Using A Psp Battery In Gp2X

[bacteria]

Got a PSP battery, 3.6v at 3600mA. Doesn't work in the PSP for some reason, took battery apart to make sure it was making contact ok. Might be because it was a Chinese battery!

So, put it into GP2x, and it boots fine. Battery is small, room with a modded back case to fit two in there, giving 7.2 amps. Measured battery - running at 3.9v.

No idea how long it will run for, will test it when get time.

One project I want to try is to not only heatsink the system but also try and RGB it - I might know a chip that can convert the signal into the right RGB signal (or it may not work, one way to find out)!

 

[darionapole]

that's so awesome, that my english language knowledge is not enough to decribe what i feel
anyway, would you make a step-by-step how to if everything goes well? i'd love to do that to my F200. more now that my two AA are dieing.
oh, and how do you recharge the psp batery?, is the charging circuit inside the battery pack (those chips i see) or you need to make you own?

EDIT: from the RGB output you can get a monitor to work (i remember seeing a RGB<->VGA adapter), can't you?

 

[coldfish]

Nice work as usual bacteria. Ive been thinking about modding my 2X to take 3x NiMH AA for better battery life but this looks much more compact.

 

[senquack]

I just got one of these small lithium ion charger PCBs:

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=726

Question for bacteria: are you powering the unit from this battery through the AA terminals or the DC jack?

 

[bacteria]

Via the battery terminals.

When I get around to it, i'm going to see how long this battery lasts for, if it is a good time, will buy a second one, wire two cells together to double the amps and also rig up a recharger unit to a charging jack.

I want to also make a slightly larger case for it to house better buttons, and larger d-pad (normal sized one) and also see if it is possible to output RGB to a better screen. Anyone tried outputting RGB to a different screen before (any links, if so please?). The TV out sucks after all.

 

[palmertech]

Outputting RGB from the GP2X is effectively impossible, sadly. I suppose in theory you could translate the digital RGB going into the LCD, but that would be no small task.

TV out is much improved on the current releases of Open2X, might want to look into that.

 

[bacteria]

Thought I read that the RGB on the GP2x chip outputted in analogue as opposed to digital (or the other way around), and I think I remember reading about a chip that converted between the two; if that is right, then it would mean RGB that could be read hopefully natively by an RGB screen. It's all theory and I would need to read up a lot about this. Perhaps electronics boffins could comment on this with solution or comments? It would be nice to provide a solution to this problem.

You gave me a link ages ago to the software you mentioned however I don't think I saw any difference when I tried it / didn't work. Ages ago I S-video modded a PAL PSone screen to take the S-video signal from the TV out of a GP2x and the output sucked balls. Reds and blues were bad and colour bleeding was too. Connected to normal television, same result. To get decent TV out from a GP2x needs RGB, or it isn't worth the effort!

 

[palmertech]

The GP2X puts out digital RGB, converting analog RGB to digital would be a massive waste. The main reason digital RGB interfaces are used for most consumer electronics are that they are very, very cheap.

Open2X has made a lot of progress since then, it was an alpha release back at that time, it has been "finished", for the first release anyways, for a while now. S-Video needs good filter caps on the chroma and luma lines, or you end up with a lot of problems, it is not a simple "hook it up and it works" scenario.

 

[bacteria]

Interesting stuff. I know you have good knowledge of the GP2x in this regard.

Please post details of how I can therefore make best quality output via S-video (pinout, components, links, etc). GP2x is a nice little system, however I really find the screen too small!

 

[bacteria]

BTW - the S-video output I referred to was via the official TV out cable, which outputs S-video. The colour saturation and bleeding was evident the same way on a full sized television or a modded PAL PSone screen with stated capacitor on the chroma line. Same result. That is why, converting digital RGB to analogue RGB would have to be better as it is still RGB, and we all know RGB doesn't suffer colour bleeding or colour saturation, otherwise it would be evident on the GP2x screen.

Will have to check, but think the CTX chip I used on the TurboGrafx system might possibly convert the signals. Not sure though.

 

[darionapole]

my f200 looks the same as in the lcd when hooked to the tv with the original 3 meters long cable. maybe my tv has some kind of noise filter or something (a 21' crt sony trinitron)

 

[Tag5]

Awesome PSP battery mod Bacteria! Would be good to hear the results on the battery life on the GP2X.

 

[bacteria]

Thanks!

I just ordered a second battery, same one. That will give 7.2 amps at 3.6v. Also got a charger (didn't have one). Plan is to do two or three mods on the GP2x: D-pad, and also modify the GP2x case backing to take the Li-ion cells. May also do a paint job too, not sure yet.

These mods will be documented, as per my other mods, so others can replicate the work if they wish to.