EL panels and the pokéwalker

[R00man]

Ok I have HG and SS so I decided to tear one of my poke walkers open. I found that the poke walker does have a removable reflective layer so Im assuming it can be backlight. If anyone knows where I can find a low power EL panel I will greatly appreciate it. I also had an idea of making a watch version of the pokéwalker but I may not make it for a while.

 

[PalmerTech]

Yes, it can be backlit, just like a DC VMU. EL panels need an inverter, and the inverter IS going to be fairly large, it is hard enough to fit one in a gameboy pocket, much less a pokewalker. It is also going to drain batteries very fast, you will need a new power source. TBH, I would suggest using an LED based backlight with a diffusion panel. Only needs 1 LED, since color and brightness balance do not need to be perfect on a simple black and white screen.

 

[R00man]

so should I try cutting up a gba sp diffusion panel

 

[PalmerTech]

Eh... Backlights are much easier to fake than frontlights. TBH, a piece of plastic from a CD case, really roughed up with sandpaper, would probably do a decent job. That, or pull apart a DS Lite screen and use the diffusion plastic from that.

 

[R00man]

I have all(a sp diffusion panel, ds panel, and diffusion paper) I put white diffusion paper behind a sp diffusion panel and it seemed to work good. Ill try using the ds panel and see what difference it makes

 

[PalmerTech]

Oh, they will all work. I would just hate to see a perfectly good frontlight panel wasted for backlighting.

 

[Mako321]

I've always found blank white paper work quite well for a light diffuser for led's. (that and the diffuser plastic I stole from my dead psone screens, we all have lots of those around)

 

[k0p4n]

pics please
and thats awesome...backlight for the pokewalker

maybe a tutorial haha

 

[R00man]

I haven't actually done it yet.

 

[k0p4n]

hey no rush!
i just got excited since people thought of this too

take your time R00man

 

[TheOperator]

Would one of these work?

I used a general RED 3mm LED and it is slightly to big, but it did give it a nice color.

 

[BoFoSho]

Nope too big.

 

[TheOperator]

Cant cut those? I mean, I've never seen one in person but I figured you could since it looks like plastic. Well, if I can find a 1.5mm LED I was going to just make one....

 

[OMFGCAPS]

maybe it's redundant, but it seems like smds would fit just fine?

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

yeah smd's and a small diffusing sheet would be fine...