Quick Guide: Cheap Raspberry Pi 4.3" Screen (UK)

[RazorX2014]

hi guys this is a quick guide for those of you who like me live in the uk and want a cheap screen for a portable project this is the screen i bought the [url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B006MPRFJQ/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?the psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_details_o02_s00_i00]link[/url] for £13.96.
unfortunately it is powered by 12v but it can be very slightly modified to run off 5v i ran it off a portable battery pack at 5v 1a it may be powered with less not sure anyway to do this mod simply open up the case then desolder the 12v wire (red) and solder it to the 2nd inner leg from the left on the xl1509 voltage regulator then solder a male usb connector to the power lead provided i used a spare usb lead i had lying around once you do this i would not recommend trying to power it from 12v anymore but then why would you.
I’ve included 2 pictures sorry about there size my phone wont take a picture any smaller.

[trimmtrabb]

Thanks for the guide! Been thinking of getting one of those lcd screens, what’s the quality like?

[RazorX2014]

i havnt tested it fully yet so i will take alook later for you but i did test it to see if it worked from 5v which obviously it did it also has 2 input connections could be cool to use the other on the portable project as a video in

[RazorX2014]

ok here you go bare in mind this is a picture of a screen.

in this picture everything is running off my battery pack.

[RazorX2014]

its better than the picture lets on but taking pictures of screens is tricky.

[trimmtrabb]

Looks good for a small screen, thanks for the photos. Have you tried adjusting the aspect ratio, looks a bit stretched on the Mario game?

[RazorX2014]

i actually kinda like it like that but yes aswell as being able to set it up in the emulator you can set the screen to 4:3 too aswell as adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation ect.

not bad for £14

[trimmtrabb]

cool, think i’m going to get one can’t go wrong for £14! What are your plans, are you making a portable unit?

[RazorX2014]

gonna make a portable retropie with 2 usb ports for external controllers or to hook up my retrode and play games straight from the cartridge :D

[trimmtrabb]

great idea! look forward to seeing the finished project :-) I have ordered my screen, what video settings in config.txt are you finding work best?

[RazorX2014]

i havnt setup that yet until i order a second pi probs in a few days so i dont mess up the one i use right now on my hdtv so i will let you know then what works best.

at the moment im just finishing my setup script for getting the retrode all setup and working on retropie.

[trimmtrabb]

oh fair enough. So how long does it run on battery power? And can the screen be powered via the Pi’s usb port?

[RazorX2014]

depends on the battery you use and as for running using the pi’s usb ports no you cant there too underpowered im afraid but you can just run it off the same battery your using though im gonna use something like a 7.4v 1000mah battery that should give me a fair few hours.

[trimmtrabb]

ah didn’t think do. Found this battery, seems like a good deal what do you think? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BP68FOG/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

What kind of case are you planning to use/make by the way?

[RazorX2014]

thats not the kinda battery you want because it would be a bitch to take apart and would take up pretty much all of the space inside your case unless you kept it external and as for a case im probs gonna go for a ZN-40 or AG-85 for my first portable and then in the future shrink it down to a SL-68P

[trimmtrabb]

Didn’t realise you could get cases like that, cool! Yeah I don’t think i’m going to go that small, maybe a mini table top arcade or something. Good luck with your project :-)

[RazorX2014]

you too if you have a retrode or plan on getting one check out my post for getting it working with retropie

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