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LED Lighted PSP Mod

This is definitely a difficult mod, the
pieces are small and the spaces are tight proceed at your own risk.
Expect to damage multiple 0603 LED's so have a corresponding # LED's extra
depending on your soldering skill (making this your first soldering project is
almost certain to end in disappointment). That being said we do have a kit
available
Tools-
000 Phillips Screw Driver
Low wattage (15-20) Quality Solder Iron or variable temperature Solder Station.
X-Acto or other blade for stripping/scratching off the insulation on the wire
Small Tweezers
5/64 Drill bit and drill
Supplies-
30AWG Magnet Wire (enamel coated) (NOT 30AWG Kynar)
0603 SMD LED's
10 Ohm Resistor for 4 blue
Original Forum
discussion
Updated
Discussion Topic
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Start out with a couple
0603
surface mount LED's Just for a size reference they are about
as big as the E in Liberty on a Dime. |
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I find it is best to find a spring loaded
tweezers. This kind wants to close on its own when you squeeze it
opens. We sell a set that contains the tweezers that I am using in
these photos. |
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First you will need to scrape away some of the
red enamel coating to reveal the copper, then tin with fresh solder.
Tin the LED and then join the two with a breif application of heat. |
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Once completed it looks something like this.
Notice the green marking on the bottom of the LED, think of it as an
"arrow" that always points toward the cathode or ground side of the LED.
In this photo the cathode would be on the left wire. (once together the
whole contraption becomes very delicate, simply bending the wires can
cause the LED to break so do as little bending of the wire close to the
LED as possible, twisting the wires together causes the wire to rotate
and this will often break the LED as well so try to have your wires
basically how you want them prior to soldering) |
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Prepare the trigger by drilling a small hole.
I used a 5/64 drill bit. Try to use the plastic tabs the protrude
from the sides as a general guide, you want to be parallel with them and
go in about as deep as they go |
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Another angle of the completed drilled hole. |
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Put a little hot glue on the led and over the
hole and insert the LED as deep as it goes with the bright side facing
the long side of the trigger. |
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Test it out |
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It should look something like this when
installed. |
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We use the same method to attach the other LED's
as we did with the trigger button LED's. For the D-Pad it is
necessary to cut a little notch for the wires. A little hotglue
keeps it in place |
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To keep the D-Pad working freely it is important
to bore a couple holes so the wires do not need to travel under the
rubber pad for far |
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To balance things out we added another LED on the
right side in the middle of the ABXY buttons (aka trinagle square etc)
just stick it in there and shoot some hot glue down from above |
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We had to cut the circle in the middle of the
rubber pad so it would show through properly |
Updates: It appears possible to skip the transistor
and just wire it in direct. I definitely like this idea from an ease of
solder-ability standpoint. And Hey if it works it works.
view/provide Survey Feedback on the reliability of this method
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Also see our Forum Discussion many have reported
success eliminating the transistor and simply wiring a resistor and the
LED's between the power and ground for the onboard LED. I made an
assumption that the circuit was built with just enough to power one LED,
apparently the circuit is made well enough that nothing burns out. |
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Run wires from the positive point for the power
led to a 10 Ohm resistor, then into all the positive legs of the LED's.
Then out from all the negative LED legs to the ground point on the ABXY
printed circuit board. |
Old Method Using Transistor removed available
here for reference
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Getting the thing to close properly is the tough
part, this is a photo of the difficult part, it turns out you are better
off if you run the wires higher rather than lower, keep the wires as
short as possible to help them stay in place. |
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As promised when the yellow LED is on the blue
ones are off. I will probably be opening it back up to do
some re routing, every button is working but the D pad feels a bit funky
and the home button is kind of tight due to my placement of wires coming
too close to the buttons. |
-Llamma
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