Adding a top-secret-serial-port to the outside of your Wii 24th of February 2007

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Notice

I have recently made a guide on how to update your CycloWiz unit when you have done an external installation. This guide can be found Here. In this guide you can also find a detailed scheme for a proper CycloWiz module when using my guide below. I recommend you read / look at it once before making your own module so you have an example.

Introduction

First let me explain what this guide explains you to do; Erant's DVDtool uses the top-secret-serial-port on the Wii's drive. To allow for easy removal of the cable used by Erant's DVDtool or any other application that uses those solder points (many, if not all, of the currently available mod-chips for the Wii are drive-mods), I have attached a plug to those points and made that plug available at the outside of the Wii. That way the Wii can stay closed and the cable does not have to be soldered to the drive-board directly. Consequently one can also easily remove and reinsert the cable (or other hardware) while keeping the Wii closed.

Think long and hard if you want to do this! If you want to remove the cable for Erant's DVDtool, or any other hardware that uses those points often/regularly, then this might be a solution for you. If not you are probably best of just soldering it directly. Also remember that this will void your warranty!

I do not take any responsibility on what you do. If your GameCube,
Wii or anything else gets damaged in any way you yourself are responsible!

The guide

What do you need?
What's needed;
• A good soldering iron and soldering skills; the points you have to solder are very small, I suggest you get a very small tip for your soldering iron and only do this if you have experience
• Thin wire and lots of it; As you will be routing something from the front of the Wii (that is encapsulated pretty tight) you will need a rather large amount of wire (also because you might have to this more then once) that is quite thin (which is also needed because the points you have to solder to are very small). Do make sure the wire doesn't break very easily as it might have to bend around.
• Tape; tape can be used for many things, but in this case you will have to use it to shield the cables you have soldered (to make sure you don't create a short) and to tape them to parts of the Wii to keep them in their place)
• A female (or male depending on your preference, remember to change the receiving side accordingly) 9-pins D-sub connector
• A male (or female, see above) 9-pins D-sub connector (PCB mounted or not)
• Proper hardware to make a hole in the back of your Wii that will fit the connector
• Some guts (not implying that I have any ;)).

On with the modding
The first thing you will have to do is open the Wii. As there are many good guides about that on the internet I will not cover this. You will have to open it to the point that you have a free DVD drive in your hands (not connected to the main-board in any way). Please do watch the flat-cable though, you do not want to damage it.

Now you need to solder the wires to the drive board. I've made a small image to show you which points I soldered too. You do not need to use the same points, however the points 2,3 and 4 are needed for the DVDtool cable. The other points are to allow for other hardware (explained below).



REMEMBER WHAT WIRES ARE WHAT POINTS AS THAT IS PARAMOUNT IN USING IT LATER. YOU CAN NOT GO BACK AND CHECK WHAT WIRES WERE WHAT! THE BEST IDEA IS TO USE MY NUMBERING SYSTEM (SEE IMAGE ABOVE) AND NUMBER THE WIRES ACCORDINGLY. ASLO TRY TO USE A DIFFERENT COLOUR WIRE FOR EVERY LINE.



Once you have soldered them correctly put tape around points that you feel might short. After that put tape over them in such a way that they remain flat (while routing the cables to the back of the drive --> to the back of the Wii). As it might be a bit unclear in my images; I had already soldered to my Wii directly but with much shorter wires. As I did not want to desolder those wires I simply re-used them by connecting new wires to them.

Once you are done soldering on the drive you can (if you wish) reinstall the drive in the Wii. Be careful though, you do not want your wires to bend and then break. Once your drive is back in it's proper place and the wires are pointing to the back of the Wii (in the direction of the power connector) it's time to make a hole for the 9-pins D-sub (female). See from my images where you CAN place it.



You can do this in any way you want, and any place you want but make sure that the connector (and screws) will fit where you are thinking of placing it (also bare in mind that the mainboard also has components that might obstruct the connector). After that add the two holes for the screws and place the connector in the Wii's shell. You are now ready to connect the cables from the drive board to the plug. Remember those numbers I have the wires? Well if you use those numbers in accordance to the pins you have on the 9-Pins D-sub you will end up with a nice image what cable is which. That would be;



Connector points	Name
1	TSSP left (WiiKey only)
2	TSSP bottom
3	TSSP middle
4	TSSP right
5	ground
6	power
7	Line S CycloWiz
8	Line X CycloWiz
9	*Free line, possible extra line*



To clear up any misconceptions around the names I gave the connections of the top secret serial port (although it should already be clear from the pin image);



You can also connect the shield of your connector to ground (which is better). This can also be done in the module afterwards if you prefer, that will then however have to be done with every module you make).

Once you have properly connected the wires you can now close up your Wii. You should now have a nice 9-pins connection to the inside of your Wii on the outside, congrats!

Creating a module
Now that you have your connection on the outside you can think about making a module for the outside (containing whatever hardware you want). I've chosen to use a small bit of PCB for the task with the Wiinja on it, attaching the Wiinja's connections to the proper points on the male 9-pins D-sub connector (I've tested this and it still works --> no timing issues).



I won't talk about this a lot as this is pretty strait forward. Just connect the proper wires to the proper connections on a male connector and plug it in your Wii.

Using a module
The only thing I'm going to say about this is that you are probably best of not plugging anything in live. By that I mean do not insert anything while the Wii is on (or even if the LED on the front of the Wii is red or orange). Just pull the power from the Wii, insert the module and then turn the power on. Just to be safe.

I hope you enjoyed my guide and now have a nice connection on the outside of your Wii.

-Simon van de Berg

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