Custom Gamecube Regulator! Correct Gamecube Draw!!!!

Post by Nimphious » Tue Apr 27, 2010 2:22 pm

It should be noted that the power rating and mWh ratings of batteries are more important than knowing the voltage or current alone, because power (measured in watts or watt hours much like ampere hours) is a function of both voltage and current.

Or basically:

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Power = Current x Pressure
Watts = Amps x Volts
P = I x V
Using simple transposition we can calculate any of the three as long as we have the other two:

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P = I x V
I = P / V
V = P / I
Other ways of calculating these values using different information, such as resistance are possible like so:

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P = I² / R
But those don't really matter or apply to things such as batteries, and attempting to use R to calculate the power draw of a complex device becomes complicated with inductive and capacitive loads in the mix (assuming the device is AC, or PWM DC of an adequite frequency, etc.)



Considering the results others found in the original post, this theory seems to hold true (calculated using the formulae above and with tests of my own), with the power drawn being higher as the voltage drops.

When working with wires as small and long as the traces on the Gamecube's PCB, the wire's resistance has to be taken into account. This is often a problem when trying to re-wire traces after trimming a board and finding the board has stopped functioning correctly, running the game/sound at the wrong speed or pitch, if at all.

Because of these small traces, portions of the motherboard will get hot, including but not limited to the IC's such as the central and graphics processors, and often the memory depending on the software you're running.



From all of these we can draw several advantages and disadvantages that arise when using a lower board voltage, and what this means for modders.

Advantages:
  • The lower voltage limit allows us to use the same or very similar voltages across the board (requiring less power regulation)
  • Builds can be cheaper because of the ability to omit expensive power regulation devices
  • More space is available and/or saved because this
  • Simple discrete devices will use slightly less current (LEDs will be more dim in some cases)
Disadvantages:
  • The lower voltage causes higher current draw, which means more heat
  • Heat in electronics is lost energy, which means that the more heat produced, the more power you lose
  • Because heat is increased, better cooling (often fans which draw more power still) are required to keep the unit operating correctly
  • CPUs and other such devices will still run on lower voltages, but without enough power their performance might wayne slightly
What this means:
Because more cooling will be required, several sacrifices will have to be made that will negate most advantages. These include, among other things:
  • Fan will be required, a fan is usually included in most portables regardless, however larger fans may be needed to allow the system to operate properly
  • Larger fans mean more noise
  • Increased current draw from fans and heat dissapation mean lower battery life
What we should take from this information:
The voltage of the board's 12v rail isn't as sensitive as first thought. This means we can use cheaper regulators that don't get precisely what voltage we want (eg. 10.5v or 9.8v etc.) that will still work with the system, and it will run fine. By the same token, if your battery voltage total is between 9-12 volts, you won't need to regulate the voltage running to the system, and will only need a step-down DC-DC converter for the 3.3V (which you'll need no matter what.)

I wouldn't recommend using less than 9 volts, as the lower you go, the heat increase grows very quickly.

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zenloc
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by zenloc » Tue May 04, 2010 1:11 pm

Check first post!!!! Regulator is updated with exact measurements!!!
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by Aspect Eleven » Sat Jul 10, 2010 2:31 pm

zenloc wrote: Note you can use TI regulators for the 3.4v and 5v line. I just use these switching regulators cause they produce less heat. I'm not going to bother with diagrams as it is very straight forward and all the info you need is in this thread and in the datasheets. If someone feel like making some by all means knock yourself out :P . Just make sure you give credit :wink:
Ok, I got how to hook up the PTH08080W's but I don't know how to wire the PTR08100W. Could you post a diagram or tell me what connects to which pins? Please and thank you! I really appreciate the hard work put into this, VERY helpful!

-ae

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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by bassmasta » Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:05 pm

Aspect Eleven wrote:
zenloc wrote: Note you can use TI regulators for the 3.4v and 5v line. I just use these switching regulators cause they produce less heat. I'm not going to bother with diagrams as it is very straight forward and all the info you need is in this thread and in the datasheets. If someone feel like making some by all means knock yourself out :P . Just make sure you give credit :wink:
Ok, I got how to hook up the PTH08080W's but I don't know how to wire the PTR08100W. Could you post a diagram or tell me what connects to which pins? Please and thank you! I really appreciate the hard work put into this, VERY helpful!

-ae
http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ptr08100w.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
zeturi wrote:If you're getting 404'd when trying to use the links in stickies, try this tutorial to find that juicy info.

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Aspect Eleven
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by Aspect Eleven » Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:57 am

Hey, thanks! I guess I am just blind...I didn't see the PDF on the product page ;)

pablojr
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by pablojr » Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:28 pm

where can i buy all the parts to this? i know the regulators can be bought from the ti.com but all the resistors and the 110uf caps are not carried at radio shack. Where can i buy these?

also can i use two of thesehttp://www.batteryspace.com/highpowerpolymerli ... arate.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; in a series with this regulator?

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zenloc
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by zenloc » Sun Oct 17, 2010 2:05 pm

updated the first post with schematics of the custom regulator. :mrgreen:
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by NintendoRox » Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:29 pm

zenloc wrote:updated the first post with schematics of the custom regulator. :mrgreen:
can I just bridge the 1.9v line + 5v line to get the voltage for the psone screen or do I need to use a lm317 (or anything related to that) regulator for this?

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zenloc
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by zenloc » Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:28 am

Little update. I've just run the gamecube off 3.7v with just one regulator. The amp draw is crazy high. 5.4A to be exact. I get the feeling the regulator is not that effecient. Then again it is powering a 7A 1.9v line and a 0.8A 3.4v line the voltage difference of 1.9v to 3.4v isn't that much so the draw would not reduce that much anyway.

I have also connected 7.4v to the gamecube with the 2 regulators already in my guide which draw 2.3A.

Both of these are just the 1.9v and 3.4v line. Running the gamecube of one battery seems pointless as it would not even last you an hour. And as you can see the 7.4v regulators are more effecient. With 2x 3.7v 5000A batteries you would get around 2 hours of gameplay. If that is not enough for you then don't bother using a custom built regulator as you can use the original one which powers of a 3cell (11,1v) and 4 (14,8v) cell battery pack. The only real benefit of this is that it's smaller than the original regulator.
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by hailrazer » Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:58 am

Actually that is almost exactly as expected. 2 - 3.7v at 5000 mAh gives you around 2 hours at 3.7v. Put them in series for 7.4v and you by the same 2 hours. The advantage of. 3.7v will be less heat also.

So really that I'd what I expected. Like you said your regulator is probably ineffecient also. Which one are you using.?
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zenloc
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by zenloc » Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:48 am

Indeed running it of 3.7v 5000A will give you around 2 hours but if the draw is 5.4A on 3.7v and 2.3A on 7.4v you'll get longer battery life on the 7.4v regulator setup. As 2.3 x 2 = 4.6A. So by using the 3.7v setup we are wasting 0.8A but only an actual battery test would really show what the time difference would be.

As for heat the only thing that would generate more heat is the regulator itself. The cube does not get any hotter no matter what kind of voltage regulators you use. The heat from my custom regulator is low already on both the 3.7v and 7.4v setup so I doubt that will make any difference.

I'm using a PTH04T240F for the 3.7v to 1.9v regulation and have a 3.7v lab supply powering the 3.4v line on the cube and the regulator. Voltage can go up to 4.2v no problem. Cube works fine with sound, memorycards and all controllers and total draw is slightly lower. 5A to be exact.

I have some 3.7v 4A batteries laying around which I am going to test it with. I'll post my results here as usual.
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Ashen
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by Ashen » Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:32 am

Something I didn't notice until just now (while I'm ordering from Mouser) about this diagram. The resistor specifications seem odd.... so I'm assuming they should really all be in kOhms?

So it should actually be.....

Parts used are :

1.9v - PTR08100W + 903 kOhm resisitor and 2x 100uF caps
3.4v - PTH08080W + 1.87 kOhm resisitor and 2x 100uF caps (1 cap on the output line is optional and not really needed)
5v - PTH08080W + 348 kOhm resistor and 2x 100uF caps (1 cap on the output line is optional and not really needed)

I'm also assuming that the resistors don't need to be exactly 903 kOhm, 1.87 kOhm and 348 kOhm. Should be able to vary a bit without effecting final voltage output that much I would think...... please correct me if I'm wrong.
ImageImageImageImageImageImage

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zenloc
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by zenloc » Mon Apr 11, 2011 4:43 pm

Updated my first post. Made a little mistake in the resistor values'

It's 903 ohm, 1.87 kohm and 348 ohm.

You can always check the datasheet of the regulator if you have doubts.
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by zenloc » Sat Apr 16, 2011 2:29 pm

Been doing some extra tests on the gamecube. This might be usefull for better battery life but still needs to be tested more.

Image

The GPU (ATI flipper chip on the middle of the gamecube) and the CPU (IBM chip next to GPU) both run on 1.9v.. Once the regulator is connected it bridges the 1.9v connection. The 2.2v area is converted from 3.4v with a little regulator chip on the bottom left (if you are looking on the top side of the board facing the av port). So no need to do anything with that. The 12v is used for the sound amp. The 5v line is used for controller rumble, memorycard line (which as far I as know is not used with any accessory) and the discdrive motor.

Since the 5v line is now not needed anymore due to the wiikey fusion modchip we only need the two 1.9v lines and the 3.4v line. I wanted to test each chip to see what they draw and what the lowest voltage is they can work off.

GPU (Flipper chip) The lowest it can go is 1.7v lower than that and the video image will glitch

----- Boot -- In game
1.9v - 3.3A - 3.4A
1.8v - 3.1A - 3.2A
1.7v - 2.9A - 3.0A

CPU (IBM chip) The lowest it can go is 1.5v lower than that and the gamecube will hang and not boot up

----- Boot -- In game:
1.9v - 3.1A - 2.7A
1.8v - 2.7A - 2.4A
1.7v - 2.6A - 2.3A
1.6v - 2.5A - 2.1A
1.5v - 2.2A - 1.9A

Also I have noticed they can also accept higher voltage but the amp draw goes up like crazy also it becomes unstable and heats up more. So no use in posting that info. You can see that running both chips off a custom regulator set to 1.7v will draw a total of 5.3A (in game) compared to 6.1A (in game) on 1.9v. Run each chip of separate regulators set at 1.7v and 1.5v and the total draw is 4.9A (in game).

I still have to test plenty of things before I can say this makes a real difference or not but I've had the gamecube running of 1.7v, 1.5v and 3.4v and all games I threw at it work perfect. Nothing was slower, nothing glitched, nothing was different in any way noticable. Long term effects still needs to be tested.

Just wanted to give you a little info on my research. :wink:
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zenloc
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Re: New Custom Gamecube Regulator! Updated!!! GC Power Draw!!!

Post by zenloc » Wed Apr 20, 2011 4:05 am

Well would you look here. It seems the ifo was available all the time

http://hitmen.c02.at/files/yagcd/yagcd/chap2.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check the voltage pinout. You will see the CPU runs on 1.55v and the GPU runs on 1.8v That the regulator does 1.9v was probably to make things cheaper.

Having the GPU run of 1.7v as I have done works fine as well as 1.5v for the CPU. This is good to know that it will work properly as it was suppossed to work of that voltage in the first place.

GOOD STUFF!!!!
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