GBA 101 mod brightness level

[Virdoo]

HI,

Today I've modded my GBA advance with 101 mod. I've installed it with ribbon cable tybe B. The one which doesn't requires extra soldering except wire to DA1 (not sure about the name exact). After soldering it to the right spot i noticed screen become brighter, but it's still not that much bright. I've tried to turn potentiometer on motherboard, but makes no change. Is it supposed to be like that or?

 

[Virdoo]

Or maybe is there a way to adjust trimpot on type B cable? As far as I know, type B excludes soldering to GND but on that way it disables trimpot which helps to adjust brightness. Anyway to avoid it?

 

[slaphappygamer]

HI,

Today I've modded my GBA advance with 101 mod. I've installed it with ribbon cable tybe B. The one which doesn't requires extra soldering except wire to DA1 (not sure about the name exact). After soldering it to the right spot i noticed screen become brighter, but it's still not that much bright. I've tried to turn potentiometer on motherboard, but makes no change. Is it supposed to be like that or?

That is normal. You must have the 40pin adapter. Mine did that too.

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Or maybe is there a way to adjust trimpot on type B cable? As far as I know, type B excludes soldering to GND but on that way it disables trimpot which helps to adjust brightness. Anyway to avoid it?

I’m not sure about this.

 

[Virdoo]

As far as I know there are 2 type of ribbon cables. Type b which doesnt requires extra soldering and other requires soldering to GND. That ribbon cable allows to adjust brightness on GBA by adjusting trimpot but also has ghosting issues... Can you please compare brightness level with your Nintendo DS lite if you have one? My GBA is bright a bit better than lv2 on DSL but dimmer than LV3. So it's somewhere in between.

 

[slaphappygamer]

... Can you please compare brightness level with your Nintendo DS lite if you have one? My GBA is bright a bit better than lv2 on DSL but dimmer than LV3. So it's somewhere in between.

I can’t check now because I have a 5 level brightness adapter, but I recall the with my 40b pin adapter soldered, it was just a bit dimmer than the brightest setting of the ds Lite.

 

[Virdoo]

Can anyone else compare please?

 

[Virdoo]

Hmm weird, I've charged batteries and a bit unscrewed screws in housing and quality of picture seems to be much better. I'm more satisfied with that.

 

[slaphappygamer]

Sounds like maybe your adapter was getting a bit smashed in the console. I’ll bet if you squeeze your Gba, right where the adapter is, the quality will change. It’s so tight in there. Glad you got the picture you wanted.

 

[Virdoo]

So in a case if anyone will ever wonder. I tried a difference between type A and type B in meaning of brightness. Results shown that both are on the same brightness, even if you adjust trimpot on type A. In my own opinion, brightness isn't that good on original GBA as it might be on other consoles so do not expect a lot. I'm not sure about other ribbon cables but I highly doubit there is a chance or any other way to make your screen even brighter than as it is with usual ribbon cables. Only reasonable difference was that type B didn't caused image ghosting.

 

[steelseth]

So in a case if anyone will ever wonder. I tried a difference between type A and type B in meaning of brightness. Results shown that both are on the same brightness, even if you adjust trimpot on type A. In my own opinion, brightness isn't that good on original GBA as it might be on other consoles so do not expect a lot. I'm not sure about other ribbon cables but I highly doubit there is a chance or any other way to make your screen even brighter than as it is with usual ribbon cables. Only reasonable difference was that type B didn't caused image ghosting.

Its not a matter of ribbon cable, it has to do with the voltage to the screen. You can always install a 12v boost converter to get more brightness.
Here is a guide using BennVenn's converter https://www.retromodding.com/blogs/tutorials/voltage-regulator-connection-guide