How to: GPi battery mod using stock Jack plug

[@markburban9573]

thanks! followed this guide & have now liberated my GPi from AA's.. Surgery wasn't too difficult either; even with my noobish soldering skills i managed this mod in about 1 hours work!

[@goldennboy1989]

If you guys having problems with your unit not powering ona fter this. You need to plug it in once before it works. No idea why that is but it took me really long to figure out :D

[@chaggydawg]

I just completed this mod watching your video, so far so good!, Thanks!

[@AkumaMods]

Glad I could help. its a sweet mod

[@bicivelo]

Great tutorial. Thanks for the video!

[@goldennboy1989]

If you don't want to butcher your battery compartiment you can get type 14500 3.7 V LiPos. They have the same formfactor as AA batteries. You have to mod the wiring of your compartiment to parallell though!

[@AkumaMods]

Correct sir. That mod is going up in my shop tonight

[@goldennboy1989]

@@AkumaMods Have you done it yet? Turned out that the 14500 LiPos I used are cheap china crap and dont hold up to their promised capacity. Would be nice to knowwich ones you used and if they are any good :)

[@AkumaMods]

@@goldennboy1989 I actually have 2 sets to try out. One is EBL red lipo AA batteries and the other are the best money can buy called kentli. Amazing lipos but my focus right now is the ability to have a charge circuit for everyday nimah batteries

[@AkumaMods]

@@goldennboy1989 also check out our discord channel for more up to date info on the GPi discord.gg/daEGkSW As well as my Facebook page on the GPi case

[@rs2klee]

why didnt they make the GPi case with a rechargeable battery in the 1st place! or use 3 good AA rechargeable ones ?

[@AkumaMods]

Because it's supposed to be like a real Gameboy same stufff

[@richarddukard8989]

Maybe to keep the price lower?

[@gillandro2]

I dont know if you thought of it but i had a spare jst connection (i think thats what that is called) so rather then cutting into the battery wires....in case i needed to replace the battery one day i put wire to the connector and wired it to the board.... ill prob be able to hide it some where if not ill cut the connections and go back to the wire to wire method

[@chaggydawg]

I looked for one to salvage off old dead mo-boards I have, but in the end I just used 2 push in metal connectors soldered on the ends with shrink tubing over the connections so I could at least separate the 2 halves in the future.

[@goldennboy1989]

Before I found your video I directly soldered to the pins on the barrel jack for charging. Do you think I can leave it like that? Seems to work fine.

[@AkumaMods]

Yea that should be fine. That was going to be my initial go to but then my buddy said hey these pads on the back are connected to it so you can go from there

[@pinobarbareschi6452]

hi brother congratulations for the project I wanted to know I have a 5000mah battery would it be good for the GPi Case? thanks congratulations again

[@AkumaMods]

Yes it will

[@waltercomunello121]

9:28 this pad should be a booster output, is this correct? or does it come from the positive prong?

[@Coldsteak]

how is this being powered with only .5amps?? or am i not understanding lipo batteries

[@AkumaMods]

The unit itself has an onboard powerboost

[@gillandro2]

In the words of columbo....just one more question sir... the kapton tape.... can i use packing tape instead or is the kapton tape the only choice? Thanks

[@AkumaMods]

You can use normal tape if you want. However I suggest kapton because it doesn't transfer heat like normal tape will

[@gillandro2]

AkumaMods thanks then thats what i shall get before i procede

[@tmorawski75]

I looked on your Facebook page found video on your selfish 😆 but no screen shot of where to soider the wires

[@xhide00]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! You are awesome!! here are some question: 1. While it was on battery power, i plugged the barrel jack in and the pi rebooted itself, is this normal? 2. Would this battery still charge if i connect through micro usb port on the back (above the door latch)? 3. while playing with the cable connected, is this Charging & Powering at the same time?

[@AkumaMods]

1. No it should not do that. Make sure all the connections are correct 2.yes it will connect through the rear door micro USB 3. Yes it should still charge while playing just not at full capacity.

[@josiejuicewilder8911]

If your connections are correct, check the rating of your power supply, it will crash on a 1a supply but 2a should be enough to charge the battery and keep running.

[@arturobuenrostro6404]

Where I can buy a battery like that? I'm been searvhing for the battwry but everywhere is out od stock.

[@AkumaMods]

Aliexpress, Amazon or eBay are your best bet

[@Santi_1491]

Greetings, how much can be the, minimum mAh for the battery or it can be any mAh, thanks.

[@AkumaMods]

Any mah will do just need to make sure you have the correct batteries for the charging corcut

[@Santi_1491]

@@AkumaMods ok, thanks, if indeed I must be careful that the battery is correct, it is 3.7 v. and whatever the mAh, can it serve me, more or less how many hours of play can I have? 😉

[@nidzdotnet76]

Anyone know if a battery voltage % can be added to show how much battery is left? Awesome mod.. I did this and it works great.

[@AkumaMods]

I'm working on that right now actually but due to what is needed from the pi a new case will most likely have to be made for it as well

[@huskyrooster]

What about not using the barrel jack but instead using a micro USB? the barrel jack seems weak and could break off easily.

[@AkumaMods]

Yes you can do that but it requires cutting the case

[@huskyrooster]

AkumaMods Yes that is true. With your mod, you are already cutting the case. So would it be a direct wiring to the original battery prongs that you have cut? Therefore, just wiring the red and black accordingly. Then installing a micro USB pcb and wiring to that?

[@AkumaMods]

So basically for the mod to work with micro USB you would wire it up to the battery and get a micro USB extension board then iwre that to wherever you want it. I wired up one for a customer that he wanted the micro USB so I put the charger pcb in the battery compartment and cut right behind the headphone jack

[@huskyrooster]

@@AkumaMods Thank you! you just confirmed what my plan is. I've already ordered my parts on ebay. I'll start on this when it arrives. I might modify mines a little bit and use an iphone lightning port instead of a micro USB. I'll test that out first to see if it works. Thanks again! Keep up the great videos!

[@AkumaMods]

Yea you can use any port you want as long as you wire it up correctly

[@adsyndrome]

I cant find the Correct battery to order it in germany... I need some help pls :(

[@AkumaMods]

US $11.90 | AKZYTUE 3.7V 4000mAh 125050 Rechargeable Lipo Battery with JST Connector a.aliexpress.com/_msZQyuE

[@guangguang34]

why the tp4056 out- was empty,no wire?

[@AkumaMods]

There was no need because it's a passthrough ground. You can connect it back to a ground but it is not needed

[@guangguang34]

@@AkumaMods thx

[@gillandro2]

Is the 400 in celcius or farenheit?

[@AkumaMods]

Celsius

[@travistaylor7946]

Does this give it overcharge protection

[@AkumaMods]

Yes it should. As long as you get the model with the protection circuit

[@tmorawski75]

Can you use adafruit powerboost 500c?

[@AkumaMods]

I don't suggest any powerboost on the GPi case because it'll mess with the powerboost on the GPi case. Use only a charging circuit board without a powerboost

[@tmorawski75]

Thanks I did order the board you used. It would be cool if you could post screen shot of the wireing

[@AkumaMods]

@@tmorawski75 yea I could do that. I actually just did a mod on a customer unit last night so I'll link that for you. Or if you want you can check out my AkumaMods shop on facebook

[@guelpi580]

5:05 realy bad idea

[@LelandHasGames]

I performed this mod and, there’s only one issue. Something causes the battery to discharge over the span of a few days. Now, with regular rechargeable batteries, it would do the same thing. Either way, this is a GREAT mod. It makes things convenient.

[@AkumaMods]

Very strange. Did you use a lipo charger with rechargable batteries or did you use my NIMH charger with rechargable Batteries??

[@LelandHasGames]

AkumaMods I just had some rechargeable NiMH batteries that I used with a battery charger. They only discharge once placed in the GPi case

[@AkumaMods]

Right but are you using a NIMH charging circuit or a lipo charging circuit(tp4056)

[@LelandHasGames]

AkumaMods it’s a lipo charging circuit. Like I had said. I performed the same mod you had done. It’s a Lipo battery, Lipo circuit. If I had know about the NiMH charging circuit, I would have done that mod instead.

[@AkumaMods]

@@LelandHasGames yea that's why they are discharging. The lipo charger on NIMH batteries will never fully charge them ever.

[@goldennboy1989]

Does safe shutdown still work? I am a little confused, since i only used powerboosts before for my gbz builds. The powerboost needs to be turned OFF else it will stay ON (blue LED) and draw battery energy

[@AkumaMods]

You can not use a powerboost on the GPi unit it will try the chipset on the board. You can only use a charge circuit. Yes this mod only adds on a lipo battery option and nothing else. No other changes to the case are made

[@alejandrolopezfernandez4583]

Why the green wire?

[@AkumaMods]

So it can complete the circuit

[@alejandrolopezfernandez4583]

@@AkumaMods ok thx!

[@NicoSensei]

Hi, very interesting. But could you shot a demo of actual playing, charge while playing and safe shutdown on the modded unit? No offence or distrust meant, but I'd rather see the whole thing actually work before attempting a permanent mod on my unit.