Hi!
Step-Up Convertor works!
Built a power board for the battery contacts, a switch and the step-up convertor.
PCB stack design is done!
Parts ordered, PCBs ordered, fingers crossed!
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Heyyyyy!! Battery power works on the Stack, doesn’t work on the Gameboy build. Screen turns on for both, but I’m getting the white screen of death! I’m also getting the white screen on my original Recurboy so not sure what’s happening. I think my SD card got corrupted when I dropped my Raspberry Pi last week.
Some of my measurements were off on both builds, so I’ll have to do another revision for the PCBs. I’ll do that once I get the Recurboy software working. Fairly close to the end though!!
Pics of the GameBoy Build:
Pics of the Stack Build:
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HI!
Been working on this project. The problem is the raspberry Pi not receiving enough power,
I tried a step up convertor also called a boost convertor.
Realized that was a mistake as I would be getting 6v from the 4 x AA battery I would need to step down to 5v. I would need a step down or buck convertor. But what about when the batteries drain below 5v? More research led me to a step up/step down or buck/boost convertor. I ordered a bunch of each. Unfortunately, none of them work.
Have one more part on order: Pololu - 5V Step-Up/Step-Down Voltage Regulator S9V11F5
It’s a little pricey but it it works it will be worth the cost. Fingers crossed.
There is another route to take tho. Luckily, I came across this video:
He builds a raspberry pi zero powered by 4 x AA batteries inside a first gen gameboy! With a screen!! AND IT WORKS!!
He uses a Over-discharge Protection Circuit and is very nice to have uploaded a picture of the schematic!
I added the Over-discharge Protection Circuit to the power board for this project:
One last thing. This is an educational project for me, I’m not affiliated with underscores_. I’m just a big fan of cyberboy and the recurboy project. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of fan art and really that’s what this is. I’m building my dream recurboy, but I was also planning to give away the schematics and gerbers online for free if other people would like to build their own. I think it’s great thing that cyberboy gives away the recurboy software for free and just want to help add to this community,
Anyway, PCB and parts on order. I really hope this new design works.
Cheers!
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The S9V11F5 Voltage Regulator works!!
So happy! Bless this man and the video he made!! Especially around the 31 minute mark
I tested it on a fresh pair of batteries it ran for 4 hours easy maybe 5 on idle with no button input and no video output. It ran so long I fell asleep around the 4 hour mark I woke up when the timer was approaching 6 hours and it did not have enough power to run. I was hoping for at least an hour, four hours is plenty! I will do a full test with button input and video output soon. Right now, I’m just so happy it works!!
I am still going to try the Over-discharge Protection Circuit, if it works I’ll choose the better, more power efficient solution. But if it doesn’t work, at least the S9V11F5 Voltage Regulator works!
Final build coming soon! So happy I can finish this project and move on to my next one!
@homegrown I’ll send you a completed build once it’s done if you want one. Also going to send one to cyberboy. I will upload the gerbers, bill of materials and a step by step guide showing how to build it, for others if they want to make their own.
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Congrats on driving this to completion! I admire your ability to R&D this it’s impressive. And that’s very generous of you, I’d be happy to pay for the shipping costs and what not.
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