(Part 2) Top products from r/Gameboy

Make sure you're not suffering from a combo-problem:

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I clean switches by doing a combination of sandpaper and electronics spray cleaner. I found the WD-40 electronics cleaner spray to be hands-down better than CRC Quick Cleaner spray. But neither one would remove corrosion from inside the switch itself. The sandpaper (facing upwards) did remove both the green battery leakage crap and the brownish corrosion from inside the switch. I slid the sandpaper in and then sprayed the electronics contact spray on. Be careful not to leave any paper shards get loose from the sandpaper itself. Just move it straight back and forth without angling. Keeping it at a simple 90° angle from the face of the power switch itself will save it from tearing off at the edges.

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Check and clean the battery contacts in the battery compartment. Even after cleaning the switch a bunch, the on/off flickering continued. It was a crudded battery contact that was making it happen.

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The GBA unit I was working on looked brand new on the outside. The inside had battery leakage on both sides of the battery compartment. Funny how the battery compartment itself was sparkling clean. There's not much you can do when buying electronic units online, especially when a previous owner somewhere in its lifespan wanted to move the unit down the line from themselves. But after many hours of steady work, the light is solid as a rock and doesn't flicker one iota when touching any part of the power switch.

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edit: also want to mention that the unit I was talking about above did not have any power or lights at all when I first received it. It took a long time to get it to start flickering a small amount of red light. Then the green light started to flicker at times, too, when moving the switch back and forth rapidly. I had to repeatedly disassemble, clean, partially reassemble, put in batteries and flick the switch a bunch.... just to try and get a sign of life out of the thing. Up until yesterday morning, I would've sworn on a stack of H.P. Lovecraft novels that the motherboard was blown. But I had some time last night and decided to play around with different cleaning methods. So glad that I did.

The main worry with rubbing alcohol would be water content. I would not try to work 70% alcohol into the switch. Higher alcohol content is more likely to dry out perfectly in a tight space like that.

Electrical contact cleaner is nice because the pressurized bottle will be easier to spray into the switch than alcohol. You can try alcohol, but definitely be sure to use some compressed air and be confident that you have completely dried out everything before applying power.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000BXOGNI/ is the electronics cleaner I personally like using.

Hey! Glad to help. This Is the exact soldering iron I use. Extremely effective, I keep it at a 3 at all times, seems to be a legit temperature for everything Gameboy related.

The Solder I use works really well, rarely sticks to the soldering tip (like many other ones I've tried) and seems to be the most consistent. It's also supported by HHL - so you know it's solid!

Hope that helps.

I purchased my screen from AAA Retro Gaming on eBay.

These kits and screens are all coming from the same place in China. One store won't have a magical better stock than another. The one linked above will come with the 40-pin Type B cable (if needed), along with a glass screen lens.

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Not necessary, but it'll make your life easier ... a rotary tool.

I chose this one because of the bundled accessories and case, along with it's high rating. I've used one and couldn't tell the difference between this and a Dremel.

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If you go the rotary tool route, get some eye protection. Bits may go flying directly into your face.

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Can't forget the soldering iron.

I chose this configuration because it comes with stand, solder and other accessories for only $16.

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Flush cutters will help you get to spots too tight for the rotary tool. This isn't necessary, but it's very useful when needed.

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For various other mod bits, I've ordered from quite a few stores.

• Hand Held Legend - If you're in the US, these guys are my favorite. They'll get your package out within 24 hours.
  
  
• Retro Modding - They're based in Canada and shipments are ... a bit timely. Personally, it took 18 days for my package to arrive (to Chicago).
  
  
• eBay - Just make sure where the seller is from. (If the item is too cheap, it's coming over very slowly from China.)

> Thanks for the detailed answer.
>
> I can't see the one you recommended on Amazon.ES, I've found either a 1900 mAh or a2500 mAh one
>
> Would you say these batteries would also work with Retroflag GPI case?

My pleasure, I'm happy to help. Get the standard Eneloop 1900 mAh batteries. Do not get Eneloop Pro. The BQ-CC17 charger is important, so get this package:

• Panasonic Eneloop SY3052296 - Cargador BQ-CC17 (Incluye 4 x AA): Eneloop: Amazon.es: Electrónica
  
  When you buy more Eneloop cells, make sure you get the ones that say 10 years and 2100 charges.

I'm the OP of the discussion /u/sharpfork linked you to. I hope you read this before buying a SuperCard from anybody online. The company stopped producing these some years ago, and as a result TONS of fakes/clones flooded the market. In some cases, these clones worked pretty well. However, nothing beats the original.

The differences between even the best clones and the original cartridges has shown over the years that the originals hold up better. There is an Amazon seller who has some of the originals left. This is where mine came from:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0085H4YDO/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Pretty easy to do! The printer is rated to run on nine volt DC, so a 9v battery should work fine. I did this about three weeks ago, been using it frequently, and all is well.

If you need paper, it's just 38mm/1.5" thermal paper. Here's enough for like 3,000 Game Boy Camera prints for seven dollars.

Been having lots of fun with it, been taking it into work and taking pictures of my friends. Everyone's been receptive of it so far.

And since we like sharing Game Boys here's my very clean DMG-01 with a bivert and backlight mod. I'm going to keep it looking as stock as possible, only thing I've done is the backlight mod, bivert, replaced the speaker, and the button rubber thingies, whatever they're called.

Have Ni-MH's in there for now, but if anyone knows of any Li-Ion mods, let me know!

Edit: A conversation in the comments has made it apparent that your nine volt batteries mileage may vary. I've been using my 9.6v 230 mAh Powerex batteries, and it's drained the charge after about 100 prints. You could probably get 50 out of a regular 9 volt you buy at the store, but you really should invest in rechargeables. 100 prints is really tenable, it took me about three weeks to go through that many, haha. But do keep in mind that if you don't have rechargeables, and instead would be using cheap 9 volts, this mod will likely burn through them.

Oh, something else that i thought i'd mention, having just picked one of these up: you might want to buy a new battery depending on how yours is holding up. they can apparently get 8+ hours on a charge hrs when new, but a lot of ppl are reporting ~2hr after all these years.

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I replaced my used-up OEM battery with this one. It's a 50% higher capacity cell, and was manufactured more recently, so it holds a charge just fine. To swap it in, all you do is unscrew the one Phillips screw visible on the gameboy, then pull out the old battery and plug in the new one. super simple, no soldering etc., and it makes the system run like new.

Also, something i had trouble figuring out is that the start/select buttons indicate battery level on system startup by flashing blue or red. they then remain red during playtime regardless of battery level, but only come on when you press the left trigger (to adjust brightness). I wish they would stay blue as long as you had battery left, bc it tricked me into assuming my fresh bvattery was nuked on arrival. even the original manual was ambiguous about this!

Super Mario Land https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002ST28/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_Srb7wbQDTWX04

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002ST27/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_1sb7wb52SK5B0

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002SVER/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_utb7wbPG84F48

If you are looking for good rechargables, try out the eneloop pros. The regular eneloops are a bit underpowered for gameboys (1900 mAh to the pro's 2550 mAh) but these things will hold a charge almost forever if you take care of them right. Well worth the expense

Eneloop is my favorite.

The standard version is cheap and performs very well (2000mah) and widely available at most stores

https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-K-KJ17MCA4BA-Individual-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00JHKSMJU


The XX or pro version is expensive and only last 500 charges but hold 25% more power (2500mah) which will mean an additional couple of hours

https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-K-KJ17KHCA4A-Individual-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00JHKSL1O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1465615985&sr=8-3&keywords=eneloop+xx

I prefer the pro version if you can get it cheap since 500 charge cycles will last you atleast 2 years of use on a portable like the gameboy. Found them on sale at my local camera store for $20 during the holidays

while I use the regular version on devices that gets charged daily like my gaming mouse

Bought this battery from Amazon US and it works pretty good. Got 7 hours or so with it playing Pokemon Emerald.

Amazon has you covered.

I got this charger and it works perfectly. $6
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Boy-Micro-AC-Wall-Charger/dp/9882106463

I also replaced my micro's battery with this one, which made it run all day like brand new. $12.50
http://www.amazon.com/Lenmar-Battery-Nintendo-Game-Systems-GameBoy/dp/B001BWJ52K/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405306543&sr=8-1&keywords=gameboy+micro+battery

I use some of this for all of my projects. It has worked well and is easy to strip. Stranded wire is fine as long as you are tinning your wires.

I recently did an IPS V2 install and these are the wires that I ordered off of amazon and used. They are easy to work with and stay put once soldered.

StrivedayTM 30 AWG Flexible Silicone Wire Electric wire 30 gauge Coper Hook Up Wire 300V Cables electronic stranded wire cable electrics DIY BOX-1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KQ2JNLI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ywNSDbHHX3W24

Gameboy printer thermal paper, even the rolls that are still sealed, are all degraded by this point in time and will print like that.

I suggest you get new paper so you get a better print, here's an alternative that works according to comments i've read:

https://www.amazon.com/PM-Company-Register-One-Ply-05201/dp/B002M9BFGA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1527522847&sr=8-2&keywords=gameboy+printer+paper#customerReviews

Over time, those will fade too but you can at least scan them after getting a crisp and clear print, instead of what you have now.

Yeah I would second that - Just order a new shell on Amazon/Ebay (does not have to be Pikachu). I just re-shelled an SP today and it's way easier than a DS I can tell you that.

Here's what you'll want - https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Nintendo-Advance-included-Game-Boy/dp/B00B5QP54E/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1468802410&sr=1-3&keywords=gameboy+advance+sp+shell

Thanks for the detailed answer.

I can't see the one you recommended on Amazon.ES, I've found either a 1900 mAh or a2500 mAh one

Would you say these batteries would also work with Retroflag GPI case?

I got this one. it works great

Tabiger Soldering Iron Kit 60W 110V-Adjustable Temperature Welding Soldering Iron with Tool Carry Case https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1IFT54?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Works great. Most everything you need is included.

Not sure what you payed for it. But you can grab used ones on ebay for about 20 bucks and scavenge for parts. If like me you are doing mods it is good to have spare parts.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00004ZDHL/ref=sr_1_6_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1473120012&sr=8-6&keywords=game+boy+pocket+screen

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Land-Pc/dp/B00002ST28 is this box fake I'm not planning to buy it from Amazon but found one localy that looks like this

6.68 with free screwdriver and shipping
https://www.amazon.com/KMD-Rechargeable-Lithium-Screwdriver-Battery/dp/B00MYBZXDM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1541959825&sr=8-2&keywords=sp+battery&dpID=511bmOR%252BdJL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Does something like this work? https://www.amazon.com/Jerome-Russell-Bblonde-Cream-Peroxide/dp/B001RYQITU/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1539824502&sr=8-2&keywords=cream+peroxide+12%25

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001RYQITU?redirect=true&ref_=ya_st_dp_summary - This is the one I went with as it's a bit stronger.

This is the battery

So far so good. It lasts around twice as long, I've been playing it a few hours each night and have yet to charge it after three days.

Product on Amazon: FreezerBoy Refrigerator Magnets

[It's the one sold by Amazon Warehouse Deals.](Game Boy Pocket - Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004ZDHL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_O.WRybKKATYVH)

I bought a cheap soldering kit from Amazon for $17 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XZ31W3M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_oedEzb5K4TWS4
Also a Dremel tool for sanding surfaces and cutting plastic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BYRFH8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_NfdEzbEYCCFER

Here you go: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GBCPM6I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's a link to Amazon but some of the sellers are asking for high prices. Try searching eBay.

You had to buy it separately: https://www.amazon.com/Game-Boy-Advance-AC-Adapter-Set/dp/B00005B8G0

I've been using this stuff, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00030AP48/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_dp_T2_wFUozb8CNSSVY

Do you know if this is a good one? Cheap enough and I have a micro sd card. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0085H4YDO/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A1RHG6U7D062GD