Well, my Nintendo DS took a hard hit today, and cracked the top screen. I have found a replacement online, and am awaiting it's arrival. What I do find interesting is the backlight that the DS uses, and am now giving some thought to sticking it in the back of one of my calcs (most likely my 83+, though it would be nice to put in my 83+SE...)

Anyways, something that I may play around with later down the road. The only think I have to do is figure out how to power the strip, but i am sure I can come up with something...

Is it a strip of LEDs or an EL strip?

Actually, neither. It is the wierdest set up. I will try to post some pics of the components.

that sounds cool, not sure why you need a DS when you have a calc though

ROFLMAOMFG



BATTERIES!!! or probably a small inverter...

Actually, the problem is that it is like the strips found in most laptops, that connect things to the mother board. My problem is not powering the device, it is hooking it up...

Oh, so it's one of those insanely thin ribbon cables then?

Yes. and the lighting it self is... welll... heck, I don't know. When I go home in approx 20 minutes, I will take some real quick pics of the lighting assembly. Then you will understand.

Sounds very interesting.

Another question, does it 'stick' to the screen? Or is it just placed there?

Hurry up with the pics!

Well, after locating a magnifying glass, I was able to see 4 very tiny LED's, so nothing super special about it. My phone is being a slight bit of a pain... I swear technology hates me... <_<

For the backlight:

*Find out what voltage\amperage the light needs
*Find which of the lines on the ribbon cable supply +\- power to the led
*Solder two wires to the ribbon cable (strip the plastic from over the correct lines first on the ribbon)
*Build a circuit to alter the power supply from the main batteries to the light to meet the lights specifications
*Put the circuit AFTER a toggle switch that leads to the batteries.
*Glue your light in, install switch, cleanup, etc.
*Test it out

Now, I have never modded a calc, but that is how I would probably go about it. Ill post a diagram in a few.

heh, I am an auto tech, among other things, so I know what I will need to do, I just need to go about doing it, one of these days...

It's good to know that oyu know what you're doing, because I don't

Agh, yet another reason I wish I didn't have dialup. Then, I wouldn't have had to spend the time to make the most coolest, awesomest MSPaint pic ever! And here it is (shrunken for convenience):



I truely am a god in Paint!! Muhahahaha!

It sounds to me like you've got 4 surface-mount LEDs and a diffuser. Easy enough...

@JincS: Why do you have a power transformer in your diagram? There's hardly a need to step up the voltage (oh, and that part of the diagram is wrong btw )

Maybe you mean voltage regulator?

I think perhaps he means a resistor... that didn't make sense to me, either, because if he was thinking of an EL inverter, that's wired with 4 wires: two to the batteries, and two to the EL panel.

Hehe sorry, I meant a regulator. But like I said: I've never modded a calc, and I don't really know what I'm doing. So don't take it all to heart

:exhales: n00bs shouldn't be allowed to post suggestions.

Any pics yet tifreak8x?

Sure they should, but we should be allowed to double-check the suggestions and verify them as we did.