+This Does Not Compute - Hello i discover a new metod on this frontlight mod, by adding a pice of metalic film from an broken LCD o you can do it with a pice of reflective paper, first you will have to remove the Metalic Frame of the LCD, in the back of the LCD put the Metalic film or metalic paper, put again the Metalic Frame of the LCD, and then make the LOCA mod, and then solder the kit to the PCB, after that you will notice that the Metalic Film reflect all the light from the frontlight giveing you better colors than the normal LOCA mod, that is because the LCD of the GBC is kind of "transparent"
Uruguayan Style Oh my fucking God you gave me an idea ! Front light the game boy like in the video with Loca and do what you said with the reflector of a broken LCD ( that I have from a broken iPhone 5 screen ) and put another polorizer because if the light reflects from the back we need two polorizers to see the screen correctly and I think the results would be epic ! I have to try that
What about adding the metallic paper after the loca mod so it will be easier to handle And the reflective paper which way you put it? The mirror side or the side we see trough it
Is there any particular reason why you didn't apply the loca to the LCD, and then put the backlight on that, instead of worrying about flipping it over?
A great way to avoid air bubbles is to take a battery holder with two AA batteries and touch the leads to the wires on the LCD light after you've placed it on the loca. This way any bubbles that are going to show up after it cures will be visible while you can still get them out. I also did mine at night and used a $25 UV "oven" from Amazon, so I had complete control over it.
If the LED's were of the warmer variety, I feel like it would look much better and would result in less washed out colors. That's my idea tho, I can't test it myself.
7yrs later I am just discovering this mod kit, and also discovered the washed out issue... BUT now I know why everyone else's looks so good! I appreciate this video. Now to find loca...
just completed this mod. I got some bubbles but they arent that distracting. It makes a big difference! I love your channel and thanks for the tutorial.
This might be a bit odd, but what about adding a resistor to the positive terminal to make the front light less bright? Maybe installing a potentiometer that you can access from the battery compartment?
Thanks for this comparison, I'll try it! PD: 5:00 old LCD tech, yes... but with very good response times and a lot of less blur than original Gameboy and even some IPS options out there :)
Interesting vid This Does Not Compute. Between the original grey brick gameboy and the color, they were the only nintendo consoles that I owned growing up and I really had an appreciation for the ergonomics of the color. Recently I've discovered that there are possibly a ton of games that are hidden gems on the color and it's totally peaked my interest in the system again.
Love the channel Colin, instantly subscribed. Now I had a question I was hoping you could answer. Do you think I could leave the loca'd screens out in the sun to absorb some UV rays in cold weather or would that not work? Thanks keep up the good work!
Hi! First of all, thank You for your Video(s)! Can you make a video on How to mod a GBC using a rechargeable Battery? I've modded one using a 3.7V battery from a Nintendo Ds lite (1000 mah) and a TP4056 mini usb module for recharging it. It's Kinda tricky 'cause you have to disconnect the original connectors for the two AA batteries due to space iusses, but this mod is just AWESOME. Can you please make a tutorial on it? Thanks in advance! PS: sorry for my bad english, it's not my first language
The Pro of this Frontlight mod is, that the GBC LCD has a reflective foil on the back, so if the sun is too bright you still have a good picture, on backlight LCDs they have no such reflective foil, and if the sunlight is brighter than the LCD light you´ll see nothing.
Some tips from me, as I tried this recently with the help of someone who's an electronics technician: 1) Even outside in sunlight, you cannot see all tiny air bubbles to work them out. Plus, once you get out there, the glue starts hardening at a crazy rate. You are better off powering the LED strip during this bubble elimination process because the tiny pixel-sized bubbles were not even visible under a microscope. First LED panel was installed successfully, but not a perfect image due to the many little dots near the center of the screen. 2) Be safe and leave the LOCA for longer. Trying to be careful and prevent sun damaging the LCD, I thought 30 minutes was fine in the sun because I couldn't slide the LCD and LED panels around at all, but one screen ended up separating from the LED panel during installation, which was extremely disappointing as that screen didn't appear to have *any* bubbles when testing the LEDs, unlike the first screen we lit. 3) The screen that separated left its LED panel stuck in the housing (where I had applied 3M tape, as this was a reproduction housing with no adhesive) and a very gentle prying with a plastic spudger tool cracked the LED panel plastic about 50% down. The professional who was helping me out with the soldering in this process was kind of shocked at the cheap materials used to make these, saying they should be using a polycarbonate which would not get damaged so easily. I left him with the damaged panel and I'm hoping he got inspired to cut a better panel so we can salvage the LED strip and so I didn't waste $15 on that.
wouldn't it make sense to put the loca also from the front light to the Game Boy Color lens especially if you have the glass lens ? just a thought to try out it would eliminate all the air between the screen and the lens
Did the mod a few years ago. Everything turned out great. Left my GBC in a dresser drawer out of sunlight for those years in storage. Recently pulled it out to play some GBC games and the middle of the screen looks like that burn in discoloration just slight in the center. I turn on the GBC and it’s very cloudy in the center. In fact I can’t see anything where the burn in discoloration shows when the screen is off. I do see the game running on the outter edges of the screen. Does anyone else have this problem? Again, this is after I did the mod and a few years later. I wanna say maybe 3-4 years ago is how long it’s been in storage.
Hey Colin! Just came across your channel and I love it! I recently got the urge to buy a Gameboy Color and thought to check out if there were any improvements made with it. Now here I am. Could you please provide the info for the front light kit you used for this? Thanks! Subscribed*
Hey Colin, have you experienced any spider webs from the loca bonded from your screen yet? Mine did after 2 weeks. Theres also a crack on the upper left hand corner. I feel like it's greatly pressured from being too thick which I believe is causing the front light to flex somehow and causing the spider webs on the front light.
+Nus Dogg I haven't seen that yet. The frontlit screen can certainly be a bit snug of a fit, but the LOCA shouldn't really add much thickness (LOCA is supposed to be pretty watery, not thick or gooey, so you should end up with a pretty thin layer). I wonder if the quality of the LOCA plays a factor in that too?
Yeah, I don't think it's the LOCA. For some reason, my light panel was being flexed a little bit after I've installed all the screws. I can tell by angle-ing the GBC screen to see the panel sides when the handheld is on. The LOCA bonded between the two just acted as glass shattered/webbing all over the screen which was a disappointment. I redid using a new front light and I can tell that the front light this time sits flush. Hopefully this time it doesn't do it again nor crack. Thanks for your reply. Just wanted to see if you experience the same after a week or two.
+Nus Dogg How did you remove the LOCA? I recently Installed the frontlight but sadly didnt remove all the dust so now there is a bunch of white spots on my screen, I wish to peel it off and clean the LOCA off and try again but I want to make sure its possible, and if so, how and with what? I really dont want to buy another LCD and frontlight, but If I have to I will. Thanks in advance!
MyClanTagIsStud PC Gameplay I use a Q Tip with lightly dabbed into rubbing alcohol. Then I Q Tip the screen and used a cloth to wipe it in a swirl motion. Repeat the process til all the residue are all gone from the screen. It takes some times but eventually it's all gone. Just don't get any rubbing alcohol on the new light panel. It'll ruin the light panel.
ahh thank you so much! Especially for the expedient reply :) Ive ordered a new light screen, most people would live with the little specs but not me XD Thanks again, I will give this a try!
How would you recommend I remove the dust on my screen effectively? I don't have and microfiber cloths on hand and compressed air didn't really do the trick. Just need to know before I apply the LOCA.
Hey Collin! Have you tried out the V2 of the frontlight kit that doesn't require the adhesive? Just wondering if A) It's better and REALLY doesn't need the adhesive or B) It's better, but still needs the adhesive.
Quite frankly I've gotten around this issue at like 10 years old (so... 2004) when we got our digital camera with Ni-MH rechargeable cells. Never again had to worry about buying alkalines for the Game Boy. Added bonus is that there's no proprietary battery format, they're REALLY cheap (on the class of 3~4x the price of alkaline batteries while working as..... 1000 of them?) and you can carry as much batteries as you want. Downside is it's considerably heavier than some Lithium battery, but the capacity is about same (literally, it's chemically close in volumetric capacity), ever since I fixed my Game Boy Color's screen that had it's polarizer ruined I've been playing it with the same charged pair for I think some good 10 hours of play time, still not showing low battery on the LED (it fades a lot).
Why would you not just use a backlit lcd? They are available for the Gameboy Advance, and it is so much nicer to use than a GBA SP Ags101 in terms of playing GBC games
Very nice mod Colin, I got another weird question :). Is is possible to replace or adapt a new battery to a Gba game that uses sd memory like Final Fantasy Tactics?
Are there any other methods to get similar effects if you don't have Loca? I added reflective film to the back of my LCD which has helped a lot but it's still whited out
I have watched yours and other videos about the front light mod and a few have stuck out. The potentiometer or "pot" some have called it, can produce the ability to dim the screen. Kitsch Bent has a slide potentiometer ( store.kitsch-bent.com/product/slide-potentiometer-kit) but I have yet to see anyone produce a video using this style potentiometer. Is this something you have thought about doing with your mod?
Hi, I was wondering if you have any advice as to how I would go about doing this as a Swede. With autumn being here, we have very limited ours of sunlight, and the few hours of light have are "polluted" by clouds. Thank you.
Hey, I was looking into doing this mod myself and the LOCA I bought doesn't seem permanent. Every week or so the edges start to come up. Did you use a particular brand? Or did you use generic LOCA? Thanks! Love the vids.
+bondrocks11 I've used both Osaka brand LOCA as well as generic, and I haven't had this happen. Are you using a UV lamp to cure it, or leaving it in a window? (Some windows have a UV-blocking film, so it might help to try a UV lamp.)
+Dan Scarfe I haven't done it enough times to really have a definitive answer, but I can tell you this -- what you see in this video is my first attempt at using LOCA, and the results were very good with no noticeable bubbles. I think the quality of the LOCA may make a difference, but I suspect the real key is applying it in one pass in the X-shaped pattern.
hi i watched your video to mod my gbc and i followed everything you did anc i turned it on but it turns on for 2 secounds and turns off do you know what could be wrong??? help me please
This is because you used the wrong solder points. You need to use the Hand Held Legend solder points. You are probably using the Kitsch Bent solder points. You can use the Kitsch Bent solder points with a 100 OhM resistor, and I would recommend this as it gets rid of flickering in some games.
turns out i had the right points, but someone from hand held legend told me that i could perhaps use a 10 ohm resistor and that fixed the prob, thanks though
+TechWalker buddy I do have mine on the right spot for the Handheld however it is really dim..I cannot play with the lights off....I used rechargeable batteries that are 1.2 v you think that might be the problem or what suggestion do you have. Thanks
Yeah I want to do this mod but I am afraid of doing something wrong and I don't want to mess up the LCD screen because getting another screen would be difficult and expensive to bad I can't send it to you and pay you for this mod I do have a soldering iron and solder I've gotten a lot better at soldering now than I did before
Hi Colin, I just did this mod yesterday and the results are got are horrible; the display is totally washed out and I can only see the black pixels but still very faintly. I followed all the tutorials step by step so I don't know how this happened but I do have some theories and would like to hear your opinion? When I peeled the foam off the back, I actually peeled it all off and in doing so I raised the ribbon cable off the back of the LCD a couple of times, and accidentally scratched it with my finger. I used enough LOCA (the good expensive one) and let it completely set, but I'm not sure if I pushed the LCD and the front light together enough as there was a bit of a gap between them, or if I pressed too hard to get the bubbles out. I also removed the reflective tape from both sides of the front light (I wanted the light shining through the lettering) but maybe that made it too bright? While soldering I dropped some solder on the board a few times so I might have burned it.
If it seems washed out, you may want to try adding a resistor to reduce the brightness of the frontlight. It sounds like you did everything else OK -- if you think there's still a gap between the screen and the frontlight, you can separate them and try again (I did a video about that recently). Good luck!
Thanks for replying! I went to the KB page where I got the front light looking for any link to a resistor and found one called a "slide potentiometer". Just wondering if this is what you are talking about, and also how would I go about installing it?
+Frodo B. I was able to get away with not removing it on my GBC, but I'd still recommend it. Spidering isn't something that can really be fixed if it happens.
Hey. Not sure if you're still answering questions, but a modder screwed the frontlight up for my console. Can I take the system apart and reapply if bubbles exist or do I need an entirely new screen now?
I got the kit from kitsch bent and they didnt include a replacement reflective strip for when i peel it off to cure the loca under it, I don't want it spidering so any suggestions?
The bubbles are hard to spot if they are small enough. I missed some and now it looks like a dead pixel but is white instead if black. Oh well it is gonna happen I guess. I know now to look closer when I do my GBA. Also I would suggest you all that when you remove the screen protector film to glue that you leave the screen protector on other side on until you are done situating the glue. Position the screen with the backlight and wash hands and then work out any bubbles. I happened to get a slight amount of glue on my hands and accidentally out of habit touched the screen. I looked and it seemed to not be anything until I powered on and its a small impression. Be careful folks.
Hey how you doing I have a question I just did my front light mod on my gbc but when I went to turn it on it comes on/ the frontlight blinks on and then the whole game boy turns off. light and all do you have any ideals for me I mean I've un doldered the wires the game boy works fine pls I need help
John Tapscott Jr Check nothing is shorting on the circuit. You should have tested it when it was open and you could see the 'boards, to iron out that issue.
+This Does Not Compute Awesome, thanks! I can get 3ml with a UV light for the same price as 10ml, so would rather do that since my house doesn't have many places where direct sunlight gets in. Since I mainly game on a GB Boy Colour anyways I would rather keep my investment in a frontlit GBC to a minimum.
+Phill Thaller Both Hand Held Legend and Kitsch-Bent seem to charge around $10-12 for shipping to Germany, which is about what the US Postal Service charges. Maybe you can get some friends who also want to do the mod and put in a larger order to save on shipping?
Thanks collin if ordert it . It comes about 2-8 weeks but it is okey the video is very nice . I habe another question :And although I can the loca adhesive with a UV lamp, or with something else to cure?
Phill Thaller I've found that an hour or two of exposure to sunlight works just as well, so the UV lamp isn't necessary. I've cured LOCA on several screens just by leaving them on a windowsill.
+This Does Not Compute I appreciate the response. Installed a frontlight with LOCA on my GBC. Looks great! Do you have any recommendations to increase the color/contrast even further? Be it a transistor or the like. I adjusted the contrast potentiometer on the circuit board and definitely got it to look the best possible at the moment. Just curious if there are other options. Thanks bud!
+Nick McCallum Did you install a frontlight from Hand Held Legend? If you followed my steps here (and in my original GBC frontlight video), you need to add a 100 ohm resistor to the red wire. I installed a Kitsch-Bent frontlight in my videos, which is a bit different than HHL's. Good luck!
Wflash00 thanks mate, I've used kitsch bent; I'm making a tutorial if you want to check it out. I've made one just on the basics of customising your game boy color; check it and let me know if you like it
i did everything right and then i turn it on and there is dust on it and i died inside a little. Until i opened it and the dust was on the top of the lcd and i just wiped it away
hey colin hows it going? i just installed the led front light kit with loca. i dropped some batteries in and booted up the gameboy color. the front light screen lit up but the lcd screen didnt. after a few seconds the gameboy and light crashes. so i unplugged just the red wire to the front lit screen and booted up the gameboy and the lcd screen works but of course the light doesnt. so i reconnected the red wire and booted it up and it crashed again. to me it seems like too much of a draw. do you have any suggestions? it is wired up like your video.
hey colin. i figured it. i went to hand held legends website. their photos said to put the red wire to the top of the 3 solder points. and the game boy works! thanks for your videos ive watched almost all of them great voice aswell. do you have a list of all your hardware? do you ever sell them? you restarted my inner nerd for retro gaming.
+cole deVries Glad you got it sorted out! Yes, the Hand Held Legend and Kitsch-Bent frontlights are a bit different. You can still use the solder point I show in the video with an HHL frontlight, but you need to add a resistor. I don't have a list of hardware, maybe some day I'll do a video about my collection. In general I never sell my gaming stuff, but I also don't collect more than I want/need. Thanks for watching!
I hade a front light modded gba I bought like that and it had a bunch of bubbles and then got like deteriorated on the corner so I pulled it off and peeled off the screen no problem
You have a couple of options. If you're on a budget, inexpensive LOCA (handheldlegend.com/collections/parts-and-tools/products/loca-liquid-optically-clear-adhesive-for-gbc-frontlight-5mle?variant=1272083431) should be fine. But I've found Osaka 7 (handheldlegend.com/collections/frontpage/products/osaka-loca-liquid-optically-clear-adhesive-10ml-and-30ml?variant=11403049923) to be a much better product and gives you some flexibility if you make a mistake. I did a video recently about common LOCA mistakes and how to prevent them, you might want to check it out too: ua-cam.com/video/ASJEivj4MNE/v-deo.html
avelargumby4877 Hi as of now I dn't mod the turbografx system, I'm not familiar with it nor do I have any parts :( sorry. But I can mod gameboys, my college semester is almost over, I'll be able to take requests next week.
Timer Five Probably reduces it a bit. The Gameboy Color gives you around 15-20 hours of life normally, but with a Frontlight mod it'll have probably around 13, and I severely doubt it'll reduce the life below 10 hours.
Don't know where my comment went (the android UA-cam app kinda sucks...) but this is the Kitsch-Bent front light kit (installed with LOCA) vs a genuine afterburner I installed in my GBA years ago. imgur.com/I8cvs7Z Not a direct comparison, obviously, but since the tech of the screens is largely the same, I think you can see the difference in quality of the light panels...
Why didn't you just put the LOCA on the LCD and the front light on top of that? No flipping over necessary. That's how the tutorial on the site shows it.
+JitterBob The LCD panel weighs more than the frontlight, so I like to install the LCD face-down so the extra weight can help the LOCA spread a bit more evenly. It's really just personal preference.
Coming back all this time later.
It's amazing to think that this was the best we had for the longest time.
I'm so glad tech has come so far.
I’m going back to it. I have a portable emulator for my super high def lcd displays, when I play on my original systems I want to feel like it.
+This Does Not Compute - Hello i discover a new metod on this frontlight mod, by adding a pice of metalic film from an broken LCD o you can do it with a pice of reflective paper, first you will have to remove the Metalic Frame of the LCD, in the back of the LCD put the Metalic film or metalic paper, put again the Metalic Frame of the LCD, and then make the LOCA mod, and then solder the kit to the PCB, after that you will notice that the Metalic Film reflect all the light from the frontlight giveing you better colors than the normal LOCA mod, that is because the LCD of the GBC is kind of "transparent"
+ This Does Not Compute PLEASE SEE THIS COMMENT AND TRY THIS MEATHOD!
You just backlit your gbc!
+Autogolazzo lol, that's what I was thinking...
Uruguayan Style Oh my fucking God you gave me an idea ! Front light the game boy like in the video with Loca and do what you said with the reflector of a broken LCD ( that I have from a broken iPhone 5 screen ) and put another polorizer because if the light reflects from the back we need two polorizers to see the screen correctly and I think the results would be epic ! I have to try that
What about adding the metallic paper after the loca mod so it will be easier to handle
And the reflective paper which way you put it? The mirror side or the side we see trough it
Is there any particular reason why you didn't apply the loca to the LCD, and then put the backlight on that, instead of worrying about flipping it over?
i think if you do that, the loca will start drying and will not evenly spread
@@matocarina how would it start drying without sunlight?
A great way to avoid air bubbles is to take a battery holder with two AA batteries and touch the leads to the wires on the LCD light after you've placed it on the loca. This way any bubbles that are going to show up after it cures will be visible while you can still get them out. I also did mine at night and used a $25 UV "oven" from Amazon, so I had complete control over it.
THE KING!?!?!?! He modeth his Boi like a peasant.
If the LED's were of the warmer variety, I feel like it would look much better and would result in less washed out colors. That's my idea tho, I can't test it myself.
7yrs later I am just discovering this mod kit, and also discovered the washed out issue... BUT now I know why everyone else's looks so good! I appreciate this video. Now to find loca...
just completed this mod. I got some bubbles but they arent that distracting. It makes a big difference! I love your channel and thanks for the tutorial.
This might be a bit odd, but what about adding a resistor to the positive terminal to make the front light less bright? Maybe installing a potentiometer that you can access from the battery compartment?
Not odd at all, both of those are great ideas!
7years?? What i missed 😂 love this channel!! ❤
Thanks for this comparison, I'll try it!
PD: 5:00 old LCD tech, yes... but with very good response times and a lot of less blur than original Gameboy and even some IPS options out there :)
Love your videos! I wish you could upload more often (:
thanks for making this video! the result looks great!
My Loca is drying at the moment! Fantastic tutorial
How did it go?
Thank you for the help and yes its an HHL ill pick up a resister and give it a shot.
Interesting vid This Does Not Compute. Between the original grey brick gameboy and the color, they were the only nintendo consoles that I owned growing up and I really had an appreciation for the ergonomics of the color. Recently I've discovered that there are possibly a ton of games that are hidden gems on the color and it's totally peaked my interest in the system again.
Living la vida Loca!!!
That’s funny I think
OMG, I just love these videos of yours.
Can i apply the loca dirrectly on the lcd and then place the frontlight over it ?
PixCub yes
Jack Jeanblanc Finally a answer !
PixCub no problem :)
I put the loca straight on the screen and set the LCD on top of it so no need to flip. more loca is better than less.
make another one and this time add a 1.8 k ohm resistor
Wow. That really does make quite a difference.
Love the channel Colin, instantly subscribed. Now I had a question I was hoping you could answer. Do you think I could leave the loca'd screens out in the sun to absorb some UV rays in cold weather or would that not work? Thanks keep up the good work!
Hi! First of all, thank You for your Video(s)! Can you make a video on How to mod a GBC using a rechargeable Battery? I've modded one using a 3.7V battery from a Nintendo Ds lite (1000 mah) and a TP4056 mini usb module for recharging it. It's Kinda tricky 'cause you have to disconnect the original connectors for the two AA batteries due to space iusses, but this mod is just AWESOME. Can you please make a tutorial on it? Thanks in advance!
PS: sorry for my bad english, it's not my first language
The Pro of this Frontlight mod is, that the GBC LCD has a reflective foil on the back, so if the sun is too bright you still have a good picture, on backlight LCDs they have no such reflective foil, and if the sunlight is brighter than the LCD light you´ll see nothing.
Thanks, Definitely gonna do this mod.
Advance installation?! U just did it the right way
This guy looks like the brother of Link from Good Mythical Morning. Great video by the way!
Some tips from me, as I tried this recently with the help of someone who's an electronics technician:
1) Even outside in sunlight, you cannot see all tiny air bubbles to work them out. Plus, once you get out there, the glue starts hardening at a crazy rate. You are better off powering the LED strip during this bubble elimination process because the tiny pixel-sized bubbles were not even visible under a microscope. First LED panel was installed successfully, but not a perfect image due to the many little dots near the center of the screen.
2) Be safe and leave the LOCA for longer. Trying to be careful and prevent sun damaging the LCD, I thought 30 minutes was fine in the sun because I couldn't slide the LCD and LED panels around at all, but one screen ended up separating from the LED panel during installation, which was extremely disappointing as that screen didn't appear to have *any* bubbles when testing the LEDs, unlike the first screen we lit.
3) The screen that separated left its LED panel stuck in the housing (where I had applied 3M tape, as this was a reproduction housing with no adhesive) and a very gentle prying with a plastic spudger tool cracked the LED panel plastic about 50% down. The professional who was helping me out with the soldering in this process was kind of shocked at the cheap materials used to make these, saying they should be using a polycarbonate which would not get damaged so easily. I left him with the damaged panel and I'm hoping he got inspired to cut a better panel so we can salvage the LED strip and so I didn't waste $15 on that.
wouldn't it make sense to put the loca also from the front light to the Game Boy Color lens especially if you have the glass lens ? just a thought to try out it would eliminate all the air between the screen and the lens
Did the mod a few years ago. Everything turned out great. Left my GBC in a dresser drawer out of sunlight for those years in storage. Recently pulled it out to play some GBC games and the middle of the screen looks like that burn in discoloration just slight in the center. I turn on the GBC and it’s very cloudy in the center. In fact I can’t see anything where the burn in discoloration shows when the screen is off. I do see the game running on the outter edges of the screen. Does anyone else have this problem? Again, this is after I did the mod and a few years later. I wanna say maybe 3-4 years ago is how long it’s been in storage.
Hey Colin! Just came across your channel and I love it! I recently got the urge to buy a Gameboy Color and thought to check out if there were any improvements made with it. Now here I am. Could you please provide the info for the front light kit you used for this? Thanks! Subscribed*
Hey Colin, have you experienced any spider webs from the loca bonded from your screen yet? Mine did after 2 weeks. Theres also a crack on the upper left hand corner. I feel like it's greatly pressured from being too thick which I believe is causing the front light to flex somehow and causing the spider webs on the front light.
+Nus Dogg I haven't seen that yet. The frontlit screen can certainly be a bit snug of a fit, but the LOCA shouldn't really add much thickness (LOCA is supposed to be pretty watery, not thick or gooey, so you should end up with a pretty thin layer). I wonder if the quality of the LOCA plays a factor in that too?
Yeah, I don't think it's the LOCA. For some reason, my light panel was being flexed a little bit after I've installed all the screws. I can tell by angle-ing the GBC screen to see the panel sides when the handheld is on. The LOCA bonded between the two just acted as glass shattered/webbing all over the screen which was a disappointment. I redid using a new front light and I can tell that the front light this time sits flush. Hopefully this time it doesn't do it again nor crack.
Thanks for your reply. Just wanted to see if you experience the same after a week or two.
+Nus Dogg How did you remove the LOCA? I recently Installed the frontlight but sadly didnt remove all the dust so now there is a bunch of white spots on my screen, I wish to peel it off and clean the LOCA off and try again but I want to make sure its possible, and if so, how and with what? I really dont want to buy another LCD and frontlight, but If I have to I will. Thanks in advance!
MyClanTagIsStud PC Gameplay I use a Q Tip with lightly dabbed into rubbing alcohol. Then I Q Tip the screen and used a cloth to wipe it in a swirl motion. Repeat the process til all the residue are all gone from the screen. It takes some times but eventually it's all gone.
Just don't get any rubbing alcohol on the new light panel. It'll ruin the light panel.
ahh thank you so much! Especially for the expedient reply :) Ive ordered a new light screen, most people would live with the little specs but not me XD Thanks again, I will give this a try!
How would you recommend I remove the dust on my screen effectively? I don't have and microfiber cloths on hand and compressed air didn't really do the trick. Just need to know before I apply the LOCA.
Ok. Thanks!
Hey Collin! Have you tried out the V2 of the frontlight kit that doesn't require the adhesive? Just wondering if A) It's better and REALLY doesn't need the adhesive or B) It's better, but still needs the adhesive.
Its crap as well
Love this mod, should do a rechargeable mod as thats easy peasy and nobody ever does a tutorial
Quite frankly I've gotten around this issue at like 10 years old (so... 2004) when we got our digital camera with Ni-MH rechargeable cells. Never again had to worry about buying alkalines for the Game Boy.
Added bonus is that there's no proprietary battery format, they're REALLY cheap (on the class of 3~4x the price of alkaline batteries while working as..... 1000 of them?) and you can carry as much batteries as you want.
Downside is it's considerably heavier than some Lithium battery, but the capacity is about same (literally, it's chemically close in volumetric capacity), ever since I fixed my Game Boy Color's screen that had it's polarizer ruined I've been playing it with the same charged pair for I think some good 10 hours of play time, still not showing low battery on the LED (it fades a lot).
Why would you not just use a backlit lcd? They are available for the Gameboy Advance, and it is so much nicer to use than a GBA SP Ags101 in terms of playing GBC games
Thanks dude helped out a lot
Can you still play outdoors in the sunlight for maximum comfort and coolness?
Or does the kit+loca not play well with the sun?
+TREE 64 I would expect it would still work perfectly fine with the reflective layer.
TREE 64 It actually seems to help the contrast overall whether in the dark or not.
Very nice mod Colin, I got another weird question :). Is is possible to replace or adapt a new battery to a Gba game that uses sd memory like Final Fantasy Tactics?
What if you leave the reflective strip on the glue side on? Doesn't that help to disperse the light?
You'd think, but it doesn't. Kinda sucks it'd reduce the need to buy LOCA
Are there any other methods to get similar effects if you don't have Loca? I added reflective film to the back of my LCD which has helped a lot but it's still whited out
Hey! Big fan,
could you please do a video on how to front light a original GBA? Either through the after burner kit or GBC front light kit? Thank you!
I have watched yours and other videos about the front light mod and a few have stuck out. The potentiometer or "pot" some have called it, can produce the ability to dim the screen. Kitsch Bent has a slide potentiometer ( store.kitsch-bent.com/product/slide-potentiometer-kit) but I have yet to see anyone produce a video using this style potentiometer. Is this something you have thought about doing with your mod?
Hi, I was wondering if you have any advice as to how I would go about doing this as a Swede. With autumn being here, we have very limited ours of sunlight, and the few hours of light have are "polluted" by clouds.
Thank you.
+Vik Icarus Never mind, found a Loca kit that came with a UV light. :)
4:50 so the one with loca is the one constantly on the home screen right?
Yes
Hey, I was looking into doing this mod myself and the LOCA I bought doesn't seem permanent. Every week or so the edges start to come up. Did you use a particular brand? Or did you use generic LOCA?
Thanks! Love the vids.
+bondrocks11 I've used both Osaka brand LOCA as well as generic, and I haven't had this happen. Are you using a UV lamp to cure it, or leaving it in a window? (Some windows have a UV-blocking film, so it might help to try a UV lamp.)
Is there any way to turn the light off when you’re playing it?
isnt it possile to make loca on the lcd and then put the frontlight on the lcd ? I think its better for getting bubbles out.
I did mine that way with no issue at all. :D
Hi Colin. Would you say that the LOCA method is difficult to get completely bubble free?
+Dan Scarfe I haven't done it enough times to really have a definitive answer, but I can tell you this -- what you see in this video is my first attempt at using LOCA, and the results were very good with no noticeable bubbles. I think the quality of the LOCA may make a difference, but I suspect the real key is applying it in one pass in the X-shaped pattern.
hi i watched your video to mod my gbc and i followed everything you did anc i turned it on but it turns on for 2 secounds and turns off do you know what could be wrong??? help me please
I'm having the exact same problem, any luck
This is because you used the wrong solder points. You need to use the Hand Held Legend solder points. You are probably using the Kitsch Bent solder points. You can use the Kitsch Bent solder points with a 100 OhM resistor, and I would recommend this as it gets rid of flickering in some games.
turns out i had the right points, but someone from hand held legend told me that i could perhaps use a 10 ohm resistor and that fixed the prob, thanks though
+TechWalker buddy I do have mine on the right spot for the Handheld however it is really dim..I cannot play with the lights off....I used rechargeable batteries that are 1.2 v you think that might be the problem or what suggestion do you have. Thanks
+Hugo D. Ramirez Yes, rechargeable batteries will make the screen dim. You must use alkaline, unless you're using the KB points.
Yeah I want to do this mod but I am afraid of doing something wrong and I don't want to mess up the LCD screen because getting another screen would be difficult and expensive to bad I can't send it to you and pay you for this mod I do have a soldering iron and solder I've gotten a lot better at soldering now than I did before
Hi Colin, I just did this mod yesterday and the results are got are horrible; the display is totally washed out and I can only see the black pixels but still very faintly. I followed all the tutorials step by step so I don't know how this happened but I do have some theories and would like to hear your opinion?
When I peeled the foam off the back, I actually peeled it all off and in doing so I raised the ribbon cable off the back of the LCD a couple of times, and accidentally scratched it with my finger.
I used enough LOCA (the good expensive one) and let it completely set, but I'm not sure if I pushed the LCD and the front light together enough as there was a bit of a gap between them, or if I pressed too hard to get the bubbles out. I also removed the reflective tape from both sides of the front light (I wanted the light shining through the lettering) but maybe that made it too bright?
While soldering I dropped some solder on the board a few times so I might have burned it.
If it seems washed out, you may want to try adding a resistor to reduce the brightness of the frontlight. It sounds like you did everything else OK -- if you think there's still a gap between the screen and the frontlight, you can separate them and try again (I did a video about that recently). Good luck!
Thanks for replying! I went to the KB page where I got the front light looking for any link to a resistor and found one called a "slide potentiometer". Just wondering if this is what you are talking about, and also how would I go about installing it?
www.google.com/search?q=ohm+resistor&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix0tHm4aHOAhVHwWMKHb7CBHkQ_AUIBygC
Well it wasn't EXACTLY the same as what he was talking about, but it will work. You'd need to cut out a little space for it but yeah.
Do you need to remove the reflective strip? I am asking because of your GBA video.
+Frodo B. I was able to get away with not removing it on my GBC, but I'd still recommend it. Spidering isn't something that can really be fixed if it happens.
Alright thanks! I am super excited to do this mod.
+This Does Not Compute could i use a oven light on the loca
+Robin Tammik Most likely not. Loca dries when exposed to UV or ultra violent light. I would just recommend setting it outside for some time.
Is it okay to put the loca on the gameboy's lcd first then the frontlight?
Is it strictly necessary to remove the foam from behind the screen?
I'm going to place Version 2 of Hand Held Legend
You likely won't be able to screw the case closed completely if you don't -- the screen would end up too thick with the foam still there.
Thanks for the advice.
Very good tutorials.
Congratulations
Hi, do you think this panel is to replace a Gameboy SP?
Hey. Not sure if you're still answering questions, but a modder screwed the frontlight up for my console. Can I take the system apart and reapply if bubbles exist or do I need an entirely new screen now?
For reference, the bubble is basically the bottom left corner so I didn't know if I could just drip some adhesive into the corner.
You'd want to remove the frontlight and reinstall it with fresh LOCA. Here's a video I did that may help: ua-cam.com/video/ASJEivj4MNE/v-deo.html
When you left the screen to set after applying the LOCA, did you leave it in a window to dry or did you take it outside to let it set?
+bondrocks11 I just left it in the window. Some windows have a UV-blocking film on them, so in that case you'd want to take it outside.
The worm light work just fine for me !
I got the kit from kitsch bent and they didnt include a replacement reflective strip for when i peel it off to cure the loca under it, I don't want it spidering so any suggestions?
+Infectious Fallout I've used aluminum tape for that before, you can get small rolls of it at the hardware store.
well dude! thanks for this info, greetings from Mexico City
Hey is there a way to put a backlight in the gbc?
I installed my frontlight it was from handheld legends and im wondering why it seems rather dark
The bubbles are hard to spot if they are small enough. I missed some and now it looks like a dead pixel but is white instead if black. Oh well it is gonna happen I guess. I know now to look closer when I do my GBA. Also I would suggest you all that when you remove the screen protector film to glue that you leave the screen protector on other side on until you are done situating the glue. Position the screen with the backlight and wash hands and then work out any bubbles. I happened to get a slight amount of glue on my hands and accidentally out of habit touched the screen. I looked and it seemed to not be anything until I powered on and its a small impression. Be careful folks.
Hey how you doing I have a question I just did my front light mod on my gbc but when I went to turn it on it comes on/ the frontlight blinks on and then the whole game boy turns off. light and all do you have any ideals for me I mean I've un doldered the wires the game boy works fine pls I need help
feel stupid as shit got it figured out using the wrong points wit my kit
John Tapscott Jr Check nothing is shorting on the circuit. You should have tested it when it was open and you could see the 'boards, to iron out that issue.
Have you tried to reduce the intensity of the light for better contrast ? I would like to do it but i don't know how
Dorian add a 100ohm resistor
Is a 3ml syringe of loca enough or should I buy an additional tube?
+FireMrshlBill 3mL should be enough for at least one screen, yes.
+This Does Not Compute Awesome, thanks! I can get 3ml with a UV light for the same price as 10ml, so would rather do that since my house doesn't have many places where direct sunlight gets in. Since I mainly game on a GB Boy Colour anyways I would rather keep my investment in a frontlit GBC to a minimum.
+This Does Not Compute maybe you put the front light in the wrong way
My Gameboy just flashes up and then the Screen is black, what went wrong?
You. You went wrong.
Jolly_ H Touch up the solder points and make sure there's nothing shorting.
Honestly, I prefer this to the high quality IPS screens. This doesn’t drain the battery like those.
do you need removing the polarizing film before? I don't you see or comment. thanx
Nope, when installing frontlights you leave the polarizer film in place.
This Does Not Compute thanx, thanx!! Nice channel, congrats!
I just received my frontlights from hhl and I've noticed that they are scratched. will the loca make the scratches non visible?
Victor G No.
How does this stack up to using an AGS-001?
Pretty good! I think they look the same if you use LOCA. Cameras can't do it justice.
hey collin i cant find the frontlight kit in germany. ifind it only in the usa but the shipping kosts are so high . can you help me ?
+Phill Thaller Both Hand Held Legend and Kitsch-Bent seem to charge around $10-12 for shipping to Germany, which is about what the US Postal Service charges. Maybe you can get some friends who also want to do the mod and put in a larger order to save on shipping?
Thanks collin if ordert it . It comes about 2-8 weeks but it is okey the video is very nice . I habe another question :And although I can the loca adhesive with a UV lamp, or with something else to cure?
Phill Thaller I've found that an hour or two of exposure to sunlight works just as well, so the UV lamp isn't necessary. I've cured LOCA on several screens just by leaving them on a windowsill.
What about the chinese GB Boy Color? Is it possible to just take the backlit screen from it and put it into an actual GBC?
+Dylan Bain The short answer is, no, it won't work :-( Stay tuned for a future video that (indirectly) explains why.
+This Does Not Compute I appreciate the response. Installed a frontlight with LOCA on my GBC. Looks great! Do you have any recommendations to increase the color/contrast even further? Be it a transistor or the like. I adjusted the contrast potentiometer on the circuit board and definitely got it to look the best possible at the moment. Just curious if there are other options. Thanks bud!
Where can I buy that kit
Hey i did this mod with the loca and my gameboy only turns on for a few seconds and turns off any help please.
+Nick McCallum Did you install a frontlight from Hand Held Legend? If you followed my steps here (and in my original GBC frontlight video), you need to add a 100 ohm resistor to the red wire. I installed a Kitsch-Bent frontlight in my videos, which is a bit different than HHL's. Good luck!
Did you wired it to the very top of the four blob on the circuit board?
I can't help but notice that's not a game boy advance front light; where'd you get it?
I've seen that some people have been manufacturing their own front lights recently. I think they put the link to the front light in the description
There's a website called Hand Held Legend www.handheldlegend.com/ They sell them in kits as well as all sorts of other kits/mods
Wflash00 thanks mate, I've used kitsch bent; I'm making a tutorial if you want to check it out. I've made one just on the basics of customising your game boy color; check it and let me know if you like it
mine came out to a sloppy mess. and some seeped into the top cover... =/
why haven't they made a large screen case mod kit for a bigger better gb/gba?
Because for some god awful reason everything must be as small as possible.
i did everything right and then i turn it on and there is dust on it and i died inside a little. Until i opened it and the dust was on the top of the lcd and i just wiped it away
Anyone have issues with their front light sort of flickering???
hey colin hows it going?
i just installed the led front light kit with loca.
i dropped some batteries in and booted up the gameboy color.
the front light screen lit up but the lcd screen didnt. after a few seconds the gameboy and light crashes.
so i unplugged just the red wire to the front lit screen and booted up the gameboy and the lcd screen works but of course the light doesnt.
so i reconnected the red wire and booted it up and it crashed again.
to me it seems like too much of a draw.
do you have any suggestions?
it is wired up like your video.
hey colin. i figured it.
i went to hand held legends website. their photos said to put the red wire to the top of the 3 solder points.
and the game boy works!
thanks for your videos ive watched almost all of them
great voice aswell.
do you have a list of all your hardware?
do you ever sell them?
you restarted my inner nerd for retro gaming.
+cole deVries Glad you got it sorted out! Yes, the Hand Held Legend and Kitsch-Bent frontlights are a bit different. You can still use the solder point I show in the video with an HHL frontlight, but you need to add a resistor.
I don't have a list of hardware, maybe some day I'll do a video about my collection. In general I never sell my gaming stuff, but I also don't collect more than I want/need.
Thanks for watching!
+This Does Not Compute would you ever do a mod on the ds lite for turning into a gba style handheld?
I hade a front light modded gba I bought like that and it had a bunch of bubbles and then got like deteriorated on the corner so I pulled it off and peeled off the screen no problem
I broke the front light pulling it off though
Should I use LOCA too when I use the frontlight of a gba SP??
Thnx!
You'll definitely get better results that way, yes -- LOCA is always a good idea with frontlights.
Would it be possible to use LOCA on a Neo Geo pocket color mod?
I honestly don't see why not!
can you please give me a link to the loca you used? im ready to installed this just dont know what loca to use, thanks!
You have a couple of options. If you're on a budget, inexpensive LOCA (handheldlegend.com/collections/parts-and-tools/products/loca-liquid-optically-clear-adhesive-for-gbc-frontlight-5mle?variant=1272083431) should be fine. But I've found Osaka 7 (handheldlegend.com/collections/frontpage/products/osaka-loca-liquid-optically-clear-adhesive-10ml-and-30ml?variant=11403049923) to be a much better product and gives you some flexibility if you make a mistake.
I did a video recently about common LOCA mistakes and how to prevent them, you might want to check it out too: ua-cam.com/video/ASJEivj4MNE/v-deo.html
+This Does Not Compute thanks a million!!!!
how do you open the loca u listed as the budget one from hand held legends? i canot figure out how to open it and i dont wanna mess it up . PLZ REPLY
its a twitst off, so just twist/turn lightly but with some force and it will uncap from the bottom
Great video
Instead of using LOCA, couldn't you add a resistor to decrease the brightness of the light panel and make it easier to see?
Damn imagine loca and a resistor
Perfect viewing conditions! Just need to figure out what resistor value to use...
+dj505Gaming man that sounds baller good luck
+WordierWord6 Thanks!
+dj505Gaming I've read a 1k pot is good so you can adjust
do you offer this service to mod gameboy colors I have two I want to get done
+avelargumby4877 Are you still looking for this service? I'm able to do this mod.
+MrCrono666 yes I have several game boys I would like to mod, do you also mod the portable turbografx system
avelargumby4877 Hi as of now I dn't mod the turbografx system, I'm not familiar with it nor do I have any parts :( sorry.
But I can mod gameboys, my college semester is almost over, I'll be able to take requests next week.
+MrCrono666 nice let me know how much you charge for the mod
avelargumby4877 I'll keep you posted bud.
please can anyone tell me what is LOCA? thnx
how much does this MOD affect battery life?
Timer Five Probably reduces it a bit. The Gameboy Color gives you around 15-20 hours of life normally, but with a Frontlight mod it'll have probably around 13, and I severely doubt it'll reduce the life below 10 hours.
i have a question. the sparkling on the "super mario bros" is of the game itself or is a malfunction of the modification ?
does it look that blue in real life?
Don't know where my comment went (the android UA-cam app kinda sucks...) but this is the Kitsch-Bent front light kit (installed with LOCA) vs a genuine afterburner I installed in my GBA years ago.
imgur.com/I8cvs7Z
Not a direct comparison, obviously, but since the tech of the screens is largely the same, I think you can see the difference in quality of the light panels...
Donde puedo comprar eso
ebay
Does it look better in real life than in the video?
Probably. Camera's can mess up visual quality on another screen.
Just did this and had an air bubble that I didn't see. Good mod, but this one bubble kills it :-(
+Keith Foster damn that sucks
I was almost done then I realized there was no sun so I will finish tomorrow
What does the thumbs up do for the content creator? more money? video shown to more people?
Why didn't you just put the LOCA on the LCD and the front light on top of that? No flipping over necessary. That's how the tutorial on the site shows it.
+JitterBob The LCD panel weighs more than the frontlight, so I like to install the LCD face-down so the extra weight can help the LOCA spread a bit more evenly. It's really just personal preference.
+This Does Not Compute Oh, yeah. That makes sense.
+This Does Not Compute does the camera worsen the quality even further. i feel like its not as bad
+This Does Not Compute did you try adding resistors