GBC OLED - Don't let one little wire put you off!

[@CaucasianWiz]

Although flux may not be necessary, I would definitely use it if you are a beginner. It gives you much more headroom to make little mistakes. I have been an electronics technician in the aerospace industry for a decade and solder extremely small components every day. You start to learn that flux is helpful in certain situations. An example is when you are soldering a microchip on the surface of the PCB. Some of these chips have many legs so flux is used in conjunction with dragging the soldering iron with solder across all the legs. If you tried this without flux, you'll likely bridge some legs together unintentionally. Now something like a super tiny surface mount resistor is where I don't use flux. The component is so tiny that just a drop of flux can wash it away. You can certainly hold the resistor in place but that's just my preference. Happy modding! Forgot to add that if you are going to use flux, you must use iso alcohol or ethyl alcohol (preferably 91% concentration or more) in conjunction with an anti-static ESD brush to thoroughly clean the flux off as it is corrosive. Some fluxes will say "no clean" but please avoid these as they don't dissolve in alcohol, leave a mess, and are still slightly corrosive.

[@JoeBleeps]

Hugely helpful information! Thanks for your contribution. Pinned.

[@pentacosttb2565]

Followed your last video to do this mod today, first time soldering in a decade. Really great job with these videos walking through how to do this stuff mate, you explain things a way that’s incredibly easy to understand. Also my new OLD GBC in clear blue looks gorgeous. Anyone on the fence absolutely should give this a go. Games look so much better it’s unreal.

[@JoeBleeps]

Thank you so much for the kind words. I'm glad the explanations are clear 😊 and congratulations on your new build!

[@keyhoxalkala8949]

30 years ago in high school I had an electronics workshop and there I learned how to solder, it is actually not very difficult and I encourage others to do it, tomorrow I will install my OLED screen on my Game boy Color, good video Joe.

[@JoeBleeps]

That's a great school for sure. I've taught hundreds of kids to become confident with a soldering iron over the years, hopefully it's ended up useful to at least some of them!

[@keyhoxalkala8949]

@@JoeBleeps The key is to lose your fear and encourage yourself. And these videos help a lot with that, thanks for your valuable contributions Joe.

[@JoeBleeps]

@@keyhoxalkala8949 I really appreciate it, thank you

[@jedipie]

Thanks very helpful. My OLED screen has arrived so will start modding my GBC soon. In the past have done the same Tetris Game B, 9/5 button test on my other modded Gameboys and there is a difference in how they feel for sure. My GBP is the easiest to complete 9/5 on 😊

[@JoeBleeps]

That's interesting, I always found the Pocket to be the trickiest to use for that! It's a fun way to test though 😁

[@dallows3235]

Bought this the other week, it’s arrived but wasn’t a big fan of the shell that arrived with it, felt a little bit cheap. So ordered myself a funnyplaying atomic purple one to put on it instead! Can’t wait to slap it together and play some Nemesis and Battletoads/Double Dragon on this bad boy!

[@JoeBleeps]

It's going to be amazing with that shell! Which one came with the screen, out of interest?

[@homerghost]

Lol I went for a white shell when I picked up the OLED Screen so I wasn't just copying your lovely and very tempting yellow one, and now here we are 😂

[@JoeBleeps]

Haha great minds think alike 😁

[@brianellerker9038]

Cheers Joe. Saw this and I'm now waiting on my kit to arrive. I could not resist when I saw the results!

[@JoeBleeps]

Ahh great I hope it goes smoothly for you!

[@brianellerker9038]

@@JoeBleeps cheers!

[@jasonandgoliath]

Man I just wanna say thank you for making this video. I was super on the fence about this but several fpgbc builds later and I couldn’t take it anymore! This video was so thoughtfully put together and thoroughly filmed. My experience was up and down, I started it yesterday and for some reason my soldering iron would only melt solder on the side of the tip and a bunch of stuff went wrong but I ordered a nice one and some flux and to my extreme surprise it turned on and everything is working great! Thanks for the vote of confidence, I’m excited to see what else I can do now!!!

[@closingprodigy2525]

Lots of really great explanations & insight. I never attempted this mod yet, but I think it'll be my next thing. Well edited & well spoken vid. Definitely subbed!

[@JoeBleeps]

Thank you for such lovely feedback! Much appreciated

[@poppacdp]

Another great and thorough video. Thanks for making this easy for those doing this for the first time.

[@JoeBleeps]

Thank you!

[@NinjaFaceGames]

The other day I actually did some soldering for the first time, and it really wasn't as scary as I thought it was. I replaced some batteries on some of my cartridges and also put some tactile buttons and clicky triggers in my GBA and didn't make one (soldering) mistake. Combined with educating yourself (like with this video for example), I do recommend people just take the plunge and try it, I promise it's not as bad as it seems.

[@JoeBleeps]

That's great to hear. Aside from anything else, it's actually a really fun and satisfying process too.

[@matthewsommerville88]

I’m also a guitarist. I’ve just finished my second pickup swap which involves lots of soldering. I also am an old retro gamer/collector. Simply put, I couldn’t afford NOT to learn how to solder. It saved me $200 it would have cost to pay someone to put those pickups in my guitars, and it’ll save me money when my old gaming tech starts to crap out. AND it lets you do cool stuff like this.

[@JoeBleeps]

Definitely a good skill to have. Guitar soldering is often on a much more eye-friendly scale too when it comes to the size of what you're working with!

[@o6se7en6o]

Thanks for the post! just got all the parts in today for this build.

[@JoeBleeps]

Good luck!

[@lp0pic]

Great video. If only I've seen it before buying some cheap soldering iron from Aliexpress. Tried it for the first time yesterday and naturally the tip of the iron didn't work. Now I just hope I didn't mess the c port up.

[@JoeBleeps]

It might just need thinning. Once you get some solder to stick to the surface of the iron at the tip it should work better, most irons need a bit of use to get to a good point like that. Or do you mean it's not heating up?

[@lp0pic]

@@JoeBleeps It's not heating up. I ordered a new one from amazon, the Treedix Soldering Iron Kit to be precise. Hope this one works properly. Anyways thats a great advice for future projects, thanks!

[@JoeBleeps]

@@lp0pic yeah if it's not heating up best to just move forward and get something else. Lots of decent looking cheap options on Amazon

[@richardcahill3406]

I bought a complete kit from Amazon with everything included; soldering iron, stand, solder, flux, heat shrink sleeves, multimeter, tape, solder sucker etc. it’s done all the low risk jobs I’ve needed. This video has given me the confidence to solder the wire in my GBA SP screen mod

[@JoeBleeps]

@@richardcahill3406 good to hear! Best of luck 😀

[@Jackpkmn]

It's important to use the right tip. As i discovered by accident while replacing the save batteries in my Gold/Silver/Crystal pokemon games I fried the clock crystal by using too thin of a tip to desolder the battery it took too long to heat up the giant mass of solder to remove and reinstall the battery. For this kind of broad job you want a broad flatter tip not a pointy one.

[@JoeBleeps]

Good point (no pun intended!) it definitely helps to be able to work quickly and efficiently

[@zazzau]

Great lesson Joe, thank you.

[@JoeBleeps]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it

[@jackipiegg]

Could you add a 16mhz clock on it and see if it works on oled. For Fast forwarding purposes.

[@JoeBleeps]

You know what, I've never done a clock mod. But as this is just a display and the clock affects the console hardware, I can't see why it wouldn't work. Be interested to find out.

[@JoeBleeps]

A quick follow up, I've just been doing some more reading and it seems a little more complicated as the two mods may indeed interfere with one another. I will investigate further!

[@jackipiegg]

@@JoeBleeps Seems like youtube don't like links, put this on youtube, ゲームボーイをオーバークロックした結果

[@roidnerd2501]

are you able to update the oled seen your video about over saturation and someone said you can update it or something

[@JoeBleeps]

@@roidnerd2501 yes I think you can, I'll have to revisit mine

[@RexxReviews]

Is this tray for sale somewhere?

[@JoeBleeps]

No, I had been meaning to but hadn't got round to it yet, sorry! Does it look like something you think might sell well?

[@RexxReviews]

@@JoeBleeps Its Niche but anyone that's works on these im sure would find it useful. It's better than having the shell sliding all over the place and getting scratched.

[@HellHatch666]

only Issue I have with the OLED mod so far is my power indicator LED was like going in and out and now it is just off all the time. Other then that It works flawless. I am pretty sure it's either a bad LED at this point or its shorting out on something. Just have been too lazy to open it back up lol. Also to every one intimidated by soldering don't be, the solder generally whats to go where it should be going. You just will almost immediately develop a feel for how the solder wants to flow and just take your time and work with it. Flux is your best friend and just clean the tip of the iron to take off solder, and add solder to the tip to add solder.

[@JoeBleeps]

Really wise words about the soldering. It does indeed want to go where it should. And good luck troubleshooting that LED. It does sound like something is shorting out somewhere.

[@HellHatch666]

@@JoeBleeps update it was shorting out, the shell that came with mine had a stripped screw sticking up a little that holds the metal shielding in place for the cartage port. I just had to take it out. but everything is working now!

[@JoeBleeps]

@@HellHatch666 good detective work! I'm glad you got it working

[@lp0pic]

I managed to solder the wire and tested it and it was working fine and then I started to put it back together, and when I did I tried turning it on again and Gameboy won't turn on again. I remembered that I didn't clean the flux off and I didn't put the copper tape for isolation. I don't know what to do, can you help?

[@JoeBleeps]

Definitely make sure there's a barrier between the motherboard and the screen assembly

[@lp0pic]

@@JoeBleeps Thank you, I did that and it still wont turn on. Do you think my gbc is dead and I should get a new one?

[@JoeBleeps]

@@lp0pic I would test it with the original screen first to check if it works.

[@miketipping4113]

What flux do you use I’m about to do this myself as well as doing the battery terminals

[@JoeBleeps]

The Toplink liquid flux I used in this video is my preferred method.

[@miketipping4113]

@@JoeBleeps only just seen your reply 13 hours after you posted it, anyway turns out I had a fair bit of corrosion around the battery terminals and the nearby capacitors so I ended up doing changing them as well and it was a great success for someone like me with little knowledge and not having used a soldering iron in about 15/20 years. Your video definitely help so thank you for that 😀

[@JoeBleeps]

@@miketipping4113 congratulations! That's quite an involved job. White vinegar helps with battery corrosion if you have issues with that in future

[@spidernos316]

Where did you get the game boy color holder?

[@JoeBleeps]

I 3D printed it, think I found it on printables.com

[@richardcahill3406]

Ah go on then, you’ve convinced me to add the wire to my GBA SP backlit mod so I can use the brightness button 👍🏻

[@JoeBleeps]

It's worth doing!

[@richardcahill3406]

@@JoeBleeps done 👍🏻 You were right! Cheers for the tutorial

[@JoeBleeps]

@@richardcahill3406 fantastic! Good job

[@Biadosaru]

Could you add the flux you use to your Amazon store page?

[@JoeBleeps]

Yes I will try to get it on there!

[@emjaystiff]

Great video, really helpful thanks👍

[@JoeBleeps]

@@emjaystiff thank you!

[@Artur_Iozzi]

Great video, Joe! I've just installed my screen but, instead of soldering the wire to the C terminal on the power switch, I soldered it to the SW1VCC terminal on the flipside of the board. It's been working perfectly for over a week. Do you think it could cause any issues? Soldering close to the power switch and that small chip was difficult for me.

[@JoeBleeps]

If there is continuity between those two points it shouldn't be a problem

[@Artur_Iozzi]

@@JoeBleeps thank you!

[@kennylee2590]

Great video. This build is going to be my first time soldering or doing any kind of modding. I want to replace my GBC speaker too. It is arriving a bit later than the screen/shell. Would you recommend doing this before setting up the screen?

[@JoeBleeps]

Yes I would. Anything like that is worth doing first. When you solder, it can spatter a little, or the flux can spatter and you don't want that on any clean screens or shells so if you can do it earlier, then go for it.

[@Strammerツ]

Solid video thanks mate, +1 subscriber!

[@JoeBleeps]

Thank you!

[@LumbyMcGumby]

My iron is massive but my tip is small feels more like I'm holding a hammer than a pen but still works totally fine for this project. Just make sure you use a good tip mine came with a chisel tip it's far too large

[@JoeBleeps]

@@LumbyMcGumby fine tip makes all the difference

[@sarrcc]

Every time I've watched a video that mentions soldering, I click off. However, this video showed me that soldering isn't as scary as I thought it would be. Once I get my hands on a Gameboy Color to mod, I'll definitely try this OLED mod. Thank you so much!

[@JoeBleeps]

This comment has made my day. That's exactly why I made this video. Seriously it's a lot of fun to learn how to solder.

[@warfarewarfare]

The one thing no one tells you unless you research is yourself is " tinning" I was trying to figure out when I was practicing why my solder was sticking to my iron and it was cause it wasn't tinned

[@JoeBleeps]

Well hopefully a few people might learn about it here 😃 and you're right, it makes all the difference

[@durbinh]

Man that little wire the size of a hair gave me so much trouble, I never had trouble with any soldering before.

[@JoeBleeps]

It's a different kind of technique with the smaller wires but once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad

[@soopafamicom]

People never want to try and do something. Buy a soldering iron, flux and solder, fing an old scart cable and just practice. Nobody ever taught us we just went and did things and practiced.

[@JoeBleeps]

Good old trial and error!

[@WoollyMittens]

Having the ability to solder a USB connector back on, is the electronics equivalent of being able to change a tyre.

[@JoeBleeps]

I like that :)

[@pspsmallz]

Ridiculously easy mod to be able to have the best display for your gbc currently. You can easily do it with a cheap tempature controlled iron, a small amount of kester or any reputable solder brand, no huge spool needed, and you really dont need flux since just a dab of IPA 91 percent or higher is good enough to clean and prep the solder point on the kit and gbc power switch. You can just practice soldering wires onto points/pads of any junk board before hand too and you will understand how laughably easy it is to do very quickly.

[@JoeBleeps]

All good advice! I need to try some other brands of solder 😁

[@agenttank]

i dont mind the soldering but I hate all the soldering irons that i own or owned and so I prefer not to solder with them. i really should buy a more expensive one in the future. do I get good ones for 100€/$? 😊 edit: wait, watching through the Video and seeing you with your really handy 60$ soldering iron and saying it is expensive, lol well, it's more than the 30-40$ i put in for the whole set. interesting solution

[@JoeBleeps]

Oh yeah I really don't think I need a £100 plus set, I'm no professional. The mini ware one I use is great, and that price range is plenty expensive enough for my needs, I only really solder the odd small wire here and there.

[@BreakerzStar89]

Anyone just sell one of these already made?

[@JoeBleeps]

I've still got this one if you're in the UK!

[@therizinosaurus214]

i do not fear soldering..... my home insurance provider does fears me when i am solderingg.

[@Neruomir]

Seriously just watch a few soldering tutorials on KZbin and you are good to go but some basic electronics to help you tell the difference between a capacitor and resistor would prob do you good also. It's not rocket science as long as you don't snort the vapors it's perfectly safe and if you like most people don't have a vacuum fan the just work under the kitchen fan.

[@JoeBleeps]

Agreed. It's so alien to a lot of people (along with basic electronics) that I can understand them being put off. It's a lot simpler than it first appears and also is a lot of fun.

[@agenttank]

dont buy cheap soldering irons! most of them (i guess) are very bad! the last one I had, didnt even let me coat the tip with soldering iron... so soldering might be 10 times harder with these and much more annoying

[@JoeBleeps]

I know what you mean but if you're only likely to be using it once or twice I'd say a basic cheap one with decent reviews would be a better option than spending a lot.

[@agenttank]

@@JoeBleeps then one should think about borrowing it or ask someone else to do it. cheap gear/equipment can make beginners hate it. still I encourage everyone to try it for themselves and thus acquire a new skill. it might be fun (besides having a "new" gameboy afterwards) but it also can save lots of money. I oncr replaced a few capacitors of my old 40" Samsung TV for 2,80€ or so. otherwise i would have had to throw it away (or let someone else repair it for 280€ :-D)

[@JoeBleeps]

@@agenttank as I mentioned in the video, borrowing one is a great option for a beginner. I've been teaching classes of 12 year-olds to solder for years and always used the same £25 soldering irons and they work just fine. As I say, it's hit and miss but some cheap ones are perfectly usable

[@agenttank]

@@JoeBleeps thats great :) yeah, i bought mine in local shops (mainstream tool shop like "OBI", "Baumax", "Hellweg",...) and they are were BAD at all times lol - and not even that cheap

[@JoRoBoYo]

buy a good lead solder, everything will be easy. buy shitty solder, everything will be hard.

[@JoeBleeps]

This is true!

[@icyds]

Flux people!