My "overengineered" logo backlight mod.

[StarDust4Ever]

So I posted in another thread regarding my backlight mod:

I also keep thinking I want to do the LED mod to the logo.  Did you use an LED strip or just single LEDs?

As for the LED mod itself, I bought out my local Radio Shack of white four-pin 3mm LED packages. Wanted 8 but they only had seven so I had to make do with what I got. I later realised I got robbed pretty bad buying all seven square mount LEDs they had, paying $5 each for parts I could have ordered online for 25 cents. I installed the LEDs on a perfboard PCB and supplied each one with a 100 ohm resistor because I don't trust them to stay in tolerance when parallel connected. The perfboard was cut to size, roughly 1x3.5 inches, and the whole assembly was covered in several layers of black electric tape. The PCB is held onto the case with velcro so it can be repositioned if need be. I used leftover pieces from the perfboard I originally cut to build up a platform for it to rest on so the LEDs didn't poke the backside of the decal. Because the LED board is too thick, I had to cut a rectangular hole in the top side shielding to allow the assembly to fit. I ran the black and red wires and soldered directly to the 7805 regulator. After I installed everything, I looked up a video tutorial on Youtube from Game-Tech

and realized I had way over-engineered my backlight mod. I took photos of it but haven't uploaded them online yet. I'll eventually upload them to a Flickr album and make a thread about it later.

And here it is:





Full gallery, also showing off my AV Famicom power LED and custom backlit DMG Gameboy...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30203515@N04/sets/72157669550796415/

Compared to Game Tech's tutorial video, my backlight seems really over-engineered.

Also Radio Shack was highway robbery. I bought all seven 4-pin package white LEDs my local store had in stock at $5 a piece, for what really should have been a 50 cent part, a fairly high markup for buying them local and not shop around elsewhere online...

Radio Shack @ $4.99
https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-4-pin-dip-3mm-round-white-led

Digikey @ $0.47
http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?mpart=OVFSW6C8&vendor=365

[rxmage]

Looks good!  I sure like the way that TurboGrafx16 logo glows.
Does the sticker come off pretty easy without damaging it?

[StarDust4Ever]

Looks good!  I sure like the way that TurboGrafx16 logo glows.
Does the sticker come off pretty easy without damaging it?

Thanks! The sticker comes off easily. Work the tip of a hobby knife underneath the logo and it will begin to lift off. Be careful not to scrape the logo or the case plastic with the knife and pull up slowly so you don't bend the logo.

When you route out the hole, you will want to leave about a 2mm lip inside the edge of the rectangle. It does not have to be perfect but you must be careful not to cut too much away or you will have a gap showing on the edge of the logo. Because there is not much surface area for the sticker adhesive, I recommend permanently gluing it down with super glue. Thinly spread it around the edge. Do not use too much though or you'll be sorry if it gets outside the recessed hole.

I used a Dremel cutting wheel to cut the rectangular slot in the case because the board did not fit. I secured the insulating black pad with super glue towards the back of the shield since the screw that held it in place got cut away.

As for the LEDs, radio shack didn't sell "strips" like what Game Tech had so I used what I could find in store. If I had it to do over again, I'd save about $30 ordering the LEDs online from a different parts supplier...

[rxmage]

Good to know about the sticker.  Always been nervous about doing the mod because I was afraid the sticker would get stress marks from being removed.  I like the Velcro attachment for the led panel.   Too bad it has to have a hole cut in the shielding to fit.  Thanks for posting pics and info of your mod.   I love looking at this kind of stuff.

[StarDust4Ever]

Good to know about the sticker.  Always been nervous about doing the mod because I was afraid the sticker would get stress marks from being removed.  I like the Velcro attachment for the led panel.   Too bad it has to have a hole cut in the shielding to fit.  Thanks for posting pics and info of your mod.   I love looking at this kind of stuff.

The velcro just allows me to readjust it as many times as I need until it looks perfect. I imagine my seven LEDs will give better dispersion compared to Game Tech's three, even if mine have a narrower beam. LED stuff is always hard to photograph though when it saturates the CCD sensors in the camera, so I sometimes take photos with and without the flash. The non-flash photo of the LED array (in my Flickr stream), you can't even see the board! The naked array is also garishly bright to look at with your eye:


Then there's the AV Famicom Power LED. Completely over-saturated in the photos but it gives off the most brilliant red glow to the unaided human eye. Maybe if I had something higher end than a $200 Nikon Coolpix to shoot photos with. Still light years better than a smart phone:

[SignOfZeta]

So that's why they made the TG-16 so f*cking big.

[StarDust4Ever]

So that's why they made the TG-16 so f*cking big.

Yup. I gotta come up with something creative LED project to do inside my smokey N64! 

[ginoscope]

I liked the DMG gameboy mod.  Which tutorial did you use?   I just picked up a DMG gameboy on the cheap and wanted to add this mod.

I do like the logo led on the TG16 but I been too lazy to add that to my system.  I have the same led mod on my av famicom and top loader. 

[StarDust4Ever]

I liked the DMG gameboy mod.  Which tutorial did you use?   I just picked up a DMG gameboy on the cheap and wanted to add this mod.

I do like the logo led on the TG16 but I been too lazy to add that to my system.  I have the same led mod on my av famicom and top loader.

I got the "olive" backlight kit from gameboymods.co.uk to match the original color of the screen but they come in a variety of colors. The yellow/green case was originally installed by the previous owner. I just "completed" it by adding the backlight. I recently ordered a new backlight for it since one of the LEDs failed in the old one.

EDIT: Looks like their website has been hijacked! 
https://web.archive.org/web/20151210043900/http://gameboymodscouk.ipage.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=60

Installation had me sweating bullets. Last time I did something so stressful was when I installed the CopyUSB on my NES and had to remove the CPU without breaking any pins. There is a thick foil backing on the Game Boy LCD you must peel off before inserting the backlight. You've got to take it slow or you risk cracking the screen. I was sweating bullets during the process.

Many gamers also choose to perform a "bivert" mod, rotating the polarization filter 90 degrees which inverts the pixel shade. Then they add a dual or hex inverter chip to the data lines to reverse the output. Essentially this improves the contrast significantly, but I was too chicken to do it.

[ginoscope]

Thanks for the info I'm going to order the parts I need soon. 

[VenomMacbeth]

I'd almost like to do a lesser version of this...with only the "16" illuminated, maybe?  Hmm...

[StarDust4Ever]

I'd almost like to do a lesser version of this...with only the "16" illuminated, maybe?  Hmm...

I discovered the Turbografx logo ink floresces in blue/UV light, so the the high blue spectral content of the cool white high intensity LEDs is not wasted. The yellow dye is almost greenish. But why go through the trouble and not do the entire logo?

[VenomMacbeth]

I'd almost like to do a lesser version of this...with only the "16" illuminated, maybe?  Hmm...

I discovered the Turbografx logo ink floresces in blue/UV light, so the the high blue spectral content of the cool white high intensity LEDs is not wasted. The yellow dye is almost greenish. But why go through the trouble and not do the entire logo?

It's just a nitpick on my part.  I've never seen a console with the entire logo illuminated.  It's not that it doesn't look super awesome or anything...It would just make more sense to me for such a light to be more of an accent.  Plus, if NEC was going to do something like this officially, I could see them lighting the "16" as an intended distraction from the fact that the system runs on an 8-bit processor, something that people were skeptical about when the console was new...idk, I'm overthinking it I guess.  Seriously awesome work though

[deubeul]

Really nice!!

[wilykat]

If it glows under UV light, how about UV LEDs behind?