GBZ with Helder AIO

Show off your completed Game Boy Zero, or post your build logs here!
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DarrylUK
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GBZ with Helder AIO

Post by DarrylUK » Wed Oct 05, 2016 6:32 am

Thought I'd share my first build here. In hindsight I should have planned more and it would have been much neater. This was really an experiment prior to me making my own and one for a family member. This one will be sold. Hopefully the next one will be a kite AIO but as time ticks on I may go with the new Helder AIO, I've had a pretty good experience with this one. I didn't use a cartridge reader as I felt it was a bit of a novelty and just added potential points of failure. The micro SD card is accessible through the battery slot.

So, build items:

• DMG-01 shell, classic grey
• Additional colour matched buttons and silicone pads
• Dominator acrylic screen overlay and cartridge label
• B+W v7 screen, mod performed
• Camble safe shutdown board
• 2500mAH battery
• JST extension lead
• Helder AIO
• Powerboost 1000C
• Couple of Apem switches I had in my draw at work full of Engineering bits and pieces


I've chosen not to use wifi, I don't really see an ongoing need for it. I configured and copied the ROMs over and that's it really.

It's running a custom ES theme from elsewhere in this forum which is pretty clean and nice.


Here are some photos:


[spoiler="Unmodified case"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Screen filed out by hand, no dremel"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="5V mod on the display board to reduce phasing. I used a screened primary wire as well to try and reduce interference"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="AIO and display board positioned in with the 3D printed screen bracket"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="View of the buttons and screen in place"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Bit of a rats nest prior to tidying up"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Further tidying up, various layers insulated with a strong bonding tape"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Safe shutdown board fitted"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Battery in"]Image[/spoiler]

Few shots of it in action:
[spoiler="Photo 1"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Photo 2"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Photo 3"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Photo 4"]Image[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Photo 5"]Image[/spoiler]


Lessons learnt are:

• Plan your positioning of components in advance, understand what your routing will be and optimise your wire lengths accordingly.
• Open up the X & Y holes a little more to give the buttons as much clearance as the A & B buttons.
• A square screen would look better (imo). The curved corner retains the classic style but it is distracting when playing a game.
• My Apem switches are nice and tactile but they're too high. The next build will use the same style of switches Wermy used.

If I end up going with a Helder AIO again I'll add to the 3D printed parts and model and print the following:

• Screen bracket with button wells integrated, allowing space to hold the display board.
• Further bracket for PB and Pi, accomodating supports for micro USB, USB and volume wheel.

pmeledeo
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Re: GBZ with Helder AIO

Post by pmeledeo » Wed Oct 05, 2016 7:59 am

Looks awesome!

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Chedda
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Re: GBZ with Helder AIO

Post by Chedda » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:36 am

My only concern about covering all of the components is heat. Otherwise, looks pretty dang good.
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DarrylUK
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Re: GBZ with Helder AIO

Post by DarrylUK » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:40 am

Chedda wrote:My only concern about covering all of the components is heat. Otherwise, looks pretty dang good.

Yeah, I'll keep an eye on that. I've not had any long sessions, max 20 minutes or so. I'll check the temps and if it's high I'll remove the top layer. It's just for tidying, the underneath layers are insulating.

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Chedda
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Re: GBZ with Helder AIO

Post by Chedda » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:49 am

The powerboost and the pi are the two major sources of heat. You can watch the pi's temps via ssh.
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Valadone
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Re: GBZ with Helder AIO

Post by Valadone » Mon Feb 20, 2017 1:29 pm

Hi !

I have the same screen, i tried to run in 5V, i did the pass to turn on 5V and don't have flickering but nothing happen with my new Rpi0.

Do you have change the code to display on the RCA component in the command line ?
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P_20170220_204955.jpg (863.99 KiB) Viewed 6401 times
Thanks

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