Hacking DS LITE changed LED's

Dacvak · Jul 1, 2006

If anyone else is planning on doing this, please take many process pictures (maybe even a video?) and make some sort of guide. I'd absolutely love to do this, but I have no idea where to get these LEDs from.

Any thoughts?

~Dac

FAST6191 · Jul 1, 2006

The LED's will probably have to be sourced by cannibalising another item (loads of old phones, kids toys and remote controls to name but a few use these sort of small bright LEDs), got from a more specialist electronics shop or a somewhere like Maplin electronics:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/

As for changing the LED's urbanmindz said they were just plain LEDs so it is just a matter of taking out the old ones and soldering some new ones in.
The only thing to take care of is to make sure to observe polarity of the LED and solder it in the right way around.

I am going to pull apart my normal model DS and take a look as well, when I do I shall throw up loads of pictures and if I am with all my equipment at the time I will make a video as well.

WK416 · Jul 1, 2006

That looks awesome!

I bet it would look real nice next to a powered on Wii.

urbanmindz · Jul 1, 2006

Hey guys whats up.. sorry ive been a little MIA... you can get your leds from here..

http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index.php?mai...e=index&cPath=6

you would need to get surface mount leds...I still have not done the mod to my girlfriends ds lite but will be doing it soon (she has been bothering me to do it so i have pressure from her lol...)but anyways glad to see people are still writing here .. hope everyone has a great

Jesper64 · Jul 3, 2006

Very nice work urbanmindz.

Was there any security seal that you had to break? ie anything letting Nintendo know that you've tampered with it.

Also how fiddly was it to take out the screen and all the other parts, did they all fit back in without a problem?

Looking at this page the actual changing of the LEDs doesn't look like a problem just seems so many fiddly bits and pieces to put back together and not break on the way out...

If you do take some pictures of your gf's DS make sure you use macro mode on the camera. It'll allow the closeup shots to be in focus.

Thanks

liquoredonlife · Jul 5, 2006

I haven't messed with SMD LED mods since the old Nokia 8290 days of 2001. Swapped out 12 ugly green LEDs with 8 blue and 4 whites. Some of them fell off, but a lot of them are still there. Thinking about pulling some off of there and using them in this project. And I remember that white LEDs cost the most because they're really blue LEDs with a phosphorous coating to make them glow white.

You can see the three LEDs of the DS Lite in the top right of this picture.

Just wondering if there needs any resistance. Probably not since my old 8290 used a 3.6v battery and the DS Lite uses 3.7v.

urbanmindz · Jul 6, 2006

hey guys i am so sorry i havent been able to reply as fast as b4.. the ndsl is a little flimsy when taking it apart.. if anyone tries to take it apart just try to be extra careful.. i actually didnt take all the guts out of the housing, i was careful and fliped back the top half of the bottom casing leaving the bottom screen and all the electronics exposed..

I am still looking foward to doing a tutorial just that i haave been busy building a computer for my recording studio..(its a quad {two dual cores lol} ) and i have to have it done so that i dont loose work or clients. i hope you guys are still interested and i will be working on my girlfriends ds soon (i actually have it with me as we speak just gotta get around to doing the mod to it) ..

well ill post soon....

Jesper64 · Jul 6, 2006

No problems urbanmindz, looking forward too it.

Jesper64 · Jul 6, 2006

Found this in guide in another post.

QUOTE(thieves like us @ Jul 6 2006 said:
I just put together a pretty detailed guide for disassembly of the lower portion of a ds lite for those interested in changing out the LEDs. you can find it here:
nintendo ds lite disassembly guide

note: all of the small images are clickable to display a larger, more detailed picture.

Thanks thieves like us

However, I think the positions of the LEDs that he wrote is wrong. Maybe you could confirm urbanmindz.

urbanmindz · Jul 7, 2006

darn someone beat me to the tutorial... but its a good tutorial. the info is slighty incorrect... but its no biggy... the vertical (orange) is the charging led (now white on my dsl).. there is no dedicated Wifi led as the power (green) just flashes when using wifi. The horizontal top is the green and bottom is the red (when low battery)

I will still post pics up when i do my girlfriends dsl but that tutorial is good..

killroi · Aug 17, 2006

Hey, led-modifying DS/DSL!!! Why didn't I think of that. I use to led-modify mine and my friends cellulars. (i think i have leds left, i hope). Thanks for the idea urbanmindz !!!

neojei · Aug 17, 2006

Dang nice. I'm planning on changing the LEDs but I don't know if I can do it, those things are small! What I wanted to do is white for the green, and blue for charging and low batt light. Maybe I'll reconsider changing it later on, just need a really good soldering iron.

Devante · Oct 2, 2006

From this site, I'm not entirely sure which size to order: http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index.php?mai...e=index&cPath=6

I was going to get 805 due to it being a little larger (maybe a little brighter?) but not sure if these are even closely related to the size of the stock LED's in the DS Lites.

Which size is best?

dg10050 · Oct 2, 2006

QUOTE(FAST6191 @ Jun 26 2006 said:
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.

Yeah, it sux being red-green colorblind.

I hate it when my DS randomy shuts down(at least it seems random to me) right when I do something huge in Animal Crossing...

I would love to do this to my DS.

slvrdrgn123 · Oct 2, 2006

Does it void the warranty if we do change it?

Jesper64 · Oct 2, 2006

QUOTE(DeVante @ Oct 2 2006 said:
From this site, I'm not entirely sure which size to order: http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index.php?mai...e=index&cPath=6

I was going to get 805 due to it being a little larger (maybe a little brighter?) but not sure if these are even closely related to the size of the stock LED's in the DS Lites.

Which size is best?

Looking at the pictures I'd venture that they are the smaller 603 ones. However, I haven't done the mod myself so couldn't be completely sure and just basing it on the pics. I'd just get both sizes, as it isn't too expensive, that way you won't have to stuff around if you ordered the wrong size.

Also if you look at they typical Luminous Intensity for the LEDs the 603s actually have a slightly higher brightness, so don't think it matters which you get in terms of brightness.

slvrdrgn123 - Yes, of course it voids your warranty. Opening up your DS voids your warranty not to mention desoldering and soldering components.

neojei · Oct 2, 2006

I would have done what you did, but I would have made white for power on, blue for warning and charging. I wanted to do this so badly, then I saw the leds, how small they were. I've never soldered anything together, so... Im not going to attempt. Those things are small. What soldering iron did you use.?

Devante · Oct 13, 2006

I just finished this LED mod on my pink DS Lite. Blue and white LEDs seem like the perfect compliment to a pink DS Lite.

I have a few tips to make things easier for everyone.

- Order from the following website: http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index.php?mai...e=index&cPath=6

- The sizes of the LEDs there are 0603 and 0805. Get the 0603.
0603 is already about double the size of the DS Lite LEDs, and 0805 is even bigger.

- Once you receive your LEDs, they will have a design on the bottom that tells you which side is positive and which is negative. The design is a "T" with the top of the "T" being the positive side.

- You can use the DS Lite battery to test the LEDs just to be sure they work (which they should as I've used the exact same LEDs). Simply touch one wire to the positive and one to the negative contacts on the battery, then touch the other ends of the wires to the same sides on the LED and see if it lights up.

- Below is a diagram of the stock DS Lite LEDs and the positive/negative sides.

I hope this helps a few people clear up the same questions I had.

urbanmindz · Oct 13, 2006

HOTNESS good work man... this answers alot of the questions everyone asks me on how i did mine..

Devante · Oct 13, 2006

The worst part about this process is desoldering the old LEDs.

In fact, how did you do it?? It seems like you need two soldering irons to heat up both sides at the same time. If you just heat one side, the other side remains hard and so you can't move the LED.

I ended up just breaking the clear part of the LED off and scraping down what was left and then setting the new LED on top of that.

By the way, no need to disassemble everything. Just remove the bottom of the case and flip the motherboard away from the bottom of the DS. Don't disconnect any wires or anything.

Hacking DS LITE changed LED's

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