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Submitted Tech Tips & Info.
If you'd like to submit a tip or info please e-mail me, and I'll place it in the appropriate category once it's been reviewed :)
Categories: Glare Issues | LED & light related | Miscellaneous
Glare Issues
Received this great walkthrough from Andreas who is in Germany :) I asked him about a possible alternative to the 5 1/4" floppy, but he hasn't come up with anything yet. What a creative idea!
"Some weeks ago I modded my light shield with the white led, the mod works great. But it was a bit annoying that there is so much glare on the screen.
I saw Andy´s idea of painting some parts of the clear plastic, but I don´t like to paint my gba. So here´s my idea to reduce the glare on the screen:"
What you need:
- An old 5 1/4 inch floppy disk from a home computer (e.g. Commodore C64 or an XT PC. BE CAREFUL! You´ll lose all the data stored on the disk because you cut it later)
- A sharp knife
- A light shield to fix the glare reducer
So let´s begin:
1. Open the floppy disk, be careful not to damage the plastic which protects the magnetical disk. Put out the magnetical disk, you don´t need it anymore.
2. Cut out the part shown on picture "disk" Picture 1
3. Cut the holes for the link port and for fitting the light shield into the gba case (picture "holes"). Use a ruler to check the correct size and position for the holes. Picture 2
4. Crack the part to a 90-degree-angle at the yellow line shown in picture Picture 3
5. Put this plastic device on your gba and fix it with the light shield.
That´s all! Now you can play in deepest night without any glare above the actual "play screen". Overview picture
Thanks Andreas!
The mother of all submissions so far :)
The fine print:You're on your own. This will void your warranty.
Use common sense. Work in a WELL ventilated area. We (the creators,
editors, and
contributors to gbalight.com) assume absolutely no liability, and offer
no claim that your results will match ours. If you have never used
spray
paint before, then paint something else first, as a test. A good choice
would be to take a piece of plastic (like an old margarine container),
and
practice the procedure on it, so that you feel comfortable. If you make
a
mistake while painting the GBA, a new one is only a hundred dollars :-)
Note: Please sign the guestbook if you have success with the mod, Thank You!
How to paint your GBA to reduce glare from accessory lights
Background on this modification:
The original Game Boy Advance has a very reflective screen, which causes
glare. A particularly annoying case of glare happens when you install
an accessory light, such as the Pelican Light Shield or Worm Light. The
best image is obtained when the light is shining nearly perpendicular to
the screen, but this also causes the most glare. The most distracting
glare
comes from the very top of the shiny clear plastic that extends above
the
active pixels on the screen. Glare from this strip can be completely
eliminated
by painting it with flat black paint.
you will need:
- Packaging tape (the clear stuff you use to tape shipping boxes
together)
- Duct tape (the grey stuff)
- Large plastic garbage bags, or polyethylene sheeting
- Scissors
- Exacto knife (or equivalent)
- Flat-Black spray paint. Make sure to get flat-black. Glossy black
paint will not work.
- Large, well-ventilated area, free of breezes, with a temperature
between 65 and 90 degrees
- Game Boy Advance
As with any procedure, it is best to read and understand the entire
instructions before
you begin. The whole procedure only takes about 15 minutes.
Cover a large work area with thick newspaper or plastic, unless you
don't mind painting
your work area :-). I covered a 6-ft x 6-ft. area. Spray paint travels
a long way.
This is called "over-spray". Remove any GBA accessories you have
installed (light,
headphones, rumble pack, etc.)
Step 1
Cut a strip of packaging tape and place it over the top of the
GBA as shown. Make sure
the bottom edge of the strip is just barely above the active part of
the screen.
You may want to turn on the GBA and start a game just to make sure
that the clear
tape does not cover up any of the picture.
step 1 image
Step 2
Cut another strip of packaging tape and place it immediately
below the first. The
edges of the tape should match exactly. The bottom strip will
obviously cover up
the display and buttons.
step 2 image
Step 3
Cut two more pieces of packaging tape and place them vertically
over the groove
between the other two pieces of tape, on the left and right side of
the GBA screen.
The purpose of these two strips is to prevent paint from getting
between the two
pieces of tape and leaving a horizontal line on your GBA.
step 3 image
Step 4
Using an exacto knife, cut the tape in the groove around the top
of the display.
Optionally, you can cut around the Nintendo
logo. While the
logo does not normally produce that much glare, you may notice a
little glare coming from the
shiny bottom ridges of the logo if you only paint the top of the
clear plastic display.
Packaging tape cuts very easily with a sharp Exacto knife. Just
gently push the knife into the
groove in the GBA. There will be a soft pop as the knife breaks
through the tape the
first time. Only push hard enough to cut through the tape. There is
no need to scrape
the bottom of the groove. Go slow and be patient, so you do not
scratch the GBA. Let
the knife ride against the outside edge of the groove.
step 4 image
Step 5
Gently remove the tape from the area that will be painted. The
tip of the knife
is a good way to get it started. Since the bottom edge of the area
to be painted is
also the ex-joint between the first two pieces of packaging tape, you
can now see
why you didn't have to cut across the surface of the clear platic GBA
screen. In picture
3, this is why there was a white dotted cut-line only along the top
of the paint-zone,
and not the bottom. The top edge of the remaining, bottom piece of
packaging tape
will leave a nice crisp edge after painting.
step 5 image
Step 6
Using duct tape and plastic bags, mask off the rest of the GBA,
and a large area
around the GBA (picture 6). Do not underestimate where spray paint
will go! It
is a fine mist, and will find its way to any exposed part of the
GBA. The only areas
of the GBA that should be exposed are the strip at the top of the
clear plastic
screen, and the Nintendo Logo (if you decided to paint the logo).
step 6 image
Step 7
Read the instructions on the paint can, and follow them. This
usually involves
shaking the can for a couple of minutes. You will hear a little ball
rattling around
inside the can while you do this. The can is typically held about a
foot from the
GBA and swept back and forth (picture 7). It will take more passes
than you think to cover
the GBA. Since the area you are painting is already black, the best
way to tell
if you have good coverage is to paint until the grey duct tape is
covered (picture 8).
Be gentle. One of the most common mistakes is to saturate with a
thick coat.
Several lighter coats work better. Follow the directions on the
paint can for how
long to wait between coats. At some point, the paint may look glossy
when wet.
Don't worry, when the paint drys, it will be a nice, flat black. One
good technique
is to hold the can to the side of the GBA, press the button, and
sweep across the
area to be painted, and then release the button. Repeat. If you are
also painting
the Nintendo logo, you may want to walk around to different sides of
the GBA and
paint from different angles to make sure paint gets into the groove.
Easy-does-it.
don't over-saturate with paint. When you are done with each coat,
turn the can
upside down, point it way away from everything, and spray until air
comes out
(this takes about 2 seconds). This ensures the nozzle won't get
clogged.
Step 8
Let the paint thoroughly dry. On my paint, this was an hour,
but if in
doubt, let it sit over-night. It is VERY, VERY important the paint
be bone
dry before removing the tape.
Step 9
Gently remove all the masking materials. There will be all
kinds of loose
paint that will flake off the plastic bags, making a mess. If you
use newspaper
instead of platic, you won't have the flaking problem, but I don't
trust
newspaper for this kind of job - it's just too easy for the paint to
soak
through to items below. Don't worry about the loose flakes. Gently
blow off the GBA, or wipe with a soft cotton cloth.
Step 10
Touch up. The second time I did this, there were a few tiny
bits of
sticky material from the packaging tape left on the upper grove of
the clear
plastic GBA display. These were trivially removed by very gently
rubbing them
off using the blade of the Exacto knive. Be gentle. You don't want
to scratch
or cut the plastic, just lift off any sticky left behind. I probably
had this
problem because I pushed the tape down harder than necessary before
painting,
so a tiny amount of sticky was left behind when I removed the tape.
A toothpick
might be a safer tool to use for this.
The final result should look like this
I was extremely pleased with the appearance as well as the glare
reduction.
Excellent work Andy! I'm sure that many people will find this glare reducing/eliminating painting walkthrough to provide awesome results :)
A member on the ign GBA bulletin board claims to have taken his GBA to an eye wear store, and had them put an anti-glare coating on the screen. I'm not sure what to make of this, but it definitely sounds interesting. The link is here.
I received the following e-mail from Stan Trevena about an addition to the mod that he tried. Although this isn't really a glare reduction solution for the screen, I believe it will cut down on the glare that is put out of the back and top of the shield for those of you who are using the transparent version. Thanks Stan!
"I just finished the mod, promptly went to a dark room and played Krazy Karts. I am impressed with the increased light. I did make one change though. I have the clear gameboy and did not like the way the light shined through the case. I taped off the hood and spray painted it with some glossy black paint on the inside. When you replace the assembly, it looks very factory (not hacked). I had a little mishap with the masking tape I used, and have a few very minor imperfections along the bottom edge, but overall it came out very well for a first attempt. Thanks for stepping out and experimenting to come up with this mod. You’ve done a service for all of those who are wanting bright light and long battery life. I’ve attached photos for your viewing (and posting on the website if you wish). Very cool indeed!
"
I've received e-mails from Eric at The Peoples Website and also from Chu Moy, each with separate, but similar solutions for reducing the glare produced by the bright LED.
Chu Moy suggests covering the bulb with a piece of frosted scotch tape, and Eric recommends that a material such as a gameboy case be incorporated into the mod. Both very good ideas and the gameboy case material seems to suit the situation extremely well! Good idea Eric. As soon as I try this out or as soon as Eric sends me some pictures of what he's working on I'll put them online.
In an attempt to reduce the glare created by the mod (and every other light source that's out there including the sun), people have been trying different methods that involve basically applying an add on cover or similar to the screen. PDA covers have come up in a few posts as a solution to this issue, but at ~$25 for a pack of 12 not too many people will probably want to spend that much for the fix.
So to reduce the glare while using the modded light shield, jasongst came up with an idea that I am posting here with his permission:
"The GBA faceplate produces a lot of glare not simply because it's polished, but because the faceplate perimeter extends far beyond the perimeter of the actual screen. This causes glare that is not even over the screen to reflect back into your eyes. This is especially true with the addon lights from Pelican, Nyko, etc.
To remedy this you'll have to cover the extra portion of the faceplate with something. Since I'm using the Light Shield LED Mod trick I have a very small glare point that appears directly above the screen. So, to remedy the problem I stuck a small strip (less than 1 inch long) of black electrical tape on the faceplace above the screen.
It sounds a bit crude, but it makes an enormous difference. The black color of the electrical tape diffuses light quite well, and allows you to focus better on the screen without having your pupils involuntarily constricting all the time.
If you peel the tape off you'll notice no residue (and if there is any it comes right off with a bit of water), so there's no risk. I suggest you give it a try. "
LED and light related
4 LED "super" lightboy mod
Here's a look at a lightboy advance that has been modded with not 1, not 2, but 4 1500mcd LEDs  Looks great, Thanks for the picture Ral!
"I had an old GBA Light/Mag thing,
http://www.lik-sang.com/catalog/product_info.php?category=48&products_id=1050&
So i ripped out the lame bulbs, and put in 4 small LEDs, (1500mcd) in there.
And now its great. The lights only cost $4.95AU ea, but the result is quite
good and was easy to do. Another option is to use the more expensive 8000mcd
5mm LEDs, but they may be TOO bright, at $9.95 they are too costly to test."
"Wide Mount" Double-LED Mod
The following is a post along with pictures submitted by jjswift on the gbalight message board :)
I successfully modded by Pelican LS using two WhiteLED.50deg.1500mcd LEDs. Here's the story...
RS VS. WHITELED
I originally bought two RS 276-320 LEDs. However, I compared them against the WhiteLED.50deg LEDs and found them to be slightly inferior. The RS LEDs have a bluish-green tint, while the WhiteLed LEDs have a light purple tint. I used Rayman Advance to compare them. Both LEDs seem to have the same brightness, but the bluish-green tint of the RS LED made the screen colors noticably darker compared to the WhiteLed LED. Unless I got a bad batch of 276-320s, I would recommend the WhiteLED 50deg.1500mcd LEDs over the Radio Shack LEDs.
THE ORIGINAL WIDE MOUNT IDEA
My original idea was a "super-wide" setup where each LED would be mounted not in the LED bay itself but at the top corners of the LS. However, I envisioned this concept before I bought any LEDs, and did not realize that if they were mounted anywhere besides the LED bay, the cover would not close completely. The great feature about this setup is that top-glare would not be a problem anymore. And if the LEDs were wide enough that side-glare was not a problem, the LS could be adjusted at any height without creating any glare! However, in my experimentation, I found that the LS is not wide enough in order for side-glare not to exist.
THE WIDE MOUNT
After soldering the two LEDs to the lead wire, I tried two different variations of positioning. Mounted side by side, the light was super bright, especially in the top middle part of the screen. However, the bottom part of the screen, especially the corners, was not getting enough light. I tried to aim the lights toward the bottom of the screen and toward the bottom corners, but the more I angled the lights, the more I lost overall brightness.
The second variation was to mount the LEDs as far apart as the LED bay allows, which is about 1/2 inch or so. The light was not as bright as it was when the LEDs were stuck together, but I found the light to be more uniform; the bottom portion of the screen, including the corners, was getting adequate light.
I decided to go with the second variation. With regard to the light fixture, instead of drilling holes at the two edges, I simply cut a rectangluar piece from each corner. I did this so I could adjust the angle of the lights after mounting them. After I screwed the light fixture back on and adjusting the LEDs to the desired angle, I dropped a bit of glue on the sides of the LEDs to affix them to the sides of the LED bay.
I will send Paul some pictures by the end of the week.
jjswift
Lightboy Advance modification
Recently a reader (Chu Moy) sent me his pictures and a story about how he modded his lightboy Advance. Thanks for the article Chu!
"
The LightBoy is Nintendo's official licensed light/magnifier accessory for the GBA and has gotten some excellent reviews. As it retails for $30-$40 in the US, I decided to get one of the LightBoy clones instead from a company called Level 6, which sells Lightboy clones for about $9. These clones are virtually identical to the Nintendo version.
The Lightboys use tiny incandescent bulbs. While the incandescent lighting was satisfactory, I preferred the white light of my modified Light Shield. I thought that replacing the bulbs with LEDs would give me both the clean illumination of the modded Light Shield and a magnifier. I replaced the two bulbs in the Lightboy with the same brand of white LEDs that I put in the Light Shield (not the Radio Shack LEDs). After some testing of the modified LightBoy and comparing it to my modified Light Shield, I must say that I still preferred the Light Shield, although I later came up with ways to further improve the performance of the modified Lightboy (see below).
I was disappointed with the end-result for several reasons. First, although the illumination was adequate for playing games in the dark, I could not achieve the same level of brightness as the modded Light Shield. In a lighted room, the LED light from the Lightboy was washed out and the GBA screen looked dark. This was due to the center beams of the LEDs firing above the GBA screen, not directly at it. There is little room in the lightbulb receptacles for repositioning the LEDs. Note: I obtained my white LEDs from a surplus outlet and they do not have the wide-angle dispersion of the Radio Shack LEDs. With Radio Shack LEDs, the illumination on the LightBoy screen would probably be much stronger.
Second, the LightBoy does not fit on a GBA with the Pelican PowerGrip installed.
Third, the LightBoy does not really protect the GBA screen from accidental scratches as the Light Shield does. In fact, the magnifying lens is fully exposed, so both the GBA screen and the magnifier are subject to damage. Thus, in these respects, the modded Light Shield is (IMHO) the superior lighting accessory for the GBA, if the magnifier is not needed.
However, I do think that the LED mod can be successfully implemented on the Lightboy, if modders install the wide-angle white LEDs such as the Radio Shack LEDs to increase the strength of the indirect lighting on the GBA screen. Smaller LEDs would be easier angle, but smaller LEDs usually have weaker illumination. And there is actually an advantage to indirect illumination of the GBA screen: less glare from light reflecting off the magnifier. Of course, brighter LEDs do not address the second and third objections that I raised, but not every GBA owner will care about these objections.
I also recommend getting at least 2 LightBoys for experimentation. The plastic frame of the LightBoy is rigid and brittle. The second unit could be kept as a source of replacement parts if the first Lightboy is damaged during the mod process."
Updated, 10-7-01:
"
I recently purchased a copy of Tetris World and was frustrated with the tiny size of the tetriminos. While the modded lightshield was fine for illuminating the screen, the tetriminos were still too small for my liking. It seemed that the best solution was the Lightboy magnifier.
I modded my Lightboy several months ago, but was not satisified with the results (see my previous submission for details). Since I now need the magnifier, I took out the Lightboy and updated the modifications to try and improve the performance. Here's what I did:
1. I enlarged the LED mounting holes in the clear plastic lenses into an oval shape so that there was more room to position the LEDs.
2. I replaced the cheap white LEDs that I obtained from a surplus outlet with the brighter, wider viewing-angle Radio Shack LEDs.
3. I bent the LEDs to shine directly on the GBA screen as much as possible before closing the top of the Lightboy cover.
The result is excellent. The modded LightBoy can be used with or without the magnifier. Without the magnifier, the illumination is as good as that from the LightShield." The Tetris World Main Menu screen is normally very dark. With the modded Lightboy LEDs turned on, the screen is perfectly clear and readable.
In the TW Game Screen, the illumination works well with the magnifier, but there is increased glare due to the brightness and directionality of the LED lights. The Lightboy cover can be angled to reduce the glare, but it's still fairly strong. I find I can ignore the glare most of the time. Best of all, the Tetris tetriminos are very easy to see and I enjoy playing TW much more. I completely recommend the Lightboy mod.
"
Some info from Huw about keeping the reflector with pictures!
"Man, do I love this device. As you can see, I managed to find a way of
keeping the reflector by bending the led wires and cutting a small notch out
of the reflector (see attached jpeg's). It was a bit of a delicate operation
and I'm not sure it will have improved the light at all, however it felt
good to keep it in. I guess it decreases the reverse glare that Stan
mentioned when using the translucent Glacier shield (in the 'finish' jpeg,
the reflector is just visible in the shield hood).
"
Huw's pictures!
Thanks a lot Huw!
The radioshack 276-320 LED: In regard to the particular LED that I suggest in this modification: The most important reason for choosing this particular LED at the onset of this idea was a choice made out of convenience. That having been said, please realize that this LED may or may not be the best LED for this application. I've read at more than 1 website that the 276-320 casts more of a blue hue(and blue halo) than most white LEDs out there. Also note that LEDs are made in batches and the mcd ratings are not set in stone, so you could have 2 of the exact same LEDs and one could be dimmer/brighter than the other.
Do not take this info the wrong way, the radioshack LED is a very satisfactory LED to use in this modification and nearly everyone is finding that it perfectly suits their needs; it's just that there will always be a search for Perfection. :)
Please bear in mind as well that almost everyone has access to a radioshack so it is much more convenient for most people to gain access to this particular LED than it would be for most people to say, search around online for countless hours trying to find a site that sells the obscure "perfect" LED. If in my testing I happen to come across a "perfect" or much better LED, I will most certainly post a link to the source so that anyone who wants to get one will be able to buy one if they so choose.
Steve is a reader who e-mailed me some wonderful information on the physical design of the LEDs that I have never heard or realized before; he has told me that LEDs by design have an internal reflector at the base of the lens which is basically the factor that defines the LEDs as directional lights. So my original findings about the minimal gain from saving the reflector from the light shield seems to have been well founded. Thanks Steve!
2 LED mod variation submitted by Steven!
I've received e-mails from at least 3 different readers informing me that they decided to use 2 LEDs in the mod instead of 1. Here is an e-mail from Steven and a collage of pictures that he took of his 2 LED variation of the mod :)
"I had installed 2 bulbs (276-320) in it but I was messed up with the wires (you can see it from the picture) anyway it's brighter now!!! I have attached the pictures here. You can put them up if you want to. I have sun filter on screen to have glare less. It's great
Hope you think so!!!
Steven"
2 LED mod variation submitted by David!
"Hi,
Just wanted to send you pic of my mod. I have the 2 light variation and it
works great.
Thanks for the site.
Dave"
Miscellaneous
An e-mail from Colin in the U.K. with info on finding the LS and an alternative to the rs 276-320 LED as well :)
"A little tip, if you could put it on your site; this will be very helpful for U.K. owners of the GBa, looking to locate the Pelican lightshield.
I have found that `Woolworths` (a chain of shops in the U.K.) sells the `Logic 3
lightshield`, which is actually a Pelican Lightshield reboxed. Its the exact
same item as the Pelican.
It costs only £5.99 which is about the cheapest light/protector I`ve seen.
Further GBA light mod info from the U.K. We do not have Radio Shack
over here; the U.K. arm is known as Tandy but it seems to be shut down
everywhere. The best place I have found to source the white LED is
Maplin. The part number from their catalogue is: NR73Q
The cost of this LED is £2.99, it is called the Nichia white LED, 5mm,
3.6v.
Hope this helps other U.K. searchers, as I spent a fair bit of net time looking
around all the online shops to find this unit you advised,
Colin Bailey
colin.bailey@totalise.co.uk"
Thanks for the useful info Colin!
Here is a great tip from Chris regarding the drilling difficulty that some people may be having with the mod:
"I've heard several people say that they had some difficulties drilling the pilot hole during the modification process. The complaint seems to be the "dancing drill bit" where it takes some effort to get the bit to bite into the surface. One tactic used when drilling glass might come in handy here. Take a small piece of masking tape and place it over the area where you want to drill. The drill bit will easily bite into the masking tape as you drill through. Simple as that!
Hope this helps.
Chris Erickson (IGN cerickso)"
Here's a Great tip from Steve (along with an excellent illustration!) that will allow you to remove the LS from the GBA with a lot less effort!
"One little other thing I've done to my light to improve the ease of
removal from the GBA, should I wish it; I've slightly filed down the
teeth that grab those accesory holes on the GBA's back. It did the
trick nicely; they were just too tight."
Click on thumbnail below for larger image.
Some interesting experimentation that suggests long life of the LED when running at the 3v level. Also, some observations made while running it at the 5v level Thanks to Jan!
"Just a quick note to give you my latest experience. I've played my modded
Glowguard for several days without a problem. It doesn't have the dimmer
feature that the Lightshield has, but even though I've been playing GBC
games the LED shows no sign of strain. It's life may be shortened by the 5v
input, but it's not burning out right away at least :) This bodes well for
its longevity in theLightshield, which does have a dimmer.
I also bought a Lightshield to mess with. I like the way it fits the Gameboy
much better than the Glowguard. At first I was pretty pleased with it as it
was, but as soon as I started playing GBC games on it, the light burned out.
I even knew enough to keep the dimmer down, and it still burned out. That
bulb doesn't make it. So, I ordered some LEDs to play with from
RadioShack.com. I put in their 5mm "High Intensity White" LED (90-7864), and
it's good, but still not as good as the 276-320. It's not quite as bright,
and has a little more of the spotlight effect, but it does not have the
"blue ring". Still, it's quite usable, even with Castlevania, so it would
make an OK substitution if the 276-320 was not available for some reason.
When running a GBC game, with 5v, it can be turned up really bright, and in
that mode outshines the 276-320. Of course, I don't know how long it will
last with 5v going thru it yet.
For now, I'm going with the 276-320 in the Lightshield, hehe. No surprises
there I guess.
Thanks again,
Jan "
7-11-01 Here's a great message with some very useful information for anyone who might be experimenting on their own with variations on the modification. Great work Andy!
I built the GBA LED light mod per your web instructions,
and it worked great. Those instructions were awesome.
After that, I bought another Pelican light at Wal-Mart,
and modified it a little differently. Attached are
two pictures. I put in two Radio Shack white LEDs, and
bypassed the internal circuit altogether. I removed
the dimmer switch, and used the old on/off switch for
a dimmer. In 3V (GBA) mode, the LEDs are both in parallel
straight across the power supply. At 3.3 V, I measured
well under 20 ma each. An 5V (GBC) mode, you have to
flip the little black switch, and it puts a 47 ohm
resistor in series with the LEDs. The long switch on
the side is the power switch. Since this switch was
easier to accidently bump off and on, that is why I used
it (the big switch) for power, and the little switch for
dimming. By not using the internal circuitry from the
original Pelican light, I could get noticably more
current through the LEDs. I reverse engineered the
schematic from the Pelican light, and can send you a copy
if you're interested. There's 3 transistors and a
handful of resistors. It appears that the circuit draws
100ma in both 3V and 5V mode, when the dimmer is set at
maximum.
The toggle switch in my modified light is epoxeed in place.
 
One other mod I made to your plans was to drill the holes
at a slight angle, so that they would point right at the
center of the GBA screen. What's interesting, is that as
you rotate the shield up and down, the center of the LED
illumination pattern stays amazingly centered.
I found a great way to jig up the clear plastic piece for
drilling. If I do another one, I'll send you a picture.
After removing the clear plastic piece from the Pelican light, I screwed
it
to a small block of wood, the same as if the wood was the Pelican
lid. I used two very small screws from a 5/8" miniature
hinge set I got at Home Depot. Then, I took the plastic/wood block
assembly, and stuck it in a vice. I rotated it in the
vice until I got
the angle I wanted, and then drilled the two LED holes
with a drill press. The results look professional, and I was
able to aim the LED holes so the LED beams would be centered
on the GBA screen.
Editor's Note: Andy has since mailed me a clarification regarding the process explained above:
"On the way to work, I realized I mis-spoke on one detail
of how I drilled the angled holes in my clear plastic
piece from the Pelican Light. When I screwed it to the
block of wood, I screwed it face-down, *NOT* face-up,
which is what I think I implied in my e-mail.
I really need to re-enact the process and take a picture
of it
- a picture's worth a thousand words."
I've tested both 20-degree angle (bought over the web)
and 100-degree (Radio Shack) LEDs. The Radio Shack ones
have the problem that they have a blue ring pattern. The
20-degree bulbs don't illuminate all of the GBA screen, because
their pattern is too small. I think you mention this either
on your web site, or in one of your postings.
I took photos and measured the angles, and it looks like
the GBA screen is about 30 degrees wide, so a 45-degree or
50-degree bulb may be the best tradeoff in terms of brightness
and good full-screen coverage. I'm going to try 45 or 50-degree
white LEDs next.
I've also been looking into better power supply circuits.
It appears that the Maxim MAX1698 is the ultimate DC-to-DC
boost converter for running LEDs from low voltages.
It is specifically designed to drive LED strings (e.g. two to
4 LEDs in series) with 2.7 to 5.5 Volts input. It requires an
external NMOSFET, shotky diode, inductor, 20-ohm resistor, and couple of
capacitors. If you care to add a 500K-ohm potentiometer,
you can also have full dimming capability. It is 90% efficient.
Unfortunately, the potentiometer in the Pelican Light has the
wrong resistance to work with the dimming circuit in the Maxim
power converter. Oh well. The beauty of it is that the output
current will be the same independant of what game you are playing.
By the way, I found a great way to test modified Pelican lights without
risking
damage to the GBA console. I attach the Pelican light to a wood mock-up
of the GBA. I bought a multi-player cable, cut off the end and strip
the wires,
and plug it in the back of the Pelican light. I can then run
a variable power supply into the modified Pelican light and easily
take current measurements. On the cable I disassembled,
the black wire is ground, and the white wire is VCC.
Feel free to post any portion of this note, and/or the accompanying
pictures if you think it would be of interest. I'm going back to the
lab.
-Andy
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