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Cyclops modification walkthrough
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Please note: This walkthrough is more technical and requires more effort than the LS modification and the viper modification. The resistor that you choose is entirely up to you, also I have not yet found a reliable source for a switch so you'll have to either head out to a local electronics store to buy one(radioshack doesn't carry one small enough), or use one from something that you have lying around.
This walkthrough requires the use of an exacto knife to separate part of the wormlight. It would be very easy to cut yourself accidentally while executing this step of the modification. For this reason I am stating that only anyone over 18 years of age should participate in this modification.
I (Paul, the owner of gbalight.com) will NOT be held responsible for any harm that you do to yourself, your GBA or anything or anyone else while performing this modification.
By proceeding past this line you are electronically agreeing to the previous sentence.
Before we begin: I apologize for the somewhat inferior quality of step by step pictures, but since I have the site on free servers I am very limited in how much space I can use so I need to compress them quite a bit to stay within my disk space quotas.
The Cyclops walkthrough is broken into 2 sections. In section 1 you will learn how to disassemble a wormlight without destroying it(which is necessary to perform the mod since the wormlight plus is the basis of the entire project). Section 2 covers the entire process then of implementing the switch, battery holder, LED and resistor into the wormlight's housing.
Here's what you will need:
- a nyko wormlight plus
- a "world's brightest LED" this LED requires 6v(this particular LED is what makes the Cyclops mod special so substituting a different LED would defeat the entire purpose of the project) Available here if you don't have one.
- a BIOS battery holder(may be obtained from an old motherboard or can be found at radioshack.com part# 910-3073)
- an electric hair dryer (I used a 1600W)
- a soldering iron(preferrably low wattage, I used a 25watt) and solder
- a micro switch approx. 8mm x 3mm(I used one from a scrapped GBA light, if you don't have one available try checking a local electronics store)
- a resistor should you choose to use one in the circuit. See step 6 of section 2 for further info.
- super glue or similar(used when reassembling the wormlight housing)
- an exacto knife with a rounded edge blade
- a pair of small needle nose pliers
- a few short pieces of wire(multiple strand will work best because of it's flexibility)
- wire strippers
- 5 minute or similar epoxy
Section One - disassembling a wormlight without destroying it
After a lot of brainstorming, I decided that the best way to get the wormlight apart was to use heat. Although there are such devices as "heat guns" made for tasks like this, I did not have one; but I did have a hair dryer. It turns out that this method worked nearly flawlessly to disassemble the wormlight's impenetrable housing.
This process doesn't really lend itself to be broken into separate steps, so I've written a paragraph and have added a few images as reference points.
You must have a lot of patience, this process alone takes at least about 10 minutes or so.
Hold
the wormlight by the coiled part and position it about 1/2 inch in front of the hair dryer on the highest setting (Figure 1). Hold it in the heat in intervals of about 30 seconds. This thing can stand a LOT of heat, so don't worry about it melting. You'll want to periodically check it to see if you can pull it apart with the small pliers (Figure 2), Please do not try to pull it apart while holding it in front of the hair dryer, you may burn your hands :( These pictures were taken with the dryer turned off. After about 3 or 4 minutes it should pull apart easily. Be VERY GENTLE, do not force it. If it's not pulling apart easily, just put it back into the heat, and try again.
Next we want to repeat the heating part of this process with the top part of the wormlight (Figure 3). You can't use pliers to get the top part open, so I've found that using an exacto knife gets the job done. It's best to use one of the rounded edge blades. Run the knife along the seem, but be VERY CAREFUL, you could easily cut yourself doing this (Figure 4). Note that the top part is a bit harder to get open than the base. Hold it in direct heat for either 30 second or 1 minute intervals. Eventually it will come apart without much effort.
Section Two - fitting a switch, resistor & the world's brightest LED into the wormlight
Step 1
Remove the old LED by desoldering it from the wires. Bend the leads of the "world's brightest" LED at a right angle and then snip the leads off(make sure that you leave enough of the leads to solder the wires to
-about 4mm). Now, solder the new LED onto the wires in place of the original LED.step 1 image
Step 2
Your battery holder should look very similar to this one. Don't worry if it's a little different because you'll be able to understand exactly what needs to be done in order to get the holder to fit onto the light. First, snip off the little bits shown in the picture(those bits provide support when mounting it on a motherboard but only get in the way for our purposes). step 2 image
Step 3
Now we need to drill holes in the base to push the leads of the battery holder through. I used the tip of an exacto knife. You could also use a tiny screwdriver to drill the holes. The measurements in the picture were for my particular holder, but since these things are built to standards, yours should be nearly the same. The BEST way to do it is to hold the battery holder against the base and mark where the leads touch the case. Also note that you may need to gouge out the holes a little to get the holder to fit tightly against the base since the end of the leads against the black plastic part are actually wider than the tips of the leads. It sounds a little confusing, but you'll see what I mean once you get into it.
step 3 image
Step 4
Now we'll be cutting out the hole for the switch. I started by drilling 3 holes in the space where the switch will fit, and then used an exacto knife to cut out the rectangular hole.step 4 image
Step 5
Now we're going to attach the battery holder and switch onto the base, so that we can begin the wiring. First, put some epoxy on the bottom of the battery holder where it will make contact with the base. I didn't need to use epoxy to hold the switch in because I made the rectangle small enough that it fit tightly, but you may need to use a tiny spot to hold your switch in place if it doesn't fit tightly.
step 5 image
Step 6
Now it's time to solder everything together :) First let me address the "resistor" issue: If you do not put a resistor into the circuit your light will be very bright at first, but then after a few minutes or so it will become dimmer. However if you add a resistor into the circuit you can limit the current that the LED draws from the batteries, this will give you more consistent light for a longer time. The value of the resistor is up to you.
Before starting, cut 2 small pieces of wire -you will need them to bridge the gap between the first LED lead wire and the switch and to bridge the gap between the second LED wire and the battery terminal. Start by soldering the left pole of the switch to the upper battery terminal. I simply used a tiny piece of wire as a jumper and coated it with solder. Next, solder one of the wires that run from the LED to the center pole of the switch(use your piece of wire as a jumper here). Now solder the second lead that the LED is connected to onto the lower battery terminal. Note: if you are using a resistor you would solder it in place of the white wire in the picture. ALSO: it doesn't matter really if you're unsure of your + and - leads from the LED because all you will need to do is to insert the batteries, and if it does not light, just flip them over :) step 6 image
Step 7
Putting everything into place. Be careful when putting everything together -you don't want to break any of the wires off that you just soldered :( You will need to tuck the wire that leads to the switch behind the board, and then run the wire that is connected to the lower batery terminal across the front of the circuit board. Be sure to insulate any bare wires that run across the circuit board. Depending on the thickness of the wire you used to connect to the lower battery terminal, you may need to remove a tiny piece of the corner. Note: be careful not to cut off too much of this corner or you will cut into one of the printed copper runs and lose link port pass-through ability :( step 7 image
Step 8
Snapping the casings back together. Now it's time to fit the LED(top part) casing and the base casing back together. IMPORTANT: make sure your light WORKS before you glue it all together :) Not too much to this step....apply a -tiny- bit of super glue around the seams of both casings (the top part that houses the LED and the base part), and glue them together. step 8 image
Note: in order to get the casing to fit together tightly, you may have to cut away some of the plastic "fins" that are on the inside of the casing. This may be necessary since the wire that runs in front of the board may be too thick to allow the casing to close properly. See this picture for details.
HOPEFULLY you have now completed the Cyclops mod and it looks similar to
this picture :)
Please sign the guestbook if you have success with the mod, Thank You!
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