Multi-Qoob System and Case Mod

[brakken]

Getting sick of buying new GameCube's for each new modchip I recieve I set out to install two chips into one system and after two attempts I have sucessfully made my wish come true!

The first attempt I made was to install a Viper GC and Qoob SX into the same system (picture) (http://modthatcube.ngcdev.com/content/reviews/qoobsx/multi.jpg), but it failed. First I used two switches to toggle both the ground and the power wires off, but both chips decided to draw power through their other wires and would not work when both were connected.

Next I wired up some 25 pin connectors and the chips could be swapped when needed. I would of used an ethernet jack until I realized it only has 8 wires. This didn't work as both of their reset wires were different. So to install multiple modchips into a single Cube they must use the same reset adapter which only the Qoob line of chips do.

My second attempt worked! I put both the Qoob Pro and SX into a single Cube! Pretty easy I just wired up the 25 pin adapters and just changed pins for the different power sources. If you're going to do this make sure to cut the Qoob SX wires really short as when I first tried to use their default length the 3.3v couldn't read the chip at 3.3v.

Next I cut up the HushCrap case a bit as I don't care if it gets some holes in it for the 25 pin female adapter to be placed. Due to the fact one must keep the wires at a minimum length using the air intake grill was my only option for mounting the adapter.

After this I taped the two chips and male connectors together and put them on a unpowered 25 pin switch, but this didn't work. I then found a powered one (it uses eletricity to boost the signal) and it worked like a charm!

The only thing I desire now is some sort of casings for the chips so they don't look so ugly and of course I'm going to paint the switch box black and add some LED's.

[brakken]

Qoob Pro Works!

[brakken]

Both Adapters Almost Finished

[brakken]

Finished Product (for now)

[Quantumsource]

if you have 25 pins, I belive you could still use both the Qoob and the viper, and probobly more, if you solder the 7 wires for the qoob to the 1st 7 pins on the adpter and the wires needed for the viper to the next 5( I think) wires, and then just adjust thy way you solder it accordingly.

[brakken]

You're forgetting the fact the reset wires aren't compatible.

[Quantumsource]

sorry if I'm just not getting it, but can't you you just set it up so that the split at a differnt point so that it dosn;t matter of the they are different

[brakken]

Both reset cables for the Qoob and Viper use different connectors on the end of them so you can't interchange them and for you to daisy chain them both chips would have to be hooked up and powered on which doesn't work either.

The only method that should work would be to add two toggle switches that can handle two wires to both connectors which would result in more case cutting, more switching and a Cube starting to look like the inside of a Beoing 747.

[Quantumsource]

Oh I get it, hum, thats quite a pickle. I may be able to figure something out by actually creating a custom curcuit. I'll get back to you if I'm sucsesful:p

[dtdfusion]

how about sending a chip my way if you dont want to buy a cube for each. i am more than happy to take it off your hand. save you the work of putting multiple chips into one cube. ;)

[brakken]

I have made some temporary casings for the modchips until I can figure something better out. Any ideas guys?

[Xboxmodder999]

Do you have a thing that shows which wire goes to which pin? For both the chips, and also the install?

I would like to do this, then sale one of my cubes:).

Xboxmodder999

[brakken]

Here you go. Remember to keep the wires as short as possible between the motherboard and the 25pin adapter also keep them short between the Qoob SX and it's adapter.

You could also get away with using a 15pin adapter, but I used a larger one as with some tinkering it might be possible to get every single modchip working on one Cube.

[brakken]

Smile for the Camera :)

[ROFLMyWaffle]

Originally posted by brakken
I have made some temporary casings for the modchips until I can figure something better out. Any ideas guys?
http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F002%5F012%5F000&Page=1

[Janneman]

If you'd use 5 double-poled (8-pin) relais you might even be able to have just 1 switch to select which chip to use. Then you could just put both chips inside the cube, the Viper chip could be placed at some different spot than next to the fan (like I did). Inside the cube is plenty of room for 5 relais and 2 chips.
(If you get problems because of too long wires you might try making the wires thicker by placing an extra one parallel reducing the resistance in halve)

Then on the outside you'd only have a small switch and nothing else. There might be no more room for any programmer but who cares since you only need that once :)

[brakken]

Would you have a link/picture to such a device?

[Janneman]

it's just a small block with pins, I attached a simple drawing

The 2 pins next to each sinuswave are used to turn the relais on or off by powering it with 12V. If you put a switch at the powersource (bottomright) you can switch all relais on/off at once.

All pins in row 1 go to the Viper, all pins in row 2 to the GC mainboard/liddetector and all pins in row 3 go to the Qoob.

Now the idea is very simple: when the relais is not powered, the red 2 pin is connected to the red 1 and not to the red 3 (which activates the viper). But when the relais is powered the red 2 and 3 will be connected and leaves the 1 alone (qoob). This goes for each color. Basicly it's just the same as using 10 3-pin switches but now you can switch them all at once using only 1 switch.

I don't know how many wires the qoob has, I believe more than the viper so some pins may be left blanc. (maybe you only need 4 relais)

(get yourself a relais, start playing with it and you'll find all this stuff out yourself)

[Janneman]

oops here's the drawing

and another link
http://elektronica-online.nl/content_details.php?id=6651

[ROFLMyWaffle]

They carry em at good ole' R$ too.
http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F002%5F013%5F000&Page=1

[brakken]

Looks nifty, but due to the wire length issue I'm not sure if it'll work. Is the signal boosed at all through these devices?

[Janneman]

they're not devices, they're just electromagnetic driven switches :)

therefore they don't boost signals, but if you put everything inside your cube instead of that switchbox you have now I don't think wires would cause a problem, and if so you should just use some thicker wires

[brakken]

How thick is too thick?

[Janneman]

If you'd put a similar thick wire parallel to the other wire, it acts like 1 wire that has twice the thickness, or in other words, has half the resistance.

So if you'd make a wire 2 times as long as normal than you need to make it 2 times as thick too and then the total resistance will be the same.

I'd say just try to make the thing and then try using more wires if it doesn't work.

Instead of the relais you might also consider just using 5 double-poled 6 pin lever-switches. Then put all the levers of the switches next to each other and 'connect' them using a toothpick and some tape or something making the 5 small levers 1 big wide one :)

(this in case relais are too expensive or too big or something)

It's just that when using relais, it does take a couple of milliseconds for the relais to switch when the gamecube is being turned on, so it switches while the gamecube is powered, I don't think this will be an issue but it's always good to consider what might go wrong.