SNES mini power indicator LED mod

awesomeNES · Aug 21, 2015

I decided to add a power indicator to my SNES mini. I wanted to do something that looked like it came that way from the factory and it had to have a connector so the top shell would still be removable. Here's some pictures showing how I did it.

Originally I didn't want to drill into the console and was going to leave it stock. But I couldn't resist using my new drill

I found that a 1/16th drill bit fits perfectly in the little dot that's molded into the plastic. So I went ahead and drilled it out.

I decided to use surface mounted LEDs because I wanted it to sit flat against the hole.

After I soldered some leads to it.

I tapped power off the 5v leg of the 17805 and connected my ground to one of the legs of the power switch.

I wanted this to look like a factory install and not be obnoxiously bright. So I experimented with different resistor values and decided that a 3k ohm resistor was perfect. I can stare right into the LED and it doesn't hurt my eyes at all.

Now that I decided on a resistor value, it was time to mount the led and solder on the connector. I lined up the led with the hole and used hot glue to hold it in place. I then soldered the 3k resistor to the led, followed by one end of the connector.

Now it's time to mount the motherboard back into the shell. You want to route both wires through the stepped down part of the shell to ensure that they have clearance and don't get smashed. I used a small piece of electrical tape on the bottom of the board (pictured above) to make the wires come out in the right spot.

Here's a pic showing the clearance of the wires in the stepped area. The wires can move back and forth freely and the motherboard sits all the way down where it's supposed to.

We're almost done. Now it's time to attach the other end of the connector to the power wires coming off the motherboard. I had them a tad bit too long, so I folded them over, taped them together and tucked them nicely into their spot.

Plugging in the connectors and getting ready to close it up.

Closes perfectly

And......we have a power indicator!

Thanks for following along!