WonderSwan frontlight mod - help required

WonderSwan front light and speaker mods - help required

I've finally got around to modding my WonderSwan (specifically, a SwanCrystal). However, I have a bit of a problem. I've got my light from a GBA SP screen, and I've got the WonderSwan apart, but the power source is a 1.5v battery, and the screen requires ~3v, from what I understand. This is where I get stuck. I'm not very good with electronics. From what I understand, I need to tap the 3v from a capacitor on the board, which I'm not sure how to do. I have a multimeter, but I'm supposing I'll need to plug the battery in for the voltage to be read properly, because as far as I can tell, the capacitors only give me ~.8v max. If anyone needs photos of the PCB, I can take them, but I can't guarantee they'll be as clear on the tiny parts as they need to be. If someone could help me, this would really help.

A side note - I wanted to switch the speaker on the WonderSwan, because it's tinny and just plain rubbish. I'd originally tried a DS speaker, but it's a bit too big. I found that a PSP speaker fits, but it's far too quiet. I'm guessing that is something to do with the voltage as well, because the speaker is apparently ~3.4v, but I can't figure out how to get it to draw extra power from the board. I tried soldering another wire into the circuit (from the negative battery terminal to the speaker terminals on the PCB - I tried negative, then positive, with the same results), but it just stops the speaker from working.. If someone can point me in the right direction to replacing the speaker or improving the one I've put in there, I'd be grateful for that, too.

I have a bunch of different capacitors and resistors on-hand if this helps with either of my aforementioned problems. I can read the bands on the resistors, so I guess that's helpful. No guarantee I have exact matches, though, so if you recommend using one, please let me know the best size, and, if possible, a range as well (unless only one size will do, in which case, I'll buy one and install it at a later date).

I've tried to find tutorials online, and I know they're out there, but I can't seem to find any tonight - only Neo Geo Pocket Color ones. I'd like to make my own for future reference (but not with this WonderSwan, since I want to do one properly first, before recording/photographing it) so that other people don't have to ask such questions and have a reference.

Thanks in advance~

EDIT: Well, I figured the light out by myself. Still not sure about the speaker, though. In case anyone wants to know, you just need to solder to ground (one of the two negative points on the battery terminals is fine, and there's a slot under the cartridge connector that you can run the wire through), then solder the positive wire to the positive (silver) side of the C51 capacitor (bottom right corner on the back of the PCB, where the cartridge slot is - second cap up).

The light screen seems a bit too reflective, so maybe I've got it in backwards, but I'm pretty sure I put it in the same way around as the GBA SP has it. You do need to shave down the ridge up the top of the front shell piece so the light sits flush (because it needs to be upside-down so that the silver piece doesn't block the screen). You also need to shave some plastic on the back shell piece so that the wires will fit. Getting all the dust out seems to be a pain in the ass, though. Even with a microfiber cloth (which seems to do more harm than good), it seems like an impossible task.

Oh, also, if I have positioned it correctly, you need to remove the screw post in the top left corner for the light to fit. Not sure how to put it back together completely, though, because it's a very tight fit, and could use those screws to hold it in better. Maybe removing or at least thinning the soft backing for the screen would held make it less tight.

 

Hey there!

Thanks a lot for the info on where to find the 3V on the PCB. I just finished front lighting my own swancrystal and there was so little info available online that I couldn't have done it without your post!

Unfortunately mine also appears to have a kilo of dust wedged between the front light and the screen, even though I wore gloves and was really careful while handling it. I'm also seeing a few odd, faint streaks across the screen although they're not really visible while playing. I wonder if anyone else has seen something like this and knows what causes it? When I attempt my second front light mod I'll make sure to finish the entire mod in one go (this one took me multiple sessions) and have the swancrystal shell completely prepared to insert the front light before I even start taking apart the gba sp. From what I've read online regarding the front lights it seems that any form of contact, even cleaning, or just prolonged exposure outside of their casing will cause them to accumulate every single microscopic particle in a one mile radius

With regards to the reflection on the screen, I think it may be because the front light was inserted upside down from its regular orientation in the gba sp. The light coming from the LED through the diffusor is polarised in a way that you get the least interference/glare when the light source is at the bottom of the screen, and you have the top of the screen tilted slightly away from you, just as you would while playing a gba sp or any other portable. I attempted to insert the front light with the LED panel on the bottom before I found out how much of a pain it would be to do, and ended up having to butcher out the entire ridge between the bottom of the screen and the power button, as well as one of the side ridges for the ribbon cable to fit. After doing that, and shaving down the remains to make sure I had a smooth enough surface for it to sit flush, the LED panel just about fits under the screen and I don't get much glare at all while I play. In fact, if I hold the swancrystal upside down while playing (so the front light is oriented like yours), I do see a lot of reflection and glare. This blog I found highlights the problem a lot better, albeit for a gameboy color - http://www.mylkstuff.com/page40.htm

Another advantage to maybe offset having to ruin your casing to fit the front light the right way round is that there doesn't seem to be the need to remove any screw posts or anything like that. Everything fits so tightly after the front light is in that having as many screws as possible to hold it all together really helps.

 

I completely forgot to reply to you months ago. Sorry! Funny thing is I actually did have it all prepared, but every time I was unhappy with the result, it kept getting worse, and the result wasn't amazing in the first place (there was some dust trapped in there).

You might be right about the reflection, but I don't remember having problems with it when I initially tested it. I guess it's back to the drawing board for that, for a bit longer. But yeah, it's a pain in the ass just to get it in upside-down. Trying to get it in the right way up is nigh impossible. It's a shame the Wonderswan isn't popular enough to have custom cases and such, like Game Boys have.

As for my speaker problem, I talked to a friend studying electrical engineering, and he told me that I WILL need to build an amp for the speaker, but the one that I need to build is called an op amp amplifier, and that I should be able to make one that is very small. He told me I'd be able to find details on how to make one just by searching Google, so I guess I'll get onto that soon and report back.

 

YOu might try something like this for the front light.

 

I've seen that mod before for handhelds, but I personally don't like it because of the visible LEDs at the bottom, even if you diffuse the screen. I never thought of lighting a VMU, though, and for that, it'd be perfectly fine. And now I must try that. Thanks for sharing, at the very least, because now I've got another mod to try.

 

So I've started working on this mod again, and I had an extra wire attached where I was trying to supply the speaker with another 1.5v to make it 3v (which, as I've already discussed, does not work, and I will need to build an op amp to achieve what I want).

With this wire attached at only one end (ground), the Wonderswan would just flash on then off when I tried to turn it on, so I removed the wire and it worked again. But now, it has stopped working again. I'm pretty sure the battery I'm using is fine because it's a rechargeable Ni-MH battery which has always worked for my Wonderswan before, and it should be near full charge. The pair of rechargeable batteries that I'm using work fine in my digital camera, and it doesn't report them as being low on power.

I DID use a small screwdriver to very carefully push the screen down a tiny bit, because it was crooked and I didn't want to lift up the PCB again to reposition it (which seems to drag it around a little and cause it to not line up properly, anyway, which is mainly caused by the extra gaps around the screen to fit the frontlight in).

I'm wondering if I have somehow managed to short it out, although I doubt it. I'm also wondering how on EARTH I'm meant to get this thing back together, because the frontlight adds too much extra thickness that the PCB cannot comfortably sit inside the casing. I know it's meant to be a tight fit, but this is actually ridiculous to the point where it could break, and the extension port does not sit in the groove for it in the top half of the casing.

Also, if anyone knows where I could get spare SwanCrystal casings/screen lenses/screens, I'd love to know, because it seems nigh impossible to get ahold of this stuff without just buying another console and stripping it of parts (which, for a SwanCrystal, is not ideal, considering the fairly hefty price).