Cannot get powerboost 1000c to work? Any Help?

[mikelyons27]

Hello,

I am working on creating my GBZ, and I am having issues with my power boost. I've looked for a solution, but couldn't find one.
When I plug in usb power into the Powerboost 1000c, I get a yellow light, and sometimes I get a red low light. When I initially plug in the cable, no lights turn on, but when i switch the power on the GB on, I get the yellow light, but when i switch it off, the yellow light stays on.

I've checked my solder joints, and they seem secure.
I've tried plugging in the USB power plug directly into the powerboost, with the same result as well.
When plugged in it also gets extremely hot. I understand its supposed to get warm, but its REALLY hot to the touch.
Ive plugged in power directly into the Raspberry Pi, and it powers on, with the screen and all. Attached are a few pics, with a wiring diagram I made using helders image and a few others on the internet.

Some things I have tried - a new power boost, new switch, new wiring, new USB, and new USB Power plug, all with the same result every time.

Is there something wrong with my wiring logic? Any help would be amazing.

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[grapes8]

Orange light means its charging the battery and red means battery low, since you dont even have a battery plugged in it might be a short? Some of the soldering looks suspect, EN and GRD look like a potential short and USB is barely hanging on it would seem. You tend to have long leads on your wires, you should try to solder them all the way up to the plastic insulation and snip off excess wire on the other side, the exposed metal is a potential short. Also, are you wiring EN from the bottom, its hard to see, might help to show a pic of the powerboost bottom just to see how things are wired up. Also, hopefully youre not turning on the powerboost while it sits on the bare metal plating of the back of the Gameboy.

You can try to isolate the problem, try desoldering from the AIO from the powerboost first and plug in the power. If it still showing that orange light try removing the switch. Try the USB next etc.

The wiring seems ok to me, but I'm pretty new at this myself, hope that helps.

[fcib]

Lets do some thinking here:

It works with just the pi, but not with the rest of your wiring.

I bet any money that if you took a multimeter and touched your + and - pads on your power strip on the AIO you would have a short.

[mikelyons27]

Thank you guys for your replies.

I will recheck my connections again when I get home. The soldering looks shoty in the photos because I kept testing - desoldering and re-soldering the connections just trying to get it to work. I will step up my soldering cleanliness and wire management cleanliness once I get it working.

[mikelyons27]

Figured it out! I feel so stupid to have made this mistake. I had the 5V in and out backwards on the power strip. Looking over the picture with the power strip, you can even see the mistake in the original photos...
Thank you for your help!

The Pi and the Screen powers up properly! But now the AIO isn't detected in Retro pi... Did I accidentally fry it? is there a way to get it working? There is only 2 wires for the data + and -.... I twisted them, and checked be sure that the solder isn't bridged..Do I need to program it or something? or is there a way to check it? I plugged in my little bluetooth adapter into a USB port I soldered to it, and it gets a lights, so it is getting power.

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[grapes8]

Oh good you figured it out. What isnt working on the AIO board? Are the controls not working? is the audio? I'd try to write a fresh copy of retropi on the sd card, that fixed it when I had a problem with it recognizing the controls.

[mikelyons27]

@grapes8 - The entire AIO. (Other than the power strip) I understand the audio wont work yet because i have to script the GPIO pin settings in the OS. I just built a fresh image from here: https://retropie.org.uk/download/
When it boots it just says welcome, and I try to press the buttons on the GBZ, and nothing happens.. I tried plugging in a keyboard into the soldered USB port, and i get a caps lock light, but the key presses on the keyboard aren't registering in the GBZ.. is there a way to plug the AIO directly into a computer somehow to test it? or another way to test it?
I also tried a working SD from my other raspberry pi console i made, and it boots into retro pi, but again no button presses seem to work from the AIO.

Am I missing a step? is the AIO just "supposed to work" when connected to a Pi zero?

Thank you everyone in advance for your input

[Helder]

Go to the support forum in the Lounge subforum this has happened many times. Not sure you fried anything on the board but depending on how you wired the power to the board you circumvented the fuse I have there for protection.
Connect a usb cable to the 2 separate usb solder holes and power and GND to either the power strip or any of the GND & 5v pads on the usb hubs.

Once you connect it to a pc assuming you did mix the D- & D+ it should show up as an Arduino controller if not then you'll need to reprogram it with Arduino IDE. I have a guide in the other hardware subforum.

[mikelyons27]

Thank you Helder for your Reply. I will take a look when I get home tonight...

[mikelyons27]

Finally got it working! I worked on it some more last night...to get it working i took out the white and green wires, and soldered in 2 two wires, an it seems to have done the trick. I am not sure why the original wires didnt work, but..its working now...

Thank you all for your help!