Build – The Jonnoblog

11th February 2014

I am still building the PipBoy …

… but real life got in the way somewhat. But I have now simplified the Pi and Display to remove all the extraneous wires etc by soldering the video and power wires straight from the display to the Pi. I’ve also checked and it fits inside the casing. The power, however, will not fit and will need to be connected via a long wire. All that’s left now is to connect the lights and the rotary switch and to make hinges for the casing.

The outfit it done and it’s had one outside airing. It will make a CosPlay outing this year.

20th March 2013

Pipboy external power

Obviously when this thing is finally on my arm i’m not going to be able to walk around connected to an electrical socket. My solution for the mobile power is using 4 18650 Li-Ion batteries. These can be tricky to use because they have a tendency to become a little explody if not handled correctly. Fortunately hopping onto eBay I found a handy-dandy battery box with all the charging/discharging gubbins built in. The Pi and External Battery Box	Materials List
	4 x Li-Ion 18650 batteries (eBay)
	1 x 5V 1A Mobile Power Supply Mini-USB/USB Battery Charger 18650 Box

19th March 2013

Working Fallout Pipboy 3000

If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that a minor tragedy happened and I managed to blow up the screen I was going to be using for this project – also I seem to have corrupted the memory card that has my Linux build on for the Pi. Both things are entirely my fault, i’ve search high and low for someone else to blame but the only person I came up with was the dog – and he’s got those big brown eyes so that was never going to swing with my Girlfriend. So i’ve been given permission to replace the screen and this time promised to read the circuit diagrams before assuming where I stick power.

8th March 2013

Working Fallout Pipboy 3000

There have been a lot of Pipboy builds, each describing thereselves as ‘working’. So what do I mean by working? The Pipboy in the game has a lot of different uses. It is the users inventory screen, notebook (for quests), map, health meter and light. Well that’s the basics anyway. It also has a radiation meter so you can see your current radiation level and a radio to pick up broadcasts. So what features do I feel I should include before I consider it working, well all of them – but for the first iteration I think we’ll concentrate on Status, Map, Radio and Light features. The Pi and Screen	Materials List
	Raspberry Pi Model A
	Sainsmart 2.5″ LCD screen
	8GB SD Card
	Double-Row IDC 2 x 20 Header
	Flat IDC Cable 40 way