Comunity Case Idea Trade - A Help & Suggest Topic for Cases (Moved)

moosepr

I think its a bit of a balancing act between cost and usability really, especially when you are trying to make something portable.

A smaller battery may be cheaper, but does 2 hours gameplay sound enough? or a pi3 would be able to play a wider range of games, and play them faster and smoother, but then your going to need a bigger battery, or settle for lower run times.

if low cost is your goal, then i dont think you will get much lower than my project
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2089/yet-another-pi-zero-portable
Its pretty much the bare minimum you can have for a portable. You could simplify it further by removing the 'uHex' and replace it with a simple switch. That would mean low costs such as:

pi zero - £4
ili9341 screen - £6 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161862594139
li-po charge/protect board £2 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301878262849
buttons OMTEN D3 - £2 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321411385630
some wires and stripboard - £0 (i had some lying around from other projects)
battery - i was lucky on this one, i already had one from an old power bank. It is all down to the runtime you are after. My battery is in the region of 2000-2500mah and that gives a runtime of 10 hours. You could buy a 500mah battery (£3.50 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401075820588) which will give you 2-3 hours, or you can buy similar batteries with a higher capacity.

With my project, i have actually powered the pi directly from the battery. this means there is somewhere in the region of 3.7v going into the pi (it ranges from 4.2-3.2v) and it still works!! This is because most of it runs from 3.3v that is converts internally. The 5v is normally only used for USB devices, so if you are not using those, you may not actually need the 5v. (i only have experience on the zero in this matter)

LSolrac2

@lilbud that's incredibly lucky! (do they have an online store tho? We aren't that lucky in Puerto Rico =u=" )

@moosepr I did read about it but didn't look at the picture (didn't load back then) and I was impressed then, much more now! I'm going with the Pi3 for PS1+PSP Gaming at highest power, normally I'd use it for almost every other console (minus computers and n64) currently debating really hard how exaclty I'd be powering everything with just a USB Charger over to GPIO but I'm believing that controllers (that don't need any kind of translation, like a joystick) (aka tactile buttons) DON'T use power, am I right?

Usually we'd be powering 3 things, Pi,Screen,Possibly controller translator. -- I didn't know we could power the Pi with less than 5v, but won't resources be less if done so? (like less CPU and RAM availability)

Edit: Can we have Video output through normal GPIO? I know the Pi Zero has a composite soldiering place, but it's not through GPIO

lilbud

@LSolrac2 Here is a Goodwill auction site. I believe they ship all over the world. You will find something if you are lucky.

http://www.shopgoodwill.com/

LSolrac2

@lilbud Thanks! I've found plenty of goods already (but sadly none that can take a full size pi). Currently seems to be having issues with the registration u.u

I did come up with something rather interesting, but I'm certain not everyone is willing to do. I did a bit of search and found that Wii U gamepads can be REALLY Cheap (6+12 GPD as starting bid) Funny how it's basically done, all the maker has to do is hack the Pi In. Please do bring opinions and critics about it. I know it's not a starter route (much less fully DIY which half the fun of all of this) but it's a giant shortcut

lilbud

@LSolrac2 I have never seen that done. But good luck

LSolrac2

@lilbud I'm not THAT good at this xD I'm literally brand new to modding and stuff, so while It might be a later project, it was a suggestion for any experienced user. It's all good but it would be quite difficult (at least for me).

Don't get me wrong, I do suggest getting a Wii Controller for cheap to build on it, but that might require analog-to-digital conversion.

LSolrac2

Ahhhhhhh @.@ Shortly after replying to Lilbud here I started making a diagram. Hopefully other can use this for reference
http://imgur.com/ClvHxpX 0_1470971468220_PiConsole prototype.png

For Video, since I haven't found any alternatives, and I'm actually running out of GPIO pins, I'm sticking to composite for now.
And for audio, similar case, but I'm thinking of stripping the wire from the composite cables, and connecting it to an amp, which HOPEFULLY I can power using a 3v pin.

I found a 4 USB port thing, and hopefuly I can strap it to the bottom as seen. Of course, next to it (in the center) would be the charger for the USB Charger (uses 4 AA-ish, probably LiOn batteries) I chose this way cause it already has a battery meter integrated and has 2 outputs (1a for display, 2a for Pi). Sadly the easy remove part is toned down a bit, as my idea was simply connect the Pi to the GPIO, turn on and enjoy, but I'm sure if you already know that's limited to GPIO and Composite connection. Possibly even USB and HDMI Connections too. Not exactly the smoothest, but at least I can remove the pi and use it in another case.

moosepr

@LSolrac2
not sure if you spotted this yet, but you may want to keep an eye on this guys thread https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3241/my-latest-wii-u-gamepad-work-in-progress

The battery pack will probably use 18650 lithium cells, these are pretty much the AA battery of the lithium cell world, but they are a little bigger. The dimensions are actually cleverly used in the name, so they are 18mm in diameter, and 650mm long (this may help you with your planning) You may actually be able to reuse the battery that comes in the wii u controller with something like this https://www.adafruit.com/products/2465. although you would need to check it will be able to provide enough power for the pi 3.

If you are short on GPIO, you could make use of the extra usb connections on the pi3, and use some form of usb connection for the controller. You could either wire the buttons to a little board which can convert that to usb, or chop up a usb controller, and use that instead

bassholio

Hey guys. I'm in the process of installing a pi3 in a Wii gamepad. Here is my progress so far: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3241

LSolrac2

Welcome aboard bassholio (\OuO/)

I've made a small uupdate to the OP with general-use links and poster projects

@moosepr The batteries might be extra useful actually! (WIll look and add them to the list), and I thought of something similar but I'm not quite sure how it would work, as I've never really work on boards though. (Of course, I'd be willing to learn.) But as far as I know, the PowerBoosts are quite limited (500 will output .5Amp and 1000 will output 1Amp) and I believe the Pi3 requires 1.5Amp to run fully. Though it's often recommended to use 2Amp just in case, and 2.5Amp if powering USB Devices, which obviously depends on what you'll plug in.

LSolrac2

For more on a Wii U gamepad. I've done some research and found plenty of goods.
http://imgur.com/gallery/wmopX < A complete guide
https://www.element14.com/community/thread/48828/l/wii-u-gamepad-raspberry-pi?displayFullThread=true < Concept with a 360 controller and I think a B+
https://www.dropbox.com/s/22tlhbss17rlxil/Plan.pdf?dl=0 < Antother Concept, no design tho

LSolrac2

So, I believe I'll be getting an audio alternative and a 4.3" screen this next week so I'll start building from there. Not a full console, more like an extended Pi Case while I get the other pieces (Controllers, wires, jump boxes, everything else)

the audio alternative is super simple.
Considering most projects output audio into speakers and no option for a 3.5m jack, I was concerned, specially when I would probably power it with only 3 volts (exclusively using GPIO with jumper cables, and Composite to output) so I decided I'd go (for starters) with Headphones. Sure! I'd still need to convert composite to a reliable that. So I found this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/152032363921 It's a cable that can be found cheaper, I just didnt find one that could ship to me </3 so I hope it works marvelously cause I could use this to transfer to an amp normally.

So this pre-alpha build includes the following:

Carton for prototyping
4.3" Composite LCD (hopefully works with 5 volts)
10mAh battery (previously owned by me)
Normal USB Controller
3.5mm for Audio

Of course, I'll be building on top of this, but I can't wait to show you guys for any possible inspiration for any ideas