My girlfriend's away on a trip, so got a good chunk of a mini-project done this afternoon.
Ingredients:
- Used "not working" GBA
- Backlit screen
- Glass lens
- New case
- Li-poly battery
- USB charging circuit
The GBA was sold as not working, but it was only the screen and buttons that weren't working, and I fixed it all only by some basic cleaning.
(I think the previous owner spilled something on it and assumed it died.)
So I installed the charging circuit under the power switch, there is plenty of space in the back area, just had to relocate one cap.
I just took apart one of those cheap "mobile battery bank" things, so no play-and-charge, but I'm fine with that.
The IC only had 5v coming out (as it's meant to charge USB stuff, not replace two AA's) so I stuck one of those cheap "mini 360" regulators in the battery bay and set it as close as I could get it to 3v.
It was balls trying to make a cutout for the micro USB that wasn't hideous, I spent ages, it came out not great.
Even more annoyingly I melted a little part on the back of the case with the soldering iron while installing the battery.
I could have finished it today, but wanted to test it before wrapping it up.
It's not perfect, but it's mine.
Left to do:
- Couple of things to fix permanently in place inside
- Install glass lens
- Aesthetic touches?
I'm tempted to paint the buttons and side-bar-things all white. Any thoughts?
Ingredients:
- Used "not working" GBA
- Backlit screen
- Glass lens
- New case
- Li-poly battery
- USB charging circuit
The GBA was sold as not working, but it was only the screen and buttons that weren't working, and I fixed it all only by some basic cleaning.
(I think the previous owner spilled something on it and assumed it died.)
So I installed the charging circuit under the power switch, there is plenty of space in the back area, just had to relocate one cap.
I just took apart one of those cheap "mobile battery bank" things, so no play-and-charge, but I'm fine with that.
The IC only had 5v coming out (as it's meant to charge USB stuff, not replace two AA's) so I stuck one of those cheap "mini 360" regulators in the battery bay and set it as close as I could get it to 3v.
It was balls trying to make a cutout for the micro USB that wasn't hideous, I spent ages, it came out not great.
Even more annoyingly I melted a little part on the back of the case with the soldering iron while installing the battery.
I could have finished it today, but wanted to test it before wrapping it up.
It's not perfect, but it's mine.
Left to do:
- Couple of things to fix permanently in place inside
- Install glass lens
- Aesthetic touches?
I'm tempted to paint the buttons and side-bar-things all white. Any thoughts?