LED Mod Your Gameboy Color

This Instructable documents a cool mod that you can add to your Gameboy Color to give it neat blue lighting effects! And, of course, you better not hurt your body parts or your Gameboy, 'cause I'm not replacing either of them. But hey, this is worth the risk, right?

Step 1 Stuff you Need

And, of course, the ever-needed "Parts" step.
So, you need:
Two LEDs (Color of your choice)
Soldering Iron
Solder
Small Switch
Fine Sandpaper (400 - 500 grit)
Small Wire
Tri-Wing Nintendo Screwdriver or small flathead screwdriver
Transparent Purple Gameboy Color
Helping hands (Optional, but really helpful)
Hot glue gun and glue (Optional)

Comments

[jakou3]

hey i did this and when i first turned it on the leds flashed then wouldnt turn on again. they get the occasional flash but i dont know what i did wrong

[bman77]

Hi, today I did this mod and all was working well, the led worked when i put two aa in and the switch worked. I botted up a game (Crystal) and it was working good until I turned on the led and it froze. Tgis then happened a few time, it was working fine with them off keep in mind. Now after the gameboy screen at startup it goes to a black screen everytime, With or without the light on. Why is this? I want it to work, Thanks!

[chillycharlie]

What case is that?

[cmanahimik]

just did this project, super cool! also, i have the exact same color gbc.

[mattiige]

can i use this guide to make a frontlight illumination on my gameboy color?

[cbrowne5]

does it matter what size wire you use as i have just stripped the wire out of a old playstation pad

[hbui1]

Could I do the same for EL wires?

[sillyzombie666]

no, not unless you used an external battery source and some how fit the board needed for the el wire with it, its not as simple as an led

[GBCmodder]

I tried to but it back together but it wont fit. also the springs in the battery compatment are tightining up so the batterys just fall out.  also when i turn on the power to the LED's, smoke comes up.  what did i do wrong/ whats happening!!!!

[UrbanEngineer93]

 i'd say theres a MAJOR short somewhere in your circuitry.  and the way you put the wires back in  is somehow hindering the way your battery spring on the pcb is acting (just my guess)

[sillyzombie666]

sounds like the leds cant take the power / crossed wires

[Labot2001]

Awesome ible, 1up :D

I'm thinking of adding 4 LEDs. You said you used 2 at 3.1v each... do you know how much voltage I can use before things go horribly wrong? Thanks.

[1up]

Thanks! ;)

Well, if the LEDs are 3.3v each or so, you can just put them all in parallel. Since fresh batteries are likely to put out about 3.5v or so, you might want to add a resistor for longevity.

[Mr.bluebomber]

can you please give me a link to buy the LED's and Switches and also how many watts did you use? please answer I really want to do this.

[UrbanEngineer93]

 i did a mod pretty close to this, but i custom painted a digital camoflauge design on the case and used 3 LEDs across the top to light the screen. which i advise against unless you are super good at soldering in tight areas! as for me i'm mediocre at best at my soldering skill. but it came out really nice. i had the idea in my head but didn't really know how i'd run the wires. this instructable really helped. THANKS

p.s. i think the reason one LED is dimmer is because there connected in series with eachother and not in parallel

[chi-kitory]

it was getting a little to much on the reply on the other post, so start to reply here! :D With this new "How to Make a Portable Game System" what will it contain? Like taking any consol and turning it portable to only a certain system? or is the mod more of making your own videogame system with your own gfx, and everything? lol.. Btw its all chill, plus GBP are only like 5$'s so i can get like a few next time just in case.. Its not even your fault.. it was my first mod anyway so i learned alot from it b/c of you! :D thanks! Next time i am going to try to add it to the speaker, so then it flashes with sounds.. its going to look cool! :D ha.. I am thinking about moding my gbp that i have now into something else like a mp3 or something.. Now that the screen is dead.. or making it into a music maker.. idk..

[1up]

My new Instructable is going to cover how to make an NES portable, meaning internal batteries, controller, and screen. Here is a slideshow I posted a while ago: http://www.instructables.com/id/Handheld_NES_Instructable_Soon/?comments=all#C9BJ415FMMCVM6T

Even though we specifically make a portable NES, I will cover briefly how to "portablize" other systems.

[chi-kitory]

yeah i saw that NES port a few days ago! looks great! ha must of took a long time! :D Mad Props! I cant wait until i see this tut.. :D the only problem i have is i dont have a nes.. So i think i might go buy one just to do this tut.. How much did the port screen cost?

[1up]

That's the most expensive part. It's about $50, if you find a good deal.

[bubba4561]

Well, you know... Some games for that system were so ground breaking, that you HAVE to shell out a few extra bucks to play them.

[triggerhappymoron]

i have finished the mod however in cannot play my games without the leds on and my batterys get extremly hot whenever i use it so i am scared my gameboy will explode do you know of any thing i could do?

[1up]

You have a short somewhere. Check all your connections and insulate them.

[triggerhappymoron]

finsihed this mod finally and everything works great except when i screwed it back together there is a big gap on the left side what can i do ?

[1up]

Something is either not seated right or you made something too thick. Look for what is causing the problem and fix it.

[triggerhappymoron]

could you put the leds behind the screen to backlight it?

[1up]

No, you can only frontlight it with a SP screen's light. Google around for a tutorial.

[triggerhappymoron]

so what you are saying is open my gba sp take out the light and use that instead of the leds ?

[1up]

And the diffusing panel. Look on Google for a tutorial.

[triggerhappymoron]

i have tried over and over to do this tutorial and has failed each time due to the connecting the battery so i have decided to add a 3v watch battery to power the leds

[1up]

Wait, frontlighting the screen or just adding LEDs?

[triggerhappymoron]

i was thinking could i use the leds to front light the gameboy but its fine now i finished the mod but whenever i connected it to bt plus and bt negative i didi not work so i added a 3v battery to power my leds

[triggerhappymoron]

so what you are saying is open my gba sp take out the light and use that instead of the leds ?

[kroq-gar78]

where would you get the tri-wing screwdriver?

[PyroMonger]

I just used a flat-head precision screw driver and that did the trick....its gota be a pretty small tip though

[maschingon]

cosolesource.com

[kroq-gar78]

thanks. lots of other stuff for opening too

[1up]

You could try www.dealextreme.com too.

[CapnTac]

Found some on Amazon too. http://www.amazon.com/Screwdriver-Nintendo-Products-Including-Wii-Lite/dp/B0018688GS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1261411822&sr=8-1

[8BITE]

Really good mod, its guna be my first on so just a few questions.
Does it matter what type of wire it is?
Because I was looking online for cheap wire and I'm not in the know with volts and everything.
Would any of these be suitable?
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=wire&source=15
Thanks

[1up]

This project is low current and low voltage, so you could get away with nearly any wire you can find. IDE cable from old computers works great.