Pipboy Bluetooth edition woes

LoneWanderer · Oct 30, 2018

Hey all, been a while since I posted but I have run into some issues lately with my pipboy Bluetooth edition. All was working well with it but now all the sudden after a few months of just resting in it's prop case it has ceased function. Now it boots to only the scrolling text screen and says "please stand by." It no longer boots past that screen, stopping before it even reached the vault boy with his "initializing screen."

So my obvious question on this prop is: has there ever been a definitive fix for the booting issues? I've heard if people dissecting it to find that an internal battery replacement may work but I would love to see proof before I open it all up for nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated if everything folks. And hello to anyone I haven't seen in a while!

zapwizard · Oct 31, 2018

This was discussed a few weeks ago in the Fallout 4 prop thread:
https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=240435&page=8&p=4533862&viewfull=1#post4533862

The short answer is no, not definitive solution. I don't have a deluxe model, but I would be happy to take at look at if you want to pay for shipping to Texas. GhostMinion, same goes for you when you send me another shipment in the future.

I actually have been wanting to dissect a Bluetooth edition to see what parts they selected inside.

Since the CR2032 battery is not soldered down, it is easy enough to change after opening. I am curious what they are using the battery for. With non-volatile flash devices, "backup" batteries are now typically only used to keep a real time clock. A RTC circuit takes very little current, and a CR2032 should last for a decade or more, however a cheaply made CR2032 won't last that long.

A stupid software design would be to make a system that doesn't boot if the time and date are reset.

If the battery is the problem, and you want to be able to store it for years without issue, you could wire in a dual AA holder to replace the CR2032 battery, and then use some industrial long life AA's to keep the clock for years.

teslabe · Oct 31, 2018

zapwizard said:
This was discussed a few weeks ago in the Fallout 4 prop thread:
https://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=240435&page=8&p=4533862&viewfull=1#post4533862

The short answer is no, not definitive solution. I don't have a deluxe model, but I would be happy to take at look at if you want to pay for shipping to Texas. @GhostMinion, same goes for you when you send me another shipment in the future.

I actually have been wanting to dissect a Bluetooth edition to see what parts they selected inside.

Here are the major ICs
AT91SAM9G35 Atmel Micro
29F8G08ABABA - Flash
D9RZH ram
WM8731S Audio Codec
HT6873 Audio Amp
WT32i,Opt A Bluetooth module
I have 4 new 5" 640 x 480 4X3 displays like the one that are used in the unit and driver boards come in on Saturday for my Pip Boy 2000 kits on preorder.

LoneWanderer · Oct 31, 2018

zapwizard I would definitely be interested in a repair operation if you're willing to undertake the endeavor. Please shoot me a pm so we can discuss details on it.
I would think if anyone could figure it out, it would be you! Haha it could also help you with research on building your real-life one. Although it looks like you've already figured out pretty much all of the internals. I am excited about the prospect of you opening it up though so hit me up please!

zapwizard · Nov 1, 2018

PM Sent.
teslabe, thanks for the info.

That Atmel chip can be used for just about anything, and it isn't specialized enough to help narrow down a reference design. Most likely Thinkgeek (or whomever) contracted with an overseas company that already had a design for a digital picture frame, or dirt cheap tablet and had them adapt that. The photos on reddit show that there is a secondary board soldered onto the main board, which supports that some features were added to a pre-existing design.

8GB of flash isn't much these days, but enough for what this device did.
The ram looks to be DDR2, typical of any android tablet these days.
The audio chip selected is quite large (physically) and somewhat expensive, and doesn't have a speaker amplifier. It seems an odd choice. Making me think adapted design, rather than made from scratch. The audio amplifier supports the idea of overseas adapted design as it is a small Chinese company, rather than a major manufacturer.
If I were to do a all-new design for a speaker-only product, I would select a audio codex with speaker amplifier built-in.

The Bluegigia module is interesting though. They are rather expensive >$20. I have used them in products in the past. The nice part about using them is you don't have to do a full FCC certification.

The screen is another Chinese company. The screen itself is nothing special. A parallel TFT display. The datasheet is dated 2013. Although I did check the dimensions to see if I could use it in the Functional Pp-Boy, but it is just too large. Thinkgeek actually lets the screen go over the edges of the opening, and just adapt the software to fit.
teslabe, you can probably drive that display directly from a Raspberry Pi, but it would almost all the GPIO (Unless you select the Compute Module)

My plan is to open it up, and first check the voltage on the CR2032, then figure out what the CR2032 is actually doing (RTC, or some other memory backup)
Then examine the overall circuit. See how much looks to be native design, and how much is adapted. For examples adapted designs often have lots of extra power regulators for secondary circuits.

teslabe · Nov 1, 2018

I wanted a 4 x 3 aspect screen for my Pip boy 2000 kits that I have coming, the display driver board came with it, so....... It's getting harder to find this type of display, most are 16 x 9, not what I needed for a simulated CRT. Just so happens to be the same display used in the 3000 Bluetooth edition.

iklask · Nov 21, 2018

teslabe said:
I wanted a 4 x 3 aspect screen for my Pip boy 2000 kits that I have coming, the display driver board came with it, so....... It's getting harder to find this type of display, most are 16 x 9, not what I needed for a simulated CRT. Just so happens to be the same display used in the 3000 Bluetooth edition.

Hey, so have you gotten your kit yet/displays yet? I'm doing research to find a display to fit in my pipboy 2000 mk6 project build. It seems like you'd need something with an active area of at least ~89mm x ~72mm. The 5 inch 4:3 looks like it would work but the inside is pretty cramped and can only do about 111mm wide.

teslabe · Nov 23, 2018

iklask said:
Hey, so have you gotten your kit yet/displays yet? I'm doing research to find a display to fit in my pipboy 2000 mk6 project build. It seems like you'd need something with an active area of at least ~89mm x ~72mm. The 5 inch 4:3 looks like it would work but the inside is pretty cramped and can only do about 111mm wide.

Yes, I got two kits and have had the displays for a bit and the bad news is that the 5" display will not fit as is, but I think with some modifications I can make fit. I looked at the 4.3" displays that I have but they are 16x9 not 4x3 like an old time CRT, so it leaves gapes on the top and bottom and that's not something I want. 4x3 aspect displays are getting hard to find, 4.3" or 4.5" would fit but can't find them anywhere so far.