Waveshare Gamehat

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rodocop
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Waveshare Gamehat

Post by rodocop » Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:35 pm

So I picked up one of these gamehats, printed hoolyhoo's case for it, threw a battery and a pi3 B+ in there. BAM, done, easy peasy. Cool little board.

GameHat
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Game-HA ... 78458.html
STLS
https://gumroad.com/l/GdONp

Here are a few pics:
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HoolyHoo
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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by HoolyHoo » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:51 pm

Nice! I agree, quick build and fantastic screen. Really nice value. Good job :D

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rodocop
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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by rodocop » Tue Oct 09, 2018 10:58 pm

Thanks Hooly!

I think I may swap to a pi zero though. The pi 3b+ gets a lightning bolt and is excessive for my use. (It's funny cause the waveshare image disables that icon by default. )

Probably increase battery life a bit too.

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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by SkyCaptainHD » Sat Oct 20, 2018 2:40 am

Awesome build. I've been slowly getting into raspberry pi projects, I have a Raspberry Pi 3B I got not too long ago and set up Retropie on it.

I have looking to make my first Retropie handheld device for a while now and this looks to be pretty easy. Is this something you would recommend for a beginner getting into the hobby?

Also where online would I be able to find a 3D printed case for this device since I don't have a 3D printer?

And what size battery did you end up putting in this build?

Sorry for all the questions.

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rodocop
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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by rodocop » Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:12 am

It's so easy. No soldering. Connect the pi via the gpio pins. Connect the little hdmi adapter. Then use an 18650 battery.

as for 3d prints. Use shapeways or 3d hubs etc... if you are in Canada or the USA I can print and ship a 3d print too.

The 3d case I used required the original buttons to be swapped though. But there are cases on thingiverse that work with the existing buttons.

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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by SkyCaptainHD » Sun Oct 21, 2018 11:11 pm

For the 18650 battery I meant to ask what mAh did you end up getting, 2500mAh, 3000mAh or 3400mAh and what brand of battery and where did you get it from?

I ask because I heard a lot of 18650 brand batteries could be false/fake in the mAh reporting and are really cheaply made.

And I read in the link for the 3D printed case files that the buttons need to be replaced with ones from Adafruit in order to fit properly. Which ones did you go with (link)?

Thanks again for all your help.

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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by KonnorJ » Mon Oct 22, 2018 1:09 am

Any 18650 will work but if you have any that say fire in the name dispose of them asap.... Get genuine Samsung/Panasonic batteries, they will be plain and one solid colour with some writing in and they won't cost £1 free shipping. You need soft silicone tactile buttons from AliExpress or adafruit.

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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by rodocop » Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:46 am

I just used some 18650 battery that was rated at 2500mah. No idea what it actually is. I grabbed it out of a battery pack for some equipment at work. 3 of the 8 batteries in the pack were flat so I just replaced the whole battery pack and harvested the working batteries out of the old pack.

Buttons can be found here:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3101

Or you can find the same buttons on Ebay or aliexpress for cheaper.

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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by SkyCaptainHD » Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:09 am

HoolyHoo wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:51 pm
Nice! I agree, quick build and fantastic screen. Really nice value. Good job :D
A couple quick questions for you HoolyHoo. Questions about the 3D Designed case you created for the Waveshare Game Hat. What
particularly about the buttons that you have to change them out to fit the case onto it? Are the holes too small to fit the stock buttons? Can the hole just be made a little bigger to fit the existing buttons on the board out of the box?

And do you also have a helpful video of swapping the buttons out to fit the 3D Printed case?

Just curious. Thank you so much in advance for your help.

Also do you have a discuss thread for the case you created here on the Forums?

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Re: Waveshare Gamehat

Post by HoolyHoo » Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:33 am

SkyCaptainHD wrote:
Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:09 am
HoolyHoo wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:51 pm
Nice! I agree, quick build and fantastic screen. Really nice value. Good job :D
A couple quick questions for you HoolyHoo. Questions about the 3D Designed case you created for the Waveshare Game Hat. What
particularly about the buttons that you have to change them out to fit the case onto it? Are the holes too small to fit the stock buttons? Can the hole just be made a little bigger to fit the existing buttons on the board out of the box?

And do you also have a helpful video of swapping the buttons out to fit the 3D Printed case?

Just curious. Thank you so much in advance for your help.

Also do you have a discuss thread for the case you created here on the Forums?
The soft buttons are lower in height and as the case is will not work without replacing them with the soft tactiles. If you make the holes bigger then it will work, however, the buttons will sit higher up than what you see in the pictures with my case.

Unfortunately, I only bought one gamehat and did not video the process. Changing the buttons was relatively easy but you have to be careful as you don't want to pull the traces if one of the legs hasn't desoldered completely. The process consisted of applying alternating heat with a soldering iron to the four legs until the solder was molted. Then it simply slid off. The new switch fit in the footprint, so it was just a matter of soldering them to the pcb. Easy, just be careful.

I haven't made a post in the forums but feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Thanks for your interest.

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