GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by Dividion » Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:47 am

rlcmtzc12 wrote:
Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:33 am
Ok thats strange because its quite a big drop. And there wasn´t any bad components? It could also be a problem with your Battery I had once a similar problem because the Battery I had couldn´t handle more than a few 100mAs the whole voltage of the circuit broke in with a bigger load because it wasnt supplied anymore with enough current and did some unpredictable stuff.
Leave an update if you find out whats the problem.
Yeah, that was a big drop. And because of that I didn't even try connecting a battery. That was just using a USB connection. The next time I give it a try, I'll start with a fresh board and components, and test with just the charging components to see if I can pinpoint a flaw in the design.
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by Helder » Thu Aug 02, 2018 11:53 am

How much amperage is your boost circuit outputting? Reason I ask is you want atleast a 2A output to power a pi3 and anything else in there, a Pi 3B + will not work properly or turn off at 2A so if you want to future proof it you will need more amperage. But a Pi 3 can run just about anything the pi3 B+ can and uses less power.
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by rlcmtzc12 » Thu Aug 02, 2018 1:50 pm

Helder wrote:
Thu Aug 02, 2018 11:53 am
How much amperage is your boost circuit outputting? Reason I ask is you want atleast a 2A output to power a pi3 and anything else in there, a Pi 3B + will not work properly or turn off at 2A so if you want to future proof it you will need more amperage. But a Pi 3 can run just about anything the pi3 B+ can and uses less power.
The maximal Current Output of the Board is 4A (which make it less efficient and you have to use Batteries that can provided that amount of current but theoretical you can draw 4A (Theoreticaly at 3,7V input of the Batteries and a Vout of about 5V it can provide stable 1,2 to 1,4A)). Currently I tested the total powerconsumption of the Pi, the screen and an XBox 360 controller connected to the Pi. I did a stress test and the setup draw about 900mA to 1.1A of current so I think its enough with this circuit. I also tested the setup with a board laying around with the same Boost IC and it worked fine so it shouldn´t be an issue. Im also planing to power the whole system on 6Vinsted of 5-5.2 just because I found out the raspberry pi3 dont have a undervoltage issue on 6V (Yellow lightningbold) And since I connected the power before the onboard Voltageboard and previous the fuse it should not be a problem because the internal powerdeliveryboard of the pi can handle up to 6V. and also the Screen I used with the "5V" mod only works probably with 6 Volt. Now im using a very very smal 12V Boost converter which work fine but add another part to the system which make it less efficient.
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IMG_20180802_173910.jpg
Mini 12V boost converter
IMG_20180802_173910.jpg (1.36 MiB) Viewed 6489 times
Last edited by rlcmtzc12 on Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by rlcmtzc12 » Sat Aug 11, 2018 10:06 am

Hi, I just want to update you about my build. Today I finally modified the case to fit the X/Y Buttons and removed the Original Audiojack socket. I also added the screenprotector glass and it looks quit good with it. In the next few days the PCBs will arrive so I update you there when they are soldered and tested.

X and Y Button holes:
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xy_holes.jpg
xy_holes.jpg (1.62 MiB) Viewed 6439 times
Removed Audiojack socket:
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audio_mod.jpg
audio_mod.jpg (1.56 MiB) Viewed 6439 times
I also can´t decide which coloscheme I should go with the Buttons more like the "Original Gameboy" or a Super Famicom like scheme so I would appreciate which colorscheme looks better.

More Original:
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more_og.jpg
more_og.jpg (2 MiB) Viewed 6439 times
More Super Famicom:
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more_snes.jpg
more_snes.jpg (2.53 MiB) Viewed 6439 times
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by rlcmtzc12 » Tue Aug 21, 2018 1:30 pm

Finally the PCBs came in and I soldered all the components to one of them. They Board works really well and also the "yellow Lightningbold" isn´t there anymore. They fit in alle very well. Only the part where the usb-c charger sits is half an millimeter to long so I sanded it down and now it fits perfectly. Tomorrow I will then finally put all pices together.

Here is the front of the PCB:
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pcb_stack_front.jpg
pcb_stack_front.jpg (4.92 MiB) Viewed 6372 times
Here is the back:
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pcb_back.jpg
pcb_back.jpg (4.98 MiB) Viewed 6372 times
All components soldered on (sorry if the solderjob isnt that good but I only had a normal soldering iron (No fancy hot air solderstation :lol: ) and a few components are really small):
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pcb_back_soldered.jpg
pcb_back_soldered.jpg (1.67 MiB) Viewed 6372 times
Everything is working (also charging and playing at the same time, the battery in the picture is just for testing):
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pcb_aw1.jpg
pcb_aw1.jpg (2.79 MiB) Viewed 6372 times
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pcb_aw1_charching.jpg
pcb_aw1_charching.jpg (2.38 MiB) Viewed 6372 times
Also the Batteries came in and they fit perfectly in the original Batterydepartment of the Gameboy.
The last thing I´m waiting for is the speaker and another set of batterybrakets and I also bought an empty gamecardridge which I use to close the back. In this cardridge the controllbuttonboard for the screen will be placed
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by Helder » Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:12 pm

What usb-c socket are you using? Looks kind of large but could just be the socket compared to the board. Got a link?
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by rlcmtzc12 » Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:54 pm

Helder wrote:
Wed Aug 22, 2018 11:12 pm
What usb-c socket are you using? Looks kind of large but could just be the socket compared to the board. Got a link?
Yhea It looks that big only compared to the board. It isn´t that big, I mean its bigger than a micro usb but thats for every USB-C socket :)
Here is the link to it:
https://lcsc.com/product-detail/USB-Typ ... 65948.html
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by rlcmtzc12 » Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:08 am

So I have a good and a bad message for you ...
First the good one:
I assembled all the parts and everything fits very good in the case and works perfectly I also got the 4 3.7V lipo batteries each 1500maH in the standard AA formfactor and they work very good in the original case, I only had to undo the original layout of the metalcontacts and change them to a parallel setup instead of a serial setup. Also all the Buttons work very good and I 3D Printet some Buttonwells (thanks to HoolyHoo).
I also added some male and female headerpins to connect all the wires between the top and the bottom of the case so you dont have to worry about connecting all the wires, they connect automatically when closing the case. I also soldered the other ends to female headers so they can be easily removed from the raspberry pi (To keep the idea of easily removing the pi)

Now the Bad message:
I closed the case everything was working I played a few rounds. Then I decided to open it again an make all pretty for a few pictures. In the process of opening the case I accidentally teared the ribbon flex cable of the screen. No I have an destroyed screen...
So I now have ordered an SPI screen because I also were not that satisfied with the quality of the analog signal there was a light noise on the screen. This screen I can than similar connect to the bottom half of the gameboy like the button pcb so there are no directly connected wires between the two halfs they all connect automatically by closing the case (same for the battery connection)

So the next update will probably come when the screen arrives which can take a while (a cheer to chinastuff ;) )
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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by kingraa777 » Fri Mar 01, 2019 12:37 pm

any news on this ?

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Re: GameBoy Zero with RP3 (unmodded) and custom designed PCB with USB-C charging

Post by sandog » Sun Apr 21, 2019 3:02 pm

Update?

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