Elly, you were the pioneer of Gameboy Color lighting mods. For a good two or three years, this proved to be the only solution. Thank you for stepping in and giving us a way to light these machines before LCD swaps became common.
i have absolutely NO use for this tutorial but still found myself watching it for general knowledge bc it was a GREAT walk through lol! my fav commonly used line ..... "now rubbish" lmao keep up the great videos. thumbs up!
10 years ago I followed the tutorial and it brought me into the world of modding. Now there a so many different IPS screens and I have done mod on so many consoles. It’s definitely primitive and outdated for sure but that fact this still works is amazing. Very much loved this video and can’t believe it’s been that long 😳
Hey. You made a great video. Let me just point out a few things about your mod that would make it better, more reliable, more pro looking and so on. First, you might consider using thinner wire gauge for this mod. Also, when you strip the wires, strip only the lenght you need to make contact with the surface of the flexible orange circuit board. That way you will have insulation all the way up to the solder joint. That will make it very unlikely for the two wires to touch each other at any point. The way you have done it with a lot of copper exposed side by side will most likely short circuit at some point. I realize they are somewhat stiffer with the solder and stuff, but it is a major possible point of failure. When you put solder on the wire tips, the proper method is to apply a little solder to the irontip, hold the tip to the copper wire and heat it good. When it is hot enough you can apply solder directly to the copper and it will flow out all over by itself. It will also flow in between the strands. This is very important, because when you apply the way you do, you solder with too low temperature, and this can easily cause the solder joint to break over time - so called cold soldering. You used too much solder. When you apply solder to the copper correctly this will be easier to get a fine result when you are to solder the joint. If you find it difficult to apply solder to the stripped wires like I describe, it is because the copper is dirty. Clean with flux. Also be aware that when you strip the wire, and apply heat to get the solder flowing correctly, the insulation will also heat and most likely strip back even more because of melting. This can be compensated by stripping less off the cable than you need, and let the heat finish it off :). Don't get me wrong - very nice video, and very cool that you make a tutorial, but I thought I'd point this out to you and others watching, to make you able to better your soldering skills and also do a more reliable job and all that. Hope you don't take this as personal critisism, but for what it was meant to be - some soldering tips for getting the job nicely done.
Guilherme, you don't necessarily have to destroy your sp- simply disassemble the screen without cutting the cable. If you get it all put back together after removing the front light, you'll simply be left with an SP that you can't play in the dark, much like the original GBAs.
very solid effort for your first ever mod!! Ive been a modder for about 2 and a half years and my first solder job was a ps1 modchip...and i destroyed it, for you to do this so well is epic! props!
Good tutorial, and yes, probably one of the first ones online. I'd like to just point out a couple things for those attempting this mod in 2015 :) - Like another commenter mentioned, DO NOT rub your finger on the screen like Elly did. The ridges on that plastic are incredibly tiny and fragile so even that will mess it up and fill your screen with blotches and stains when you turn the light on (like she had at the end of the video). DO NOT TOUCH THE RIDGED SIDE WITH ANYTHING. - For that matter, do not remove the plastic from the screen until you are ready to install it. The less time that frontlight stays in the open, the better. Dust, liquids and anything else WILL mess up the frontlight. - No need to peel off the padding on the back of the screen. Just remove the screen cover (the one you look through to play :P) and lift the frontlight from that side. That's how I do it every time. - Although this is a good method, there are 2 much better ones nowadays. Either 1) cut that lens to size and fit it with the ridges horizontally, like it was designed to sit originally (Mylk's Mod), or 2) get a frontlight kit from Kitsch Bent and apply it with LOCA. Either one of those methods can be Googled for more info. Having said all this, I take my hat off to you and anyone else pushing the Game Boy scene further :) My Game Boy collecting and modding account on Instagram is @gene.boy If you add me, let me know you came from here! :P
mylkTV Hah! My hat goes off to you for even finding my comment :) yep, I have followed your tutorial and recommended it to others since it's by far the most detailed one there is for this mod. Good job bro :D
DO NOT immediately peel apart the TWO ORANGE TABS like she talks about in the video! As a few people have mentioned, there are some versions of the SP that contain a front light where these two tabs CAN NOT be peeled apart without rendering the front light UNUSABLE. There are some variations where the tab that she tells you to peel off actually contains the soldering pads that you must leave intact in order to solder wires onto the front light unit - the soldering pads being the two gray vertical lines II in the middle of the orange tab, as depicted in her diagram. On these versions if you peel this tab off your front light is now useless. Therefore, DO NOT peel these two tabs apart (at least at first), unless you have completed the mod and the front light is still not coming on. If you have followed every other step thoroughly, and have ensured that all your wires are completely soldered on at all the proper points, then AND ONLY THEN should you peel the tabs apart to see if this fixes the issue. I unfortunately learned this the hard way by peeling the tabs apart and ruining my front light. Please learn from my mistake. This seems to vary from one SP to another, so give it a try and see what happens.
3:30 y u do dis... this whole part ruined the entire mod for me a few years ago lol. i went back and did it again tho, without doing that, and it turned out awesome. so anyone reading, DO NOT rub your finger across the light reflector
Ah ok awesome. I actually had no idea if you had to separate it or not because like you said no websites say whether you need to peal it apart or what lol. Luckily that worked for me but if I try it again I guess I will use more solder and not peal it apart. Thanks for the comment and I'm glad it worked for you :D
Funny, I found this video after watching the video Mike J Moffitt had at the top of his tutorial :) Attempting this mod for the first time once my supplies reach me. Thanks for this!
***** Because it draws in unecessary attention. Just because I'm a guy people don't call me a "Gamer-Boy". Gamer is someone who dedicates alot of their time into playing games (Facebook games not included). Doesn't matter what gender that person so happens to have. Their still just a GAMER.
I was able to successfully complete this mod & I couldn't be happier. It did go wrong a few times but I opened it back up & rechecked everything & it works perfectly. Thanks so much for making the video :)
The resistor she used (and the one in detailed guide) was 47Ω (ohm). If you look at the resistor, it has color bands on. It should have (from left to right): Yellow, Violet, Black & Gold. The one in the first written guide actually uses a resistor with a +1% tolerance and has five bands on. Yellow, Violet, Black, Gold & Brown. This is the one I got from my work place so that would work as well. You could just get a multi-meter and check the resistor, set the multi-meter to Ω mode.
Elly, when you solder you need to apply the soldering to the circuit board, put the wire on it at the same time, put the solder on then remove the solder then soldering iron.
I watched this video like what, 6 or 7 years ago and back then I couldn't comprehend a single word of English but I still wanted to do this mod so bad... Today even if there are all these ips mods and stuff I went and did this mod but I actually cut the frontlight for it to fit horizontally and it looks awesome! Thank for this tutorial!
This video is incredibly helpful! Thank you so much, I can't wait to try it out. My fiancé bought me my first NTSC GBC for Christmas, however the backlighting is the only problem with such a perfect console. I'll let you know the results of my venture, which will be attempted over the next few weeks :) thanks again for the upload!
I got really lucky today and found a cheap pokemon edition gameboy color, I knew I needed to mod it right away. Thank you for the informative video! We need more Aussie channels, I live in Vic.
I love how you say out O.H.M. instead of just saying "owm" :D you're damn good for doing this for the first time. Went much better than my first mod and I'd soldered a bunch before.
Assuming that you cannot use a *back*lit SP for this mod: yes. If you use a frontlit SP and cut that thick ribbon like she did (at 2:07), your SP will be broken. You do not have to cut that off, it's just to get easier access to the screen. Leaf that connected and just cut the small ribbon (2:47), it should still work after you assembled the screen again. Without the light of course.
You could also just by a front light for a Game boy sp from an after market parts manufacturer. Also the action of coating the wire is called tinning and should be done with any wires you plan to solder to things. It's also pronounced OH-mmm :p Nice starter mod for people to get into modding game Machines. Congrats on entering the Modding comun!
Did it to my gameboy color. Works great! Kind of hard to come across a cheap sp that I'm just gonna push off to the side. Was able to keep the sp functional by not cutting the ribbon. Gonna see if it will work on a gameboy pocket.
My little orange tab was two pieces like yours, when i peeled it off, i lost the contact points to the other half and couldnt solder any wire to it. I would recommend not separating it an finishing like she did at first. If you have an issue after, try it her way but you don't want to waste an sp for nothing. Also you can salvage the speaker from the sp for your gbc.
Same here really :) Watched it all the way through although I have no GameBoy and will probably never get one. Love the detail and the way she fixes her mistakes. If I had some sort of tech company I'd hire her right away! :D
This is quite easy to do, with some time and soldering can be done with no problem. It increases the value of the gameboy as well by a good amount. With everything together It cost me 25$ gameboy color gameboy sp light, (can be used from broken gameboy) 20$ Other Materials 5$ They retail for 80-100$ As no one wants to do the work. Ive made quite a couple of these and they have turned out fine. I encourage others to attempt to do this as it isn't that hard and is definitely fun.
If you know anything about electrical circuits you would see I am right. As using KWH it's not real yes, but I used that term to show people simple math of how much energy it would use an hour. That being it would not be 31.2 KW or even 1 KW as one, the batteries would fry and explode or the screen would just melt. As 0.0312 KW is about a 1/32 of what is used in the battery. It does not take alot of power to light up that screen. If you want to be more technical it would be 0.3120633 KW.
When soldering anything copper, you should apply some flux paste to the wires and the solder will stick like mad and it is best to use the 50/50 blend. The lead will be easier to work with.
Just completed mine. The front light circuit was touching the cartridge contacts and stopping games from booting. Solved with a piece of electrical tape and some readjusting. Couldn't have done it without you though! I kept the extra tab attached as it was very fragile without it and works fine still attached. And for anyone else wondering, the GBA SPs front light is far superior to any after market alternatives. I'll get some pic for you soon, mines a clear case.
_"And for anyone else wondering, the GBA SPs front light is far superior to any after market alternatives"_ That might very well be the case, but I would not go buy a functional GBA SP just rip out the screen light. Can you give me some recommendations for after market side(?) lights. How are those types of lights called?
With that screen the battery life decreases? I guess so... And with that screen, games look blurry? Or they look as playing GB and GBC on the SP (without blur)?
d1oftwins The only one I know is the one from Kitchbent, but doing it the same as this would make the screen hard to see due to the way his screen is made. So that mod is somewhat harder to do.
Nice work! Thanks for this so much =) But for anyone watching, this isn't how to solder properly. You should heat the component with the iron for a few seconds and, keeping the iron on the component, place the solder ON THE COMPONENT because it is heated and will melt the solder. Then heat the wire over the solder on the component to connect it. Also, test the gb BEFORE you put it back together. Other than that, great job and hope to see more mod tutorials soon ... if this wasn't a one off =)
470, not 47. You can use about 500 Ohm resistor too, but the higher the resistance, the lower the brightness. Besides that, don't go less then 470, I don't know if the backlight can handle it.
You can just disconnect the screen ribbon cable instead of leaving the screen hanging; there are two small black tabs to pull and then the ribbon will slide out nicely. When you want to put the screen back in, set it in, slide the ribbon back in, and push the two black tabs in. This is a lot safer so you have fewer things hanging off of the case to get damaged: you won't have to worry about accidentally ruining the ribbon cable.
So the battery life is about 15 hours on a gameboy color, but even when its off like other things the electricity will still travel through the circuit boards intil it hits a breaker and bounce off and WILL NOT go back into the battery. Now the Gameboy Advance SP with the light off will give you 18 hours and with the light on around 10 hours depending on the age of the battery. Because the sp uses a lithium ion battery that can adsorb the electricity running back through the battery.
From what I know it's just best to stick with the ags001. Look for broken/for parts on ebay. Lot cheaper since you're scrapping the rest. You can also check in local pawn shops.
this looks a little easier than the gameboy pocket backlight mod. I have a junk AGS 001 that turns on fine but the shoulder buttons dont work so I have no problem salvaging the front light to try this. I also have an extra gameboy color I got for 2 bucks cuz it lacks a battery cover. This seems like the perfect project for me to try out.
Not a bad mod, I personally wouldn't rip apart a gba sp for the back light but I have done a mod similar to this one where you just take a couple leds (3mm anything bigger won't fit) and just solder then coupled with some resistors to a power source. The light distribution isn't as good as the gba sp back light but it gets the job done.
The front light uses about 0.0312 KWH (Kilo-Wats/Hour) so it would take about an hour off each battery so around 8 hours maybe a bit more if you were using batteries like Duracell or Energizer something like that.
Nice video and nice mod. For future reference, you should not have a blob of solder on the iron like that. The tip of the iron should be lightly coated in solder. You then heat the components you're soldering and let push the solder against the heated components, not the iron itself. The results will be prettier and less likely to come off/not work.
Im hoping to do this mod (when my triwing arrives). I really want to try and preserve the little light on/off button from the GBA and incorporate it into the GBC with some very neat drilling through the case, cant find anything online thats tried it but fingers-crossed.
You can take any wire you want. The thinner, the better. If you have access to old computer hardware I'd suggest you take an old IDE cable (those big HDD connectors) and ripp some wires apart.
ive been planning to side-lit my gbc lcd but i dont have materiala for it. i think its possible if the glass on the side os clear enough for the light to past through. if you cannot put back light. because of the reflector sandwich to the lcd . why not the side.
great video! im going to modify mine this week. but do you think its possible if I can modify the battery as well with an SP battery? since the backlight will use up more of the battery as well.
Can u please make another video of how to properly remove the orange tab please? i pulled apart the two tabs but the silver contacts came off as well :( ruined a BRAND NEW sp and i would like to know the correct process before attempting this again, the webites say you have to "disconnect the wire contacts with your iron" any feedback would be greatly appreciated
wondering a bit if you still have the "junk" from the gba sp, because if you wish, you can use the speaker (small plastic mod to fit as well) to get better sound.
Hey I did the mod, and it was kind of weird at the end because it didn't seem to fit into place completely i had to push really really hard to get the power switch to line up with the thing on the circuit board. Then when I turn it on, it turns on for about a second and then turns off, but the backlight seems to work...just doesn't stay on for more than a second...any help would be awesome!
Jordyn Hardyman So sad. You shouldn't have killed your sp for this mod imo. It'd be better to buy an sp off ebay, and take the frontlight, and sell the rest of the sp for spares
very helpfull, you made a very good work, I just recomend you to put a note at the beggining to alert that there's a mistake and your recomend to see the video first, but the rest I really thank your work here
also i cannot find any detailed description anywhere about how to take the contacts off the old tab, and i dont want to ruin another one by placing my iron on a spot that will ruin the orange tab.
For the part where you soldered the wire to the power switch, Do you just solder it to the metal bar or does it need to touch the white thing that actually moves??
Excellent tutorial!
Hey Austin, didn't expect to see you there
I didn't expect you either, I came to see one of the first Gameboy mods I did.
Elly, you were the pioneer of Gameboy Color lighting mods. For a good two or three years, this proved to be the only solution. Thank you for stepping in and giving us a way to light these machines before LCD swaps became common.
i have absolutely NO use for this tutorial but still found myself watching it for general knowledge bc it was a GREAT walk through lol! my fav commonly used line ..... "now rubbish" lmao keep up the great videos. thumbs up!
10 years ago I followed the tutorial and it brought me into the world of modding. Now there a so many different IPS screens and I have done mod on so many consoles. It’s definitely primitive and outdated for sure but that fact this still works is amazing. Very much loved this video and can’t believe it’s been that long 😳
Hey. You made a great video. Let me just point out a few things about your mod that would make it better, more reliable, more pro looking and so on.
First, you might consider using thinner wire gauge for this mod.
Also, when you strip the wires, strip only the lenght you need to make contact with the surface of the flexible orange circuit board. That way you will have insulation all the way up to the solder joint. That will make it very unlikely for the two wires to touch each other at any point. The way you have done it with a lot of copper exposed side by side will most likely short circuit at some point. I realize they are somewhat stiffer with the solder and stuff, but it is a major possible point of failure.
When you put solder on the wire tips, the proper method is to apply a little solder to the irontip, hold the tip to the copper wire and heat it good. When it is hot enough you can apply solder directly to the copper and it will flow out all over by itself. It will also flow in between the strands. This is very important, because when you apply the way you do, you solder with too low temperature, and this can easily cause the solder joint to break over time - so called cold soldering.
You used too much solder. When you apply solder to the copper correctly this will be easier to get a fine result when you are to solder the joint.
If you find it difficult to apply solder to the stripped wires like I describe, it is because the copper is dirty. Clean with flux.
Also be aware that when you strip the wire, and apply heat to get the solder flowing correctly, the insulation will also heat and most likely strip back even more because of melting. This can be compensated by stripping less off the cable than you need, and let the heat finish it off :).
Don't get me wrong - very nice video, and very cool that you make a tutorial, but I thought I'd point this out to you and others watching, to make you able to better your soldering skills and also do a more reliable job and all that.
Hope you don't take this as personal critisism, but for what it was meant to be - some soldering tips for getting the job nicely done.
Guilherme, you don't necessarily have to destroy your sp- simply disassemble the screen without cutting the cable. If you get it all put back together after removing the front light, you'll simply be left with an SP that you can't play in the dark, much like the original GBAs.
very solid effort for your first ever mod!! Ive been a modder for about 2 and a half years and my first solder job was a ps1 modchip...and i destroyed it, for you to do this so well is epic! props!
Good tutorial, and yes, probably one of the first ones online. I'd like to just point out a couple things for those attempting this mod in 2015 :)
- Like another commenter mentioned, DO NOT rub your finger on the screen like Elly did. The ridges on that plastic are incredibly tiny and fragile so even that will mess it up and fill your screen with blotches and stains when you turn the light on (like she had at the end of the video). DO NOT TOUCH THE RIDGED SIDE WITH ANYTHING.
- For that matter, do not remove the plastic from the screen until you are ready to install it. The less time that frontlight stays in the open, the better. Dust, liquids and anything else WILL mess up the frontlight.
- No need to peel off the padding on the back of the screen. Just remove the screen cover (the one you look through to play :P) and lift the frontlight from that side. That's how I do it every time.
- Although this is a good method, there are 2 much better ones nowadays. Either 1) cut that lens to size and fit it with the ridges horizontally, like it was designed to sit originally (Mylk's Mod), or 2) get a frontlight kit from Kitsch Bent and apply it with LOCA. Either one of those methods can be Googled for more info.
Having said all this, I take my hat off to you and anyone else pushing the Game Boy scene further :)
My Game Boy collecting and modding account on Instagram is @gene.boy If you add me, let me know you came from here! :P
Eugene Romero Ha : ) ......I feel ever so slightly internet famous [][][]
mylkTV Hah! My hat goes off to you for even finding my comment :) yep, I have followed your tutorial and recommended it to others since it's by far the most detailed one there is for this mod. Good job bro :D
Eugene Romero Cheers, really appreciate it !
DO NOT immediately peel apart the TWO ORANGE TABS like she talks about in the video!
As a few people have mentioned, there are some versions of the SP that contain a front light where these two tabs CAN NOT be peeled apart without rendering the front light UNUSABLE. There are some variations where the tab that she tells you to peel off actually contains the soldering pads that you must leave intact in order to solder wires onto the front light unit - the soldering pads being the two gray vertical lines II in the middle of the orange tab, as depicted in her diagram. On these versions if you peel this tab off your front light is now useless. Therefore, DO NOT peel these two tabs apart (at least at first), unless you have completed the mod and the front light is still not coming on. If you have followed every other step thoroughly, and have ensured that all your wires are completely soldered on at all the proper points, then AND ONLY THEN should you peel the tabs apart to see if this fixes the issue. I unfortunately learned this the hard way by peeling the tabs apart and ruining my front light. Please learn from my mistake. This seems to vary from one SP to another, so give it a try and see what happens.
I bought a set that came with a 001 light. Should I still do this with that? The light is just the screen itself, not an actual SP.
same here, ended up ruining my gb. Well, a few years later and a little more skill in soldering later I finally got a working frontlight on my color
Damn 11 years? i still remember this video and mod. Glad we dont have to butcher any GBA:s anymore nowadays.
Me too haha, thank you for the lovely comment
I wish I could do this in the 90s....pokemon past bed time......
I just found this video and it's amazing. Your soldering is amazing I can't solder that well and im studying to be an Electrical Engineer. Well done.
3:30 y u do dis... this whole part ruined the entire mod for me a few years ago lol. i went back and did it again tho, without doing that, and it turned out awesome. so anyone reading, DO NOT rub your finger across the light reflector
Ah ok awesome. I actually had no idea if you had to separate it or not because like you said no websites say whether you need to peal it apart or what lol. Luckily that worked for me but if I try it again I guess I will use more solder and not peal it apart. Thanks for the comment and I'm glad it worked for you :D
Cool, but why not use LEDs instead?
+Gibran Munem SMD's will fit but you'll need a difusser
***** it is but if you want pink light it's only way i think, why pink? Idk
Funny, I found this video after watching the video Mike J Moffitt had at the top of his tutorial :) Attempting this mod for the first time once my supplies reach me. Thanks for this!
Gamegirl O.o
The term that shouldn't exist
***** Because it draws in unecessary attention. Just because I'm a guy people don't call me a "Gamer-Boy". Gamer is someone who dedicates alot of their time into playing games (Facebook games not included). Doesn't matter what gender that person so happens to have. Their still just a GAMER.
Cress Alvein They mean it's not a GameBoy, it's a GameGirl.
I was able to successfully complete this mod & I couldn't be happier. It did go wrong a few times but I opened it back up & rechecked everything & it works perfectly. Thanks so much for making the video :)
Awesome to hear! Well done on not giving up :) happy to hear you did it
By everwhere she means google bing and youtube
TheGaming Banana have you watched banana gaming on UA-cam?
Great video Elly! This makes the GBC so much more epic than it already is.
hahaha i can imagine the amount of swearing you must of done (being australian) when you realised your mistake XD
I was very disappointed lol it's a miracle I fixed it
The resistor she used (and the one in detailed guide) was 47Ω (ohm). If you look at the resistor, it has color bands on. It should have (from left to right): Yellow, Violet, Black & Gold.
The one in the first written guide actually uses a resistor with a +1% tolerance and has five bands on. Yellow, Violet, Black, Gold & Brown. This is the one I got from my work place so that would work as well.
You could just get a multi-meter and check the resistor, set the multi-meter to Ω mode.
EVERYONE DON'T MASSACRE ANYMORE GAMEBOY SP'S. PLEASE BUY A FRONT LIGHT AND SOME LOCA GLUE TO DO THIS MOD!!! YOU'RE A MURDERER ELLY
Row Nu dont worry its the ags 001 model
Row Nu They weren't as readily available back then
Elly, when you solder you need to apply the soldering to the circuit board, put the wire on it at the same time, put the solder on then remove the solder then soldering iron.
Ohm, not O.H.M.
I think it's cute how she says O.H.M
I watched this video like what, 6 or 7 years ago and back then I couldn't comprehend a single word of English but I still wanted to do this mod so bad... Today even if there are all these ips mods and stuff I went and did this mod but I actually cut the frontlight for it to fit horizontally and it looks awesome! Thank for this tutorial!
"This is now rubbish." *cringe*
This video is incredibly helpful! Thank you so much, I can't wait to try it out. My fiancé bought me my first NTSC GBC for Christmas, however the backlighting is the only problem with such a perfect console. I'll let you know the results of my venture, which will be attempted over the next few weeks :) thanks again for the upload!
ummmmm it is called backlit
No, it isn't. A front light is just a light shining in FRONT of the screen. A back light is a light built into the screen powered by the console.
I got really lucky today and found a cheap pokemon edition gameboy color, I knew I needed to mod it right away. Thank you for the informative video! We need more Aussie channels, I live in Vic.
nicely done! I've tryed this way a year ago, but I broke the backlight as I cutted it out of the Sp :/
really nice to see that it works this way.
I love how you say out O.H.M. instead of just saying "owm" :D you're damn good for doing this for the first time. Went much better than my first mod and I'd soldered a bunch before.
Assuming that you cannot use a *back*lit SP for this mod: yes. If you use a frontlit SP and cut that thick ribbon like she did (at 2:07), your SP will be broken. You do not have to cut that off, it's just to get easier access to the screen. Leaf that connected and just cut the small ribbon (2:47), it should still work after you assembled the screen again. Without the light of course.
Thanks Elly, worked great. Initially thought I'd messed it up but after a couple of attempts to re-seat the screen ribbon cable... it's all good.
Neat, someone did a video guide of this! It still feels very weird to see things I did so many years ago still being used / referenced.
Wow that's fantastic! Glad you have been successful! Thanks for letting me know :)
Can't wait to try this! Just got to wait for the resistor to turn up! Thanks for making the video
You could also just by a front light for a Game boy sp from an after market parts manufacturer. Also the action of coating the wire is called tinning and should be done with any wires you plan to solder to things. It's also pronounced OH-mmm :p Nice starter mod for people to get into modding game Machines. Congrats on entering the Modding comun!
Did it to my gameboy color. Works great! Kind of hard to come across a cheap sp that I'm just gonna push off to the side. Was able to keep the sp functional by not cutting the ribbon. Gonna see if it will work on a gameboy pocket.
My little orange tab was two pieces like yours, when i peeled it off, i lost the contact points to the other half and couldnt solder any wire to it. I would recommend not separating it an finishing like she did at first. If you have an issue after, try it her way but you don't want to waste an sp for nothing. Also you can salvage the speaker from the sp for your gbc.
What is this?
A game girl that plays decent games and was willing to mod a console?
that made my day
Same here really :) Watched it all the way through although I have no GameBoy and will probably never get one. Love the detail and the way she fixes her mistakes. If I had some sort of tech company I'd hire her right away! :D
No major change in battery life! The gameboy handles it quite well :)
This is quite easy to do, with some time and soldering can be done with no problem.
It increases the value of the gameboy as well by a good amount. With everything together It cost me
25$ gameboy color gameboy sp light, (can be used from broken gameboy) 20$
Other Materials 5$
They retail for 80-100$ As no one wants to do the work.
Ive made quite a couple of these and they have turned out fine. I encourage others to attempt to do this as it isn't that hard and is definitely fun.
If you know anything about electrical circuits you would see I am right. As using KWH it's not real yes, but I used that term to show people simple math of how much energy it would use an hour. That being it would not be 31.2 KW or even 1 KW as one, the batteries would fry and explode or the screen would just melt. As 0.0312 KW is about a 1/32 of what is used in the battery. It does not take alot of power to light up that screen. If you want to be more technical it would be 0.3120633 KW.
Nice tut! looks really easy. Tip: if you dip the copper in flux, the solder will connect the copper 10x easier!
When soldering anything copper, you should apply some flux paste to the wires and the solder will stick like mad and it is best to use the 50/50 blend. The lead will be easier to work with.
It's so good to see someone who is obsessed with gameboy colors as much as me😂
A girl geek... One of the GREATEST things ever!!! now I'm your follower!!!
Just completed mine. The front light circuit was touching the cartridge contacts and stopping games from booting. Solved with a piece of electrical tape and some readjusting. Couldn't have done it without you though! I kept the extra tab attached as it was very fragile without it and works fine still attached. And for anyone else wondering, the GBA SPs front light is far superior to any after market alternatives. I'll get some pic for you soon, mines a clear case.
PS, subbed to you too, incase you mod anything else I own!
_"And for anyone else wondering, the GBA SPs front light is far superior to any after market alternatives"_
That might very well be the case, but I would not go buy a functional GBA SP just rip out the screen light. Can you give me some recommendations for after market side(?) lights. How are those types of lights called?
With that screen the battery life decreases? I guess so...
And with that screen, games look blurry? Or they look as playing GB and GBC on the SP (without blur)?
d1oftwins The only one I know is the one from Kitchbent, but doing it the same as this would make the screen hard to see due to the way his screen is made. So that mod is somewhat harder to do.
Omg you are awesome you are not a geek you are like the coolest person on UA-cam!
What kind of wires do you have to use?
Nice work! Thanks for this so much =) But for anyone watching, this isn't how to solder properly. You should heat the component with the iron for a few seconds and, keeping the iron on the component, place the solder ON THE COMPONENT because it is heated and will melt the solder. Then heat the wire over the solder on the component to connect it. Also, test the gb BEFORE you put it back together. Other than that, great job and hope to see more mod tutorials soon ... if this wasn't a one off =)
470, not 47. You can use about 500 Ohm resistor too, but the higher the resistance, the lower the brightness. Besides that, don't go less then 470, I don't know if the backlight can handle it.
Thank you AppChat, so far I have done this on 3 Gameboy Colors with success thanks to your video tutorial. God Bless you :)
You can just disconnect the screen ribbon cable instead of leaving the screen hanging; there are two small black tabs to pull and then the ribbon will slide out nicely. When you want to put the screen back in, set it in, slide the ribbon back in, and push the two black tabs in. This is a lot safer so you have fewer things hanging off of the case to get damaged: you won't have to worry about accidentally ruining the ribbon cable.
This is awesome, I was just thinking about whether or not I could figure out how to do this! now I don't have to figure it out myself!
That GBC looks awesome, I recently modded some original gameboys (DMG's) for music purposes. Have you ever thought about making chiptune music?
So the battery life is about 15 hours on a gameboy color, but even when its off like other things the electricity will still travel through the circuit boards intil it hits a breaker and bounce off and WILL NOT go back into the battery. Now the Gameboy Advance SP with the light off will give you 18 hours and with the light on around 10 hours depending on the age of the battery. Because the sp uses a lithium ion battery that can adsorb the electricity running back through the battery.
Elly! Please tell me how can I cut the sp light so it doesnt stick out bellow the screen because you can see it on the clear gameboys!
From what I know it's just best to stick with the ags001. Look for broken/for parts on ebay. Lot cheaper since you're scrapping the rest. You can also check in local pawn shops.
this looks a little easier than the gameboy pocket backlight mod. I have a junk AGS 001 that turns on fine but the shoulder buttons dont work so I have no problem salvaging the front light to try this. I also have an extra gameboy color I got for 2 bucks cuz it lacks a battery cover. This seems like the perfect project for me to try out.
do the wires have a specific side of the orange tab they need to be sottered to? If you guys know what im talking about.
min 07:26.....where exactly that cable shoot be soldered? On one of these pins or is it just the plate?
there is a product called the gameboy light. it is hard to find (production never left japan) but it does the same thing accomplished by this mod
Not a bad mod, I personally wouldn't rip apart a gba sp for the back light but I have done a mod similar to this one where you just take a couple leds (3mm anything bigger won't fit) and just solder then coupled with some resistors to a power source. The light distribution isn't as good as the gba sp back light but it gets the job done.
@RiceMolester Mustache If you're lucky you might be able to use a flat head screwdriver but yeah I got my tri wing for like $3 on eBay :)
The front light uses about 0.0312 KWH (Kilo-Wats/Hour) so it would take about an hour off each battery so around 8 hours maybe a bit more if you were using batteries like Duracell or Energizer something like that.
Nice video and nice mod. For future reference, you should not have a blob of solder on the iron like that. The tip of the iron should be lightly coated in solder. You then heat the components you're soldering and let push the solder against the heated components, not the iron itself. The results will be prettier and less likely to come off/not work.
Im hoping to do this mod (when my triwing arrives). I really want to try and preserve the little light on/off button from the GBA and incorporate it into the GBC with some very neat drilling through the case, cant find anything online thats tried it but fingers-crossed.
I did this project today and first it won't turn on cause I forgot to take of that tab. But now It works thank you so much :D
You can take any wire you want. The thinner, the better. If you have access to old computer hardware I'd suggest you take an old IDE cable (those big HDD connectors) and ripp some wires apart.
ive been planning to side-lit my gbc lcd but i dont have materiala for it. i think its possible if the glass on the side os clear enough for the light to past through. if you cannot put back light. because of the reflector sandwich to the lcd . why not the side.
Where did you get your housing id love to custom mine a bit more.
Any advice on soldering onto the orange tabs I screwed up the tab by burning it on my first attempt. Lucky for me I had a spare broken sp
I did this, it works, but I have to hold the Game Boy Color at an angle to the side to see it well. Any suggestions on where I went wrong?
thanks, yes, i noticed. however, i have never seen white gameboy color buttons (even after doing a quick search)
Am i able to add to small led to make up a front light effect?
great video but I was wondering.....where do you buy the 40 ohm resistor?
because I have a janked up sp and 3 gameboy colors :)
(my favorite handheld)
U know, like you I too just love my GBC. I will definetely give a try... Keep up a good work.
I'm really pressed for cash, so would eletrical tape be a good replacement for a sodering gun?
great video! im going to modify mine this week. but do you think its possible if I can modify the battery as well with an SP battery? since the backlight will use up more of the battery as well.
Do I really need a resistor? What's the purpose of it? Also, what's the model?
Can u please make another video of how to properly remove the orange tab please? i pulled apart the two tabs but the silver contacts came off as well :( ruined a BRAND NEW sp and i would like to know the correct process before attempting this again, the webites say you have to "disconnect the wire contacts with your iron" any feedback would be greatly appreciated
how much voltage do you get wrom the two solder points?
Have you tried to put a LOCA on your front light GBC?
wondering a bit if you still have the "junk" from the gba sp, because if you wish, you can use the speaker (small plastic mod to fit as well) to get better sound.
Is there any way to reconnect the small orange piece to the screen. Mine broke when I was disassembling the screen
I use KNYAR wire. It's very weak and narrow and has ONE string running through the center. It is used to prevent damage to the SP Frontlight
I've just order my parts cannot wait to have one like yours :)
Beautiful illustrations.
Does this work with the original gameboy?
Hey I did the mod, and it was kind of weird at the end because it didn't seem to fit into place completely i had to push really really hard to get the power switch to line up with the thing on the circuit board. Then when I turn it on, it turns on for about a second and then turns off, but the backlight seems to work...just doesn't stay on for more than a second...any help would be awesome!
Nice video mod worked for me thx all though my childhood game boy sp is finished
RIP Becky the gameboy sp
Jordyn Hardyman So sad. You shouldn't have killed your sp for this mod imo. It'd be better to buy an sp off ebay, and take the frontlight, and sell the rest of the sp for spares
love the tutorial, love the accent. this was all i needed to get started :)
Where could I get coloured gameboy color buttons in the UK?
there is no need to cut the ribbon cable. just take off part of the hinge on the sp. you can slip the ribbon cable out
very helpfull, you made a very good work, I just recomend you to put a note at the beggining to alert that there's a mistake and your recomend to see the video first, but the rest I really thank your work here
also i cannot find any detailed description anywhere about how to take the contacts off the old tab, and i dont want to ruin another one by placing my iron on a spot that will ruin the orange tab.
For the part where you soldered the wire to the power switch, Do you just solder it to the metal bar or does it need to touch the white thing that actually moves??