GG LED Mod (56k warning)

[robm]

*Totally* fantastic.

I've got two of these laying around, one of em's dedicated to toying around with. I'll have to give this a shot.

[snume]

Awesome work!

So, you've inspired me to do this mod, but I've done a fairly exhaustive search and I can't find any details on this mod. Would you be able to post some more details of your mod? Like where you connected your wires, resistor sizes, LED rating, etc.

I don't mean to press and if you don't want to, that's fine. I actually did a search and I found a lot of nothing.

Thanks

[Tibia]

I'd be glad to help you out. What would make it easiest for you? A step-by-step guide with pictures? Or just a diagram and parts list?

Let me know, and I'll take some pics and give you some pointers.

[snume]

I wouldn't want you to go to too much trouble. Whatever is easier for you.

A walkthrough would be great, but can be so labour intensive.

I'd be happy with either.

[xantufrog]

Hello,
I hate to jump in here with the first post asking for a favors, but would you mind passing the same info you prepare for snume on to me? That's some great work you've done there. I've been reading around the webs for a while hoping to do the same type of mod myself. I'd love to breathe some portable life into this otherwise wonderful system. Thanks!

[snume]

Tibia sent me a link to where she posted the guide, but maybe if we ask nice, she'll post the link here. I won't do it without her OK because it's her work. Thanks again, Tibia.

[Tibia]

http://tibia-mod.dreamwidth.org/486.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's the link. I wanted to fix a few spelling errors and crop a few pictures before I posted it in public. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback, Snume. I'm glad it worked out well for you.





Edit: 07.10.2010- Guide was posted elsewhere, link has been updated.

[xantufrog]

Thanks Tibia! This is a great mod for any gamegear owner in my opinion. I might look into something similar for my Nomad as well.

[Tibia]

When my work schedule lightens up and I finish a few other projects, I plan on trying this with a Nomad. I have two fully functional ones and a third that powers up, but doesn't display. I ought to be able to figure this out without killing them all. lol It may be a few months, but when I get it going, I'll be glad to share my info.

[xantufrog]

Nice! What voltage range is acceptable for the LEDs in this mod? I'm looking into some very wide angle ones which might have more diffuse lighting, but I think their range is 3-3.2 V (as opposed to the 3.3V ones you used). Maybe it doesn't matter at that level... I assume the bulbs don't get pushed to 3.3V in this but I don't know much about LEDs.

[gumbyx84]

I have an odd question for anyone working on this hack: What would be the best viewing angle for the LEDs used? I have gotten into a slight argument with a friend of mine (who is helping me with this mod) about it. At first, on his recommendation, I picked up 10mm "Ultra High Brightness" LEDs. They had a viewing angle of only 10 deg, but to me, it seemed to work well, even with one bulb (we broke the connections off of one of the LEDs during installation). I decided to go with 5mm LEDs as they had a better viewing angle (Radio Shack had them in 30 deg). When I went to pick them up, I noticed they had a wide-angle (100 deg) LED for $6. $6 seemed a bit excessive for a single LED and I want to get this mod done quickly, so I stuck with the 30 deg angle. I made the mistake of mentioning it to my fellow modder and he thought I was crazy for not getting the 100 deg.

Basically, I want to know if anyone has done a compairison of different LCD viewing angles to see if there is a noticeable difference between the 30 and 100 def viewing angle. We are taking a break from modding the GG due to projects we are working on (working in a laboratory has its benefits, most of which are free access to any and all tools one would need for just about anything), so I have some time to figure this out.

[Life of Brian]

I read your guide, Tibia, and it's very well written. Thank you for taking the time to document it! I need to go find my Game Gear now...

[xantufrog]

I haven't done it yet myself, but my thinking is as follows: the wide-angle bulb would probably give more uniform lighting behind all parts of the screen, because you have a good spread of light coming from the bulbs, but also might have more intense light directly above the bulbs. I imagine at the end of the day the difference is small, but I was thinking of going with the wide angle in the interest of overall visibility, though depending on just how intense the light is around the bulb itself it might not be worth it...

By the way you can get bulbs for much cheaper than RadioShack from various online stores or even ebay if you are interested, though the wait might be annoying...

[Tibia]

Nice! What voltage range is acceptable for the LEDs in this mod? I'm looking into some very wide angle ones which might have more diffuse lighting, but I think their range is 3-3.2 V (as opposed to the 3.3V ones you used). Maybe it doesn't matter at that level... I assume the bulbs don't get pushed to 3.3V in this but I don't know much about LEDs.

The spot I get my power from is putting out 5V, which is too much for an LED of any strength. I used a 33-ohm resistor with two LEDs in parallel. (Positives tied together, grounds tied together.) If you want to use one LED, use this to find your resistor size. Your input voltage will be 5V, if you're using the same place on the GG that I did. I'd put the diode voltage at 3, because it's far safer to go too low than too high. There is a link to a parallel/series array guide on that page, but when I do it with the LEDs I have, it told me to put them both right on the 5V, and put a 100-ohm resistor on each ground. If someone could explain how that's supposed to work, I'd be much obliged.

Gumbyx84- If you mount them in the black rubber holders like I do, the viewing angle won't matter at all, since it's kind of focused by the holders. If you drill into the reflector to mount them somewhere else, or mount them to the sides without the holders, the viewing angle would make a difference. I'm still experimenting to find a better diffusion method, so perhaps I'll see about getting some different angles. I've already got one reflector drilled for mounting on the back, so I can just swap the bulbs around. So far, the best diffusion method I've found are the diffuser layers from small LCD screens. Anyone know where I could source that for cheap?

Brian- Thanks! If you take your time finding your GG, I'm working out a stereo mod. I just need to find the time to try a things.

[xantufrog]

Nice! What voltage range is acceptable for the LEDs in this mod? I'm looking into some very wide angle ones which might have more diffuse lighting, but I think their range is 3-3.2 V (as opposed to the 3.3V ones you used). Maybe it doesn't matter at that level... I assume the bulbs don't get pushed to 3.3V in this but I don't know much about LEDs.

The spot I get my power from is putting out 5V, which is too much for an LED of any strength. I used a 33-ohm resistor with two LEDs in parallel. (Positives tied together, grounds tied together.) If you want to use one LED, use this to find your resistor size. Your input voltage will be 5V, if you're using the same place on the GG that I did. I'd put the diode voltage at 3, because it's far safer to go too low than too high. There is a link to a parallel/series array guide on that page, but when I do it with the LEDs I have, it told me to put them both right on the 5V, and put a 100-ohm resistor on each ground. If someone could explain how that's supposed to work, I'd be much obliged.

Thanks! I'm still a little confused though (this is probably related to the number of years I've been away from physics, for which I apologize) - how did you come to the 33ohm value? Based on the the forward mA value of your LEDs or on something else? When I mess with the calculator at 3V to get a 33 ohm recommendation it needs a diode forward current of around 70-74 mA (or perhaps in the 50s for 2 diodes if I'm figuring that out right). The LEDs I have been looking at have much lower values (i.e. ~25 mA) and would therefore need a bigger resistor than 33 ohms (I think). Do I need to keep looking for higher current rated bulbs?