First off, I would just like to give kudos to the WiiNewz team for getting the best damn Wii community back online so fast. I am saddened by the losses accrued, but it is good to see that WiiNewz will continue to be the most active Wii modding resource on the web.
Next, I have just recieved my "Wii-Clip" (
www.wii-clip.com) and D2CKey. I am experienced with non-D2C chip installs, but I have chosen to avoid D2CKey installations due to the complexity of the installation itself. Recently, an asian manufacturer has developed a flex PCB adapter for the D2CKey (and now other versions of Wii mod chips) to make installations of the D2CKey much easier. This will allow users to take their time soldering the mod chip into the flex PCB, without risking damage to their Wii drive. With this design, nothing will need to be soldered into the drive itself. The chip will be soldered into a convenient adapter which then will mount to the D2C chip on the Wii drive. This also allows for clean removal and upgrades of the mod chip.
I have just recieved the Wii-Clip and a new D2CKey and I will be doing an installation tonight and a review from the perspective of someone with experience installing modchips, but no experience installing D2CKeys. Hopefully this will help all of us who are looking to mod D2C Wiis, but not willing to risk a botched install, and still weary of new flex PCB chip adapters. It will be up soon.
EDIT: Here is the review...
D2CKey/Wii-Clip Review
This review is written from the perspective of an experienced non-D2C Wii mod chip installer with no prior D2C chip installation experience. The D2CKey was purchased from
www.modchipcentral.com (Canada) and the Wii-Clip was purchased from
www.ic2005.com (Hong Kong).
Package:
Contents:
The Wii-Clip comes in a convenient packaging that includes the Wii-Clip itself, a "Protect Label" (which is basically just an insulated sticker to prevent shorts on the underside of the D2CKey), and additionally a cardboard card that has instructions on one side and a picture on the other side. The instruction card must not be thrown away however, because it is later used as an insulator to prevent open shorts on top of the Wii-Clip/D2CKey. The manufacturing of the Wii-Clip is very high quality. This does not mean however that is is not fragile, but it means that the tooling is precise, the design is good, and the materials are good. Here is a picture of the underside of the Wii-Clip:
As you can see the conductors on the underside of the Wii-Clip are very precise, and separate to prevent any shorts. The installation of the D2CKey into the Wii-Clip was extremely fast and easy, with the hardest part being the alignment of the D2CKey in the Wii-Clip. Once the first connection was soldered, the rest of the installation was done in minutes. The tricky part about lining the D2CKey up with the Wii-Clip was that there are 28 connections that all need to be aligned. Sometimes when you get one area lined up, then another area will need to be adjusted or re-aligned.
Additionally, when the mod chip is sitting flat on the table, and the Wii-Clip is also sitting flat on the table (aligned with the mod chip) you have a small vertical gap between the PCB and the mod chip. This makes it somewhat difficult to align the two pieces because you have to first hold the two together to eliminate the vertical gap, and then align the connection points laterally. This is somewhat tedious to get the first point soldered, but after that the alignment is constant laterally, but you will still need to hold the two pieces together in some places where there is a vertical gap. I imagine this could be solved by using helping hands/clips, but I did not want to risk damage to the PCB. Here are pictures of the top and bottom of the chip after installation in the Wii-Clip.
After installing the D2CKey into the Wii-Clip, all that is needed is to mount the Wii-Clip to the D2C chip on the Wii drive. At first I had a hard time getting the clip to clip onto the D2C ASIC chip, but then I found that it was much easier if I started on one side, and then layed it down to the other. Originally I was pressing straight down with even force on the clip, but it felt like I was going to break something so I stopped. I then put the Wii-Clip on one side of the D2C chip at a 45 degree angle, and then pressed it down onto the opposite side. This worked much better.
Side Views:
After the Wii-Clip is mounted to the Wii drive you will need to use the supplied cardboard insulator (the instruction guide) to cover the D2CKey/Wii-Clip assembly to prevent open shorts. At this point the installation is done, and all that needs to be done is test it. Here are pictures of the final installation with the cardboard in place and the drive connected:
I will note though, that the cardboard insulator covers the connector for the drive ribbon cable. I reccommend that you connect this before installing the cardboard insulator, otherwise you will not have acces to the connector. Here is a video I made of the test of the installation:
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I think that the Wii-Key is an excellent tool to help Wii modders with installing the complex D2C mod chips. In addition to making the installation much easier, it also makes the removal of the chip easier. The Wii-Clip company is also developing versions of the clip for non-D2C mod chips, and these will make it much easier for modders to update and remove mod chips because nothing will ever need to be soldered to the Wii drive itself. This also reduces the risk involved in modding a console. Although the advantages outweigh the disadvantages in my opinion, there are a couple things that may or may not be an issue to buyers. First is the cost. The Wii-Clip is currently retailing at 39.99 plus shipping at
www.ic2005.com. This is a lot when you consider the cost of the mod chip as well. Although it is costly to do a D2C mod with the Wii-Clip, I think it still is a good deal considering the cost of a professional D2C installation or the cost of a install gone bad. The second issue is that the Wii-Clip assembly covers the vent hole on the Wii drive (as pointed out by many others). In my opinion there is still adequate clearance, and this should not be an issue. However, I do think that in a future version of the clip this could be fixed by having the flexible PCB either come out of the corner instead of the side of the clip, or still come out of the side, but then shape the PCB so it turns perpindicular to the clip, and then have it turn and continue laterally to avoid the vent hole. All in all I think the Wii-Clip is a great tool, and I think it will definately revolutionize D2C modding, and possibly all forms of modding.
UPDATED: D2CKey/Wii-Clip installation review
hope all gos well
