Downing's Basement

Some say necessity is the mother of all creation. Though this really has nothing to do with that in the sense that this hobby as a whole isn’t “necessary” really, in context this new side project is pretty useful. While working on my current project, I was unexpectedly taken down another path that will help in the testing of said project as well as future projects all together.

When I was preparing to test my new controller for the three Nintendo systems being put into my desk, I came across a rather frustrating constraint. 3 systems, all with three different power supplies and well as the need to have each one wired up to a custom rigged screen to test if the controls were working properly. I soon became lost in a tangle of wires and more wires without a single square inch of my work desk visible.

This got me thinking, “wouldn’t it be nice if I had just one outlet to plug into that also acts as an Audio/Video interface for the systems”? It couldn’t have smacked me harder!

Now there is no work log set up for this yet, but the basics are as follows. What I’m working on is a quick release, multi-voltage output control box which will allow me to quickly hook up to the desired voltage, as well as allowing me to hook up to two different voltages at once, or to add the two selected voltages together to get the required value. It will be controlled by a series of step-down regulators with the two voltage inputs being donated by Game Cube PSUs.

More to come on this shortly, but I am quite excited about this project as 80% of it is being done simply with recycled parts I had laying around the shop. Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks or so for some really cool tests of it in action!

Oh and sorry for the grammar on this one. Must have corrected it about 6 times by now…can’t win them all!