GBA Light Mods?

neoak · Post by **neoak** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:00 pm

I still have my old GBA around, but seeing as I never bought the Afterburner kit

and i don't like the clam like design of the SP, i wonder if anyone knows about a Mod using Leds or EL wire or something to get some light in that screen. It has to be something that will reside inside the console case, no external stuff (that rules the Halo Light out)

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:11 am

You could do it, EL wire might do it, but it might draw more power. But it'll look pants compared to an Afterburner

arrowhead · Post by **arrowhead** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:40 am

My buddy tried with LEDs and it washed everything out and was useless.

neoak · Post by **neoak** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:51 am

I might try to do something like the GBA SP, which IIRC, has an EL wire around the screen to provide the Front Light. LEDs wash the image if they are too bright, so that is why you need a potenciometer.

Anyone knows if the SP does have an EL wire?

dcmodder · Post by **dcmodder** » Fri Nov 04, 2005 1:31 pm

no the sp has (basically) a modified afterburner kit. had an after burner btw and it was soooooo awsome i had to order 2 :-D (dont have the other one if that's what you're thinking. lol.

jemsic · Post by **jemsic** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:16 pm

Today I just saw a new sp in the store that said it had a new brighter BACKLIT screen. I know the old one had a afterburner-like light, but this new version was probly a last ditch effort before the new tiny gameboy.

neoak · Post by **neoak** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:59 pm

No. Read before you post. If you had read about it in the internet, you would have known that the new GBA SP screen has the same technology the Micro screen has.

Anyway, i guess i'll have to get the EL wire, or does anyone has another idea. (If you are thinking about buying the SP or the Micro... you better keep it to yourself)

MKE · Post by **MKE** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:22 pm

ive actually been toying with a way to backlight my gba too, i prefer the old school gba to the new-er ones..it fit's my fat hands better.

ive also read the halo light's are really good too...

jemsic · Post by **jemsic** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:57 pm

No. Read before you post. If you had read about it in the internet, you would have known that the new GBA SP screen has the same technology the Micro screen has.

Anyway, i guess i'll have to get the EL wire, or does anyone has another idea. (If you are thinking about buying the SP or the Micro... you better keep it to yourself)

Why the hell would I need to read before I post? I don't care at all about gameboy, and I didn't say that the new sp was different than the micro, I just said it was backlit.

Nemesis · Post by **Nemesis** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:21 pm

yes, this time around it is truly backlit, so it will look like a DS screen, and so is the micro...same type of screen/backlight....

Smiley · Post by **Smiley** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:48 pm

obviously some backburner kits still show up on ebay...

DaMadFiddler · Post by **DaMadFiddler** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 4:43 pm

See if you can find an Afterburner kit on eBay. When I first got a GBA, bought an Afterburner'ed one online, which I was incredibly happy with until I sold it to Quzar to finance a DS purchase.

It was a great light, it didn't wash out the image at all, and it was *much* better than my housemate's SP. You might still be able to find a few kits floating around online...or, if all else fails, find a secondhand pre-modded system.

semicolo · Post by **semicolo** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:35 pm

Maybe thos things could do the trick :
http://www.lumitex.com/lcd_backlighting.html

I saw these on an atari lynx forum, it seems it's a bit weak for a lynx backlight replacement, but maybe ok for gba.

Strapping Scherzo · Post by **Strapping Scherzo** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:45 pm

I installed the afterburner mod in my GBA years ago. I got a little bit of dust in there tough. I loved showing kids my GBA and they'd be like WOW! But, man, nothing compares to the new SP screen. Playing GBA is suddenly even more enjoyable.

I do like the original form factor more though. I wish I could take the guts from my SP and put it in an original shell. Probably is possible.

I have 3 GBAs now. My original white with the afterburner, my SP NES edition, and my graphite SP with brighter beautiful screen.

ILAMtitan · Post by **ILAMtitan** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:33 am

You have to be carefull when you use those EL strips. My roommate tried to install one to backlight his TR707 LCD, but it just didnt work. The polarization of the lcd blocked out the light. The leds are also a bad choice since they dont provide even lighting. Your idea for the EL wire might work, if you didnt mind a power inverter hanging outside of the unit. those inverters are necessary for the wire to work, and can be rather large. Even though you dont want the afterburner, it would probably be your best bet to just go to ebay and find one.