Bacteria's project: "Project Unity"

[bacteria]

Spent literally hours trying to work out why I was getting an electrical noise when the CD-i was in place in the Alpha Omega casing, why it worked when the tray was inserted half way to the front and not at the front, why it worked occasionally but most of the time I got a motor sound but the system not working. Applied a little 3-in-1 oil to the mechanical parts of the CD-i drive to make it move freely, didn't make a lot of odds. Realised what the problem was - the console was a few inches away from the PS2 power transformer board (taking in mains, outputting 12v) and was being affected by the magnetic waves from the power supply. Moved the power supply out of the way, no noise from the CD-i and it worked fine again, no problem. Thing is I forgot to disconnect the board from the mains, and I got a shock; not nice!

Going to have to either use the previous transformer or if not, make a separate enclosure for the PS2 one to keep it away from the console system - could enclose it in wood and with some shielding around it to see if that would allow the transformer to stay inside the Alpha Omega - not sure yet.

That took a few hours of head scratching, opening up the CD-i, etc, etc - all because of the electrical interference from the transformer! :facepalm:

[bacteria]

This is the simple version of the controller section for when a console connects to button traces directly, ie no chips on the controller board, etc.



Pic of the 2nd tier in place:



Will finish off the wiring for the CDi controller, then do the Playstation one.

Update:

Finished the CDi controller (made it generic), played 10 levels of Mario Hotel - it's a good game and unfairly slated - it's fun to play.

[alienjesus]

This is the simple version of the controller section for when a console connects to button traces directly, ie no chips on the controller board, etc.



Pic of the 2nd tier in place:



Will finish off the wiring for the CDi controller, then do the Playstation one.

Update:

Finished the CDi controller (made it generic), played 10 levels of Mario Hotel - it's a good game and unfairly slated - it's fun to play.

When I played 10 levels of Hotel Mario I thought it deserved all the shit it got. It was awful.

[bacteria]

Oh well, I enjoy the Mario game - each to their own, yes?


Decided to see if I could make the power supply remove the magnetic interference, so cut the edge of the board down carefully, so as not to touch a capacitor and get another electric shock, so it fitted into an old VHS tape case; which I then covered the outside with several layers of kitchen tin foil, and taped up. The tin foil is connected to ground from the mains to remove the interference (at least, that's the theory).

[jeffro11]

This is a pretty terrible idea. Where is the heat going to go?

What you SHOULD do with this is miniaturize this entire power supply board. You'll get less interference from it, your unit will be lighter, and run a helluva lot cooler. You've basically just made an oven that will excel at melting plastic.

[Niode]

This is a pretty terrible idea. Where is the heat going to go?

What you SHOULD do with this is miniaturize this entire power supply board. You'll get less interference from it, your unit will be lighter, and run a helluva lot cooler. You've basically just made an oven that will excel at melting plastic.

Agreed. This is a bad idea waiting to happen. I would be looking at ways to simplify this entire pcb using solid state components. It's more work but at least it's not a hack job like this is. You'll get less heat and little to no interference.

[bacteria]

Yeah, actually, going to bin that, if my old 4 amp 12v supply doesn't work, i'll buy a proper 6 amp one, costs about £14 off ebay. I'll try my old supply again.

Was worth an experiment though! Can't use the existing (PS2) supply as it seems to generate a bucket load of interference. Could have made slits in the VHS case as there will be plenty of airflow in the project case, however no point as the power supply is not right for the job - was just trying to recycle things to be useful!

[bacteria]

Ok, that sealed the nail in the coffin - tried my 12v 4.16 amp 50w power supply, and it couldn't get the PS2 off standby mode - because of all the regulators feeding off the power supply. Wired the PS2 to just the power supply and all worked fine, no interference on the picture as before - just shows how much interference that old PS2 supply kicked out!

Only option is therefore now to get a new regulated 12v mains powers supply rated higher than the one I just tried, saw a 6 amp one yesterday, which should be fine, will see if there are other alternatives of similar price. Would have been nice to have used a GameCube supply but that is only rated 3.25 amps so not good enough.

That's the reason I used the PS2 power supply before; it is rated 7 amps; and thinking about it, I used the 4.16 amp supply before because with the bank of regulators on my supply board the official GameCube power supply couldn't boot the GameCube; so I used the 4.16 amp one, and it worked fine. Clearly the PS2 needs more juice so will need to go 6 amp or more now.

At least I know with a higher amperage supply, all will be back on track again. Will be working on the PS2 controller in the interim. I'm pleased though that the PS2 video quality issue was entirely down to the old power supply.

[bacteria]

Spent time relocating parts of the PS2 controller into my controller casing, hopefully it all works fine in the end. Next, have to connect the controller to the wires on the port ready, and then install the joysticks, and test the system works still, and well.

[bacteria]

Ok, found this Logic 3 PS2 controller to be rather good - all buttons work with one standard ground, as do the shoulder buttons. The button board (at bottom of pic) isn't needed as everything is on the underside of the brown board with the joysticks - ie quite small and compact. This board is 81 x 50mm so quite compact.

I'd recommend this PS2 controller for PS2 projects!