chipmusic.org is an online community in respect and relation to chip music, art and its parallels.
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
Hi All,
I've seen a couple of people who've modded their DMGs to house rechargeable batteries - most require making a hole in the shell for the adapter to connect and recharge the batteries, but I was wondering if it'd be possible to charge via the DC input jack already built in to the DMG and a USB-to-GameBoy power cable?
I never use it for its original purpose and so it makes sense to convert it to something more useful. Any ideas are much appreciated!
I was wondering if it'd be possible to charge via the DC input jack already built in to the DMG and a USB-to-GameBoy power cable?
It's possible. The DC jack is in parallel with the batteries, so you'd need to cut a trace and rewire the DC jack to whatever charge circuitry you use. I have only done this on a CGB but.
Last edited by Knife Crimes (Jul 14, 2014 3:32 pm)
Yeah, I figured you'd have to cut the trace and rewire - it's the battery management circuitry that interests me.
I'm not too knowledgeable on electronics yet (maybe I should be a little less ambitious with my first mods). Presumably this is something you can buy preassembled? Or scavenge out of some other product?
Just bought this Wii Fit rechargeable battery - gonna crack it open and see if I can hook it up inside.
I chose this one because it has:
- An on / off switch
- An LED indicator for full charge
- A simple charging socket (as opposed to mini USB)
- Output of 6v
- Claims to have overcharge protection
- Has visible screws for disassembly
I'll let you know how it goes!
Last edited by hexagonfuture (Jul 14, 2014 5:00 pm)
Wii Fit battery arrived, but it was totally not what it said in the listing, so I'm sending it back.
Back to square one I did some digging and found plenty of good pre-assembled boards for charging LiPo batteries, so I'm thinking that's the way to go.
So I've been looking at the DMG's DC converter board. As I understand it, it converts the incoming DC current to 5v. If I use a circuit designed to output at 5v anyway, like this one, can I do away with the DC converter board?
If I use a circuit designed to output at 5v anyway, like this one, can I do away with the DC converter board?
In theory, yes. I've been looking at doing a rechargeable DMG project myself, the charge board on that link looks super. I may have to give it a go. Could probably get decently long charge out of a small battery as well, freeing up even more internal space...
Digging around more on these boards, Kitsch mentions that the DC CONV2 DMG board also provides negative voltage for the LCD contrast - elsewhere I've read the LCD needs about -19v.
So I might not do away with the DMG's DC board until I can figure out how to get the negative voltage required...
Well, I totally stole your idea with that charge circuit. Got my test DMG to run from a LiPo battery. Just need to rewire the switch, and route the microUSB port to the side of the case somehow, but it's looking like a very workable solution for a rechargeable DMG!
Still need the power regulator board in there, but internal space is freed up by not needing 4xAAs - the battery and circuit take about half the space, although a different shape.
Last edited by Category (Aug 10, 2014 9:34 am)
Dude, that's awesome! Got a couple questions though...
Where have you hooked the power up to if you say you still need to rewire the switch / regulator board? I was planning on wiring it up to the battery contacts on the main board, which will preserve the use of the power switch and regulator board anyway.
You're gonna stick a USB port in the side? That makes sense - for mine I plan on using a USB to DMG cable like the ones Kitsch sells and wire that up instead of the USB port on the charge circuit.
How much runtime do you think you'll get out of the 1200mAh battery?
You know if you're planning on sticking the charge circuit in the battery compartment you could use a clear battery door so you can see the status LEDs through.
Nice work so far - looking forward to seeing where you take it!
Last edited by hexagonfuture (Aug 10, 2014 1:43 pm)
Yeah, ive got a clear green case for the final one, this is just a test unit. In this one, some batteries were left in and leaked, rotting at the board where the batteries connect.
I've wired the charge circuit 5v output up to the pins were the DC jack meet the board, as the voltage is close enough to work easily.
As for my mention of the switch, its to turn the charge circuit off - whenever a LiPo battery is connected, as standard it'll sit there with its blue "power" LED glowing. This is a little annoying, and may just drain the battery in periods when its not in use. But if you pull the EN pin on the board to ground, it shuts it down. So I was gonna wire that up to an "off" position on the main DMG switch, so if the gameboys off, so is the annoying power led
As for the micro USB, I just think it makes more sense for me. Not only does it keep the DC port functioning (in case I fry the charge circuit or LiPo or something), having a charge port that works from any of my many android phone chargers is easy. Better than having another different shape/power charger to get lost in my box of cables!
Hope that explains my ideas somewhat.
Last edited by Category (Aug 10, 2014 12:26 pm)
Yeah, that makes total sense. My only reason for wanting to use the DC jack is that it's an existing hole in the case that isn't being used for anything else (in my case).
Interesting find about the 'on' LED. There's also a breakout on that board for low battery detection... Are you planning on making use of that in your setup?
Last edited by hexagonfuture (Aug 10, 2014 1:42 pm)
I probably won't need to - there is a red LED on the board already, that shows low battery status - with my clear case it should be visible already.
Although I hadn't thought about it too much tbh, now I'm getting ideas of having a RGB led show the status of battery/charger with different colours... Hmmm...
Aww, don't beat me to all the cool ideas 
You're right of course. Will you post some pics of the wiring when you do it for real in the green GB?
Of course, just waiting on a hex inverter for the bivert and it'll be going together. Nothing's worse than waiting on a delivery!