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  • Replies 12 replies
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  • portable pi
  • 7 inch touchscreen display
  • li-po charging
  • retropie
Related

My Retropie Portable Build

celcius1
celcius1 over 6 years ago

Hey Guys,

 

I've decided to discuss my Retropie Handheld build, I would love feedback if it is constructive, now I had a 7" RPi touchscreen lying around, and decided to build it into a Retropie portable, now power requirements, had to be considered, now Powerboost chargers from adafruit wont cut it with the current feed needed for the RPi 3B+, so for the Power source, I'm using 4 LiPo cells, with a capacity of 4000mAh, wired as two packs, so i have two packs with an output voltage of 7.2v and then in parallel so I have a battery capacity of 8000mAh.  I also cant use Adafruit stuff as there are no local stockists of the modules here in Adelaide.

 

But with the charging circuit I've modified one I found for charging 4 cells that uses an ATMega328P, the changes I'm making is for charging 2 cells even though I'm using 4, I am assuming I can treat the two packs of two cells as two cells to the circuit.  The other change is to add a means to switch from battery power to PSU when it is plugged in for charging. and load share between the pi and battery, the power from the PSU or battery then goes into a Buck Converter, (https://www.altronics.com.au/p/z6334-dc-dc-buck-module-3-40v-input/), so I can give the Pi and screen upto 2.5A at 5v.  Also I'll be adding a means to the battery charging circuit if a low battery condition is detected, so that it can signal the RPi to shutdown if the voltage drops below a set threshold.

 

Now the reason for building my own charging interface is because here in Australia we don't have much in the way of standard modules, even ones with the power requirements of the RPi 3B+, plus I prefer a bigger handheld screen.

 

This is the reference I am using for building my own version of the charging circuit https://www.microfarad.de/li-charger/ this site is quite informative, and will help in customising this circuit for my requirements.

 

For the buttons I am going to use a basic key matrix, and take a page from the TBHS project where they did this, as its a good proven method of input.

 

The batteries I am using https://www.altronics.com.au/p/s4761-26650-lithium-ion-3.6V-4000mah-rechargeable-battery/

Controller I am using for charging https://www.altronics.com.au/p/z6222-sparkfun-dev-11113-pro-mini-328-5v-16mhz/

Plugpack for External power and Charging https://www.altronics.com.au/p/m8936b-powertran-12v-dc-2a-fixed-2.1mm-tip-appliance-plugpack/

 

I value constructive feedback of my project.

 

I also forgot to add, once I get the handheld working, I'm going to look at expanding it so I can plug 2600 cartridges directly into it, as I have been working on a 2600 cartridge interface. running into a few hurdles, so focusing on something a little easier image

 

Regards

 

Paul

 

P.S. I'm umming and rring about actually recording this on video and doing a video of project.

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Top Replies

  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 6 years ago +2
    After speaking with my battery supplier, I've decided to go with 18650 Li-Ion cells, with 3 cells per bank, giving a battery voltage of 10.8V and battery life of approx 7hrs. as when the handheld is on…
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 5 years ago in reply to celcius1 +2
    Hi Paul, There are other ways to design keyboard circuits that reduce the need for so many parts, you've got 37 parts here not including the buttons. These can be reduced to 2 parts, like two MCP23017…
  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago +1
    It's been awhile since working on this, I've made a few changes since I originally started. Change 1 I'm using a different 7inch screen, that is driven by a HDMI and usb for power and Touch https://www…
  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago +1
    Also with the battery component, I've done more research, and are working on integrating a battery balancing system in the charging circuit, and have decided to go with a 18v battery pack as when I did…
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 5 years ago +1
    Hi Paul, Connecting parallel/series batteries can be high-risk, you've not mentioned if the latest battery pack is self-assembled. The original one you mentioned was not (the one that was going to be 4…
  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago in reply to shabaz +1
    Hi Shabaz, The battery packs are being professionally made of 4 cells each behind each hand hold, total of 8 cells, at 14.8v, they will have to sets of wires on it one for pack connection and the other…
  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago +1
    So I have got most the schematic drawn up for the button matrix, I still have a number of items to put on the schematic most importantly a logic level shifter as the shift registers are logic level 5v…
  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago in reply to shabaz +1
    Hi Shabaz, Thanks for the suggestion I'll make a change to my schematic, I'm reading up on the chip now, trying to find the SPI commands, as I've started coding the source file to read the button states…
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 5 years ago in reply to celcius1 +1
    Hi Paul, I've not coded using the library you're using or for this device, so cannot help much here. It may be instead worthwhile using a GPIO library (such as wiringPi or some other one, I don't know…
  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago in reply to shabaz +1
    Hi Shabaz, I Redesigned my Key Matrix, and re wrote my code. I'm using 74HC165 now, which are proper input shift registers or PISO registers, don't need to use protection diodes on the pins, and the IC…
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  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago

    Also with the battery component,  I've done more research, and are working on integrating a battery balancing system in the charging circuit, and have decided to go with a 18v battery pack as when I did further math the figures looked better to have a 14v pack over a 7v pack as the buck converter would run at a much higher efficiency rate, and get better run time from the batteries, but it is much easier with the charger design, and the battery balancing system will be easier to manage.  I just need to ensure I can drop up to 1amp per cell when the balancing circuit kicks in.

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  • celcius1
    celcius1 over 5 years ago

    Also with the battery component,  I've done more research, and are working on integrating a battery balancing system in the charging circuit, and have decided to go with a 18v battery pack as when I did further math the figures looked better to have a 14v pack over a 7v pack as the buck converter would run at a much higher efficiency rate, and get better run time from the batteries, but it is much easier with the charger design, and the battery balancing system will be easier to manage.  I just need to ensure I can drop up to 1amp per cell when the balancing circuit kicks in.

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