Question regarding EL tape and GBA carts.

[Soma K.]

Hello there. New to these forums, sort of. Nice to meet you. *bows*

Now, I had a question. Being very new to modding, I decided to start out with a simple mod; an LED inside a GBA cart, similar to ShockSlayer's Crystal mod (except with Emerald, or FireRed). However, that plan turned to flax when I realised that there was no chance of getting said LED inside the cartridge casing; being as small, thin and full of electronics as it is.

Now, I'm thinking that a solution exists in this lovely stuff: electroluminescent tape (link right there). As far as I can gather it basically lights up when a current passes through it. My thought is that, since it's thinner than the LED, you could solder this into a GBA cart and have the lighting without the large bulb; something which probably wouldn't fit into the cartridge.
The only problems I see is that other EL things like panels and wire seem to need an inverter when running off battery power; plus, this tape seems to run off mains power and I'm not sure if that means the GBA battery is going to be insufficient.

My apologies for my extreme inexperience,
Soma

 

[sonictimm]

Welcome to the Forums Soma!
anyway, that EL Tape does need Alternating Current (AC), which is very different from the Current (DC) that a GBA runs off of. In AC, the electric current switches directions hundreds of times a second. In DC, it only goes in one direction. So no, you can't power something that runs off of AC using a DC battery unless you have an inverter. All batteries are DC, that's why the EL tape needs an inverter to run on AA batteries. Unless you somehow stuff a whole inverter into that poor little GBA cart , then there's no way you can use the EL tape.

 

[Soma K.]

Curses! Foiled again. Figured it would need something like that.
I want to put some kind of lighting in there, but I can't find anything other than your average 5mm diode. Which is about as thick as the cart itself. Anyone know where I can get some really small LEDs?
/sadface

Oh, and thanks for the warm welcome.

EDIT: OK. I'm thinking I can get a reeeeeally small LED to fit in there, but only about 2mm or less. Think it's plausible?

 

[Mr. Hooker]

You should be able to use a standard led towards the top of the cart (the part that is seen sticking out of the gba) instead of on the pcb itself. post a few pics of your cart, I might have a plan B for you.

 

[sonictimm]

Check for a good LED if you still need one. Just a five minute search found This (link) in case you still need a tiny one, and I'm sure they have it in green for Emerald. Just make sure that whatever LED you get works with the amount of voltage a GBA puts into its cartridge.

 

[Soma K.]

You should be able to use a standard led towards the top of the cart (the part that is seen sticking out of the gba) instead of on the pcb itself. post a few pics of your cart, I might have a plan B for you.

Yes, that's what I was aiming for. Just a small matter of the screw position but that shouldn't be a problem.
And, uh... I can't post pictures yet as I still need to go out and get a new triwing screwdriver, since the old one had an "accident".

Check for a good LED if you still need one. Just a five minute search found This (link) in case you still need a tiny one, and I'm sure they have it in green for Emerald. Just make sure that whatever LED you get works with the amount of voltage a GBA puts into its cartridge.

Thanks for the link I already found some good, cheap LEDs- a tiny bit bigger but it's only a 0.2mm difference. I was planning on just using white but considering the case I think coloured would be better. And I'll be sure to check the voltage! Last thing I need is my FireRed blowing up

Thank you both for your help!

 

[Mr. Hooker]

I never bother with a tri wing screwdrivers, extra small flathead screwdrivers work just fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMPQtoa-9TA

I would replace the tri wing screw with a small phillips screw if you have one that will work.

 

[Soma K.]

I never bother with a tri wing screwdrivers, extra small flathead screwdrivers work just fine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMPQtoa-9TA

I would replace the tri wing screw with a small phillips screw if you have one that will work.

Hm. Sounds good, though I'll have to get some practice in. I'm pretty good at stripping screws doing stuff like that.
I'll have to see if I can fid a small screw from my PC part bin. Doubtful though

 

[Mr. Hooker]

Getting the small tri wing out of the plastic is really not that hard at all, I doubt yoll have any problims, and you can find the small screw drivers almost anywhere, some gas stations, dollor stores, and grocery stores even carry them for fixing glasses, and any hardwar stores or radio shack will have them.

this type works fine