Hardware New SD adapter(+more) replacement for 3G Modem

[TariqSoftDev]

Well it's as the titles says, this has been in development for quite a while now(those who follow me on twitter would know)

The board is called Vita module expansion board , V-MEB for short and is used as more than an SD card adapter.

I've basically designed a board that takes advantage of almost everything the slot has to offer and here are the features:
*SD board that replaces SIM slot and is connected via ribbon cable to the SD adapter.
*Onboard UART to USB ICs(For those too lazy to wire up their adapter)
*Board switches to USB port when SD card is not present(Yeah use your USB devices when you want)
*Direct transfer(inbuilt data switching circuit, just turn off your console and plug it into your PC)

The key features are:
*Easy access SD slot where you would put your SIM card in.
*SD access LED.
*Direct transfer without need of any special software.
*UART to USB built in(Handy for devs)

Those are the features but the here are the specs:
*USB2642 IC(Handles SD card and USB)
*EEPROM IC(A program is loaded to toggle between USB and SD when SD isn't present)
*CP2104 IC(UART-USB IC that has a inbuilt clock crystal for space efficiency)
*SN74CB3Q3125 IC(Allows changing what the board is connected to, this helps with direct transfer)

There are some more specs but I won't be releasing them right now as they are subject to change.

I will have some prototypes made very soon and sent out to certain people to review and provide feed back.

The card will come boxed in a black box and will contain the following:
*12-Pin MicroJST port(for those who want to use the UART feature)
*12-Pin MicroJST cable split into 3 USB males(A cable to easily hookup to UART via the port)
*MicroUSB port(For direct transfer)
*USB port(For those who want to use USB storage when they don't have a SD card in)
*SD board(Replaces the board that is used for the SIM which allows easy access to SD slot)
*SD Flex(Just the cables that goes straight from the SD board to the main board)
*V-MEB board(Vita module expansion board, this is the main board with all the goodies)
*MicroUSB cable(For direct transfer)
*Authentication card(Hey you don't want to end up with a fake board that may contain dodgy code)
*Installation manual(Even though the install is easy a manual doesn't hurt)

If anyone is interested and wants to keep updates follow me on twitter as that's where I post most my work.

 

[Madridi]

Nice work
So I suppose that, similarly to yifan's 3G adapter, it will only work on a 3G board?
Also, how does this impact the battery life?
Finally, does it use the same driver used for the current 3G adapter? If yes, is the driver fully tweaked to take advantage of what this has to offer, or does it "just work"?

Thanks

 

[TariqSoftDev]

Nice work
So I suppose that, similarly to yifan's 3G adapter, it will only work on a 3G board?
Also, how does this impact the battery life?
Finally, does it use the same driver used for the current 3G adapter? If yes, is the driver fully tweaked to take advantage of what this has to offer, or does it "just work"?

Thanks

Same driver , buts USB/SD switching is handle via my own code on a EEPROM IC , the hardware is tweaked for efficiency and performance.

More information when I get proto types some time near the end of this month.

 

[yifan_lu]

How are you turning off the ICs when the Vita is powered off?

 

[TariqSoftDev]

How are you turning off the ICs when the Vita is powered off?

There's logic gates that stop the flow completely when using direct transfer or when the Vita is off, even the data lines are stopped so it's like unplugging the device.

 

[Purple_Heart]

can we buy vitas with the board already installed? (if it comes out)

 

[TariqSoftDev]

can we buy vitas with the board already installed? (if it comes out)

I could think about that , mainly I will offer a send in installation service.

 

[yifan_lu]

There's logic gates that stop the flow completely when using direct transfer or when the Vita is off, even the data lines are stopped so it's like unplugging the device.

I guess my question is: how are you detecting that the Vita is powered off? I thought of using an AND gate on the data lines to detect the reset condition--but then you need a timer so it only triggers after a period much longer than an intended USB reset and to still pass the reset logic to your IC for the intended reset hold time and it got complicated quickly and I decided to use a less power consumptive chip instead that has very low power consumption in the reset state.

 

[TariqSoftDev]

I guess my question is: how are you detecting that the Vita is powered off? I thought of using an AND gate on the data lines to detect the reset condition--but then you need a timer so it only triggers after a period much longer than an intended USB reset and to still pass the reset logic to your IC for the intended reset hold time and it got complicated quickly and I decided to use a less power consumptive chip instead that has very low power consumption in the reset state.

I have a data switch IC that handles both the PS Vita and USB data lines the switching is literally like removing and mount again, I have different logic gates for the power and I control the power regulators directly,

I'm not really gonna say much on how I do it.

 

[yifan_lu]

I have a data switch IC that handles both the PS Vita and USB data lines the switching is literally like removing and mount again, I have different logic gates for the power and I control the power regulators directly,

I'm not really gonna say much on how I do it.

Lol nobody is gonna steal your intellectual properly man; as soon as we see the board we'll know everything but I do advise you to test the power usage while the vita is turned off (try testing how fast it charges when the battery is drained). The Microchip chips are very power hungry (and bad design imho).

 

[Purple_Heart]

I could think about that , mainly I will offer a send in installation service.

it would be nice if we can buy preinstalled vitas (i cant find 3.60 ones)

 

[TariqSoftDev]

Lol nobody is gonna steal your intellectual properly man; as soon as we see the board we'll know everything but I do advise you to test the power usage while the vita is turned off (try testing how fast it charges when the battery is drained). The Microchip chips are very power hungry (and bad design imho).

Not about stealing and obviously I'll be testing during the prototypes , I carefully picked the chips and microchip ICs are not hungry if you program them properly but thanks for the notes.

 

[yifan_lu]

microchip ICs are not hungry if you program them properly

I don't mean to continue to rail on you about this, but that's not how it works... The power consumption doesn't depend on programming at all--it's all hardware. JUST looking at USB2642, I see "Supply Current Unconfigured" to be 75mA, that means if you don't have custom logic to pull RESET_N low (which would then use 3.5mA instead) when the Vita is powered down (and honestly, I can't think of a easy way to detect this, hence my original question), you will be using at least 75mA while powered off. The vita has a battery of 2210mAh so if you don't count the other components, that reduces the battery life powered off from months to just 30 hours!

 

[TariqSoftDev]

I don't mean to continue to rail on you about this, but that's not how it works... The power consumption doesn't depend on programming at all--it's all hardware. JUST looking at USB2642, I see "Supply Current Unconfigured" to be 75mA, that means if you don't have custom logic to pull RESET_N low (which would then use 3.5mA instead) when the Vita is powered down (and honestly, I can't think of a easy way to detect this, hence my original question), you will be using at least 75mA while powered off. The vita has a battery of 2210mAh so if you don't count the other components, that reduces the battery life powered off from months to just 30 hours!

I understand and no offence is taken if that's what you meant by "continue to rail on you" , I have dealt with all of these issues before hand as I've done alot of extensive research, with the USB2642 there's a software side to disabling and limiting power consumption , I've also made a way to pull RESET_N low as I was aware of this issue before I started, non the less thank you for taking time to tell me all this.