I wanted to play Super Mario Maker, but then the Gamepad started dying on me, so I can't play.
"Why don't you just plug it in?", great question.
Well... I got my WiiU from the UK with UK plug on it, and I only have one UK adapter with me, because I left the other one in Austria.
I heard that the Gamepad is 5V tolerant, so I started scavanging for stuff I can reuse, and voilá, I found a super ancient (probably >14yrs old) USB hub. There is a hole in the case, which is perfect to fit some wires thru' it.
As for the connection between the Gamepad and the USB hub, I used a pair of jumper wires (the ones you use in Arduino prototyping), and shoved them inside the USB hub (it's a really tight friction-fit on the Vcc and GND pins on the back of the USB connector), and the other side I shoved into the charging hole (it's almost a perfect fit).
When I saw the orange light, I was so relieved, because I'm currently waiting to be able to sign the legal papers required to work, and I'm really out of money to be able to get an used Gamepad (why do some people think that the entire console is inside the Gamepad? they can sell for stupidly expensive prices).
So yeah, here it is, in its stupidly hacky glory:
And the best part is is that it still functions as an USB hub, so I can just plug it directly into the WiiU to charge while I'm using the Wii remote
"Why don't you just plug it in?", great question.
Well... I got my WiiU from the UK with UK plug on it, and I only have one UK adapter with me, because I left the other one in Austria.
I heard that the Gamepad is 5V tolerant, so I started scavanging for stuff I can reuse, and voilá, I found a super ancient (probably >14yrs old) USB hub. There is a hole in the case, which is perfect to fit some wires thru' it.
As for the connection between the Gamepad and the USB hub, I used a pair of jumper wires (the ones you use in Arduino prototyping), and shoved them inside the USB hub (it's a really tight friction-fit on the Vcc and GND pins on the back of the USB connector), and the other side I shoved into the charging hole (it's almost a perfect fit).
When I saw the orange light, I was so relieved, because I'm currently waiting to be able to sign the legal papers required to work, and I'm really out of money to be able to get an used Gamepad (why do some people think that the entire console is inside the Gamepad? they can sell for stupidly expensive prices).
So yeah, here it is, in its stupidly hacky glory:
And the best part is is that it still functions as an USB hub, so I can just plug it directly into the WiiU to charge while I'm using the Wii remote