Portable Wii in a Wii U Gamepad (1)
Posted by Brandon Pyle on December 25, 2023
Categories:
Portable Wii
Hardware
I've been wanting to do this project for a long time, but have never had the time or money to do it until now. I've seen a number of people put Raspberry Pis into a Wii U Gamepad, but I have only found two examples of someone putting a Wii into a Wii U Gamepad (You can check out the posts here and here). Unfortunately, the former post used a 3D printed enclosure mounted to the back of the Gamepad to hold the batteries, and the latter post has been inactive and looks as though the build was never completed. My goal with this project is to make a functioning portable Wii inside the Wii U Gamepad without adding any bulk to the original shell. So, without further adieu, here is my plan for each of the components of my planned Wii portable:
Display
Currently I am debating on whether to use a 6.2" or 6.5" display for this build. The 6.2" display would likely be a little small, but it would fit easily in the mounting area for the screen in the Gamepad. The 6.5" display, however, i'm not sure will be able to fit without modifications to the case. If you have any thoughts on what size display to get, let me know.
I have decided to go with the 6.5" display and controller board as both displays have the same dimensions, and both will require case modification to fit in the Gamepad. The Gamepad's LCD cavity is 152mm x 94mm (per Stitches from BitBuilt) and the display size is 155.2mm x 89.4mm, which means I will have to cut the left and right LCD retainers out of the Gamepad. (I will likely be using a slightly different board as I already have one of a different model that should work for this display, but I will have to manually desolder the ports from the board, and with this one you won't have to do that)
6.5" display ($24.23): 6.5" TFT LED LCD Screen Display Panel for INNOLUX AT065TN14 800(RGB)×480
6.5" display controller board ($20.03): KYV N2 V1 VGA AV LCD Controller Board For 6.5inch AT065TN14 800x480 LCD Screen6.2" display ($25.00): 6.2inch TIANMA TM062RDH03 60 pin LCD Screen Panel Module Controller
6.2" display controller board ($24.99): VGA AV LCD Controller Board For 6.2inch TM062RDH03 800x480 60Pin LCD Screen
Controls
For the controls, I will be using the original Wii U Gamepad buttons. In order to get them to be recognized as a Gamecube controller (and later modded to emulate a Wii remote), I will first desolder the ribbon cables on either side of the Gamepad and solder them to this breakout board ($7.66). This will easily allow me to wire up each button to the GC+ 2.0 ($18.99).
Additionally, I am going to try to utilize the power, home, and TV buttons on the gamepad as well. I am going to try to use the original board and wire up power to use as the power switch, home as reset (or home if I can figure out how to do that), and the TV button to turn on and off the display. Looking at the PCB, however, this looks like it will be very difficult, so I will either need help figuring out how to wire up those buttons as well as the LEDs, or I will go for this solution, which is a custom PCB with breakout headers ($10.90). The only problem with that is I believe I will have to source and solder all the small components for it myself.
Power
For power, I plan on using the RVL-PMS-LITE ($74.99) as it integrates seamlessly with the RVLoader software and provides all the functionality I need in a very small form factor. The only downside is that it is really freaking expensive. Additionally, I will also be using the PMS-PD 2 ($23.99) board to go along with the PMS-LITE is order to take advantage of USB-C charging as well as an internal USB port
Cooling
To be honest, I have no idea what I'm going to do to cool the system. I have a few fans lying around that i'll try to use, and i'll probably use some sort of copper thermal pad as well. I'll add more to this and the other sections as the build progresses
Audio
For audio I will be using the 4pcs PAM8403 Mini 2 Channel 3W Audio Power Amplifier Module 5v Board USA Seller ($3.90) board because it is small and cheap. This board does not have protections for headphones, however, so just be aware of that and don't put your headphones on full volume. I will also be using the stock Wii U Gamepad speakers and volume slider
Total Cost: ~$190.42 (not inclusing cost of Wii, wires, soldering iron, etc.)
That's all for now! I currently am waiting for my Wii to arrive in a few days as my other ones no longer work for some reason. I have the Gamepad and have disassembled it already, so the next step will be softmodding my Wii when it gets here and then cutting it to size.