Add vibration motor to Powkiddy V90

[360fun]

Hi and thank you for the amazing work behind this firmware! 🤖

After I bought the Powkiddy V90 I discovered (https://youtu.be/nWTRpo2fzJI) that some consoles have a vibration motor and others don't (like mine 😢 ). I was wondering if it can be soldered to the motherboard since the software (and hopefully the circuit lines) are already there. I don't know much about circuits so it's just a guess/hope. 🤞

I couldn't find images about internals with the motor to compare, but in these images that white circle with 2 nearby soldering points looks like the perfect spot:

Internals from BittBoy V3.5:

Any expert could confirm/deny this guess?

[TriForceX]

Here you have a pic from a v90 teardown

more pics here https://steward-fu.github.io/website/handheld/v90/teardown.htm

[360fun]

Looks like I was right! 🥳 I will check with a tester if I get voltage when vibration is activated, thanks!

[jSTE0]

Steward's V90 PCB is the earlier V1.0, I wonder what else changed, apart from dropping the vibration motor, in V1.1.
There is another component that is populated next to the solder pads for the motor, with an arrow between the pads. A diode, perhaps, to protect against back EMF?
This is a close up of my own V90, also a V1.1 PCB:

[TriForceX]

well the same happened with the pocketgo, there was a v1.0 and v1.1 pcb, there was few changes but motor were working on both using the same solder pads... i cannot confirm it will work here, but it should, if someone try we could add a guide for it

[360fun]

Very very interesting, thank you for these contributions! 🙏 It's so weird they removed the motor in the upgraded pcb, doesn't seems so expensive, and actually gives more value to the product. 🤔

I've some questions:

• would be better to solder also the diode, right?
• how can I find the right components?

[Apaczer]

There were even v1.1 boards without rumble and with diode inside and after soldering new motor everything worked as expected on V90.

12000RPM Small Size DIY Kit 0834 DC 3V 8mm 70mA max - will possibly fit for a new rumble motor, no idea about the diode.

[360fun]

Great, so you confirm that is possible to add the motor: that's great! 😻
Thanks for the motor specs, would be cool to re-use parts from broken phones, I'll wait more info about the diode! 😸
A guide would be definitely a big help, especially to people like me without experience in electronics! 🙏

[360fun]

I confirm the feasibility of the MOD: I've tested the rom Drill Dozer with GPSP_Rumble and I could get some current when I was "drilling"! 😸
Hope somebody come up with more info about the "missing diode":

[jSTE0]

Thanks for confirming. I was hoping someone would take a high-resolution picture of their PCB with details of that diode (if that's what it is). I suspect the exact value of it isn't critical, as long as it can pass the voltage and current of the rumble motor.

[Screamliner]

This is the motherboard of q90. I guess they should be the same. Hope that helps.

[360fun]

wow, thank you for the details! on my board (check first pic), though, I've a different configuration, but I assume my components solve the same function of the two 1AM transistors. The diode seems the only missing component on my board, except the motor of course.

[360fun]

actually that's not a photo of my powkiddy...at the time I took one from the internet, so I should open it again to check if it's exactly the same 🤔

[Screamliner]

My board is version 1.2. They removed all viberation parts. Four resistors, one capacitor, two transistors and one diode. I don't know why the v90 has two capacitors and the q90 only has one.The specifications of the resistor and capacitor should be 0402 1mmX0.5mm. I don't know the other specific data of the capacitor.

[akg83]

Anyone have a clue about the reason that the vibration motor implementation was dropped on the v90? cost reduction?

[nfriedly]

cost reduction?

Almost certainly.