Wii U Gamepad zero/gamepi project thread

[Racerboy]

I'm wondering if we should plan ahead and see if we could get some custom control boards made for each side that take in the ribbon cable through the FPC connector, use a charliplexing method, then output pins that go to GPIO. It would certainly make everything a lot simpler.

Maybe @1461748123 could help us with this

@lotus1994 what was your plan for controls?

For those using a Pi Zero ( @Fleder ?), the display and audio will take up some GPIO pins, I hope we can also squeeze in the controls as well!

[lotus1994]

...
So pictures are OK, as good as my phone seems to want to take, but if you need numbers or other pictures, let me know and I will break out the real camera (needs a charge, so cell pics is all I got for now).

These are great, could you please confirm that the 10 resistors in the bottom right corner are the following:



152 - 1.5k
892 - 8.9k
152 - 1.5k
302 - 3k
102 - 1k
582 - 5.8k
222 - 2.2k
102 - 1k
152 - 1.5k
682 - 6.8k

I need a better camera. the 10 resistors on the bottom are:

152
392
152
102
202
682
222 - These are the weirdest looking 2s I have ever seen!
102
152
682

[lotus1994]

I'm wondering if we should plan ahead and see if we could get some custom control boards made for each side that take in the ribbon cable through the FPC connector, use a charliplexing method, then output pins that go to GPIO. It would certainly make everything a lot simpler.

Maybe @1461748123 could help us with this

@lotus1994 what was your plan for controls?

For those using a Pi Zero ( @Fleder ?), the display and audio will take up some GPIO pins, I hope we can also squeeze in the controls as well!

I am using a Teensy. I have the 10 pin ribbon connector soldered to the FPC stick. The first one I did... wow, real bad. The second one is a little crunchy but I think would work. The third came out nice (got the hang of it, I think). I have 1 more FPC stick so I am going to assemble that ne so I have 2 solid boards to use.

So controls are stock, bonus! Ribbon to the FPC sticks, sticks to the Teensy. Should work well.

[Fleder]

For those using a Pi Zero ( @Fleder ?), the display and audio will take up some GPIO pins, I hope we can also squeeze in the controls as well!

I am not yet sure what i am going to use as a heart
I haven't tested my OPiPC in terms of heat generation.
I would definitely want a bit more power in this project,
but not at the cost of cutting the case to make cooling parts fit.

Right now i am really short of time, so i haven't worked at my GBZ for nearly 2 weeks now.
I am hoping to get some spare time again, soon.

[Racerboy]

I do not have extra adafruit boards, just the tiny connectors that get soldered onto them.

I just watched some surface mount solder videos and they make it look so easy! And they do these .5mm pitch boards by eye! I needed to use my magnifier just to get them lined up! I will give it a try by this weekend but why do I feel like I am going to have blobs all over the place, cursing these people from youtube as I do it?

Now I see what you mean by these being a pain to solder! I don't know what I was imagining, but this is not going to be fun...any tips from your experience? Did you tin the board first?

[lotus1994]

I do not have extra adafruit boards, just the tiny connectors that get soldered onto them.

I just watched some surface mount solder videos and they make it look so easy! And they do these .5mm pitch boards by eye! I needed to use my magnifier just to get them lined up! I will give it a try by this weekend but why do I feel like I am going to have blobs all over the place, cursing these people from youtube as I do it?

Now I see what you mean by these being a pain to solder! I don't know what I was imagining, but this is not going to be fun...any tips from your experience? Did you tin the board first?

Buy extras. LOL

get a thin solder, like .015 or .020. My first try I put solder on a flat tip and wiped it across the contacts... disaster. The second one I did each one with a quick touch of the solder and it came out decent. third one I got the hang of it and it came out nice. Slow and steady is my advice.

[lotus1994]

Racerboy, did you start your build then?

[Racerboy]

Buy extras. LOL

get a thin solder, like .015 or .020. My first try I put solder on a flat tip and wiped it across the contacts... disaster. The second one I did each one with a quick touch of the solder and it came out decent. third one I got the hang of it and it came out nice. Slow and steady is my advice.

Yeah, my main solder is like 0.031", but I just found some 0.020" so I'll try that. Thanks for the advice! I was just about to give it a shot so I could make heads or tails of the control pinout on each side.

Racerboy, did you start your build then?

Yes, this is my main build right now. I put aside my Gameboy Advance Pi Zero project once I saw the potential that the Wii U Gamepad had to offer, and I'd totally rather play games on it regularly. Here's a list of stuff I have so far:

Raspberry Pi Zero
Powerboost 1000C
Wifi / Bluetooth Combo Adapter - works flawlessly
FPC Connectors
FPC Boards

Black Gamepad Shell
Full Trigger Set
3600mAh Wii U battery upgrade - still pretty weak for its size, I hope it's good enough

And this is on the way:
6.2" LCD Screen TM062RDH03


Where are you at in your build?

[lotus1994]

Buy extras. LOL

get a thin solder, like .015 or .020. My first try I put solder on a flat tip and wiped it across the contacts... disaster. The second one I did each one with a quick touch of the solder and it came out decent. third one I got the hang of it and it came out nice. Slow and steady is my advice.

Yeah, my main solder is like 0.031", but I just found some 0.020" so I'll try that. Thanks for the advice! I was just about to give it a shot so I could make heads or tails of the control pinout on each side.

Racerboy, did you start your build then?

Yes, this is my main build right now. I put aside my Gameboy Advance Pi Zero project once I saw the potential that the Wii U Gamepad had to offer, and I'd totally rather play games on it regularly. Here's a list of stuff I have so far:

Raspberry Pi Zero
Powerboost 1000C
Wifi / Bluetooth Combo Adapter - works flawlessly
FPC Connectors
FPC Boards

Black Gamepad Shell
Full Trigger Set
3600mAh Wii U battery upgrade - still pretty weak for its size, I hope it's good enough

And this is on the way:
6.2" LCD Screen TM062RDH03


Where are you at in your build?

I was able to do it with .031 but it was so much easier with the thinner solder.

We just got back from vacation today so I plan to get back on this one by Monday. I am going to try to stick a Pi 3 in it with removed USB and LAN jack. if I cannot, I have a zero on standby.

Do you have a controller board for the LCD?

[Racerboy]

Do you have a controller board for the LCD?

No, kite said he's going to make a board for that display so I'll just wait on that.

Also am I wrong, or are pins 1 and 10 of the ribbon cable on the ABYX right side of the gamepad both ground? So I can just jump them together?

I managed to get one board soldered, but I think pin 4 is a loose connection so I'll have to revisit it. Very hard to solder these pins without bridging connections and having to use solder-sucker braid.