Hardware What should I do now with this GBA SP Frontlight?

[PatGuy785]

Last week I was trying to frontlight my original GBA. And it looks like I pretty much failed it, but on the bright side My GBA still works.
As for my GBA SP I took out all the parts to get the frontlight from it, so I could put it on my original GameBoy Advance. The silver part and squared glass part of the frontlight came apart and that's when I thought I screwed it up. (Does the frontlight still work when you put the glass part and silver part back together?).

When I was trying to solder the 2 points on the orange ribbon part of the frontlight, I soldered it too much to the point where the silver metal part where you solder the metal parts to the wire of the ribbon cable is gone (The wires kept on coming off so I solder to it again).

I was so angry I gave up this stupid mod. I put my original GBA back together and thought about throwing away the crappy frontlight. Should I throw it out and buy a new SP screen online? Or there's still hope?

 

[TecXero]

There's a thin layer of plastic protecting the points where most people solder at, did you remove that layer of plastic? It can probably still be salvaged, as long as you can still get power and ground to the light. I'd see about completing your mod.

 

[PatGuy785]

There's a thin layer of plastic protecting the points where most people solder at

Sorry if I sound like a fool by saying this , but are you referring to this orange part of the frontlight.

 

[TecXero]

Nah, I mean the ribbon that's still attached the the frontlight in the pictures of your original post. I'm not entirely sure what points you're soldering to, so my comment may be irrelevant.

 

[PatGuy785]

I'm not entirely sure what points you're soldering to

I soldered the wires to what use to be pads (silver metal part of the ribbon) where you solder it to, but now that it's gone I doubt I have anywhere else to solder it to.

 

[Daeron20]

You try to solder wires in the LED directly.

I did it into my gbc mod a few years ago, and i put another LED(from NDSL backlight) in the other side of silver part.
try not scratch the transparent part, because if scratched, you'll only see the scratches more than the display.

My english is horrible, sorry.

 

[PatGuy785]

i put another LED(from NDSL backlight) in the other side of silver part

But I don't own a NDS (I own a DSi XL), so I have to buy the LED to put it in the silver part of the frontlight?

 

[Daeron20]

The white part in the last picture it's a white led, this led should illuminate the interior of the silver part and the light it's distributed to the transparent part, i'm just said that i added another led, but not necesary.

 

[PatGuy785]

The white part in the last picture it's a white led, this led should illuminate the interior of the silver part, i'm just said that i added another led.

Oh, so where should I solder the wires on the orange ribbon?

 

[Daeron20]

On the two sides of the LED there are two points of solder, it's more easy to solder a wire. after this, you only need 4,5 volt to turn on the light on your gba

My result on gbc:

 

[PatGuy785]

On the two sides of the LED there are two points of solder, it's more easy to solder a wire.

So solder the wires to these points.
The problem is is that where should I solder the wire that's coming from the ground (GND)?
And also what kind of volts are you referring to? (Once again I'm sorry if I'm being a complete dingbat, I'm just new to electronics.)

 

[Daeron20]

Yes, i'm refer to this points, don't remeber wich is anode and catode.
You can solder the wires in LED and test it on gba motherboard, one wire on gnd and the other in positive pole, if LED not turns on, change the polarity of wires.

Good luck.

 

[PatGuy785]

Yes, i'm refer to this points, don't remeber wich is anode and catode.
You can solder the wires in LED and test it on gba motherboard, one wire on gnd and the other in positive pole, if LED not turns on, change the polarity of wires.

Good luck.

Aw, thanks man, now I can go back to doing this mod and show the results.

One more thing, is it okay to use these wires? I got them from an old charger.
Or I should get a specific one? At that time people who mod their Game Boy Colors with the frontlight were not specific on what kind of wiring they were using.

 

[Daeron20]

Dont' worry about wires for this case, wires of the picture are ok.

you probably need to put a resistor of 47 or 100 ohm on the positive pole in the motherboard.

 

[Nusdogg]

I've done this mod many times and still isn't as good as my mod that you retrofit the whole frontlight/LCD screen into the GBA handheld that I have now:

My other GBA front light I did like yours has a stealth dimmer chip V4 that allows me to dimmer and turn off the front light by hitting certain buttons which is a unique product. But good luck!

 

[Drud1995]

The best idea is definitely to get a screen from http://store.kitsch-bent.com/ and use LOCA to adhere it to the LCD!

 

[Drud1995]

The best idea is definitely to get a screen from http://store.kitsch-bent.com/ and use LOCA to adhere it to the LCD!

 

[Drud1995]

Sorry about all of the replies! My computer was acting whack!

 

[PatGuy785]

I've done this mod many times and still isn't as good as my mod that you retrofit the whole frontlight/LCD screen into the GBA handheld that I have now:​

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My other GBA front light I did like yours has a stealth dimmer chip V4 that allows me to dimmer and turn off the front light by hitting certain buttons which is a unique product. But good luck!​

Wow!!, That looks awesome!!! Nice job dude. Which light screen did you use? Also did you have to use the AR Film on there?

 

[Nusdogg]

Wow!!, That looks awesome!!! Nice job dude. Which light screen did you use? Also did you have to use the AR Film on there?

I transferred the whole screen and front light all together from the AGS-001. All you need is a custom ribbon cable made for the AGS-001 screen to plug and play into the GBA. This ribbon cable is made specifically for the AGS-001 front light screen only, not for the backlight AGS-101. Looks just like the cable for the backlight mod. You can find this cable on eBay.

I would contact this seller: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Ga...g_Replacement_Parts_Tools&hash=item2a419f2297 and see if he sells them separately. I think it may be the same seller I bought mine from. Lol.

 

[PatGuy785]

I transferred the whole screen and front light all together from the AGS-001. All you need is a custom ribbon cable made for the AGS-001 screen to plug and play into the GBA. This ribbon cable is made specifically for the AGS-001 front light screen only, not for the backlight AGS-101. Looks just like the cable for the backlight mod. You can find this cable on eBay.

I would contact this seller: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Ga...g_Replacement_Parts_Tools&hash=item2a419f2297 and see if he sells them separately. I think it may be the same seller I bought mine from. Lol.

Dang it, I should have thought twice about taking out my GBA Frontlight, your way looks easier than the GBC ones.