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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
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Yeah, good luck.
If this kind of thing went on in the PS2 forum, you'll get a roasting, like I have right now. Still, I'm defending myself well.
If this kind of thing went on in the PS2 forum, you'll get a roasting, like I have right now. Still, I'm defending myself well.
Yeah, good luck Micro mate ;)
good luck micro
yay! My afterburner finally came this morning! But, as usual (with me anyway) ther's a hitch. I need to wait for my replacement screen, but that should come later in the week.
oh well, next time I post in here I should have installed my AB and I'll tell you guys how it went!
:D
oh well, next time I post in here I should have installed my AB and I'll tell you guys how it went!
:D
hehe, same here. I see you joined to the triton labs forums too! See ya there then!
:D
:D
im gonna install one of those digital dimmers ! They are so cool ! Once the guy starts selling them (if he does), im gonna be first on his list ! Cant wait !
Well, it's saturday, and no sign of my afterburner kit. I have been looking around triton labs forums (used to be called portable monopoly.com) and getting some good ideas on installation. I have opted to fit my brightness dial down by the volume dial, and actually glue it inside so it will look like the volume dial. My only concern is about dust and bubles, but I am doing that outside so that shouldn't be a problem, just have to put the AR film on in onbe smooth motion and should be fine.
So, I am sitting in my study now, impatiently looking out of the window. I have emailed portablegamer.co.uk to see when it will come and I am expecting a reply soon hopefully.
Anyways, If you want to see what my dial will look like when i install it, go to:
http://www.tritonlabs.com/ cgi-bin/ikonboard/ ikonboard.cgi?s=3d1d9709455cffff;act=ST;f=1;t=718
remember to remove the spaces!
oh, and anyone who has installleda a dimmer, i found this quite interesting! It is a digital version of a dimmer! Download the movie to see what I mean! It is amazing! You'll find it at:
http://www.tritonlabs.com/ cgi-bin/ikonboard/ ikonboard.cgi?s=3d1d9709455cffff;act=ST;f=1;t=1420
Click the link under the picture.
:D
So, I am sitting in my study now, impatiently looking out of the window. I have emailed portablegamer.co.uk to see when it will come and I am expecting a reply soon hopefully.
Anyways, If you want to see what my dial will look like when i install it, go to:
http://www.tritonlabs.com/ cgi-bin/ikonboard/ ikonboard.cgi?s=3d1d9709455cffff;act=ST;f=1;t=718
remember to remove the spaces!
oh, and anyone who has installleda a dimmer, i found this quite interesting! It is a digital version of a dimmer! Download the movie to see what I mean! It is amazing! You'll find it at:
http://www.tritonlabs.com/ cgi-bin/ikonboard/ ikonboard.cgi?s=3d1d9709455cffff;act=ST;f=1;t=1420
Click the link under the picture.
:D
Microchips wrote:
> I ordered my kit from portablegamer.co.uk and I did actually consider
> having them install one, but I want to do it myself. My kit will
> hopefully come soon as I am eager to get started installing it.
>
> :D
Grins good luck to you then and remember be patient or youll mess it up ;0)
> I ordered my kit from portablegamer.co.uk and I did actually consider
> having them install one, but I want to do it myself. My kit will
> hopefully come soon as I am eager to get started installing it.
>
> :D
Grins good luck to you then and remember be patient or youll mess it up ;0)
I ordered my kit from portablegamer.co.uk and I did actually consider having them install one, but I want to do it myself. My kit will hopefully come soon as I am eager to get started installing it.
:D
:D
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