Erik's Build

[erik_gee]

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the battery in the compartment before I wired this up. I'm testing to see how long the battery lasts while powering the pi aand the screen. Just leaving it be,not laying any games. I don't wanna move any wires because they aren't soldered yet so tomorrow morning I'll post pics with the battery in the compartment and let you know how long the battery lasted.
(Sorry for the low quality pics)

[erik_gee]

@Chiz
Battery performance was less than satisfactory only lasted a little more than 3 hours in stand by. Could be a lie in mah but I've also ran it through many cycles when I used to used it in my phone so it could also just used out.

Guess I'm in the market for a new battery. Most likely another li-ion battery for a phone for size aaand cheapness, but from an actual brand this time haha LG has some 4000 mah ones for not too much

[chiz]

@erik_gee
That's a bummer... But then again, perhaps a new battery really could last longer. Let me know if you get a new one and tested successfully.

[erik_gee]

Getting closer to the end. I popped in my glass screen and while i liked it, it still showed the metal edges of the screen and the rough edges so i thought id paint the surround red to cover up some of it. The acrylic paint i used gave me some issues and i had to repaint it multiple times, after a while i just gave up and super glued it down haha, came out ok. Could be better.



Then I got my extra button holes drilled in. Started with smaller pilot holes and worked my way up. Came out better than I thought it would haha



Overall, the front is looking good

[erik_gee]

Got my new battery in. Its a Tenergy 5200 mah lithium ion pack, made from 2x 2600mah 18650 batteries. I dont have a lithium battery charger/analyzer do do a comprehensive test but i did charge it with my charging module, which took about 5 hours for it to complete. Afterwords I connected it to my pi and screen (I am not using a microcontroller and i did not wire my audio amplifying circuit yet). Once on, it sat in stand by mode for about 8 hours. While i was expecting somewhere around 9-10 hours,being that the 2000 mah batteries seems to be giving around 3.5 hours according to other users(let me know what you guys got in your tests!), I am still satisfied with this battery enough to use it in my project. It appears to be atleast somewhere near it written value.

I had to make some adjustments to get it to fit in the battery compartment though. I melted opening in the compartment with a soldering iron and filed and cut away until the battery could slide in. I could have also placed the battery where the game cartridge goes with a little filing as well, but i didnt want the system to be top-heavy



After I got the compartment fixed, I had to file down the ridges on the back of the cover door as well as cut off some of the edges where the battery would go.


Even after all this, the batter was still slightly too large. I ended up filing the tab holes near the bottom so that the cover could lift a little more and then heated the cover so I could bend it. I placed a lighter under the cover for a few seconds and then slid the cover on while pushing it against the battery. This curved the cover so that it would arch over the battery. After a few times of heating it and contouring it, it was able to click into place with ease. Now the compartment bends out a bit, kind of like a gameboy color.Looks a little rough in images but it came out looking decent in person. Not the best but definitely acceptable by me!

[Kilren]

Is that a roll of quarters, or are you just excited to see me?

[erik_gee]

Is that a roll of quarters, or are you just excited to see me?

haha yeah its a bit of a bulge but actually looks really decent in person. Dont mind it if it means extra battery life

[erik_gee]

Was able to get my pi on my network with a usb-ethernet connection and set it up to use gpio pins for keypresses.
Then I drilled out new holes for the L and R on the back. I decided to use the original buttons as the tactile buttons didn't feel comfortable to me. it was a super tight fit, the holes almost cut through to the battery compartment.


I used the PCB and conductive pads for the SNES's L and R buttons. The PCB pieces fit almost perfectly in the slot under the cartridge holder.
I superglued the pads to the bottom of the buttons to keep the pads from moving around, since the l and r pads are elongated and wiggled around.

[erik_gee]

Quick update:
Most of the project is done! Just having a small issue with static in the speaker/headphones. Been trying to fix it for a few days, think I'm getting close.

After I figure this out, all that's left is to figure out how to fit the mass of wires in correctly and make a new scree post to close it all! Also need to redo the bezel on the screen, it pooped out and ruined the paint. Most likely just gonna use a sticker as a bezel. Will update later