oh god, not acetone polish remover. that actually eats at the plastic. unless you're dyeing it and need to use acetone for that purpose, i would just stay the hell away from that. for plastic, i usually use distilled water, and for stuff like the PCB and contacts, rubbing alcohol.

I removed the battery contacts from the case and then put them in nail polish remover. I had read that it eats plastic away, so I made sure the case wasn't anywhere near the nail polish remover.

vinegar works better than alcohol for removing the battery crud IMO.

but use rubbing alcohol to clean the pcbs off though

I found that out myself. I tried cleaning the battery contacts with nail polish remover, but they were still dirty. I got them clean with vinegar.

I'm going to put a blue backlight in

12ianma wrote:

Go with inverted backlight. it will bump up the resolution very much. The chip to complete a bivert is worth it as well, but I do not recommend that unless you are used to such small soldering.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind! Probably just going to install an inverted backlight and set LSDJ to inverted, and maybe when I'm a bit more experienced install a biversion chip.

If you are using the unit for lsdj there is no point to use a chip, the software can invert the color anyway. plus to be honest the inverted colors look great on the colored backlights, as the the black text and such which is now "white" becomes the color of the backlight.

What color backlight do you intend to put in the unit

but use rubbing alcohol to clean the pcbs off though

Go with inverted backlight. it will bump up the resolution very much. The chip to complete a bivert is worth it as well, but I do not recommend that unless you are used to such small soldering.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind! Probably just going to install an inverted backlight and set LSDJ to inverted, and maybe when I'm a bit more experienced install a biversion chip.

pulseflux wrote:

Really? I didn't cut the plastic at all while installing my V3 backlights. I just got some LEDx3 kits from Kitsch, I'll give it a go installing them the same way and see how that works out.

Like I said, you only "need" to if you don't want to crush your wires. I've already done the tests, so I can save you the trouble and say it will crush the wires, or the LCD won't sit flush on the panel, or both.  There's no reason not to cut the plastic. It takes ten seconds and doesn't affect the stability.

Righto, I'll bear that in mind when installing my new ones.

Really? I didn't cut the plastic at all while installing my V3 backlights. I just got some LEDx3 kits from Kitsch, I'll give it a go installing them the same way and see how that works out.

Like I said, you only "need" to if you don't want to crush your wires. I've already done the tests, so I can save you the trouble and say it will crush the wires, or the LCD won't sit flush on the panel, or both.  There's no reason not to cut the plastic. It takes ten seconds and doesn't affect the stability.

Lavar wrote:

Because according to nonfinite, you don't have to cut any pieces to install the backlight, it fits perfectly.

I can safely say that's not the case because I had a DMG with one of those panels come in on a repair. It's not a matter of the panel not fitting, it's a matter of whether or not you want to crush your wires. There's no space between the LCD and the plastic housing for the wires to go unless you cut the plastic. 

The LEDx3 panels have the polarized film and the resistor built in, which eliminates two steps of the installation. They were designed to be beginner friendly.

And here's my opinion on some of the other mods:

- Replace capacitor using the Kitsch-Bent kit

For a first mod, this isn't necessary. It's a great kit, but Nintendo used good capacitors and you might not notice any change in performance after changing them. You'll probably end up ripping out traces if you attempt it without any soldering experience.

- Pro Sound mod (either 1/8" or RCA, I don't know which is better, any suggestions?)

Neither is better, it's a matter of preference. RCA is more difficult to install

- Bivert/invert (I don't know the difference, invert seems easier)

From left to right: Normal, inverted, biverted
http://cache0.bigcartel.com/product_ima … BGuide.jpg

Seems like you may be taking on too much for a first project. Generally ambitious first projects either will have crushed wires, won't close properly, cold solder joints, or just won't work.  My best advice is to take it slow, good luck!

Thanks for the tips! I'm probably going to drop the LED lights behind the buttons, the batt_low light and the biverting. For the electronics I'm going to do it step by step, starting with the hardest (resistors) and end with the easiest (backlight). Now, one questions remains: LEDx3 or V³ Triple LED?

So I don't have to cut the plastic for the LEDx3 kit?

No, I'm saying you need to cut it for any backlight with that style of mounting.

Lavar wrote:

Because according to nonfinite, you don't have to cut any pieces to install the backlight, it fits perfectly.

I can safely say that's not the case because I had a DMG with one of those panels come in on a repair. It's not a matter of the panel not fitting, it's a matter of whether or not you want to crush your wires. There's no space between the LCD and the plastic housing for the wires to go unless you cut the plastic. 

The LEDx3 panels have the polarized film and the resistor built in, which eliminates two steps of the installation. They were designed to be beginner friendly.

So I don't have to cut the plastic for the LEDx3 kit?