Turboexpress internal rechargeable battery mod

[turbokon]

Finally found the perfect rechargeable battery solution for the turbo express thanks to a fellow tech.  Battery is charged thru the express ac plug.  The only thing needs to be done is mount a tri color led somewhere on the outside so its visible. 




Here is the charger and booster circuit I'm using

http://www.adafruit.com/product/2465

Here is the battery I'm using.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=181463061804&globalID=EBAY-US

You can also series two 1000mAh batteries together.

Note, it can only be charged with a 5v power supply.  I found that the sony psp adapter works but you have to replace the jack on the express.  Replacement jack can be found at console5. 

Also you have to rewire the express jack.

Youtube video of the final internal battery mod:

[grendelrt]

Cool no cutting up the case!

[esteban]

Gorgeous.

[NecroPhile]

Looks good, especially since you didn't have to hack up the battery compartment or cover.  How many hours of OBEY does she give ya?

[in99flames]

Wow....definitely interested in this. I am with the other posters...what kind of battery life are you  seeing

[schweaty]

What is the product number of the battery?  What is it normally us used for?  Where can we find them?

[esteban]

What is the product number of the battery?  What is it normally us used for?  Where can we find them?

Supplier: CEN
SKU: obrut
Catalog: xfarg
Quantity per box: 16
Part number: 5b000b

[schweaty]

Thanks

[turbokon]

Here is the charger and booster circuit I'm using

http://www.adafruit.com/product/2465

Here is the battery I'm using.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=181463061804&globalID=EBAY-US

You can also series two 1000mAh batteries together.

Note, it can only be charged with a 5v power supply.  I found that the sony psp adapter works but you have to replace the jack on the express.  Replacement jack can be found at console5. 

Also you have to rewire the express jack.

[turbokon]

Testing battery run time now with my 3.5" LCD modded express.  Based on my estimate, it should last 4 to 5 hours with the 2500mAh cell.

[EvilEvoIX]

Great job!.  Even at 4-5 hours it's a huge power saver.  Was there even an aftermarket/first party external battery pack ever made for the Turbo Express like the Game Gear, Game Boy, or Lynx?

[famiac]

The listing shows that the battery has a 10Wh specification. The turbo express/pce gt acts as a 4.6W load, so the battery should only be able to power it for ~2.2hours.

Turbokon, could you try running it on a full charge, preferably on a system using the stock screen, and telling us what happens?

[NightWolve]

[turbokon]

I will have to redo the test.  It was at 2hr 45mins when the game froze and I'm getting a white screen now.  My region chip died. 

My calculation was based of a 3.5" lcd express which draws a ~510 mA load.

[NightWolve]

I remember Steve put the maximum draw at ~600mA which is why a 1 Amp 6VDC regulated power supply is perfect when you wanna upgrade and get rid of the original. Less heat for the internal 5V regulator and it'll all still work fine.

[turbokon]

You can also bypass using the internal 5v regulator with this mod.   The charger circuit used is only rated at ~5.25V.

[NightWolve]

Yeah, you should or probably have to since it's running closer to 5V like you mention.

It's a great time for rechargeable batteries these days, 100,000 mA USB portables on the cheap, getting better all the time!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100000mAh-Dual-USB-Portable-Solar-Battery-Charger-Power-Bank-For-Cell-Phone-/201389176627

[in99flames]

Great job!.  Even at 4-5 hours it's a huge power saver.  Was there even an aftermarket/first party external battery pack ever made for the Turbo Express like the Game Gear, Game Boy, or Lynx?

Yes actually. As far as first party packs...the ones i know of were made for Gameboy.  sega made a game gear rechargeable pack that worked for nomad as well.  Atari has an interesting one for the lynx...it is an external battery pack but its not a rechargeable one(besides putting in rechargeable batteries in it). I believe it takes 4 or 6 "D" size batteries as opposed to the 6 AA. on the d batteries you could run it a lot longer. I can't think of any others at the moment :-P

[pdiggitydogg]

Really great. I am looking at doing the same for my Sega Nomad but am still in the shopping-around stage.

[wilykat]

So how does one bypass the original 5v in TE to power it off lipo? And what about new LCD? LCD used for car uses 7-14v and may not like running at 5.

[NightWolve]

So how does one bypass the original 5v in TE to power it off lipo? And what about new LCD? LCD used for car uses 7-14v and may not like running at 5.

No, they gotta run at 5VDC, their power adapters have 5VDC regulators in them. Think of any powerful 7" to 10" tablet these days, they all come with 5VDC 1-2 Amp power supplies which can fully run them with no drain on the battery if it's always connected! That's with powering the CPU AND the LCD!!! So yeah, you can do A LOT with 5VDC and support for 1-2 Amp draw.

[wilykat]

Ok but where does one put the 5v from lipo board to?  TE has input for 9v from AC or battery and generally the internal 5v regulator needs higher input to work.  Where do I tack on the 5v from the lipo board to bypass the original 5v regulator so TE would work off lipo?

[NightWolve]

Logically I would guess at the output leg of the TurboExpress' 5V regulator so it'd pick up the job right where it all begins. But I'll leave the question to our professional EEs/modders.

[fluxcore]

I wonder if LiFePO4 batteries could be substituted - they seem to be replacing LiPos in a few electronics projects due to being a safer technology (and having voltages more suitable to some tasks). Wouldn't be very nice to have a TE catch fire during a recharge :/

[thesteve]

with screen mod 5V works

[turbokon]

The lcd I used is easily modded to work with 5V.

[thesteve]

but the stock one doesnt

[NightWolve]

EE in the house!

So Steve, just to confirm for him, the output leg of the 5V regulator would be appropriate to bring in a 5VDC battery to ? I believe a regulator has diode properties and the output leg is forward-electrons-only, so adding 5V to that leg from another source should in no way damage it or should you add a diode between that leg and the board just to be safe ?

[turbokon]

Yeah, that's how I'm doing it.  Also this setup output ~5.12v.  I'm using a voltage divider to bring the voltage down to ~5.0v.  A diode can possibly be used as well since it cause a little voltage drop but maybe a little to much.

[NightWolve]

Yeah, that's true, you see about a .5 voltage drop with a diode.

[roflmao]

Very cool, Turbokon!

[blueraven]

Most excellent! 

[turbokon]

Looks like runtime with the lipo battery mod is a little over 3.5hrs.

[turbokon]

There should be enough room for two 2000mAh to get a longer run time. 

With this mod, you can't use the stock power supply or the AA's batteries.

[turbokon]

So I was able to stick everything internally inside the express.

[roflmao]

You are a wizard, Turbokon!

[NightWolve]

Cool.

But me personally I wouldn't care about sacrificing that AA battery space and getting a bigger, powerful say 100,000mA $20 rechargeable battery in there to maximize the runtime.

[turbokon]

thesteve suggested I add a connector in battery compartment for optional
additional cell for even longer runtime.

[turbokon]

LED mounted. Red is charging and green is charged.

[MNKyDeth]

That is a pretty nice mod. Someday I might get a TE or GT for when I am on the road but that is only hopes and dreams at the moment.

[turbokon]

That is a pretty nice mod. Someday I might get a TE or GT for when I am on the road but that is only hopes and dreams at the moment.

This turbo express does double duties.

[turbokon]

Double the run time with the optional additional cell in the battery compartment.

[turbokon]

Here is a video of the final internal rechargeable battery mod.

[MNKyDeth]

That's pretty crazy man. 7hrs of run time with the battery pack and roughly 3.5hrs without? I think that is more than even current hand held game devices.

That is one impressive Turbo Express!! How heavy is it? Need a harness to carry it around? lol

[turbokon]

Actually, even with the additional battery pack, the fully modded express is lighter than the stock TE with the 6 AA's.  Stock TE with AA's, 1lb 3.2oz.  Fully modded express with additional cell, 1lb 0.5oz.

[MNKyDeth]

That's pretty crazy haha.

So what is the next stop? Gold plating?

That thing must be worth a fortune to get all those mods done to it. But at least you are making options for people if they want that and that in itself to me is amazing.

[NightWolve]

Actually, even with the additional battery pack, the fully modded express is lighter than the stock TE with the 6 AA's.  Stock TE with AA's, 1lb 3.2oz.  Fully modded express with additional cell, 1lb 0.5oz.

Oh definitely it'd be way lighter compared to 6 traditional AA alkaline batteries!! MNKyDeth apparently hasn't owned a cell phone and is unfamiliar with Lithium-Ion batteries... ;)

[turbokon]

Added power and low battery led.

[wilykat]

That's pretty crazy man. 7hrs of run time with the battery pack and roughly 3.5hrs without? I think that is more than even current hand held game devices.

My PSP 2000 does about 10 hours with a rare Sony 2200Mah battery. But it is damned good for a 20 year old system.

That is one impressive Turbo Express!! How heavy is it? Need a harness to carry it around? lol

Same. I would love to get my TE modded with lipo someday.  With 3.5" LCD and a Turboeverdrive, I get as much as 700mAh draw and rechargeable AA's rarely last long due to them having only about 1.2v each and running low fast.

[famiac]

About to attempt this. Did you just wire the Powerboost 1000C to the pc engine's voltage regulator ouput? Are there other things that need to be done?

Also, just to maker sure i'm getting this right, where is the voltage regulator output pin?

thanks