Making Loopj's WavePhoenix boards so my WaveBird controllers could be used without OEM receivers. I had plenty of WaveBirds but only one OEM receiver to go around.
Got myself something from JLCPBC. These are meant to become @loopj's WavePhoenix receivers once I get the rest of the parts. Just going to try my hand at a few, then I'll see if I'll complete all of the boards. Normally I don't order pre-assembled but I tried it out his time.
More pieces of the puzzle!
1/5 I finally decided to stop procrastinating and get on with assembling some @loopj WavePhoenix receivers. This thread will show you my journey. I started by tinning the pads on 6 PCBs and the 6 EFR32 MCUs I had. 🧵👇 #RETROGAMING #Nintendo #GameCube #WaveBird #WavePhoenix
2/5 Next I flowed the MCUs onto the PCBs using my hot air rework station, heating from below the PCB and inspected the soldering. It's always neat to see the ICs get sucked down onto the pads.
3/5 Then I flashed the debug probe firmware on a Pi Pico, wired a JST connector onto the relevant GPIO pins and proceeded with flashing one of the units.
4/5 Next step was to wire up another JST connector, onto a GameCube controller plug. I don't have a crimping tool so I did some very cautious and patient soldering for testing purposes. Lo and behold, the damn thing actually works. Thank you very much @loopj! Top notch man. 👌
5/5 Bonus video and pic, showing a receiver working and all of the other units post testing. All of them are working. Just need to finish building out connectors and printing shells. I played some Mario Kart Double Dash and the receiver works beautifully.
1/3 Some more radios arrived today. So I broke out the rest of the PCBs I had ordered and got to work building more WavePhoenix receivers. Here we can see the tinning of the pads on the PCBs and the hot air soldering work. #WavePhoenix #Nintendo #GameCube
2/3 Afterwards it was onto flashing the radios with the latest bootloader and firmware. Followed by validation that they all paired with a controller.
3/3 The next stage was to run all PCBs through the ultrasonic cleaner, rinse and give them all some pay time in Super Mario Strikers to ensure all of them worked properly. Cheers @loopj for making this possible!
For those of you wondering how to update the firmware on your @loopj WavePhoenix receivers. Here's a short tutorial using Chrome and the web application on an Android phone, via Bluetooth. 🧵👇 1 - Access
2 - Press the button on the receiver until the LED stops flashing 3 - Tap the connect device button to open the pairing menu where you will now see your WavePhoenix receiver and tap Pair
4 - Your phone and receiver will now be paired and you will see the current firmware version on your receiver 5 - Download the latest firmware version, for the radio in your receiver, in .gbl file format (see file extension). Firmware available here:
6 - Tap Choose firmware file and select the file you previously downloaded you should then see an option to flash the firmware 7 - Tap Flash firmware
8 - Wait for the firmware to finish flashing, enjoy the progress bar moving (it's fairly quick)
9 - Once done you will see the following prompt, tap Reboot device and you are all done Congratulations, you've flashed your receiver! Now go have some fun! GameCube is life!
Courtesy of @nunofgs I finally finished my WavePhoenix units for personal use. He printed the shells for me and I crimped a few more plugs. @loopj I like the snap-fit design but I feel the tolerances on the lid could be improved. #Nintendo #GameCube #RETROGAMING
