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FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
As many of you know , about a year ago , a guy called Adam Curtis , started to make a back light for the GBA. About a year on , and it's reality ! And how gooder reality it is !
I recieved mine on wednesday morning , because im only 14 , i had to go to school , so i installed it that night.
It comes in a small package , wrapped in a bubble wrap envelope.
The instructions are all published like real published book and each part of the kit is well constructed and easy to install.
INSTALLATION :
So I start out by taking apart my GBA with the tri head screw driver that I got with it (from liksang) , which took all of 2 minutes.
Next I follow the easy instructions , and start to CUT my gameboy ! yep you heard me right , CUT my beloved gameboy.
I mark out the bit I have to cut it out , and do it , which took me about 20 odd minutes to get it right (im a bit of a perfectionist) so that the light would fit into it.
Luckily the bit that you have to cut out is where the black gameboy advance logo is , so when you put the screen back on you cant see the damage , phew !
Now I have to put some reflective film on the lcd screen , which stops the light from reflecting … this is when the problems start :(
I determine which side of the film is sticky , line it up with screen , get the black plastic card that is provided , and lift up the corner of the “release film” , my heart sinks when a tiny bit of the glue layer lifts off , and im left with a corner with smudged up glue on it … DAM ! ..and … it’s visible from the outside ! But I can’t change that now , so I carry on.
The non reflective layer , goes on perfectly without any bubbles or anything underneath it … nice.
Now I have to solder … uh oh ;) In the past I have ruined things by soldering for too long , but I’ve learnt from my mistakes and .. start to solder. I have to put the black and red wires onto the ribbon cable coming from the afterburner (the light), which surprisingly is very easy , and goes off without a hitch ! wahoo !
For the next hour or so , I’m fiddling about inside my gameboy (and out) fitting a resistor to a very small terminal thingy ( like fitting a switch to your gamecube) that also surprisingly goes very very well , and I get it right first time ! Now the real problems start, problems that almost make me give up…
I could finish it now , and just have the light inside without a switch on the outside to change the brightness. I thought it would be pretty easy , and cool to have this brightness switch so I go for it … oh what a terrible mistake it was.
To start with I have to make 4 small holes on the right hand side of the gameboy (on the back , below the r button). To do this I use my soldering iron , and then flatten them out with my screw driver.
All going well to far, then I put the brightness dial on , and I notice a problem , I made the holes to far up , so soldering is hard.
To cut a long story short , I try and try to solder the wires to these 2 (the other 2 prongs were used for mounting only) very close together prongs , and succeed, when I try to put the GBA back to together the wires get caught on the game cartridge bit , where you put in the games , and they snap. This happens twice on the second time , I am so demoralised , that I just forget the dial , and finish it without it. I can go back and fit it later if I want to.
OVERALL:
The overall result , is probably the best add on I have ever bought ! I can see my screen , AT LAST !
I can actually look directly at the screen without having to tilt it towards the light. And most of all, I can see it perfectly at night, and the graphics and the whole game in general looks excellent, and I can honestly say they look better with the light.
I may have made it sound as if it was a nightmare to install, but it really wasn’t. The hardest part was having to cut out bits of plastic from the casing, and fitting that switch (but that could have been easy if I had put it in the right place, I could have made new holes , but I thought it might look messy) .
All in all , for £30 , it’s well worth the money , it will enhance your games playing by infinite amounts (unless of course you break your gameboy in the process of installing it , but it seems very hard to actually break it). The only problem with it is , that the light is SO bright , that after a while of playing in pitch darkness it does hurt your eyes a bit , but that’s what happens with most bright lights. And of course , you wont be able to play during lessons , that you have to watch boring videos, and they turn off the lights , because the gameboy turns into a light itself , it’s just that bright.
RATING : 10/10 !
SUPERB
As many of you know , about a year ago , a guy called Adam Curtis , started to make a back light for the GBA. About a year on , and it's reality ! And how gooder reality it is !
I recieved mine on wednesday morning , because im only 14 , i had to go to school , so i installed it that night.
It comes in a small package , wrapped in a bubble wrap envelope.
The instructions are all published like real published book and each part of the kit is well constructed and easy to install.
INSTALLATION :
So I start out by taking apart my GBA with the tri head screw driver that I got with it (from liksang) , which took all of 2 minutes.
Next I follow the easy instructions , and start to CUT my gameboy ! yep you heard me right , CUT my beloved gameboy.
I mark out the bit I have to cut it out , and do it , which took me about 20 odd minutes to get it right (im a bit of a perfectionist) so that the light would fit into it.
Luckily the bit that you have to cut out is where the black gameboy advance logo is , so when you put the screen back on you cant see the damage , phew !
Now I have to put some reflective film on the lcd screen , which stops the light from reflecting … this is when the problems start :(
I determine which side of the film is sticky , line it up with screen , get the black plastic card that is provided , and lift up the corner of the “release film” , my heart sinks when a tiny bit of the glue layer lifts off , and im left with a corner with smudged up glue on it … DAM ! ..and … it’s visible from the outside ! But I can’t change that now , so I carry on.
The non reflective layer , goes on perfectly without any bubbles or anything underneath it … nice.
Now I have to solder … uh oh ;) In the past I have ruined things by soldering for too long , but I’ve learnt from my mistakes and .. start to solder. I have to put the black and red wires onto the ribbon cable coming from the afterburner (the light), which surprisingly is very easy , and goes off without a hitch ! wahoo !
For the next hour or so , I’m fiddling about inside my gameboy (and out) fitting a resistor to a very small terminal thingy ( like fitting a switch to your gamecube) that also surprisingly goes very very well , and I get it right first time ! Now the real problems start, problems that almost make me give up…
I could finish it now , and just have the light inside without a switch on the outside to change the brightness. I thought it would be pretty easy , and cool to have this brightness switch so I go for it … oh what a terrible mistake it was.
To start with I have to make 4 small holes on the right hand side of the gameboy (on the back , below the r button). To do this I use my soldering iron , and then flatten them out with my screw driver.
All going well to far, then I put the brightness dial on , and I notice a problem , I made the holes to far up , so soldering is hard.
To cut a long story short , I try and try to solder the wires to these 2 (the other 2 prongs were used for mounting only) very close together prongs , and succeed, when I try to put the GBA back to together the wires get caught on the game cartridge bit , where you put in the games , and they snap. This happens twice on the second time , I am so demoralised , that I just forget the dial , and finish it without it. I can go back and fit it later if I want to.
OVERALL:
The overall result , is probably the best add on I have ever bought ! I can see my screen , AT LAST !
I can actually look directly at the screen without having to tilt it towards the light. And most of all, I can see it perfectly at night, and the graphics and the whole game in general looks excellent, and I can honestly say they look better with the light.
I may have made it sound as if it was a nightmare to install, but it really wasn’t. The hardest part was having to cut out bits of plastic from the casing, and fitting that switch (but that could have been easy if I had put it in the right place, I could have made new holes , but I thought it might look messy) .
All in all , for £30 , it’s well worth the money , it will enhance your games playing by infinite amounts (unless of course you break your gameboy in the process of installing it , but it seems very hard to actually break it). The only problem with it is , that the light is SO bright , that after a while of playing in pitch darkness it does hurt your eyes a bit , but that’s what happens with most bright lights. And of course , you wont be able to play during lessons , that you have to watch boring videos, and they turn off the lights , because the gameboy turns into a light itself , it’s just that bright.
RATING : 10/10 !
SUPERB
Page:
Where abouts did you install the dimmer? I am going to install it here:
http://www.tritonlabs.com/ cgi-bin/ikonboard/ ikonboard.cgi?s=3d2472bc5007ffff;act=ST;f=1;t=169;st=0
remove spaces
:D
http://www.tritonlabs.com/ cgi-bin/ikonboard/ ikonboard.cgi?s=3d2472bc5007ffff;act=ST;f=1;t=169;st=0
remove spaces
:D
it took me about 3 hours because :
1) i wanted it the best i could do , so i took my time.
2) the cutting on the gameboy took a while , measuring and then eventually having to "bodge" it a bit (i had to trim and cut extra bits off , and then wedge it in place.)
3) striping the very thin wires was a pain (i kept cuttign the wire inside ;( )
4) When i went to shut it up , i found that one of the wires had got caught and split.
5) i tried to install the brightness dial, but messed it up a bit (but fixed it at the weekend ;))
6) Had to take out one of the batteries to trick my dad that i had broken it .. tehe ;)
all that took me from about 5:30pm , till about 8:30pm, it's damn time consuming !
1) i wanted it the best i could do , so i took my time.
2) the cutting on the gameboy took a while , measuring and then eventually having to "bodge" it a bit (i had to trim and cut extra bits off , and then wedge it in place.)
3) striping the very thin wires was a pain (i kept cuttign the wire inside ;( )
4) When i went to shut it up , i found that one of the wires had got caught and split.
5) i tried to install the brightness dial, but messed it up a bit (but fixed it at the weekend ;))
6) Had to take out one of the batteries to trick my dad that i had broken it .. tehe ;)
all that took me from about 5:30pm , till about 8:30pm, it's damn time consuming !
I got it from portabelgamer.co.uk They sell them there for £10, which is a pretty good deal.
:D
:D
Micro,
Where did you get your replacement screen from?
Cheers
Where did you get your replacement screen from?
Cheers
===SONICRAV---> wrote:
> You know, this won 3rd place in the EDGE awards for hardware
> innovation. (Or was it 2nd?).
>
> Might have to get me one of these when I get a GBA:)
You can get them ready fitted at portable gamer which is cool they do black, clear blue, white, purple(or indego) and they are £99.99 though they dont fit the brightness dial.
> You know, this won 3rd place in the EDGE awards for hardware
> innovation. (Or was it 2nd?).
>
> Might have to get me one of these when I get a GBA:)
You can get them ready fitted at portable gamer which is cool they do black, clear blue, white, purple(or indego) and they are £99.99 though they dont fit the brightness dial.
Well, I decided not to install it until I get my replacement screen, which will be this week/next week.
:)
:)
You know, this won 3rd place in the EDGE awards for hardware innovation. (Or was it 2nd?).
Might have to get me one of these when I get a GBA:)
Might have to get me one of these when I get a GBA:)
I am going to do the brightness dial when I do actaully insallt it, so it may/may not take 3 hours. How did it take 3 hours anyways? What part was the most time consuming?
Thanks for all the positive comments guys.
^_^
Thanks for all the positive comments guys.
^_^
lets take bets on how long it will take him :
it took me about 3 and a half hours, and i messed up the brightness dial (fixed it the next day)
i reckon it will take you 3 hours without the brightness dial , or about 3 and a half with the dial (if you do it right).
good luck.
it took me about 3 and a half hours, and i messed up the brightness dial (fixed it the next day)
i reckon it will take you 3 hours without the brightness dial , or about 3 and a half with the dial (if you do it right).
good luck.
Heh, thanks Guys! ^_^
I may actually install it tonight! I read on triton labs forums that you can install the AB then change the front cover by edging it off slightly! YAY!
:)
Ah well, if i do install it tonight, expect some info on how it went...tonight!
:D
I may actually install it tonight! I read on triton labs forums that you can install the AB then change the front cover by edging it off slightly! YAY!
:)
Ah well, if i do install it tonight, expect some info on how it went...tonight!
:D
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