egr
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Abandoned on Fire

I suck at backlighting so I tried Kitsch's GBC frontlight panel (http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/frontlight-kits) in one of my DMGs and it shows great promise!

There's no film removal or polarization needed with this panel.  Just drop it in and solder.  But since the panel is sized for GBC it doesn't *quite* fit in the DMG's LCD frame.  I had to trim down that little corner on the lower right:

I also removed the foam pieces from the back of the LCD so that the panel could sit below the edge of the frame.  I used a couple pieces of tape to hold the panel in place while I put it back in the case, they're off to the side and not visible when it's assembled.

I still need to open it back up and do some cleaning and add in a pot to set the brightness.  It's hella bright as is and people have mentioned that dimming it helps with clarity.  But all in all, not bad!  And way safer/easier that backlighting for sure.

Last edited by egr (Mar 22, 2015 11:57 am)

Run n Alch
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As far as I'm aware, you can cut the frontlight panel too a little bit without and detrimental effects. As long as you are careful. Saves you cutting the Gameboy when a frontlight is far cheaper.

egr
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Abandoned on Fire
Run n Alch wrote:

As far as I'm aware, you can cut the frontlight panel too a little bit without and detrimental effects. As long as you are careful. Saves you cutting the Gameboy when a frontlight is far cheaper.

Good point.

Edit:  actually, as far as this particular panel is concerned, if you cut off some of the top edge of the panel so that it would fit in the lcd frame i believe the leds and opaque area of the panel would cover some of the bottom of the screen.

Last edited by egr (Mar 22, 2015 1:27 pm)

kitsch
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matt's mind

thanks for posting this!  think i might make a proper sized panel, with loca this would look pretty spectacular imo

egr
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Abandoned on Fire
kitsch wrote:

thanks for posting this!  think i might make a proper sized panel, with loca this would look pretty spectacular imo

Yes it would!  I'll post more pics after I locate a suitable pot to dim it down a little and clean things up.

Run n Alch
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I was going to try a loca'd frontlight on a pocket this week when I get around to it.

kitsch
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matt's mind

post pics and results!  i've been meaning to make purposefully sized ones for the pocket for a little while now, since the backlight install kills so many perfectly good screens on those

Run n Alch
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Well it turned out ok.
It was only a test really so I didn't use the best screen or do a stellar job of it, but you get the idea.
While it does look very good, it's still not quite as nice as a well done back light in my opinion. Although the fact that there is no real risk of killing the screen would make it seem alot better to some.
The actual front light fits pretty much perfectly however you would need to cut off about half of the reflective strip on the bottom, both sides. I left it here so you can see just how much is visible on the screen.

Last edited by Run n Alch (Mar 28, 2015 2:57 am)

Koji-Kendo
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Very interesting comrade! This has me wondering how well an SP frontlight panel would work on a pocket. Nice job on this one!

egr
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Abandoned on Fire

I need to get some of this loca business.

Run n Alch
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The fit on the Kistch Bent frontlight is beautiful in the GBP, apart from that silver on the bottom.
The next step will be doing another but taking off just the right amount of silver from the bottom. I'm planning on trying to find some good reflective tape like that used on the screen and use it on the underside of the screen around the bezel, just to see if it does anything.

kitsch
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matt's mind

i'm going to have batches after this upcoming one made with reflective tape on both sides, i've decided.  this way people will have some extra to play with if they'd like, and the like... 

thanks for posting the picture btw smile