1,000 mcd LEDs too dim?

akadewboy · Post by **akadewboy** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:28 pm

I want to add some front-lighting LEDs to my original GBA, so I need some really thin LEDs. I found these:

WHITE Ultra-Bright 5 x 2mm Rectangular LEDs Pack of 10

They have a great viewing angle (150 degrees) but they are only rated 1,000 mcd. Is that way too dim? I noticed people are using 4,000+ mcd LEDs for their PSone Screen mods.

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:51 pm

You're better off with something with a narrower viewing angle and more MCD. Generally, you don't need a wide viewing angle and this also applies if you're using the light box thingy behind the screen.

I use 7000 MCD white LEDs but they're a bit bright for the screen (it's a strange Taiwanese-built thing) I'm using so I have a 1k ohm variable resistor to adjust the brightness. Better to have too much and be able to reduce it than have too little.

If you're buying from the UK, try here:
www.ultraleds.co.uk

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:59 pm

1000mcd with wide viewing angle would be plenty bright for front lighting a GBA screen

psychotic_mechanic · Post by **psychotic_mechanic** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:16 pm

I'm not speaking from experience here, but maybe the PSone screen LED's need to be larger because the light is shining through something, with a front light you should need less power.

Kepp us updated, I've been toying with this idea myself. I just don't want to spend more on an afterburner kit through ebay than I did on the GBA.

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 12:19 pm

Been messing around with some white LEDs and a GBA - one thing I've noticed is that if you put some sort of filter (I used a couple of layers of Scotch Invisatape - basically anything frosted should work) on the LEDs and increase the brightness a little, you get a nice even glow rather than the reflective dots on the screen that you would normally expect with LEDs.

Wonder if this works better than the anti-glare screen in the Afterburner kit?

Don't know if you can get diffused white LEDs but if you can, they might be worth a try for this.

akadewboy · Post by **akadewboy** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:33 pm

I went ahead and ordered the LEDs, I'm just curious how bright they are and if I can actually get them to fit beneath the screen protector on the GBA. (There's only like 1 milimeter of space).

akadewboy · Post by **akadewboy** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:16 pm

I got the LEDs today, and they don't do very much for the GBA (I didn't expect much). They're pretty good, I just need to find a project to use them on.