Famicom (not Mini) build (WIP)
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be careful with the bleach, bleach can make some plastics brittle. I have had a cola bottle get eaten away when storing bleach in it. It would be a shame to damage the plastics of your console.
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Thanks for the advice.
It's not 100% bleach like the real strong industrial stuff. But it does attack metal, aluminium and other metallic materials.
Plastic should be OK. Others have done it before and they all had good results. -
@FlyingTomahawk said in Famicom (not Mini) build (WIP):
Thanks for the advice.
It's not 100% bleach like the real strong industrial stuff. But it does attack metal, aluminium and other metallic materials.
Plastic should be OK. Others have done it before and they all had good results.When you say bleach, do you mean Peroxide like the hair lightening stuff?
It's what I used on my Amiga with Vanish stain remover, had it looking good as new, left it for a couple of days when we actually had sunshine.
The two mice where quite discoloured, I gave the one on the left a second bath after that pic
Not the greatest pic, but the 1200 was a lot lot darker than this originally, didn't get a before, but, came out like new, especially the keys, made adding the Compact Flash hard drive and USB 'Floppy' Drive a joy.
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It's not hair bleach.
If you copy and paste these words into google you'll find sites with pics of people that have bleached their Famicoms and other stuff.レトロブライト ファミコン
98% of people used clothing bleach named
ワイドハイターEX
That contains something that is suitable for projects like this.
I bought a new box with cover and 1760ml of that magic liquid that should work according to those that have succeeded.
Now I can leave it outside 24/7 no matter the weather condition. I didn't use water this time, 100% ワイドハイターEX . Also didn't remove that red front plate. I want to see how aggressive that stuff is.
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Got my Pi Zero W and Zero4U.
I assume the Zero4U needs a separate power supply is that correct?
Has anyone tried to use one on a Pi Zero W yet?Update: never mind the power supply question.
The USB hub will take power directly from your Pi Zero, so you don’t need to power the USB hub separately.
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This was the formula I used, although it was before they made a recipe for the Gel, my mix was along the lines of laundry stain remover, mix with water and dissolve it, add peroxide, dilute in water bath and submerge.
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Connected the Zero4U to my old Pi Zero 1.3
Man what a fantastic feeling to be able to access it via Network now using the WiFi dongle and controller plugged in at the same time.Can I charge controllers via the Zero4U hub?
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@FlyingTomahawk It looks like the power pogo pins connect to the test pads that come right off the Micro USB power input to the Pi, so as long as your power supply is strong enough, you should be able to, but just know that USB 2.0 will only output 500mA, max.
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Ok I see...
I was just thinking ahead and wondering where I should pull the power to be able to charge the 8bitdo controllers.
They have a 480mA battery inside so I think 500mA should be good enough to charge them in a decent time.
Unless you have an other idea? I want to pull 2 cables out of the Famicom were the original controller cables came out and be able to plug them into the controllers to charge, even if the RPi is shutdown. Is that even possible? Or do I have to look for a different power source? -
@FlyingTomahawk How are you controlling power to the Pi itself? I'm not familiar with the Zero4U. Is that the setup you intend to run? A Zero and a Zero4U inside the case?
Since you want those controller charging ports "hot" all the time, my first inclination is something like this 4-port charger that can do up to 2.4A per USB port, but you'd want something that has a cord on it, or something with a detachable cable, because while that one is nice and compact, the flip out wall plug wouldn't work with the Famicom around it.
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To be honest I am not sure yet. Now that I have a Zero4U I can use my WiFi dongle and a Bluetooth dongle and I will have 2 free USB ports which I thought I can use to charge the 8Bitdos.
With the Zero W I have only 1 USB port unless I can connect this Zero4U device to it then I have 4 free USB ports since it contains already WiFi and Bluetooth.
The Zero4U as it is connected (no solder solution) now takes power from the Pi Zero.Here the Zero4U manual
Another problem would be the size (height) of the Pi Zero with that hub attached to it. Not sure that goes in without trouble. But I'll test that tomorrow.
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@FlyingTomahawk I've not seen a Famicom in person, but they don't look that small inside.
I'm trying to map components out: You want
- A Pi Zero (possibly Pi Zero W) inside
- on the back you want full-size HDMI and a power in
- Where the controllers used to come out you want Micro USB cables to charge the controllers.
Am I missing anything? Any regular USB ports? On the back? In front where the 15-pin connector used to be?
I'll try using these dimensions found online to mock something up with GIMP
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You got it right. No additional USB ports needed.
HDMI and microUSB are sufficient.Regarding the Pi Zero W and Zero4U, good news, they are compatible! But you need to use a Ferrite ring. Read more here
So I definitely will be using the Pi Zero W for this build. If no other issues arise.
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@FlyingTomahawk Interesting that the wifi actually interrupts the data transmission, but I guess that's the tradeoff for using pogo pins.
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I apologize for my not so artistic drawing but I hope it is easy to understand.
What possibilities do I have if I want to charge the controllers, even if the Pi is shutdown? Where should those 2 question mark cables go?
Should I split the power source (red arrow)and connect some sort of small hub which is under constant power while it is connected to the wall?Other question I have is about the Mausberry issue.
As mentioned in many reviews they don't answer any mails and they don't update the order status so I have no clue if it was shipped and if they did when it will arrive.
So just in case looking for alternatives. One alternative would be to install a different button and use the power switch feature that ETAPrime explains in his youtube video the same ruckage used for his Cardboard NES.
Or what about the Powerblock? Any infos on that besides the official stuff? From what I read it works same (similar? ) like the Mausberry and can be used with a regular slide switch. -
@obsidianspider said in Famicom (not Mini) build (WIP):
@FlyingTomahawk I've not seen a Famicom in person, but they don't look that small inside.
I'm trying to map components out: You want
- A Pi Zero (possibly Pi Zero W) inside
- on the back you want full-size HDMI and a power in
- Where the controllers used to come out you want Micro USB cables to charge the controllers.
Am I missing anything? Any regular USB ports? On the back? In front where the 15-pin connector used to be?
I'll try using these dimensions found online to mock something up with GIMP
Those measurements are out a fair bit (Unless you do some cutting) , the recess for the controllers is inside as well from top to bottom, and the depth of the cartridge slot.
Is handy that there are the grooves down either side as the original controllers go in the back , but plugged in to the front of the mother board, so wires can be lost along there.
I'm still waiting on some longer wire to get mine in, useless electrics shop didn't have any.
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@MadRikXIV Fair enough on all of the bits that stick out on the inside, but are the overall dimensions in that image right? 150x220? I have no way to measure one in real life, but if that's right I can use that for a sense of scale for what's going on inside.
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@obsidianspider said in Famicom (not Mini) build (WIP):
@MadRikXIV Fair enough on all of the bits that stick out on the inside, but are the overall dimensions in that image right? 150x220? I have no way to measure one in real life, but if that's right I can use that for a sense of scale for what's going on inside.
I would say they are correct, it is still fairly tiny even compared to that Mini pic, let alone an XBone
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Since you're going to be using a Pi Zero W, and those don't use a lot of power, if you used at 2 or 2.5A phone charger for power, I think you'd be ok with making a power rail inside the case. To do what I'm proposing you'd need three Micro USB cables. Male on one end, female on the other, and if they have fairly heavy power wires, that'd be better than not.
Ideally you'd want a female Micro USB socket exposed on the back panel of the case, this is how you'd be powering everything, so take one of your Micro USB cables, and cut it in half-ish, with enough wire still attached to the female end so that you can route it to wherever you choose to put the power distribution rail. You could make the rail from perfboard (the kind with copper pads would work best), or you can buy some premade ones. I got a 3-pack from OSH Park, but it took a few weeks, and that was within the US.
At this point, I would the other end of that cable that you just cut the female end from, and then connect the male end to the rail. That will be used to go to the Mausberry.
I would then take your other two Micro USB cables and just cut the female ends off, you only want the male ends, as those will plug into the controllers, and then connect that up to the rail.
Red and black are USUALLY the power and ground wires in a USB cable, but be sure to use a multimeter to test to make sure you have the correct wires. Don't smoke your components by not testing before plugging things in!
This is a really crude mockup, but I think it gets the point across.
If I recall correctly Mausberry are on Long Island (just East of New York City) and when I ordered my two circuits each order took about a week. (They were ordered a few months apart.) If I drove there by car it would take me about three hours. They're that close to me geographically. When I ordered my Super Famicom from Japan it took about three weeks to arrive. When I send mail back and forth with a friend who lives in Australia it takes around three weeks in either direction. Most of the time if I order things from China on eBay it takes around four weeks, but I had one package that took eight weeks. With international shipping, it's tough, and I know I get impatient with waiting and wondering if something will arrive.
The Powerblock seems to power the Pi through GPIO and covers the 5V pins that I needed for my screen, so I ruled it out. It was also more expensive than the Mausberry boards I looked at. I'm not sure about powering a Pi directly by GPIO. Some say it's safe, others say that there's a protection circuit that's bypassed if you do it that way. Then again, I'm the guy who cut the heck out of a Pi 3 in my attempt to make a Gameboy Advance Pi. ;)
One other alternative to the Mausberry that I considered was ATXRaspi. At the time it only worked with a momentary switch, so I ruled it out, but as of board revision 2.7 they say it can now work with a latching switch like the Famicom or Super Famicom use. I've not messed with those "plug some wires into the GPIO and add a button" options because they keep power fed to the Pi all the time and when it's "off" it's really just in a low power state. While I'm sure it's usable, it wasn't a solution that I preferred. I like that the Mausberry or ATXRaspi actually cut the power to the Pi completely when they are off. There may be other options out there that do the same thing (soft poweroff, totally cut the power to the Pi) but I'm not aware of them. I'll see if I can find any more, and if I do, I'll post back.
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@FlyingTomahawk said in Famicom (not Mini) build (WIP):
No additional USB ports needed.
HDMI and microUSB are sufficient.If that's the case, then you don't need the Zero4U for this build once everything is set up.
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