Ways to mitigate overheating GBA + EZFlash Omega?

[jumpy0]

My EZFlash Omega got fried from overheating. After a bit of googling, i've found one or two reddit posts saying they tend to overheat due to IPS screens and mods. Anyone know how I can help prevent this from happening again? I did the mods myself, and am alright at de/soldering.

 

[izy]

First time I have heard of an ips causing overheating in a gba especially since the console is low power draw on those displays they don't even get warm

 

[jumpy0]

First time I have heard of an ips causing overheating in a gba especially since the console is low power draw on those displays they don't even get warm

what I've read is that the IPS screen and other mods in addition to EZFlash Omega can create so much of a draw that it causes it to overheat. Granted, I've found only about two reddit posts with little in regards to fixes other than removing the mods.

I just want to try and keep the console and carts lifespan as long and healthy as possible.

edit: maybe I'm misremembering due to my own issue, and what I've actually found was talk of shorts and killing batteries faster and I just attributed them to the same thing. My point still stands, though. I've plugged in several different Omega's and ran some games for a bit and they all resulted in the cart getting excessively hot.

 

[izy]

sounds like is really down to the inherit design of the ez flash omega specifically
it draw much higher currents than standard flash carts , the definitive edition edition is supposed to draw 50mw less

 

[jumpy0]

sounds like is really down to the inherit design of the ez flash omega specifically
it draw much higher currents than standard flash carts , the definitive edition edition is supposed to draw 50mw less

Yeah I saw that too. Unfortunately I already purchased a couple ezflash omega's. I hadn't even considered this until I ran into this problem. Definitely gonna take this into account in the future

Post automatically merged: Mar 7, 2023

I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do to mitigate the risk of problems. I ordered all new caps and will recap all of my future builds. Hoping there's something else I can do as well

 

[commdante]

What kind of modifications did you make to your GBA? You probably got a lot if you actually hit overheating problems....?
Also, those leds on the flashcarts draw a lot of power (compared to rest of system), if you've got leds behind buttons etc..maybe figure out powerdraw and try some resistors.

 

[jumpy0]

What kind of modifications did you make to your GBA? You probably got a lot if you actually hit overheating problems....?
Also, those leds on the flashcarts draw a lot of power (compared to rest of system), if you've got leds behind buttons etc..maybe figure out powerdraw and try some resistors.

Just IPS v3 screen, Power Cleaner, and Flex Amp.

I tried to run the ezflash cart on a couple of unmodded gba's with fresh AA's and it wouldnt boot, but would boot when I used an actual game cart....

Also, I don't have the EZFlash DE, just Omega - no LEDs on the cart, but I am about to build a GBA with LEDs which I will need to have this problem solved by then for my customer lol

 

[peteruk]

sounds like is really down to the inherit design of the ez flash omega specifically
it draw much higher currents than standard flash carts , the definitive edition edition is supposed to draw 50mw less

Izy could you DM me please, I've tried to message you but apparently I'm not allowed

 

[RichardArc]

Just IPS v3 screen, Power Cleaner, and Flex Amp.

I tried to run the ezflash cart on a couple of unmodded gba's with fresh AA's and it wouldnt boot, but would boot when I used an actual game cart....

Also, I don't have the EZFlash DE, just Omega - no LEDs on the cart, but I am about to build a GBA with LEDs which I will need to have this problem solved by then for my customer lol

Maybe the power switch needs to be cleaned (or replaced)? iirc all the power goes through the switch so the system greatly suffers from it being dirty. Might be fine for some mods, but the high draw cart might push it over the edge.

 

[jumpy0]

sorry for the late reply. never got notified of responses.

I recapped the gba and also tried using the EZ DE. DE alone fixed the problem. But The caps were also not performing near standard. Next I need to figure out how to test the start switch

 

[bibbleskit]

sounds like is really down to the inherit design of the ez flash omega specifically
it draw much higher currents than standard flash carts , the definitive edition edition is supposed to draw 50mw

This was really interesting. Where did the data come from?

 

[FAST6191]

This was really interesting. Where did the data come from?

I did do some basic tests in one of the threads, and the EZTeam themselves did some others at cart level. Not sure what that spreadsheet shot in an earlier post was from.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/ezflash...n-house-at-gbatemp.500357/page-4#post-7905928 for mine, was an earlier kernel and later ones did quite a bit better.

Seems we are replying to an old post but yeah it seems mods + EZ Omega is a dubious thing. In and of themselves the batteries should be able to do it just fine*, the trouble I imagine comes in whatever rails/points the mods tap for power also eventually power the cart itself and the combined current draw causes the problems. I don't think/makes no sense that it is noise or cross talk, and likewise overheating** is a new one (most FPGAs run somewhat hot). Solutions (assuming you don't want to lose the mods or get another cart) are
1) Find alternative points for the power aspects of the mods, maybe including tapping the battery (or battery after the switch) itself with appropriate regulation to make a new rail if no internal rail is suitable.
2) Boost the power going to the cartridge slot, or indeed whole rail that everything taps. This might be a one or two wire affair (cart power and save power if different) but better ones might swap out existing regulation circuitry for something more powerful (around the time of the GBA LVDO regulators were far less of a thing
3) Reduce the power requirements of the cartridge itself, though not sure that is a thing you can realistically do in this instance (it is running a nice FPGA after all).

*though it is noted the rechargeable batteries putting out 1.2V rather than the glorious 1.5V of zinc carbon and other throw away when you are done efforts causes grief here so would ask the earlier poster if that is the case for the failed boot.

**if the mods somehow end up back feeding the rails with greater voltages then I could see some overheating, and most of the mods are not close enough to the GBA slot that even if they are heat generators they would do all that much.

 

[bibbleskit]

Seems we are replying to an old post but yeah it seems mods + EZ Omega is a dubious thing.

This sent me down a rabbit hole on this forum looking for newer data. Found some data, some history, got caught in a side quest or two.

Thanks for the link. I've learned far more about the EZ Omega DE than I did yesterday while researching it. Bought it before you replied to me, but I'm happier with my purchase now than I was before!

 

[ghjfdtg]

If you want more accurate numbers check this table by makho. It's a bit older but most values are still relevant:
Note that the Everdrive GBA mini (formerly GBA X5) got a hardware revision recently and no longer beats the EZ-Flash Omega Definitive Edition. It saving power was the whole selling point so that is quite unfortunate.

edit:
Opps, i see this was already linked above but not the whole table.