Retro Challenge - 2015/07 - Day 26

26 July 2015 z0m8ied0g Acorn, Acorn Hardware, Retro Challenge, 2015/07

Fixing In Place

Started by cutting down the main power board using the dremel and hot gluing it in place.

Wiring It Up

Wired up the harness to connect the VGA convertor board to the TTL RGB output of the BBC. The hooks will be connected to the resistors on the inside of the board. This means that I don't have to solder the entire lot to the board.

Just need to trim down the board using the Dremel.

Sorted out the power switch which will allow me to switch between the external power and battery.

Next job is to wire up the internal power to all of the above items.

Retro Challenge - 2015/07 - Day 18

18 July 2015 z0m8ied0g Acorn, Acorn Hardware, Retro Challenge, 2015/07

VGA Convertor

Due to the VGA converter drawing lots of power I have decided to make it available when the machine is powered via mains. It adds too much drain to the battery and is not really useful unless you are at a desk anyway.

Originally I was going to have everything powered by the battery and the unit could be powered off via a switch but would always be charging if plugged in.

The machine will now do the following...

1) Always charge when plugged in.
2) The VGA convertor will be powered when plugged in only (from the incoming 5v).
3) The machine can be powered externally while the batteries are charged or you can use the battery to power the machine and the small screen. Thus the small screen is only available when on battery power and turned on. Where the machine is available if using battery or on external power (as the original machine was) dependant on the switch position.

Battery Testing

Tested the battery (2000mah) and found that with the small screen and the machine powered it will provided about 45mins to an hour. Have managed to get the battery I was originally going to order (but was out of stock) which is 6000mah so gives several hours of usage.

Screen

Mounted the screen in the case.

Firstly marked out where the screen should go and used the dremel to cut out the hole. I left a small set of lugs from the lower plastic area so that the screen can sit on them. It turns out the screen was exactly the same height as the indent in the air slots so it fits nicely.

Inserted screen and adjusted to fit correctly.

Hot glued the screen and the board into place.

Tested to check everything works ok.