Backlit Gameboy Pocket COMPLETED!

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:22 pm

Not in news because I want to take better looking pics, these are webcam ones, so the quality is not so great.
I BEAT YOU, BIBIN! You though you could win, but I have prevailed!

Me and Bibin are making a tutorial. I came up with the method, but Bibin has a longer attention span than me, so he will be doing most of the guide making work (Once I help him finish his, which is a bit different than mine, but a lot of the same stuff applies).

PICS FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

MAX BRIGHTNESS!

MINIMIZED BRIGHTNESS (So camera can see)

MEDIUM BRIGHTNESS

YEAH! I AM SO HANDSOME!

Sorry for the silliness, I am a bit tired right now.

This was done with a gameboy pocket and a DS Lite backlight, and a few "Bits and bobs".

Questions will be answered if I am still awake.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:23 pm

It's caveat time!

You lack adjustment of contrast!
Backlight flickers with dark screens!

DSFARGEG · Post by **DSFARGEG** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:26 pm

Nicely done! I'd love to see some pics of the internals and some pictures of what you use to control the brightness(pot, switch, etc.)

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:36 pm

Bibin wrote:It's caveat time!

You lack adjustment of contrast!
Backlight flickers with dark screens!

OH NOES! YOU GOT ME!

I will get some internal pics once I can get either mac drivers for my camera, or finally get around to installing dd-wrt firmware on my spare router so I can finally have net access on my PC again.

The brightness is tied to the contrast. When you turn the brightness up, the contrast goes up. Makes it useless with the backlight turned off, so I will need to fix that. But for backlight use, it works perfectly.
I

I plan on doing a li-ion mod, too.

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:25 am

neat. Did you pull the backlight from a broken DS? Wasn't it too big?

hdx · Post by **hdx** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:13 am

Holy crap. I have planned to buy Gameboy Pocket. It is so small and cute

Finally, I decided to buy one and mod it. I'm going to add great quality battery pack, backlit and maybe something more.

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:39 am

Kyo wrote:neat. Did you pull the backlight from a broken DS? Wasn't it too big?

Over the summer, I fixed a lot of DS screens for cash. I got to keep the old screens after replacing them.

The DS Phat backlight is pretty big, but the DS Lite one is VERY thin. I am going to make another one with pics, but it actually fits very well.

The hard part, as me and bibin know, is removing the reflective foil on the back without leaving adhesive. I finally, after more than 4 months of different methods, came up with a novel solution.

Info to follow, eventually.

Also, the pic with max brightness is misleading. In real life, it looks STELLAR, but the webcam could not handle the brightness. Again, it really does look great, like a B/W DS Lite screen.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:06 pm

I'm working on mine; I'm almost done getting the backing off of my LCD. I've already built a backlight out of an LED strip and an old laptop display, and it looks fantastic!

Palmer, posting first was a mistake, since now I can 1up you.

palmertech · Post by **palmertech** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 6:20 pm

You can't 1up me, I have found a new voltage supply, and fixed contrast. Taking pics with nice camera tomorrow, probably.

And DS Lite has 4 LEDs, you have only 2! TAKE THAT!

dimefan90 · Post by **dimefan90** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 8:16 am

this is awesome. is it as easy as backlighting a dmg-01 (gbo)

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:27 pm

Damn. Last night, I finished it, and it was perfect.

This MORNING though, I woke up and decided I should add a switch. I managed to totally destroy my work and started over, but rushed it, and thus the result is far from nice. I'll be redoing this later.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 1:45 pm

PICS:

So I intend on replacing the backlight material, as it looked a million times better before I had to make a new one in half of an hour. It used to look so much better...

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 3:01 pm

is it this uneven in real life?

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 3:16 pm

Not nearly as much; in real life it's ever-so-slight. I wish I had pics of the first one I did, but I didn't have a camera at the time. I'm going to redo it some time during this vacation so stay tuned.

Bibin · Post by **Bibin** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 3:34 pm

Video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDBN_PSNUwM