Small Build Almost Done

[villageidiot333]

Well, I learned a lot from first test version. All screws and fasteners hidden and has a clean look. Speakers and USB port for power installed. Just need to wire it all up and cut a base to seal it all up with a grill for air. Screen is a little loose so need revisit that. One thing about working from home a few days a week is it's given me opportunities to do all these projects I had been wanting to do.

Version 2 and 1

Speakers and USB Port

Rear of version 1 and new version 2. Man, it was a lot of screws in first one

Speakers. I was going to cut slots but I liked how this looked

[lomoverde]

Looks like a really nice design.Got any more fotos of the internals running it?

[villageidiot333]

Looks like a really nice design.Got any more fotos of the internals running it?

I'm still working on that part but it was running on my other prototype. I still need to cut out the bottom panel that seals it all up. I'll probably need to make other small adjustments to the build once I start playing it. I'll add more pics once it's all done.

[Namco]

Great little design! Can micro USB handle the current to drive that display (and what I assume is a raspberry pi)?

[villageidiot333]

Great little design! Can micro USB handle the current to drive that display (and what I assume is a raspberry pi)?

Unfortunately no lol. I had to hold off on this project for a bit. And figure out a way to power everything with one USB still. Everything powered on, the screen goes on for a bit then shuts off. Sound plays though but with the amp and screen the pi can't power everything. I'd like to stick to just one cord powering everything though but who knows if that's possible.

[Namco]

If you can't fit a power supply inside, I'd use one of those 5v, 10 or 15 amp laptop power supply bricks and put a panel mount 5.5mm jack to connect it. https://www.amazon.com/Aclorol-100V-240V-Switching-Converter-5-5x2-1mm/dp/B07CMM2BBR?th=1

[villageidiot333]

If you can't fit a power supply inside, I'd use one of those 5v, 10 or 15 amp laptop power supply bricks and put a panel mount 5.5mm jack to connect it. https://www.amazon.com/Aclorol-100V-240V-Switching-Converter-5-5x2-1mm/dp/B07CMM2BBR?th=1

Hmmm, need to look into this. Do you any other way to power everything inside from one power supply inside? On my full size build I put a power strip in it and wired it up to a switch outside but of course that's a lot more space in there. This is my first time using a Pi. I'm not familiar with ways to power those things besides the bricks they come with.

[Namco]

It depends if you need multiple voltages. If it was just 5v and a lot of amps, you'd need a laptop power supply type of brick. A brick puts the bulky transformer outside the cabinet and the fat cable can deliver the amps you need.

If you need multiple voltages, like if the monitor ran on 12v, you'd need either an internal power supply


Or a brick that delivers multiple voltages. LINK Some old LCD monitors need one of those power supply bricks with multiple pins for multiple voltages. The hard part would be to source the panel mount connector you need, or just snip off the connector and use some other kind of 4-pin connector.


Powering the Pi is easy, you can just solder directly to the 5v and ground lines of the USB connector, or cut off a micro USB cable and connect the 5v and ground wires to your 5v power supply directly. The new raspberry Pi's are pretty power hungry, your enemy is a cheap power supply that will undervolt your Pi or give a lot of resistance and heat. Giving it fat copper/connectors that can supply a lot of amps is what you want. And nothing sucks more than the emulator slowing down with that little undervolt lightningbolt icon in the upper right in Emulation Station.

[villageidiot333]

It depends if you need multiple voltages. If it was just 5v and a lot of amps, you'd need a laptop power supply type of brick. A brick puts the bulky transformer outside the cabinet and the fat cable can deliver the amps you need.

Many thanks for this info. From the specs of the hardware I have in it, the amp needs 3v, the screen needs 5v. And I believe the Pi runs on 5v too. The Pi and the amp seem to run fine full sound when screen is disconnected. So looks I just need a way to power the screen separately. I might be able to manage to jam a laptop brick in there. I have a lot of those at work in a box. I'd hate to have a laptop power supply hanging outside. I was trying to keep it all internal and just one plug to power it all on. I may need to rethink how i power everything.