Some notes for whoever looking to do this as I did this as recently as yesterday. It's in no particaly order. 1. Use _thin_ wires or you won't be able to get the lid to shut properly. 2. Instead of putting the zener diode next to the charging PCB, I put it at the absolute end by the battery terminal on the gba. This made it easier to squeeze it all in. 3. All batteries are different. Mine had negative on top and positive on bottom. Use a multimeter, always. I shorted my battery stack out a couple of times creating small sparks, but everything works. My connections on the batteries were spot welded making it hard to solder anything to them properly. I had my soldering iron at 450*c with quite a thick tip to be able to transfer enough heat. Temperature needed will obviously vary. Usually it's not temperature that damages components, it's because the joint, component or spot has been exposed to heat for too long. 4. Instead of drilling a hole to fit the micro USB port, I simply put my solder iron straight through and worked from there. I used a razor to take away some melted plastic that protruded from the hole. Same thing for charging light if you're taking that route, but I opted to put everything in an opaque case. 5. If your gba stops turning on whenever you put the batteries inside, it is most likely caused by a bad solder joint causing the pins to shift whenever you squeeze it all inside. Check with multimeter once batteries are in place but disconnected from pcb. Remember that once you connect the batteries to the pcb charger, it technically becomes live. 4.2v is not much, but it's good to keep it in mind. 6. You will need a glue gun. I thought I could get around it but the USB ports require quite a bit of force to get your cable in. Pcb will shift if not secured properly. 7. The zener diode I used was rated at 3.3v rather than the one linked in description. 8. If you think your wires are short, make them shorter. But more importantly. Make sure your wires do not overlap if you want to be able to close the battery compartment. 9. Make sure your terminals on the lipo battery is covered with something after solder, or it will come in contact with the gba terminals. Not because of safety, but because of good practice. Overall this was fun. For someone who's built drones from parts. Difficulty: 2/10
The DS lite battery when stripped down has the same form factor but is marginally thinner. The battery cover doesn't bulge up like it does with the SP batteries. At least in my case it doesn't. YMMV They are also cheaper and according to the Chinese they have a higher mAh too lol
Vitzie629’s Channel Gameboy Advance Advanced is one with a backlight and USB charger port. A Regular Gameboy Advance takes batteries and has a hard to see picture
MrCubeler There’s actually something called the “GBAmp” which is by Anton Veretenenko and a little but powerful "Hi-Fi" grade Class-D amplifier module for Gameboy / Color / Advance. It is made to boost the low-volume speaker of original consoles and give it a nice powerfull sound. It will also help improve the battery usage. Should the screen be at least as brighter as in the Game Boy Advance SP too?
Great build! We would really caution connecting lithium ion batteries in parallel like that though! It could lead to overcharging if they are unbalanced and is a fire hazard, especially since it looks like you removed the protection boards from each battery (if the main charger board has protection built in, it will do no good regarding unbalanced cells because it’s treating them as a single battery). Also, that’s a 1A default charger, so be careful about the heat that it produces while charging, especially since it sits right on top of the battery.
combing two 3.7v batteries like that wouldn't increase the overall voltage to approximately 7.4-ish, resulting in it being over the max voltage for a GBA which is 3volts?
@@chrish8904 there is a difference of parallel and inline connections. Inline you add the voltages together (like you suggest) in parallel you don't increase the voltage just the mAh. So it's still 3.7v but 600+600=1200mAh.
Thank you so much for this vid. Going to make one just like this. I was planning on doing the ags-101 screen, but really wanted a li-ion battery. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for.
I think the rechargeable battery packs for wave birds, and Wii motes can fit in there without mods. Nintendo sorta have this universal rechargeable AA style battery packs
Ever tried something like this with LiFePO4 batteries? They are 3.2v so no voltage drop is needed. You can also get the little PCB chargers for them too.
@@Ragesauce You dont need to voltage drop anyway. GB, GBC, GBA, GBA SP, all have regulators that will bring down the voltage. They will all run from 2.5V to ~12 (though i wouldn't suggest going over 9 due to heat. 5v, to keep it at usb voltage is best)
I guess it is easier to build in a light switch and use rechargables batteries into my old GBA, than to find some powerbank for a GBASP or DSLite that would run on AA batteries, let alone charging the rechargable ones. Also, I would like my GBASP and DSlite to be able to turn the lights off sometimes. Now, the GBASP at least has a light switch, but with the DSLite it would be a miracle if you can change the light during a game.
I just realised that the BL-4C battery is a close match for the GBA SP battery and probably more available and affordable and if anyone knows of a battery that's not as wide as the BL-4C battery then that would be better as les modding of the GBA case will be needed. All you have to do is cut away the plastic that's holding the metal connector on the left hand side of the battery compartment and then take away the metal connector and also cut into and away about 4-5 mil in plastic at the top of the compartment all the way along the top under the pres catch (clip). Also you could get two 3ds XL batteries and 3D print a case that would hold the larger batteries and connect it to the battery compartment of the GBA case or do the same thing but for the BL-4C battery.
Been searching for a while to see what integrated battery solutions people had used for the GBA. I did wonder about using a pair of SP cells and a regulator and charger board and you've confirmed that works! The only difference is that I'm planning to use a 3D printed case (once I get a tri-drive bit to dismantle my GBA to CAD copy it). Obviously doing that will mean I can use a one piece rear case (i.e. no battery cover, sealed unit type job) since it won't need opening again and should give more room to fit it all together. I'm thinking that adding a Qi charge pad in the back of the case may be a cool addition too - plenty of those ones that fit under a phones rear case should be easily modified by soldering wires to the out pins and glueing to the inside of the case!
Keylitho my CAD is pretty limited so haven't managed to rehash the back of the case yet unfortunately, but I'm thinking I may be able to use a 3d scan of a GBA I've found one to hollow out and add mounting points to suit! If not, I'll have to think about commissioning someone to do it and then put the file up for a small fee to cover the initial costs of getting it done. Also, could consider gutting out on of these and using it as the charger circuit to give a readout of the battery level rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F252706515085
This is awesome! The only thing that I hope for an improvement on is that I'd prefer a way to get a pair of contact plates onto the module so that you don't need to solder directly to the GBA's battery contacts, kinda like the Retro-Modding module except not $40. I'm wondering if just a thin plate and gluing the contacts onto the plate will do. I get that it already involves a case mod so this might seem kinda pedantic, but I'd prefer to solder as little to the motherboard as possible.
Was thinking the same thing. Would achieve a much cleaner setup. I’d prefer to solder the wires into the glued contacts on the plate, so those contacts on the plate will touch the motherboard spring contacts instead. But this was a year ago. Has anyone tried and does it work 🤔 any opinions on this?
Haidi I tried it with battery contacts and it works. However I’m only getting 2 hours battery life with the dsi battery I have, so I think I got old or bad battery or I possibly heated up the cells too much while soldering idk. Any help?
woah its pretty creative, looks great! although is it safe to peel off those protective plastic wraps from the batteries? And do you think a similar mod would be possible for gb color?
Was the battery indicator not working before the mod? I’m just wondering if I did this mod if the light on the front would still work. Kind of anal about that stuff.
Used almost all of your method. Did a zener but only a single lipo instead of two in parallel. Noticed though that when charging from completely “dead” the tp4056 gets very hot and I was afraid to House it on the battery or screen. Moved it to the bottom of the case attached directly above (if you are looking at the rear of the console)the volume knob. Cut a pretty big chunk out of the case to make it work. Question here is, was my panic about that much heat on battery/near screen justified? Or should/could I have just left the charge board in the battery compartment and not carved up my housing?
Yea it does get a bit warm... Maybe mounting a thin piece of aluminum to the back of the battery cover then attaching the charging board to that.. I have also noticed that some of the modules get hotter than others... Good old China QC.. So maybe switch it out for a different one.. Also maybe a lower amperage usb port like a computer port would limit the heat.
This is pretty cool however I think it would be a better option to just buy a full setup from retro modding or a powerup advance. For 10-20 dollars extra it seems like a better option.
Yea that is always an option.. But every time I see something like that.. I say to myself.. " I can make that myself.." DIY and Modding is certainly not for everyone.
@@keylitho Yeah, I agree I'm fine with soldering and everything but if I can buy something pre-made and easy to install for a couple more dollars why not. As long as it's for me. If it was for a customer id probably just find a way myself.
Just a classic helping hands soldering station from Radio Shack.. But I have shrink tube on the clips and a 3D printed PCB holder on the other side.. You can find similar almost anywhere.
Can someone explain to me why the Zener diode is necessary? I understand that the batteries operate at 4.2V and the gameboy operates at >3.7V but why is a Zender diode necessary when one could just drop the voltage with a resistor?
I believe I found an answer to my own question. The diode in this project is a switching diode, it has the same functionality as a switch when certain voltage/power requirements are met. We are not using that functionality. We are solely using it in order to snuff the 4.2V output voltage to around 3V. (GBA works on 2 AA batteries in series=3V). So we should be able to use any 3-3.3V Zener diode for this. 4.2V-> 3.3V -> GBA The reason one would not use a resistor for this is because the voltage drop would be constant as the battery is dying. Ie when the battery is at 3V the GBA will be on 2V. But with the Zener diode, we can eliminate the resistance once the battery voltage drops to a usable level.
Also, for people thinking about using a voltage regulator, that wont work. Because once the battery drops below the operating voltage for the regulator, it will turn off. Lets say you're using a 3.3V regulator. The circuit will work fine when the battery is between 4.2-3.3. But once the battery goes below 3.3, the regulator will turn off and 70% of the battery's charge will not be able to make it to the GBA. A Zener diode is really the best bet here.
Update: Instead of using a Zener diode I have decided I'm going to use a buck(stepdown) converter to step the voltage from 4.2V to 3V. The reason is that buck converters are much more energy efficent so the system will not get warm. The exact one I'm using is the mini360. So in conclusion, we have the TP4056 into the lithium battery, then the outputs of the TP4056 into the mini360(set to 3V using the built-in potentiometer) then the output of the mini360 into the GBA.
Michael Gibbons There is now a commercially available rechargeable liion battery for the GBA from retromodding, but i appreciate your updates. The commercially availible one is only 1000mAh and using 2 GBA SP batteries would yield over 1600mAh. So if i dont like the battery life offered in the retromodding pack, ill definitely build this pack. Only thing i dont like is soldering the wires to the battery contacts, since this can complicate servicing the modded GBA if anything goes wrong.
Well I did switch to the other battery listed in the description.. after realizing that the batteries I used were no where near the rated capacity.. But the GBA is great and still works fine.
Well I really like the one I have and it's adjustable.. A good all around Iron. $40 www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006MQD7M4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I would think that you could put the zener from Out+ to Out- and then run the leads to the gameboy from Out+ and Out-. Maybe the battery would last longer in this configuration?
I am not sure what happened to your other comment.. But yes I was only using it to drop voltage.. This thing lasts quite a long time and like I said in the video.. the system shuts down at 3.8 volts and the cells charge to 4.2 so it was just a very small and easy way I found to drop the voltage. So it worked good enough for me. :)
That's awesome, you are just using that forward voltage in series. That was smart, and easy to implement! I am taking an analog and digital course and I know if you put that zener between the output leads, you will get a constant voltage equal to the rated zener voltage. I think I may try it that way because I would get 3.3V constant until the battery dies out. I'm pretty sure the GBA dies at 3V? I am not sure which configuration would be more beneficial, would be interesting to test out. I'm picking up some parts tomorrow and should start the project soon.
It will work lower than 3v.. considering the system was designed to be used with 2x AA alkaline batteries that are 1.5v each. The GBA has a boost converter to boost the 2-3.2V from the AAs to a stable 3.3V. So the diode drops the voltage of the lithium cell by like 1v or something, and a 2v cutoff would be 3v on the lithium cell with the diode in place. and you don't really have to worry about low voltage protection with the lithium cells since the GBA just wont work before the battery voltage gets to low.
How big is the battery compartment for the GBA? Did you look at adafruits 3.7V batteries? They have some high mAh ratings, but I don't know if they'd fit or not. Its crazy how the SP battery fits perfect lol
Yea I have several Adafruit batteries.. All of the ones I have are too big, But they probably have some that would work.. I only figured this out because I had a dead one and pulled it apart and then just on a whim put it in there. Plus they are readily available and they are all the same size, so telling people to buy them I don't have to worry about them not fitting or buying the wrong one.
How would this work with other electronics less sophisticated than a GBA that probably do not have an over surge protection? I think something like this could be cool on like a Digimon virtual pet, but I'm not sure how safe it is since a fully charged Li-ion battery hits 4.2v at its peak. VERY informative video btw!
Hey. I used the ribbon adapter with only the wire connection. I see you got the brightness adjustable adapter, in the battery compartment is the switch. Do you find it was worth it? With mine with just the adapter with wired connection, I achieved brightness equal too the sp ags101 system brightness on its lower setting. Big fan!
I can only get about the Same brightness as the AGS101 on low as well.. The switch just lets you go even dimmer than that.. So basically I just leave it on High and never touch it again as long as I live.. LOL :)
I was wondering some things: - I want to use a 1600 mAh battery (103048) that already has a protection circuit, could it interfere with the Lithium Charging Board in any way? - I'm going to use a USB-C charging board instead of the MicroUSB you used because they are as cheap and all my cables are Type-C. :D - Is the zener diode safe? I mean, it drops about 0.7v, but that energy has to go somewhere... does it get hot? Also, with the lower voltage, does the battery cuts the current to protect itself before the GBA displays the red low battery indication?
-Pretty sure your good with the built in protection circuit.. It shouldn't effect the cell.. -As for the type C that's Awesome.. Didn't know they made those.. I will have to get some. -I didn't notice the diode getting hot.. But you should set it up and see for yourself. And I have no protection on the cell.. The GBA shuts off before the cell gets too low. -As for run time.. I don't really know.. Way longer than I care to sit and stare at a little Screen.. :)
Hey, thanks for the response! The only thing preventing us from attempting this mod is that we aren't sure how much the battery would last. You said that you watched the GBA Video of Shrek 3 times but that would be just about 4,5h... and that's pretty bad. D: You can always top it, and set a recording with a clock or a timer next to it while you leave Super Mario World running it like a demo. This does not compute made a video like that. It would make for a nice follow up video and that would settle our questions. :P ruclips.net/video/Op45jlPyFl8/видео.html Again, thank you!
When I was talking about Shrek playing 3 times.. that was not the full capacity.. It was still plenty charged.. I just got tired of letting it sit there playing.. But even if this did only get 5 hours of play time.. Which I know it is longer.. Just not having to have a charger or carrying around extra batteries is quite the luxury.. It brings an older system up to todays standards.. and I am sure you could fit a way bigger battery in there if you really carve up the case. As for making a video I might do that.. :)
I plan to use a 1600 mAh 10x30x48mm battery because I want to cut as little plastic as posible, I even did a test with some foam I cut to size so I can be sure that the battery fits. And I might explore how to solder the wires to contact plates so I don't have to solder them directly to the GBA... that way I can always put some AA's. Again, the video would be greatly appreciated, I've been scouring the internet and you seem the only person that recorded a video of this mod, there's some forum post here and there, some referencing this video, but none explained how it went and what were the results and battery life. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So would any 3.3V nominal zener work? Also, how come the zener is in series with the battery? If the zener voltage is 3.3V shouldn't the configuration be in parallel? I just assumed output voltage is the voltage across the zener, so thats what you would want feeding the gameboy.
No, he's using a -lower voltage Zener- nope, standard silicon diode in series, i think dropping about 1V; if you connect a 3V3 Zener across the battery, you will create a short circuit discharge condition on the batteries until they drain down from 4.2V (top of charge voltage of TP4056 charger board) till 3V3 approx - this is dangerous - the Zener will only dissipate about a quarter Watt or less before it sets fire to itself and its surrounding, and the battery can get dangerously hot too. Furthermore the TP4056 charger will no longer work as it will detect an output short circuit condition and shut down. Theoretically the protection boards inside the battery assemblies should also detect a short circuit condition when the battery is charged above 3V3 and turn them off, so hopefully actually nothing goes on fire, but also nothing will work. You don't want to rely on it too much because if the protection MOSFET on the battery burns out or gets damaged - it's also unfortunately sensitive to static, besides heat and high current bursts - it goes dead short as if there wasn't any protection at all.
Well I'm not to familiar with a voltage divider.. but don't those typically cut the voltage in half or more..? The Zener Diode only drops the voltage about 1 volt and like you mentioned.. only one small component = simple.. You really just gotta get that 4.2v fully charged lithium down to 3.7 or less.
I have an idea: try installing the GBA SP's cell phone-style buttons (Directional, Select, Start, B, A and dim/bright buttons) into your original modded GBA. Back when I played my original GBA, I wasn't impressed with the original buttons.
I wouldn't recommend connecting li ion or lipo cells in parallel, unless you have a bms for each one and the outputs of the bms connected together for the final output. Next time measure the dimensions of your current batter pack and buy almost the same sized single cell lipo off of ebay. Much safer, cheaper and less clutter. Thanks for the video btw..
@@keylitho thanks. Also is it safe to play and charge with that IC board TP4056? i see alot of people saying your are not suppose to charge and play simultaneously.
@@jonathanmsantos5405 Well I have done it.. but that little board might get warm depending on how dead the battery is.. But it really doesn't take very long to charge.
For some reason, when I try to turn the GBA on with this mod, it just doesn't. It works fine with AA batteries. I've checked the connections and electricity seems to flow properly. I've tried using more diodes but it doesn't fix it. Any help?
More diodes will make it worse.. Make sure everything is hooked up per the Wiring Diagram in the description. and if it is.. what voltage are you getting on the 2 wires that are soldered to the GBA battery terminals..?
@@keylitho Thanks for replying so quickly. I was out for vacation, but now I'm back with this project. With the wires unsoldered to the battery terminals, I get around 3.67 volts, both plug and unplugged to the terminals. When I turn on the GBA, it drops to 0.4-0.2, constantly varying, instead of getting stuck to 3.03 volts, as it happens when using two AA batteries. Seems like the circuit connected to the charger is acting weirdly.
@@keylitho Actually, it seems it was an issue with the first two charger chips I used. Third time's a charm, I guess. Now it works! Thank you for everything! Awesome mod and awesome video.
It is perfectly fine.. It is actually safer.. because the 1amp that little charging board puts out is split across 2 cells so each cell is only getting 500 ma and that is more appropriate considering they are only 800ma cells.. If they were wired in series then we would have issues and you would need to balance them.
Even in parallel they don’t discharge equally and will need balancing I just don’t want ur gba to explode, if one starts to bulge get rid of it please I’m just warning you
@@harrisontashjian752 As long as the voltages are the same to start it is fine... If you had a dead lipo and a full one it might be an issues because they balance each other out they might get too hot.. that is why they say not to do this on sites like adafurit and other companies that sell single lipo's.. Anyway I have since changed out that batter for the alternate batter I have listed in the description.. They were not even close to the rated capacity.
Hi im doing this mod and iv almost got all the bits just waiting for some batteries to come... But i was just thinking does it matter which way you connect the diode are they like resistors in this way.
I just did this last night great tutorial, i just don’t know how you got both batteries to fit with the case closed. Mine was just too big with the board both batteries and wires so i just used the one battery, still works though. Maybe if i have more time ill try again and see how to make it all fit.
You should isolate the negative of the battery before it ends up shorting to the controller board. And If that is a zener diode, you connected it in the wrong way, so it will work as a normal diode, which will give you around 0.6 - 0.7V, which might be just enough. Is your charging / protection board preventing the battery from over discharge?
I did not buy from that seller.. It seems like that seller is slow shipping.. I just linked the cheapest one I found.. Any GBA SP battery you find should be basically the same battery... Just make sure they are both the same capacity.
Hi, I just completed the rechargable battery mod but I ran into a problem when charging the battery while playing and when it goes past the full charge it makes my gba glitch out and shut down.... I have the diode you linked soldered to the positive out and facing the right way.... what could be causing this? Thanks btw for sharing how to do this and I am stoked to have gotten this far
Do you have a multi meter..? If so check the voltage at the GBA Terminals when it's fully charged.. If it's over 3.7v that is why your GBA is cutting out.. If that's the case I would replace the diode to a different one.. The diode should be dropping the voltage down below 3.5v... Also make sure your battery case is not touching the negative terminal of the GBA. (If you used GBA SP batteries that is.)
Keylitho will do! Thanks for the quick response. It's also saying its fully charged when I drained the battery from playing... so I'm just gonna restart with a new battery and micro usb board and see how it goes. I did have the battery wrapped in electrical tape, and it turned out that the positive of the battery was the casing. I also fried a couple of micro usb boards thinking the end terminal of the battery was positive... oops! I'll get back to you asap when I rewire the new battery I get Friday! Thanks again!
So you were using GBA SP batteries..? if so... LOL.. that's crazy.. Read the first thing I had in the description of this video. Those things are hit or miss.
Simple question here.... How long does this battery last? And will the battery light on the front side of the gba show when the battery is low and you need charging
It lasts at least as long as a few Alkaline AA's maybe longer.. I guess it kinda depends on how good of a battery you get.. Some of the claimed capacity ratings are a bit exaggerated. But as for the Light yes it turns red when low.. but due to the very quick voltage drop of lithium cells.. once it goes red I had like 3-5 minutes of play before it actually died on me.
No that wouldn't work.. at least not with this Charging board.. And the only Lithium 1.5v recharbable batteries I know of are common Alkaline sizes... AA, AAA etc.
Sick video Dude! But you are missing one mod. The LAST mod.... The audio Amplifier mod! Look it up! It would be nice 2 see a video on aswell! Have a great day! :)
🌈"NEW"🌈 Gameboy Advance (Nintendo's Pro version) WOW DUDE! That's amazing man! Totally worth the effort. Great vid man. Does it still work to this day without any drawbacks? Let me know. Thanks for showing this off dude. 😎👍
Ive done the same thing, followed the circuit diagram, with one battery from the gbasp. And the gba doesnt turn on but the light comes on for a split second. Any tips?
update: ive tried a ds lite battery and it worked in turning on the system but after i left it to charge with the 5v micro usb board for a while, the battery seems to be overcharged and the diode doesnt seem to be reducing the voltage. any tips?
The game gear runs on 10 volts.. (at least that's what the AC adapters put out) so you would need a 3s lipo and that would need a different charger and a voltage regulator.. The good thing is that you have plenty of space in that bad boy. So I guess the answer is Yes but it is very different from this mod.
i don't understand the hate of rechargeable,i have a smart charger that charge them in 2 hour and cut by itself at the end,it even tell the battery level,.it was pretty cheap too. and rechargeable stay a long time in game,good ones are easy to find and they are sold by pack of 4 so you have always a spare...
I don't think it's a hate thing, after all these are rechargeable batteries as well.. I think it's a lets get this older system up to date thing.. Everything now has built in lithium batteries with integrated charging circuits.. So adding this to an older system is just basically for convenience.. and just being able to charge this with a micro usb cable from any usb outlet or battery pack, was the primary appeal of this mod for me.. Not to mention that you can charge and play at the same time.. so you don't have to power down the system and change batteries.
It's about energy density. The MiMH rechargeables that fit the AA battery holder actually store less power than alkaline AA batteries. This means rechargeables, while reusable, NEVER last as long as alkalines. Lithium Ion has a FAR higher energy density, and is often convenient to charge, thanks to universal standards like USB Micro. That's why it's preferred.
I followed this mod exactly as Shown in the video.. I was really excited to see it all working however it didn’t power up and the circuit board with the charge port would become really hot. Any ideas where I went wrong?
Well it get's pretty hot when delivering the full 1 amp to the discharged battery.. I have noticed that some of the charging units get hotter than others.. Its probably due to the mass Chinese production.. switch out the charger for a different one and see how it goes.
Keylitho I didn’t even plug the charger in, it appears the heat is being generated just by the battery being connected. I had been building myself up for a while to try this and I’m fairly gutted I failed. Was tough getting the wires to adhere nicely to the terminals on the GBA.
I want to do this too, and thanks for the video man... Micro is great too, but really small compared to my giant hands... How much battery life does it have until you recharge it?
Let's see... NiMH you get at 2400 mAh * 2.4v = 5.76Wh for cheap Eneloop Pro clones, for example Ikea Ladda for $7 for a pack of 4. ((2/3)+(3.2/4.2))/2 gives us the efficiency of voltage dropping diode of about 71%. This battery you get at 850mAh*2*3.6V*0.71 = 4.32Wh. Not exactly a net benefit. :( pity, for all the effort and good workmanship.
Capacity or run time is nothing compared to the convenience of charging this with a USB cable. It still lasts way longer than anyone would care to sit and stare at this thing in one sitting.. Plus if you can stare at it forever you don't have to power down to switch batteries.. Just charge and play.. :)
Yes, these are runtimes in tens of hours. And TP4056 is a nice little charger, it can get pretty warm when the batteries are near empty, but it has a good consistent behaviour and it charges at a nice reasonable pace. I diced some possibilities around, and i simply can't suggest a good, fast, efficient, reliable, in-situ charging circuit for 2xAA. The battery control ICs that i'm aware of tend to revolt to such use because the use will potentially set off their dV/dt detection and they'll be like ooops, time to trickle charge at 1/16th! Plus they don't mind giving the batteries a good bit of juice, like 2V peak per cell, and that will possibly upset the GBA. This is why the devices you usually see powered by in-situ NiMH cells tend to use current-limiting and slow charging without charge termination, which isn't all that good for NiMH cells either.
So should I do this mod or not? I want to be able to play and charge my GBA at the same time so I don't have to turn it off to switch out batteries all the time. EDIT Do you think 2ds batteries would fit? They're usually 1300mAh.
soldering noob question: should you not wire the batteries positive to negative between each other to make a circuit? second question: how much time of gameplay do you get from those batteries? Thanks for the video, awsome content
Well that runs on 2x aaa's so the voltage would be the same.. Probably have to use a smaller Lipo.. But Yea probably would.. I would recommend testing on a spare unit first.
Yes it is awesome.. I don't play it a ton and have only drained it 2 times since it's completion. As for the battery I assume you are talking about Battery Degradation.. That won't happen for some time.. Just think how many cycles you can get out of just a regular GBA SP before you have to replace the battery..
I am not quite sure what you are asking.. But the Charging board I used in this video is linked in the description.. The led lights are built into that board.
Some notes for whoever looking to do this as I did this as recently as yesterday. It's in no particaly order.
1. Use _thin_ wires or you won't be able to get the lid to shut properly.
2. Instead of putting the zener diode next to the charging PCB, I put it at the absolute end by the battery terminal on the gba. This made it easier to squeeze it all in.
3. All batteries are different. Mine had negative on top and positive on bottom. Use a multimeter, always. I shorted my battery stack out a couple of times creating small sparks, but everything works. My connections on the batteries were spot welded making it hard to solder anything to them properly. I had my soldering iron at 450*c with quite a thick tip to be able to transfer enough heat. Temperature needed will obviously vary. Usually it's not temperature that damages components, it's because the joint, component or spot has been exposed to heat for too long.
4. Instead of drilling a hole to fit the micro USB port, I simply put my solder iron straight through and worked from there. I used a razor to take away some melted plastic that protruded from the hole. Same thing for charging light if you're taking that route, but I opted to put everything in an opaque case.
5. If your gba stops turning on whenever you put the batteries inside, it is most likely caused by a bad solder joint causing the pins to shift whenever you squeeze it all inside. Check with multimeter once batteries are in place but disconnected from pcb. Remember that once you connect the batteries to the pcb charger, it technically becomes live. 4.2v is not much, but it's good to keep it in mind.
6. You will need a glue gun. I thought I could get around it but the USB ports require quite a bit of force to get your cable in. Pcb will shift if not secured properly.
7. The zener diode I used was rated at 3.3v rather than the one linked in description.
8. If you think your wires are short, make them shorter. But more importantly. Make sure your wires do not overlap if you want to be able to close the battery compartment.
9. Make sure your terminals on the lipo battery is covered with something after solder, or it will come in contact with the gba terminals. Not because of safety, but because of good practice.
Overall this was fun. For someone who's built drones from parts. Difficulty: 2/10
The DS lite battery when stripped down has the same form factor but is marginally thinner. The battery cover doesn't bulge up like it does with the SP batteries. At least in my case it doesn't. YMMV They are also cheaper and according to the Chinese they have a higher mAh too lol
This man watched Shrek 2 on GBA 3 times lmao
LOL... No No... come on now... those carts are un-watchable..
*watches the movie another 2 times
Gameboy Advance Advanced
MrCubeler What’s different between the original unmodded vanilla Game Boy Advance and the Game Boy Advance Advanced?
Vitzie629’s Channel Gameboy Advance Advanced is one with a backlight and USB charger port.
A Regular Gameboy Advance takes batteries and has a hard to see picture
MrCubeler Okay! Thank you for telling me the difference! Should it have louder sound too?
Vitzie629’s Channel I think that would be cool, although I never was one to focus on the sound part.
MrCubeler There’s actually something called the “GBAmp” which is by Anton Veretenenko and a little but powerful "Hi-Fi" grade Class-D amplifier module for Gameboy / Color / Advance. It is made to boost the low-volume speaker of original consoles and give it a nice powerfull sound. It will also help improve the battery usage. Should the screen be at least as brighter as in the Game Boy Advance SP too?
Great build! We would really caution connecting lithium ion batteries in parallel like that though! It could lead to overcharging if they are unbalanced and is a fire hazard, especially since it looks like you removed the protection boards from each battery (if the main charger board has protection built in, it will do no good regarding unbalanced cells because it’s treating them as a single battery).
Also, that’s a 1A default charger, so be careful about the heat that it produces while charging, especially since it sits right on top of the battery.
combing two 3.7v batteries like that wouldn't increase the overall voltage to approximately 7.4-ish, resulting in it being over the max voltage for a GBA which is 3volts?
@@chrish8904 there is a difference of parallel and inline connections. Inline you add the voltages together (like you suggest) in parallel you don't increase the voltage just the mAh. So it's still 3.7v but 600+600=1200mAh.
Just did this with a generic 1150mAh lipo and it worked great
You saved my console! I just needed a diode. Thanks dude
Thank you so much for this vid. Going to make one just like this. I was planning on doing the ags-101 screen, but really wanted a li-ion battery. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for.
Glad I could help.. I was looking for some time as well and finally just had to figure it out myself.
I think the rechargeable battery packs for wave birds, and Wii motes can fit in there without mods. Nintendo sorta have this universal rechargeable AA style battery packs
Ever tried something like this with LiFePO4 batteries? They are 3.2v so no voltage drop is needed. You can also get the little PCB chargers for them too.
Link?
@@Ragesauce You dont need to voltage drop anyway. GB, GBC, GBA, GBA SP, all have regulators that will bring down the voltage. They will all run from 2.5V to ~12 (though i wouldn't suggest going over 9 due to heat. 5v, to keep it at usb voltage is best)
Andrew Gist Is that definitely right? I thought that anything over about 4v resulted in the GBA shutting off?
Muchas gracias lo voy a hacer en mi gameboy
I guess it is easier to build in a light switch and use rechargables batteries into my old GBA, than to find some powerbank for a GBASP or DSLite that would run on AA batteries, let alone charging the rechargable ones. Also, I would like my GBASP and DSlite to be able to turn the lights off sometimes. Now, the GBASP at least has a light switch, but with the DSLite it would be a miracle if you can change the light during a game.
I just realised that the BL-4C battery is a close match for the GBA SP battery and probably more available and affordable and if anyone knows of a battery that's not as wide as the BL-4C battery then that would be better as les modding of the GBA case will be needed.
All you have to do is cut away the plastic that's holding the metal connector on the left hand side of the battery compartment and then take away the metal connector and also cut into and away about 4-5 mil in plastic at the top of the compartment all the way along the top under the pres catch (clip).
Also you could get two 3ds XL batteries and 3D print a case that would hold the larger batteries and connect it to the battery compartment of the GBA case or do the same thing but for the BL-4C battery.
this is exacly what was i looking for
Been searching for a while to see what integrated battery solutions people had used for the GBA. I did wonder about using a pair of SP cells and a regulator and charger board and you've confirmed that works!
The only difference is that I'm planning to use a 3D printed case (once I get a tri-drive bit to dismantle my GBA to CAD copy it). Obviously doing that will mean I can use a one piece rear case (i.e. no battery cover, sealed unit type job) since it won't need opening again and should give more room to fit it all together.
I'm thinking that adding a Qi charge pad in the back of the case may be a cool addition too - plenty of those ones that fit under a phones rear case should be easily modified by soldering wires to the out pins and glueing to the inside of the case!
That sounds pretty sweet.. Be sure to share that to Thingiverse when you complete it. I am Keylitho on there as well.
Keylitho my CAD is pretty limited so haven't managed to rehash the back of the case yet unfortunately, but I'm thinking I may be able to use a 3d scan of a GBA I've found one to hollow out and add mounting points to suit!
If not, I'll have to think about commissioning someone to do it and then put the file up for a small fee to cover the initial costs of getting it done.
Also, could consider gutting out on of these and using it as the charger circuit to give a readout of the battery level
rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F252706515085
This is awesome! The only thing that I hope for an improvement on is that I'd prefer a way to get a pair of contact plates onto the module so that you don't need to solder directly to the GBA's battery contacts, kinda like the Retro-Modding module except not $40. I'm wondering if just a thin plate and gluing the contacts onto the plate will do. I get that it already involves a case mod so this might seem kinda pedantic, but I'd prefer to solder as little to the motherboard as possible.
Was thinking the same thing. Would achieve a much cleaner setup. I’d prefer to solder the wires into the glued contacts on the plate, so those contacts on the plate will touch the motherboard spring contacts instead.
But this was a year ago. Has anyone tried and does it work 🤔 any opinions on this?
Haidi I tried it with battery contacts and it works. However I’m only getting 2 hours battery life with the dsi battery I have, so I think I got old or bad battery or I possibly heated up the cells too much while soldering idk. Any help?
Saw modded battery covers like that on eBay $4
I personally love how some run with batteries idk why
Especially with that battery pack yess
Can i buy all of this off you!?
Really nice mod! I might have to duplicate this one day. Original GBA with an SP 101 LCD is so choice.
Well done, thanks for the knowledge.
woah its pretty creative, looks great! although is it safe to peel off those protective plastic wraps from the batteries? And do you think a similar mod would be possible for gb color?
Was the battery indicator not working before the mod? I’m just wondering if I did this mod if the light on the front would still work. Kind of anal about that stuff.
Amazing. I will do it, thanks for the video.
Used almost all of your method. Did a zener but only a single lipo instead of two in parallel. Noticed though that when charging from completely “dead” the tp4056 gets very hot and I was afraid to House it on the battery or screen. Moved it to the bottom of the case attached directly above (if you are looking at the rear of the console)the volume knob. Cut a pretty big chunk out of the case to make it work. Question here is, was my panic about that much heat on battery/near screen justified? Or should/could I have just left the charge board in the battery compartment and not carved up my housing?
Yea it does get a bit warm... Maybe mounting a thin piece of aluminum to the back of the battery cover then attaching the charging board to that..
I have also noticed that some of the modules get hotter than others... Good old China QC.. So maybe switch it out for a different one.. Also maybe a lower amperage usb port like a computer port would limit the heat.
Just wanted to point out that there are usb c versions of the charging boards now
This is pretty cool however I think it would be a better option to just buy a full setup from retro modding or a powerup advance. For 10-20 dollars extra it seems like a better option.
Yea that is always an option.. But every time I see something like that.. I say to myself.. " I can make that myself.."
DIY and Modding is certainly not for everyone.
@@keylitho Yeah, I agree I'm fine with soldering and everything but if I can buy something pre-made and easy to install for a couple more dollars why not. As long as it's for me. If it was for a customer id probably just find a way myself.
I never even knew that gba had videos lol
What kind of stand are you using for holding things when you solder? It looks great I need one
Just a classic helping hands soldering station from Radio Shack.. But I have shrink tube on the clips and a 3D printed PCB holder on the other side.. You can find similar almost anywhere.
Can someone explain to me why the Zener diode is necessary? I understand that the batteries operate at 4.2V and the gameboy operates at >3.7V but why is a Zender diode necessary when one could just drop the voltage with a resistor?
I believe I found an answer to my own question. The diode in this project is a switching diode, it has the same functionality as a switch when certain voltage/power requirements are met. We are not using that functionality. We are solely using it in order to snuff the 4.2V output voltage to around 3V. (GBA works on 2 AA batteries in series=3V). So we should be able to use any 3-3.3V Zener diode for this. 4.2V-> 3.3V -> GBA
The reason one would not use a resistor for this is because the voltage drop would be constant as the battery is dying. Ie when the battery is at 3V the GBA will be on 2V. But with the Zener diode, we can eliminate the resistance once the battery voltage drops to a usable level.
Also, for people thinking about using a voltage regulator, that wont work. Because once the battery drops below the operating voltage for the regulator, it will turn off. Lets say you're using a 3.3V regulator. The circuit will work fine when the battery is between 4.2-3.3. But once the battery goes below 3.3, the regulator will turn off and 70% of the battery's charge will not be able to make it to the GBA.
A Zener diode is really the best bet here.
Update: Instead of using a Zener diode I have decided I'm going to use a buck(stepdown) converter to step the voltage from 4.2V to 3V. The reason is that buck converters are much more energy efficent so the system will not get warm. The exact one I'm using is the mini360. So in conclusion, we have the TP4056 into the lithium battery, then the outputs of the TP4056 into the mini360(set to 3V using the built-in potentiometer) then the output of the mini360 into the GBA.
Michael Gibbons There is now a commercially available rechargeable liion battery for the GBA from retromodding, but i appreciate your updates. The commercially availible one is only 1000mAh and using 2 GBA SP batteries would yield over 1600mAh. So if i dont like the battery life offered in the retromodding pack, ill definitely build this pack. Only thing i dont like is soldering the wires to the battery contacts, since this can complicate servicing the modded GBA if anything goes wrong.
@@iamtheflu why it's not hard to unsolder
Also, have you encounterd any problems so far with the battery or with the gba when you modded it?
Well I did switch to the other battery listed in the description.. after realizing that the batteries I used were no where near the rated capacity.. But the GBA is great and still works fine.
@@keylitho Oh I see! And can you tell me how you were able to mount the rechargable circuit board onto the battery cover, sorry lol I'm a nooby :/
@@rednova7107 Just with hot glue
@@keylitho Double thank you!
This is a great tutorial video. One problem I have is I need a better soldering iron. Any recommendations on something good but affordable?
Well I really like the one I have and it's adjustable.. A good all around Iron. $40 www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006MQD7M4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
TS-100. Check them out on Amazon. Hands down the best for all the small stuff. (After a year I’ll assume you found something by now)
I would think that you could put the zener from Out+ to Out- and then run the leads to the gameboy from Out+ and Out-. Maybe the battery would last longer in this configuration?
I am not sure what happened to your other comment.. But yes I was only using it to drop voltage.. This thing lasts quite a long time and like I said in the video.. the system shuts down at 3.8 volts and the cells charge to 4.2 so it was just a very small and easy way I found to drop the voltage. So it worked good enough for me. :)
That's awesome, you are just using that forward voltage in series. That was smart, and easy to implement! I am taking an analog and digital course and I know if you put that zener between the output leads, you will get a constant voltage equal to the rated zener voltage. I think I may try it that way because I would get 3.3V constant until the battery dies out. I'm pretty sure the GBA dies at 3V? I am not sure which configuration would be more beneficial, would be interesting to test out. I'm picking up some parts tomorrow and should start the project soon.
It will work lower than 3v.. considering the system was designed to be used with 2x AA alkaline batteries that are 1.5v each. The GBA has a boost converter to boost the 2-3.2V from the AAs to a stable 3.3V.
So the diode drops the voltage of the lithium cell by like 1v or something, and a 2v cutoff would be 3v on the lithium cell with the diode in place. and you don't really have to worry about low voltage protection with the lithium cells since the GBA just wont work before the battery voltage gets to low.
How big is the battery compartment for the GBA? Did you look at adafruits 3.7V batteries? They have some high mAh ratings, but I don't know if they'd fit or not. Its crazy how the SP battery fits perfect lol
Yea I have several Adafruit batteries.. All of the ones I have are too big, But they probably have some that would work.. I only figured this out because I had a dead one and pulled it apart and then just on a whim put it in there. Plus they are readily available and they are all the same size, so telling people to buy them I don't have to worry about them not fitting or buying the wrong one.
Y did you use zener diode
How would this work with other electronics less sophisticated than a GBA that probably do not have an over surge protection? I think something like this could be cool on like a Digimon virtual pet, but I'm not sure how safe it is since a fully charged Li-ion battery hits 4.2v at its peak. VERY informative video btw!
Hey. I used the ribbon adapter with only the wire connection. I see you got the brightness adjustable adapter, in the battery compartment is the switch. Do you find it was worth it? With mine with just the adapter with wired connection, I achieved brightness equal too the sp ags101 system brightness on its lower setting. Big fan!
I can only get about the Same brightness as the AGS101 on low as well.. The switch just lets you go even dimmer than that.. So basically I just leave it on High and never touch it again as long as I live.. LOL :)
I was wondering some things:
- I want to use a 1600 mAh battery (103048) that already has a protection circuit, could it interfere with the Lithium Charging Board in any way?
- I'm going to use a USB-C charging board instead of the MicroUSB you used because they are as cheap and all my cables are Type-C. :D
- Is the zener diode safe? I mean, it drops about 0.7v, but that energy has to go somewhere... does it get hot? Also, with the lower voltage, does the battery cuts the current to protect itself before the GBA displays the red low battery indication?
Also, how many hours do the system run with your batteries? You also have 1600 mAh batteries (2x800 mAh in parallel)
-Pretty sure your good with the built in protection circuit.. It shouldn't effect the cell..
-As for the type C that's Awesome.. Didn't know they made those.. I will have to get some.
-I didn't notice the diode getting hot.. But you should set it up and see for yourself. And I have no protection on the cell.. The GBA shuts off before the cell gets too low.
-As for run time.. I don't really know.. Way longer than I care to sit and stare at a little Screen.. :)
Hey, thanks for the response!
The only thing preventing us from attempting this mod is that we aren't sure how much the battery would last. You said that you watched the GBA Video of Shrek 3 times but that would be just about 4,5h... and that's pretty bad. D:
You can always top it, and set a recording with a clock or a timer next to it while you leave Super Mario World running it like a demo. This does not compute made a video like that. It would make for a nice follow up video and that would settle our questions. :P ruclips.net/video/Op45jlPyFl8/видео.html
Again, thank you!
When I was talking about Shrek playing 3 times.. that was not the full capacity.. It was still plenty charged.. I just got tired of letting it sit there playing.. But even if this did only get 5 hours of play time.. Which I know it is longer.. Just not having to have a charger or carrying around extra batteries is quite the luxury.. It brings an older system up to todays standards.. and I am sure you could fit a way bigger battery in there if you really carve up the case.
As for making a video I might do that.. :)
I plan to use a 1600 mAh 10x30x48mm battery because I want to cut as little plastic as posible, I even did a test with some foam I cut to size so I can be sure that the battery fits.
And I might explore how to solder the wires to contact plates so I don't have to solder them directly to the GBA... that way I can always put some AA's.
Again, the video would be greatly appreciated, I've been scouring the internet and you seem the only person that recorded a video of this mod, there's some forum post here and there, some referencing this video, but none explained how it went and what were the results and battery life. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
well made. so nice, you should do pleanty of this and sell them.
Very nice hentai They won't, people have been selling custom Nintendo consoles for years. He wouldn't be doing anything illegal either
So would any 3.3V nominal zener work? Also, how come the zener is in series with the battery? If the zener voltage is 3.3V shouldn't the configuration be in parallel? I just assumed output voltage is the voltage across the zener, so thats what you would want feeding the gameboy.
No, he's using a -lower voltage Zener- nope, standard silicon diode in series, i think dropping about 1V; if you connect a 3V3 Zener across the battery, you will create a short circuit discharge condition on the batteries until they drain down from 4.2V (top of charge voltage of TP4056 charger board) till 3V3 approx - this is dangerous - the Zener will only dissipate about a quarter Watt or less before it sets fire to itself and its surrounding, and the battery can get dangerously hot too. Furthermore the TP4056 charger will no longer work as it will detect an output short circuit condition and shut down. Theoretically the protection boards inside the battery assemblies should also detect a short circuit condition when the battery is charged above 3V3 and turn them off, so hopefully actually nothing goes on fire, but also nothing will work. You don't want to rely on it too much because if the protection MOSFET on the battery burns out or gets damaged - it's also unfortunately sensitive to static, besides heat and high current bursts - it goes dead short as if there wasn't any protection at all.
Generally curious: what's the benefit of using a zener diode over a standard voltage divider (outside of number of components)?
Well I'm not to familiar with a voltage divider.. but don't those typically cut the voltage in half or more..? The Zener Diode only drops the voltage about 1 volt and like you mentioned.. only one small component = simple.. You really just gotta get that 4.2v fully charged lithium down to 3.7 or less.
Hey, just a small question from a beginner - why only one negative on the battery is soldered. not two?
Well the Batteries are taped together.. and the case is Negative.. So its not really different than stacking batteries in a flashlight.
I have an idea: try installing the GBA SP's cell phone-style buttons (Directional, Select, Start, B, A and dim/bright buttons) into your original modded GBA. Back when I played my original GBA, I wasn't impressed with the original buttons.
the membrane style buttons can be replaced. if those metal gba sps go out. they pcb is done for
Did you make a spare rechargeable battery for your indigo gba, I wish that indigo gba on my birthday
Nope just made one.. LOL
But did you backlit your indigo gba, I would like one of that
@@keego_yt0810 Nope.. That one is just a test GBA.. The Black one is the only one I use.. and It's Backlit.
Okey then
Do you have both negatives of the batteries connected to the charging board or just the one? and if only one, does it matter which?
Well the Metal case of those batteries is the negative.. they are just touching each other and taped together.. so they are one and the same.
Great to know, thanks for the quick reply
@@keylitho I did everything according to the instructions, but the board heats up very much ... so much that it melted a little plastic...
@@udjinhanc I would change that board out for another and see if the issue is still there..
@@keylitho this is my mistake, I mixed up the polarity and the board failed, on the other hand, everything is ok! Does it get warm when charging?
I wouldn't recommend connecting li ion or lipo cells in parallel, unless you have a bms for each one and the outputs of the bms connected together for the final output. Next time measure the dimensions of your current batter pack and buy almost the same sized single cell lipo off of ebay. Much safer, cheaper and less clutter. Thanks for the video btw..
Only need a BMS if they are in series..
have you notice battery/lipo getting warm/hot while charging? thanks
No not the battery... although the board gets a bit warm.
@@keylitho thanks. Also is it safe to play and charge with that IC board TP4056? i see alot of people saying your are not suppose to charge and play simultaneously.
@@jonathanmsantos5405 Well I have done it.. but that little board might get warm depending on how dead the battery is.. But it really doesn't take very long to charge.
a much easier solution is to get rechargable wii battery packs as the battery mould is the same, it's a lot less time consuming and expensive
Maybe... but way less convenient to charge in this USB powered world..
Keylitho, what kind of tape did you use to make a rechargeable battery for your GBA? Please respond.
Link in the description.. :)
Keylitho Okay!
what wiring is best for this project?
For some reason, when I try to turn the GBA on with this mod, it just doesn't. It works fine with AA batteries.
I've checked the connections and electricity seems to flow properly. I've tried using more diodes but it doesn't fix it.
Any help?
More diodes will make it worse.. Make sure everything is hooked up per the Wiring Diagram in the description.
and if it is.. what voltage are you getting on the 2 wires that are soldered to the GBA battery terminals..?
@@keylitho Thanks for replying so quickly. I was out for vacation, but now I'm back with this project.
With the wires unsoldered to the battery terminals, I get around 3.67 volts, both plug and unplugged to the terminals. When I turn on the GBA, it drops to 0.4-0.2, constantly varying, instead of getting stuck to 3.03 volts, as it happens when using two AA batteries.
Seems like the circuit connected to the charger is acting weirdly.
@@ElB0ludo Could be a shot lipo.. Do you have another lithium battery you could try.?
@@keylitho Actually, it seems it was an issue with the first two charger chips I used. Third time's a charm, I guess. Now it works!
Thank you for everything! Awesome mod and awesome video.
@@ElB0ludo Good to hear.
Why would you use 2 lipo packs in parallel that is not a good idea and needs a special charger for it now that it is 2 cell
It is perfectly fine.. It is actually safer.. because the 1amp that little charging board puts out is split across 2 cells so each cell is only getting 500 ma and that is more appropriate considering they are only 800ma cells.. If they were wired in series then we would have issues and you would need to balance them.
Even in parallel they don’t discharge equally and will need balancing
I just don’t want ur gba to explode, if one starts to bulge get rid of it please I’m just warning you
@@harrisontashjian752 As long as the voltages are the same to start it is fine... If you had a dead lipo and a full one it might be an issues because they balance each other out they might get too hot.. that is why they say not to do this on sites like adafurit and other companies that sell single lipo's.. Anyway I have since changed out that batter for the alternate batter I have listed in the description.. They were not even close to the rated capacity.
oh wow, thanks for letting me know
Hi im doing this mod and iv almost got all the bits just waiting for some batteries to come... But i was just thinking does it matter which way you connect the diode are they like resistors in this way.
Yes it does matter which way they go.. Just watch a few video's on Diodes..
I just did this last night great tutorial, i just don’t know how you got both batteries to fit with the case closed. Mine was just too big with the board both batteries and wires so i just used the one battery, still works though. Maybe if i have more time ill try again and see how to make it all fit.
Well I have since switched to the Other battery linked in the description.. It fits really well.
Hey what's that pin that you use to connect the positives? thanks!
It's just a Header pin..
thanks sorry i dont know much about this
No worries... We are all here to learn.. You could also just use a bit of wire.
Have you found a suitable single cell battery that would fit yet?
Bazahaza DS batteries are pretty good, you just have to strip them then solder the same and it's 2000mah so not bad!
You should isolate the negative of the battery before it ends up shorting to the controller board. And If that is a zener diode, you connected it in the wrong way, so it will work as a normal diode, which will give you around 0.6 - 0.7V, which might be just enough. Is your charging / protection board preventing the battery from over discharge?
No the board has no discharge protection.. But the GBA turns off before the batter get's to low..
I have a question. I have this DS Lite Battery. Can I use only one for this mod or do I need 2 like the ones you used it?
You can use just one.. You will just get 1/2 the run time.
I want to try this with a gba I’m going to backlight mod soon. Which wires do I buy? I don’t know too much about electrical but I’m learning
Thanks!
Nice ive modded a few myself already they turned out nice @jermmodz on IG
How much do you have invested in that now you think ?
i blew a fuse doing this with a 3.7v lipo battery, any idea what may have caused this?
You mean on the charger board..? If yes my guess is that they are kinda cheap and some just fail.
Keylitho no i blew a fuse on my gameboy, bridged it for the time being and am just using batteries til i get a new one in the mail
Keylitho, how long did the two GBA SP batteries you got from Amazon get shipped?
I did not buy from that seller.. It seems like that seller is slow shipping.. I just linked the cheapest one I found.. Any GBA SP battery you find should be basically the same battery... Just make sure they are both the same capacity.
Keylitho How should I tell both batteries have the same capacity?
The mAh number.. for example the ones I used in the video 1:31 are (850 mAh)
Keylitho Is opening the GBA SP’s battery pack easy to open?
yes.. It is basically just a sticker and a piece of plastic.
Any chance you would make another to sell?
No sorry... That's why I made this video.. So you can make your own.. Just look at the wiring diagram in the description.
Keylitho i appreciate it pal, im always on the road for work but i guess ill have to learn to solder now lol thanks for the reply man, take care
Ben Johnson location dependant, I could do this for you.
Steve Watson shoot me an email bro playstatement@gmail.com
Hi, I just completed the rechargable battery mod but I ran into a problem when charging the battery while playing and when it goes past the full charge it makes my gba glitch out and shut down.... I have the diode you linked soldered to the positive out and facing the right way.... what could be causing this? Thanks btw for sharing how to do this and I am stoked to have gotten this far
Do you have a multi meter..? If so check the voltage at the GBA Terminals when it's fully charged.. If it's over 3.7v that is why your GBA is cutting out.. If that's the case I would replace the diode to a different one.. The diode should be dropping the voltage down below 3.5v... Also make sure your battery case is not touching the negative terminal of the GBA. (If you used GBA SP batteries that is.)
Keylitho will do! Thanks for the quick response. It's also saying its fully charged when I drained the battery from playing... so I'm just gonna restart with a new battery and micro usb board and see how it goes. I did have the battery wrapped in electrical tape, and it turned out that the positive of the battery was the casing. I also fried a couple of micro usb boards thinking the end terminal of the battery was positive... oops! I'll get back to you asap when I rewire the new battery I get Friday! Thanks again!
So you were using GBA SP batteries..? if so... LOL.. that's crazy.. Read the first thing I had in the description of this video. Those things are hit or miss.
Any ideas on how to make an old gamegear with a modern lcd?
I have seen it done before.. it is quite the undertaking..
Is it safe having that board touching the battery long-term when it's in use or charging
Simple question here.... How long does this battery last? And will the battery light on the front side of the gba show when the battery is low and you need charging
It lasts at least as long as a few Alkaline AA's maybe longer.. I guess it kinda depends on how good of a battery you get.. Some of the claimed capacity ratings are a bit exaggerated.
But as for the Light yes it turns red when low.. but due to the very quick voltage drop of lithium cells.. once it goes red I had like 3-5 minutes of play before it actually died on me.
Keylitho also would this mod work with two 1.5v lithium rechargable batterys? And in that case would the zener diode be unneeded?
No that wouldn't work.. at least not with this Charging board.. And the only Lithium 1.5v recharbable batteries I know of are common Alkaline sizes... AA, AAA etc.
Keylitho ok thanks for the feedback ill be trying some bigger capacity batteries. If im succesful ill leave a message here
Well keep in mind that with this setup you can charge while you play with any USB battery pack that are pretty much everywhere.
What is the title of song in speed up parts?
All music was found in the RUclips Audio Library. Thanks for watching.
Intro - Otis_McMusic_Sting
Main - Invisible
Timelapse - Dig_Deep
Is there a way to do this with a ds light battery?
I don't think so. I think that might have a bigger battery. I have never taken the battery out of mine. :)
:(
Original DS has same shape than SP batteries. DS lite are different.
Original ds
Yes And you should get longer battery life
Same form factor and slightly thinner when you peel all of the plastic off.
Sick video Dude! But you are missing one mod. The LAST mod.... The audio Amplifier mod! Look it up! It would be nice 2 see a video on aswell! Have a great day! :)
Thanks... and I have thought about the audio mod.. and maybe someday.. :)
Keylitho wow, cool! Hope to 2 a vid :)
🌈"NEW"🌈 Gameboy Advance (Nintendo's Pro version)
WOW DUDE! That's amazing man! Totally worth the effort. Great vid man.
Does it still work to this day without any drawbacks? Let me know.
Thanks for showing this off dude. 😎👍
yep still works great..
Ive done the same thing, followed the circuit diagram, with one battery from the gbasp. And the gba doesnt turn on but the light comes on for a split second.
Any tips?
update: ive tried a ds lite battery and it worked in turning on the system but after i left it to charge with the 5v micro usb board for a while, the battery seems to be overcharged and the diode doesnt seem to be reducing the voltage.
any tips?
lipo charger is not the same as Nimh charger board. make sure you are using the same type battery.
some boards can do both.
maybe check the polarity of your diode, too, if you are using one.
hi! would playing with gameboy while charging with this mod be ok?
Yep
Won't those batteries swell inside when charging? Kind of a safety hazard no?
Would this work with 2 ds lite batteries ?
Hi great video i have questions as I'm not a expert in electronics I was wondering if this mod could be done to my sega game gear thank you
The game gear runs on 10 volts.. (at least that's what the AC adapters put out) so you would need a 3s lipo and that would need a different charger and a voltage regulator.. The good thing is that you have plenty of space in that bad boy. So I guess the answer is Yes but it is very different from this mod.
Yes this can be done. Also you can make the game gear run on one 9v battery . This would be a good project
To charge more than one lithium cell make sure the charger is balanced.
cool built
Can you please update the links :) I really want to try it out thanks so much
Is this possible with a GB Color?
i don't understand the hate of rechargeable,i have a smart charger that charge them in 2 hour and cut by itself at the end,it even tell the battery level,.it was pretty cheap too. and rechargeable stay a long time in game,good ones are easy to find and they are sold by pack of 4 so you have always a spare...
I don't think it's a hate thing, after all these are rechargeable batteries as well.. I think it's a lets get this older system up to date thing.. Everything now has built in lithium batteries with integrated charging circuits.. So adding this to an older system is just basically for convenience.. and just being able to charge this with a micro usb cable from any usb outlet or battery pack, was the primary appeal of this mod for me.. Not to mention that you can charge and play at the same time.. so you don't have to power down the system and change batteries.
It's about energy density. The MiMH rechargeables that fit the AA battery holder actually store less power than alkaline AA batteries. This means rechargeables, while reusable, NEVER last as long as alkalines. Lithium Ion has a FAR higher energy density, and is often convenient to charge, thanks to universal standards like USB Micro. That's why it's preferred.
I followed this mod exactly as Shown in the video.. I was really excited to see it all working however it didn’t power up and the circuit board with the charge port would become really hot. Any ideas where I went wrong?
Well it get's pretty hot when delivering the full 1 amp to the discharged battery.. I have noticed that some of the charging units get hotter than others.. Its probably due to the mass Chinese production.. switch out the charger for a different one and see how it goes.
Keylitho I didn’t even plug the charger in, it appears the heat is being generated just by the battery being connected. I had been building myself up for a while to try this and I’m fairly gutted I failed. Was tough getting the wires to adhere nicely to the terminals on the GBA.
Well Like I said those chargers are really cheap.. maybe it's a bad one.. For the 20 I have used in projects about 5 have been bad..
Keylitho yeah could we be, I’ll have another crack some other time, thanks for your help 👍🏼
Can this work for other game boys, with various resisters for each model?
Nice work bro! Excuse my ignorance but if I order the 3.7v boards will it full charge both batteries?
Hooking the batteries together in parallel essentially makes them the same battery... Yes the Charger board will charge them both.
Does the batter indicator still work with this mod? Im not talking about the light for charging status
Anthony Romain Jr Yep... sure does.. goes red about 5 minutes before the batter dies
Would it be able to put a jst plug on the bord
Maybe not directly on the board but certainly the plug can be wired inline.
I want to do this too, and thanks for the video man...
Micro is great too, but really small compared to my giant hands...
How much battery life does it have until you recharge it?
Can you just use rechargeable aa batteries?
Of course you can... But what's the fun in that.. I like to make things.. :)
@@keylitho I'm learning how to solder. I'm going to get a soldering kit. I just didn't want to do to much at first
@@Tiknuttle You got this... Just practice a bit first and you should be good to go..
@@keylitho thanks. I think I'll practice on an old game controller first
Let's see... NiMH you get at 2400 mAh * 2.4v = 5.76Wh for cheap Eneloop Pro clones, for example Ikea Ladda for $7 for a pack of 4. ((2/3)+(3.2/4.2))/2 gives us the efficiency of voltage dropping diode of about 71%. This battery you get at 850mAh*2*3.6V*0.71 = 4.32Wh. Not exactly a net benefit. :( pity, for all the effort and good workmanship.
Capacity or run time is nothing compared to the convenience of charging this with a USB cable. It still lasts way longer than anyone would care to sit and stare at this thing in one sitting.. Plus if you can stare at it forever you don't have to power down to switch batteries.. Just charge and play.. :)
Yes, these are runtimes in tens of hours. And TP4056 is a nice little charger, it can get pretty warm when the batteries are near empty, but it has a good consistent behaviour and it charges at a nice reasonable pace.
I diced some possibilities around, and i simply can't suggest a good, fast, efficient, reliable, in-situ charging circuit for 2xAA. The battery control ICs that i'm aware of tend to revolt to such use because the use will potentially set off their dV/dt detection and they'll be like ooops, time to trickle charge at 1/16th! Plus they don't mind giving the batteries a good bit of juice, like 2V peak per cell, and that will possibly upset the GBA. This is why the devices you usually see powered by in-situ NiMH cells tend to use current-limiting and slow charging without charge termination, which isn't all that good for NiMH cells either.
So should I do this mod or not? I want to be able to play and charge my GBA at the same time so I don't have to turn it off to switch out batteries all the time.
EDIT
Do you think 2ds batteries would fit? They're usually 1300mAh.
Yes... for sure.. you will love it..
I think the voltage boost from the 5v regulator makes it worth it
soldering noob question: should you not wire the batteries positive to negative between each other to make a circuit? second question: how much time of gameplay do you get from those batteries? Thanks for the video, awsome content
now just miss a better screen with backlight for GBA
I'm working on modding my gbc, would the charging board and everything work the same way
Well that runs on 2x aaa's so the voltage would be the same.. Probably have to use a smaller Lipo.. But Yea probably would.. I would recommend testing on a spare unit first.
What we do here is go back back back back
Hi
Is the gb still working a month later and have you any battery decrease?
Yes it is awesome.. I don't play it a ton and have only drained it 2 times since it's completion. As for the battery I assume you are talking about Battery Degradation.. That won't happen for some time.. Just think how many cycles you can get out of just a regular GBA SP before you have to replace the battery..
Keylitho thanks mate.
T
Keylitho, where did you get the black and red wires from to solder the points in the rechargeable battery board? Please respond.
From wherever you can find them These were just some I had laying around..
Keylitho What kind of number wire is it?
I do not risk burning the motherboard because of the voltage difference?
It will be fine... that's what the Diode is for.. It drops the voltage.. and besides GBA's are cheap you can get them for like 10 bucks
Does the light on the charging board turn red when charging?
yes.. Red when charging and Blue when fully charged..
Keylitho What did you use to have a red and blue led when you charge a modified GBA with a rechargeable battery? Please respond.
I am not quite sure what you are asking.. But the Charging board I used in this video is linked in the description.. The led lights are built into that board.
Keylitho Umm... okay, thanks for answering my question about the led lights being built in the charging board.🙂
will this mod work if you only have one battery... Also could a Solar cell be added in any way.
yes... adding a second battery just doubles the capacity because they are in parallel.
You did not mention the most important thing for this video - how much longer do the rechargables last versus the normal AAs ?
will the indicator turn red when the battery is low?
On the front... yes
Nice Work! Are you "Jonnys Merchandise" and sell your stuff via ebay?
No sorry.. Just a helpful video because I could not find one myself.
Does anyone know how to fix a gba mine won't turn on any more maybe the voltage regulator is fried
probably the fuse between battery and regulator
Zenner or Inner