Gamecube Restoration and Mods; USB-C, Region Change, Recap, Clock Battery, Shell Swap

[@Ridley1911]

Gj on tackling the logic board caps, those are the reason behind gcs not reading disks, the bitfunx cases are great, i own one for my n64 and the plastic quality is very close to the oem shells, too bad the pink color looks corny as hell lol

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Thank you! If Bitfunx made repo colors for the Char red and Crystal White, I'd so grab a few in a heartbeat lol Their quality is solid.

[@soopafamicom]

Remove the resistor and put in a switch then you can go jp/us whichever you want to use for gaming.

[@TerribleGameShack]

Has someone done that before? I'm interested to see that

[@soopafamicom]

@@TerribleGameShack it's what we did years ago before any chips or other methods were around. I had my jp machine in the UK before the pal release and when english games were released in the US the simplest way was to fit the switch to then play games from either region. Strip down the cube to the board and right next to one of the chips is a set of jumpers, R5 and R6. One will be bridged already. Break the connection then a common earth to the middle of the switch to one side of the jumpers, then wire each end of the switch to the other sides of the jumpers and you have jp/'us region select.

[@IndestructibleTurtle]

I saw that you will be opening a mod shop, will you plan on selling the USB c mods? Or will we need to send them in. I'm absolutely suck at soldering but am good doing everything else lmao. Also where you get the pink shell?

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

I'll absolutely be selling the USB C mods ready for installation on the shop! and also offer modding services as well so you can choose whichever suits ya best :D With a little practice on practice boards I'm sure your soldering game will become top notch! a little flux doesn't hurt either haha I got the pink shell from AliExpress while looking for replacement shells. Waiting to see when someone would do the Char red variant. I'd so grab them on sight xD

[@IndestructibleTurtle]

@@PedroPlatinumGaming Awesome thanks for the info!!!

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

@@IndestructibleTurtle You're welcome! :D

[@AlexSBedini]

Amazing video, I am a moder myself in Europe and I went to purchase USB C power mod for N64 and GC but you do not ship internationally, is there any chance you can add international shipping ?

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Thank you! At this time I don't offer international shipping except to Canada. It's something I will be addressing as I continue to familiarize myself with international tax requirements - make sure I'm compliant wherever I sell to. I'll make announcements on Discord and @RenewedGamingRelics as I make progress towards that goal.

[@RichardPurvey]

What ceramic spray are you using?

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

The one in the video is Gliptone Professional Ceramic Detail Spray which I normally do 2 coats of. At request I also use Autokan Ceramic 10H High Gloss or Renaissance Micro Crystalin wax with Pre-lim surface cleaner for different finish feels and durability.

[@ileox4170]

very nice compact video

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Thank you! They were? lucky! I wonder what happened with my order then 🤔 maybe they changed something or they got lost in transit lol

[@tecktonalex]

amazing! why change the caps though?

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Thank you! :D Replacing the caps as part of doing maintenance. The console's over 20 years old and liquid caps do go bad over time. Seen bad caps mess with audio and video so replacing them now will keep it chugging along for another 20-30 years no problem.

[@alfredmanner6881]

But aren't those solid state caps compared to ones with the silver top and blue or green wrap, normally when a cap goes bad it'll be bloated

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Some models do have solid caps, but I only replaced the liquid ones, and leave the solid ones alone. I do replace the 1000uf caps on the power distribution board with solid ones if it has them.

[@-Chrome-]

What was the Digital Ultra Sonic Cleaner and why did you submerge the board in what i presume to be water!

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

The ultrasonic cleaner I have is the 10L one from Creworks. It's got its quirks, but gets the job done. The liquid is actually an acid solution made with 92% water and 8% elmasonic 800 0102 elma tec clean A1 concentrated acid. I go a little higher than the 3-5% use because I run it at 50°C so the plastics don't warp during the bath.

[@-Chrome-]

@@PedroPlatinumGaming Damn, I need one of those, Do you any reviews on your channel or recommendations?

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

@@-Chrome- They are incredibly handy for sure! I don't have a review vid on it I can't recommend the one I have. It doesn't have preheating and continuously heats past the setting while in use while it maintains while idle - a lot of room for improvement. I'll eventually look to another one sometime in the future. Would like to accommodate larger boards. The acid on the other hand is really good. it does require you to rinse afterwards, but boards come out looking great. a small thing I'd like to improve is removing residual flux better whether it's going on for longer or slightly higher temps. any residual flux shows up white when dry l, remains not conductive (so no impact to electronic use), and needs brushing off with IPA. Not a big deal.

[@-Chrome-]

@@PedroPlatinumGaming Thanks for the info, I definitely need one of these.

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

you're welcome! :D

[@Cinder202]

Can you link where you got the usbc power mod, I've been looking but no luck. or at least all the parts and the stl files. that would be a great help.

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

I actually made the mod myself and will be opening up my shop in July. An update post will be up soon with a planned launch date.

[@LordDiscord]

​@@PedroPlatinumGamingThere is one that doesn't require soldering and is just a replacement pcb that you can swap out

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Yup yup - it's pretty nice for those without a soldering iron who want a USB C option! a little much cost wise for my taste, but I suppose that's part of the convenience which is cool. I only charge 10 for mine, but need that soldering iron.

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Hey cinder here's the link for the mod in case you're still interested. www.renewedgamingrelics.com/product-page/gamecube-usb-c-mod

[@LordDiscord]

@@PedroPlatinumGaming question what usb-c charger do you use? I know it requires an output of 12v/3v but can't find any brands that can output that and am a little afraid of frying my game cube if I went about doing the mod

[@kotonesouI]

the only reason i can see you making your own USB-C mod over using HDR is simply because the power button would still be stock but with a different connector i just ask what power brick did you use for your gamecube and can you link all the items and tools you used for this

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

The HDR mod is nice, but it's pretty expensive for what it is. I can see the value of it for a plug and play solution where mine requires basic soldering skills. The power brick used in this vid was a 100w USB-C PD wall adapter from UGreen. I've used 60w and 40w ones for the GC. As for links, I'll instead list tools what I've used for the work in the vid. listing all links for each thing would take a hair too long and make for a long list lol Hot air station: Yihua 8786D Desoldering gun: Hakko FR301-03 Ultrasonic Cleaner: Creworks 10L Cleaning solution: Elma Tech Clean A1 3D Printer: Anycubic Photon Mono SE Wash & Cure Station: Anycubic Fume Extractor: Kotto soldering fume extractor with HEPA filter New chassis is from AliExpress

[@TheMapeha]

this is not a shell for normal DVD(-R)s?

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Nope, it's a standard size shell that matches the OEM dimensions.

[@hove131]

Hot air temp for removing caps? Surprised they don't explode with hot air.

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

They're fairly resilient; the key is to heat the whole area gradually and not make a hot spot. I go around 520 depending on the board and whether I notice if there's any type of adhesive under them - very uncommon, but found some Dreamcasts like that. I adjust airflow between medium low and high depending on tight the area is. Too tight and lower flow and open area higher flow; as to not melt the solder holding nearby components likewise any plastics.

[@antoinedacosta9141]

​@@PedroPlatinumGamingThank you for the 520⁰F info I had to think that of course I have to set it to 271⁰C. But for airflow I only have values 10 to 100%

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

you're welcome! as long as you don't keep the heat on it directly for an extended period and have it warm up gradually by moving the blower it'll be fine. If it's going to pop, you should be able to notice it beforehand as it would slowly rise like a cake. higher heat directly for a period and the pop would be like one of those confetti party poppers - def want to avoid that. 10-100 would probs mean a medium low to be 35-40.

[@tic_tox]

Dig the pink!!

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Same here! I'm hoping more solid color will become available - would love a repo of the Gundam Char res shell so long it doesn't cost an arm and a leg lol

[@DrSoda.]

Good show of console knowledge and determination, thanks for the awesome content. God bless. Jesus loves you!

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

Thank you very much!

[@alfredmanner6881]

But now matter what, it'll just be an GameCube, a dolphin emulator on the other hand has a turn off enhancements and flawless playback since it has matured a lot, not to mention, you can set additional ram to play Zelda wind waker and twilight Princess four player. Could never achieve that on original hardware

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

And that's fine. Emulators are a diff breed and a great means to preserve a way to play games! Not all games work 100%, but those are far and few between and grows less over time, getting back on your maturity point. however things like adding ram - well that's fine, the games were made to use the amount it's been designed for, it can't use more necessarily less you mod the game to use more. As for modded games, you'd load a modded ROM to an ODE; online mod like smash melee - yeah totally on emulator; sure there have been networking mods, but I don't believe they're utilization are to the level of what ya can pull off on an emulator. Then the randomizers; those are quite a ride lol Heck, how many times have we seen emulated hardware, and those can outshine the original lol The console itself is a great little box, and a nice piece of interactive history. It's nuts what people have come up with to preserve and improve these treasures.

[@konyption]

Don’t get me wrong I love pc gaming but playing on original hardware just hits different

[@PedroPlatinumGaming]

It's def an experience haha