How-To: Frontlight your Game Boy Color!

[the_luiz]

Hehe xD

 

[Goose]

My modding experience is extremely limited, Turns out I broke the SP connector after putting on the case due to the wires being too large. I don't have the skills to install an LED without a guide and diffuse it etc, can someone link me to some sort of guide or something please? Also is it possible to just fix the connector on my SP, I thought the quality of that backlight was great while it worked. My negative connector is stuck to my wire rather than on the connector as the wire was large and broke off. Someone mentioned a dremel but I have no idea how that would create another connection.

Thanks

-Refer to my images on either page 6 or 7 if you have no idea what I'm talking about

 

[the_luiz]

here's how to add leds, though its just for looks. Im not entirely sure, but maybe you could make two holes for the leds' light to cime into the screen

http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Mod-Your-Gameboy-Color/

Here's for the gameboy pocket, again, not entirely sure [cause im too lazy to check] if this'll work with a gameboy color.

http://www.instructables.com/id/GameBoy_Pocket_Backlight/

 

[the_luiz]

Yes, if you check on the gameboy pocket link, on the final step [step 5], the dood who made the tutorial says it could work.

 

[Darkstar87]

Wow i'm glad i found this forum - i had a cracked screen sp and a yellow gbc, now i have a frontlit gameboy color! Thanks for the guide Bibin, i've been meaning to do this for ages. I read somewhere (on Benhecks forums i think) about putting antireflective film directly on the lcd screen to stop the colours washing out with the frontlight. Would this help? The colours do seem a bit faint on Zelda DX. Thanks again

 

[BlueLink77]

Wow i'm glad i found this forum - i had a cracked screen sp and a yellow gbc, now i have a frontlit gameboy color! Thanks for the guide Bibin, i've been meaning to do this for ages. I read somewhere (on Benhecks forums i think) about putting antireflective film directly on the lcd screen to stop the colours washing out with the frontlight. Would this help? The colours do seem a bit faint on Zelda DX. Thanks again

Yes this would definitely help as I asked Bibin this same question earlier.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[the_luiz]

Hmm, I wonder if I could power my GBC with a 9 volt. Any idea on how to do this, WITHOUT frying my GBC?

 

[Bibin]

Hmm, I wonder if I could power my GBC with a 9 volt. Any idea on how to do this, WITHOUT frying my GBC?

Don't. It's inefficient.

 

[PalmerTech]

@Goose: You cannot frontlight without a light guide. It is just not possible, it will be worse than those worm lights they used to sell.

@Darkstar: A good place to find anti-reflective film is to buy an anti-reflective screen protector for a phone, and cut that to size.

@Luiz: What Bibin said.

 

[Mako321]

what about the 94 or 96%(I forget which one) power efficient pth08080w?

 

[Darkstar87]

Thanks for the quick replies BlueLink77 and Palmertech, my only other query is how to cut the diffuser - i think Bibin had best results lighting from the bottom of the screen after cutting the frontlight to fit, but the plastic seems delicate and i wondered if there's a way to minimise the risk of stress fractures or distortion?

 

[Bibin]

Straight edge, a knife, and lots of scoring.

 

[the_luiz]

Hmm, I wonder if I could power my GBC with a 9 volt. Any idea on how to do this, WITHOUT frying my GBC?

Don't. It's inefficient.

Inefficient? Please explain, Im not all with technical terms and such.

 

[Kyo]

Well, what do you know. My GBASP is actually frontlit.

Mind if I post this guide on my site?

 

[Blurt]

if i can use the front light for my GBC from my sp can i use the battery too?

 

[BlueLink77]

if i can use the front light for my GBC from my sp can i use the battery too?

Yes you can, the GBASP battery will power the GBC very well.

Here's Pkmnjumky7's experience on the matter.

 

[Jewjo]

if i can use the front light for my GBC from my sp can i use the battery too?

Yes you can, the GBASP battery will power the GBC very well.

Here's Pkmnjumky7's experience on the matter.

I need to go buy an SP and a GBC! Do you know how he charges it?
Edit: Wouldn't it require a resistor of some form? I don't know anything about batteries.

 

[BlueLink77]

if i can use the front light for my GBC from my sp can i use the battery too?

Yes you can, the GBASP battery will power the GBC very well.

Here's Pkmnjumky7's experience on the matter.

I need to go buy an SP and a GBC! Do you know how he charges it?
Edit: Wouldn't it require a resistor of some form? I don't know anything about batteries.

I've tested this method and the GBC powered up from the GBASP battery. And yeah charging is the only problem. Pkmnjunky7 has several broken SPs, so he charges them using that. One of the reasons I went with a PSP battery is that there is more amperage, so longer battery life, and I could pick up a charger fairly cheap (like $3).

 

[Bibin]

For all my internal battery mods I too use broken GBA SPs as chargers, with a seperate charging port.

 

[Jewjo]

Dang, I just did this mod and it was infinitely times easier than the GBP equivalent. Thanks for the guide. Pic(s) now.

There's a lot of dust everywhere, but it's a good first try by my standards. Plus, nothing broke!

Lime Green Front; Purple back; LoZ: LADX. A+

EDIT: It's actually pretty unplayable unless I tilt it to the side a good 45 degrees.
EDIT2: Fixed; it's wonderful now.