Hacking DS LITE changed LED's

[urbanmindz]

Just wanted to share a few images of an LED mod I did on my DS Lite.. In case anyone finds this interesting..
sorry for the low quality pics..I took the images with a cheap 2 mp cam.. dont have my sony 5 mp on hand at the moment..
Hope someone finds this kool ... lol

 

[digimax]

Was it hard to change the LED? I want mine blue too lol.

 

[urbanmindz]

not really too hard.. just have to be a little carefull..maybe i used the wrong tools but it worked for me.. I had an old nextel phone illuminating keypad that would light up whenever the phone was in use.. it had blue and white leds (the super small ones) i took the leds off of that and then used a multimeter and a battery to check for positive and negative on the leds ... and then just carefully replaced them. I left the red led as is since i think it is a perfect color for warning me that my battery is low.. changed the orange (charging) to white and the green (power on) to blue. I think it woulda looked cooler if i woulda done the opposite. white for power and blue for charging but it doesnt look bad either way...

 

[SkuiD87]

wow....that looks great! good work dude...wish I had the skills to do something like that, would love cool blue LED's on my black DS Lite...would look too cool!

Is it a difficult process? Perhaps a simple guide...?

 

[Tomobobo]

You should show some internal pics of what you've done.

 

[urbanmindz]

i would take better internal pics but at the moment my girlfriend has my sony cam which is great for that.. i used a cheap webcam for those pics so they are not so great.. the process is actually pretty easy.. i first opened the ds and found the area where the leds are... took a multimeter to determine which side is positive and negative...then i took the leds off by soldering them off being careful not to leave the heat on too long so that i wouldnt damage anything else around the area...i then went ahead and took off the leds from my source (in this case i had a nextel keypad).i took a battery (two AA) and tested the leds to check which side was positive and negative..(this is tricking since moving the leds from place to place can often makeit dificult to remember which side is which). after i had everything figure out.. i worked slow and worked with a tweazer to help me put the leds in place... if you know basic soldering this should be a simple job.. i am sure they sell find tip solder tips but i didnt have access to one so i just took my regular radioshack solder and filed the tip a bit just to get it pointy lol... its simple just takes patience and creativity... i actually have a HOOKED up gamecube that i did all the mod work on.. have a chip and have leds all over the place and have a jap/american switch and led switch.. so i got my fair share of practice lol.. i wouldnt know how to really make a good tutorial but i guess i can answer questions as they come up...

 

[Madrigal]

That looks awesome. I saw the exact same thing (blue leds and everything) on some Japanese site just the other day. Wish I had the skills to do it, but I'm really clumsy and would probably end up burning the house down

 

[urbanmindz]

i tried looking up info on how to do things and came up with nothing so i just used the information i had on gamecube modding and common sense....

would you by any chance happen to have the link to the japanese site? maybe there is useful info i could use for this and future projects? ( i dont speak japenese at all but am good with visuals...)

 

[FAST6191]

I know a couple of colour blind people who would be interested in this (red and green on a male targeted machine, dear f*ck Nintendo what were you thinking).

One thing though, given the LED changes colour when charging and low on battery what happens then? (for all those concerned you can buy colour changing LED's for about the same as your normal LED, it is just going to take a bit of examination to find out what triggers the change.

Oh and nice sig Madrigal.

 

[tgc_9013]

That looks awesome. I saw the exact same thing (blue leds and everything) on some Japanese site just the other day. Wish I had the skills to do it, but I'm really clumsy and would probably end up burning the house down

You have excellent taste, I love Tool

 

[urbanmindz]

fast, there is no color changing led.. originally there are three seperate leds.. the green, red and orange... i left the red as is, and changed the green to blue and orange to white....

 

[FAST6191]

Thanks urbanmindz that makes things a lot easier.

Now if someone made some backlit buttons.....

 

[akuma99]

This is great, I really respect this kind of stuff as I am one of those people that can't leave anything as stock. Weather it be painting it or modding the case or whatever. I am currently working on a "classic" DS Lite that resembles the original NES console. When I get it done I will post some pics probably later this week.

 

[Deleted User]

...
Now if someone made some backlit buttons.....

that would be like awesome!

edit: erm ... and i really want to have those leds changed now

 

[urbanmindz]

yea i cant leave ANYTHING stock.. whenever i buy a computer or laptop, or any kind of toy or gadget i have to modify it somehow.. i am currently working on repainting a fender electric guitar with led sid markers... i am also trying to figure out how to install leds on my intel mac mini so that the top would like up.. i seriously hooked up my gamecube ( and i have pics if anyone is interested, maybe i will start a no post on the gamecube threads..) so yea as soon as i got my ds lite i just knew i had to change it up a little...

fast, np... i am not very good at explaining things but i can answer any questions to my best potential...

ps, i made the front page of maxconsole featured news..i go by urbanbass there since i couldnt use urbanmindz...

 

[urbanmindz]

forgot to mention.. i am going to be doing my girlfriends leds also... i can maybe take better pics and maybe someone can help me out with putting together a simple tutorial....

 

[slandar]

Nice. Congrats on being the first to do it.

While the thought of changing out the LEDs occured to me the moment I picked up my Lite, the lack of a tri-wing driver bit prevented it.

I have a spool of 100 SMD blue LED's I bought for use in my other toys (xbox, xbox360, psp, ipod, cell phones) that fit the bill perfectly.

Hopefully my screwdriver will be delivered from play-asia today or tomorrow (ordered last week). I'll snap some pictures as well.

Again.. congrats and looks good.

-Zach

 

[5uck3rpunch]

In the original pictures it looks like Urbanmindz used a blue & light blue, not white. It makes it look 'icy'. Great job!

 

[Veho]

There was a GBA/NDS modding site/webshop called Ahead Games.
They sell and install Afterburner chips and other modchips for the GBA /GBA SP, and they install custom LEDs in your DS. (Phat. When last I checked the site, DS Lite still hadn't been released.)
You would send the DS and moneyz, and they would mod it.

Their server is down at the moment...

 

[S.S.Mario]

There was a GBA/NDS modding site/webshop called Ahead Games.
They sell and install Afterburner chips and other modchips for the GBA /GBA SP, and they install custom LEDs in your DS. (Phat. When last I checked the site, DS Lite still hadn't been released.)
You would send the DS and moneyz, and they would mod it.

Their server is down at the moment...

They've been ripping people off since last october... even IF the site comes back up, stay FAR, FAR away.