Adding a Rechargeable Battery to your Game Boy Color! 

New and improved version of this mod here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-glz8QctjjtY.html

11:36 - to avoid a short circuit, never cut the two wires at the same time. it could damage the battery, the contacts, wires and the tool itself. Nice mod and video! cheers!

You seem like a really nice dude, enjoying your content :)

Awesome video! I love it when I find a random video that catches my attention on RU-vid and I’m zoned out through all of it without fast forwarding any bit of it. Keep doing your thing bro! Respect ✊

Have ordered all the parts so I can do this to a couple of my GBCs. Hopefully I can install these as well as you have. Going to re-watch this so I have a good grasp on what I need to do.

Thank you for this amazing tutorial! I am getting into Gameboy modding myself, having zero soldering experience but I love these systems so much I think they should be upgraded for 2019 and beyond :)

Light AND charger... Wow this gameboy would have been my wet dream back in the day!

I love the work that you do with these little machines. Excellent modification. 👌 A big hug from Portugal.

That's a ton of work considering I had a rechargable battery back in the day that replaced the battery door, with a power intake on that custom battery door. Zero modifications to the entire unit.

Really nice one! You make this mod look so much easier than it actually is. :-) I can recommend rewiring the tiny LEDs of the charger board. Thanks for the product link of the Micro USB connector, this one looks better than the connector we used. Keep up the great work!

Don't cut off two wires on a battery at the same time

Now I'm interested wether we could get a on-screen overlay showing more detailed battery stats than the light.

Dawg I just stumbled onto your account. Probably the most informative content out there! Keep it up!

You seem like you’d be a dope friend to have. Like your personality and the way you talk really stands out 🤟🏼

I absolutely love your videos and have been waiting for this one. You explain it all so well. Keep innovating and keep kicking ass!

14:06 Note, the 2 holes next to the micro USB port on the board can be used to solder an external port like you're doing. You didn't need to solder to the original pins of the port.

This is really dope. Thanks for the share man and imma check out the new one in a bit 😃

Wow! it's great that you included a *Mode7* demo :D

love this type of content. Honest and not overproduced. keep it up my dude

You should add a breakout for the charge controller LED so that you have external confirmation of status.

I haven't modded my color with a backlight let for the sole reason that it would be a battery sucker. This is amazing, thank you!

I have found that small needle files work great for fine tuning holes in plastic to get just the right fit and a clean look. The dremel is fine for getting the bulk of material out.

I have used this video for my own Color and Pocket upgrade, and recommend it often! Thanks for giving!

Awesome actual DIY! Not some "kit," definitely liking this!

I really want to try this in a gameboy pocket. Thank you so much for the tutorial!!

I am gonna give this a go. Except I think I'll use a type C board and just create a new hole on the side. Great videos. Keep up the good work.

could you provide a link with where you got your grey organiser/mat that you work on? thanks!

I'll give y'all a tip: rechargeable AAs

super helpful video, very informative! going to attempt this myself now

You did a great job! With Dremel high-speed rotary tools on plastic, it's always best to use a lower speed (if the model has it) and let the speed do the cutting rather than applying pressure.

Keep up the great work. I enjoy your videos and commentary. Take care.

I am really enjoying the random videos on your channel. I bet you'll see a surge of subscribers soon

This is a nice mod but there are a couple of things to keep in mind. The chip on the battery module (TP4056) does get pretty hot when charging at the full current (default 1A) so it'll cook the battery on top of it; I understand there isn't much space left inside the GBC but that chip and the battery should be as far away from each other as possible. Another thing is that you can keep the original jack, basically you can wire its input to the IN+/- of the TP4056 board and the output of that board to the battery terminals. This works because when a device can use both non rechargeable batteries and an external power supply when you connect the latter there won't be any voltage pushed to the battery terminals so you can piggyback on to this mechanism to include the battery module. In other words when connected to the external power supply the current would flow both to the GBC and the battery module charging the battery but won't backfeed to the battery terminals while when disconnected the battery will supply current instead this time to the battery terminals. EDIT: Also those battery modules can be safely trimmed quite a bit both on the input and output sides especially after removing the usb connector so you can perhaps have more flexibility on where to position the now smaller module. There is another version of those TP4056 modules without battery protection which are even smaller but the battery must have protection itself in this case.

Great work! Just be careful with the heat from that charger IC! It can get really hot and your battery might sit on top of it! May consider a safer place for the charger board that’s farther away from the battery.

Reallyyyyy cool!! An extra could be to extend the led light that indicates its charging to the outside of the gameboy!

idk half of the stuff your doing, but you blow my mind lol.. nice stuff man

That will be even better if You will manage to route some FC core from LED of charging module to the microUSB port :) Great job!

amazing! I still need to get a backlit GB or GBcolor...just havent done it yet but they are amazing

Great video! It came out really well. Does the battery move around inside the shell much or does it fit tight enough to hold it in place?

Generally the screw holes on USB power input boards are optional power inputs/ outputs. It's designed that way so you can solder directly to them

I did something similar on my gbp a few years ago used the same battery from my möbius action cams. 870mah gets me 8+ hours with the backlight on. Although it was a one way mod, I love it.

great video dude!

This is the video im waiting for sean,you are my man,thank you so much buddy,im you're big fan from malaysia..

i just came from your limited edition gameboy color restoration vid and im super surprised you only have 10k subs.

I'm attempting this DIY this weekend!

thanks a lot sean for this great tutorial. it really easy to follow your instruction

Hi Sean, just found your channel! I've only recently gotten into GBC modding, and your videos are a godsend. I've been debating between this and the method in your other rechargeable battery video - while I know this is more work, it seems like the extra battery life is worth it! I was wondering if you had tested or had battery life time for either method using both an IPS screen and using a cartridge like an Everdrive or EZFlash, as that's how I'll likely be playing primarily. Thank you for putting out such consistently great videos and for keeping a positive attitude, some of this stuff seems overwhelming to a relative newbie, but watching your stuff I feel like it's all doable!

Something unrelated to the video. I was just as skinny as you, eating doesn't really help but working out does. At least do 30 pushups when you wake and before you go to bed. This really helped me and also makes me more productive.

Great video! Planning to attempt something nearly identical once I get my hands on a GBC. One question though, is there any way to tell if the battery is fully charged without having to open up the battery compartment seeing how everything is tucked away?

Hi, Thanks for the video!! I had to use a Diode on the positive output to the GB. (I am not an expert in these matters) Without the Diode the voltage was too high for my backlit screen. Apparently the Diode serves 2 purposes, ensuring voltage doesn't flow in the other direction but also decreases the voltage by about 0.7v. Taking into the 3.3v range the components expect from 2 AAs. Works perfectly now. Cheers.

With the midnight gameboy I extended the LED off the charge board ft mine so to you can see when it's fully charged it's a nice touch to add a 3.3mm led fits straight in the old power jack

They sell that same board, but with USBC which is what I would use since that is what phones are changing to these days now. But cool, and good job on the video! And also, relocate the LED near-by the case so they could weakly shine through... Otherwise, remove 'em so that you can save some battery life since it won't use any current to light up a light you can't even see anyway.

Sean, I think I never left feedback of this video though I watched on the day you released it. Since I'm thinking seriously about doing something like this I'm coming back ;) when I get this done I'll sure mention you on my gamer IG account. Oh and BTW.... I think I'm gonna do the same but with a 1200mAh battery (cause I think I'll be enough and this ain't that hard to come by as the 2000mAh ones) and to make it future proof I'll also make it USB C ;) Great video, as usual, thanks and see you on IG :D

What an amazing and informative video! 😃

Nice mod, i still have my GBC, i loved your video but maybe it was better to use a step down converter to drop that voltage to 3 Volts, a tp4056 will fit there perfectly

love the video i have a classic attomic purple gbc id love to get my screen lit and the battery mod that would be pretty awesome

These large + and - pads on charging board are for 5V from micro usb. You don't need to solder cables to this tiny pads. (Sorry for my english)

Nice work. I did the same thing to a front-lit Gameboy Color about 2 years ago. I used a 700mah camera battery because I couldn't find anything with higher mah that would fit the Gameboy battery compartment. I had to solder the wires to the battery itself. Originally I had to use a PS3 controller battery that was basically dying

never cut battery turmenals like he did, cut the wires individually or you run the risk of the battery failing

I love to watch your videos, they're so satisfying for ma and there's a lot of things to learn from.... I did a great job but i have a little remark about the battery indicator wich is an important part.

Awesome video! I was waiting for something like this. Quick question, what gauge are those wires? They look very thin. Thinking on getting some of them!

Terrific video!!

i really appreciate these videos man! Thank you so much! I've recently gotten into the world of Game Boys because of the r/gameboy subreddit lol and have been modding my systems over the last few months and this video is just literally perfect timing to go hand in hand with all that lol! i'm currently almost done modding my AGB GBA with a 101 screen and all that jazz, with a new shell and everything! the one things i've desperately wanted is to give it a rechargeable battery like this as well, the only thing is that there's no easy and simple solutions that i can just do with more available and ready to purchase locally, parts! like i'd LOVE to just be able to solder whatever power set up the GBA sp had, onto the AGB and call it a day, and i know it's not that simple so yeah lol! One thing i've really wanted to ask you, was could you do a tutorial for a power solution like this video, but with a typicall pass-through solution? like basically just be able to charge the system while playing on it, as things should be (and every other game boy, and electronic nowadays lol) because i'd really like to do that with a USB-C cable so that i can just share one cable between my switch, phone and game boy lol! is that possible you think?

I really enjoyed watching your video.

Vaya como mola, tienes una Game Boy con pantalla IPS, y ahora le pones una batería recargable, eres único amigo mío.

I would like to suggest de soldering the charging circuits LEDs and running them to a small port somewhere on the bottom. If those are the ones I'm thinking of they change color when battery is fully charged

Amazing bro, this Game boy is the best

Dude you are awesome fixing all of these gameboys. Ive been tryong to get my hands on a gameboy color but the are so hard to find

FYI NiMH batteries use mAh rating too and are available in 1200mAh up to 3000mAh per battery. Theoretically since they are in series the capacity remains 1200-3000mAh

This is a really good tutorial! I'm looking into things to do as a beginner Gameboy modder and this seems perfect. I was wondering though, would this method work with USB-C? Does the charging board you used support a USB-C adapter, or would I have to find another board? (USB-C is used for nearly everything nowadays and I think the convenience would be awesome to have.)

This is awesome and definitely going to come in handy partnered with the freckle shack :) Would this essentially be the same with the pocket other than the obvious battery size?

More maH means more power, more power equates to more heat. So how do you deal with the heat during long play sessions, or when the system needs to cool.

Just keep in mind that when cutting battery leads you should not cut both at the same time to avoid shorts

there were two pins on the sides that you could have used to solder the power input instead of the smd traces.

Finally someone has did it in youtube

Don't the two contacts between the negative and positive ports on the usb charger help with data? As in when to cut off the charger from sending power?

Hey Sean, The desolder braid doesn't get the job done for removing the power terminal. A solder sucker is definitely the best option!

Great job man!!! I´ll try to do my best and make something similar.

They also have aa rechargeable lithium 1.5v batteries on Amazon! So instead of hacking your gameboy you can just use lithium batteries. They keep a constant 1.5v volts of power throughout their rated capacity. I've been using them as opposed to nimh batteries with great success. I've found some with up to 2000mah capacity of course I dont know if that is completely accurate either way they have lasted me forever and I have a mcwill and everdrive cart and never have an issue with it firing up the first try!

I'm really curious if that clear rubber gameboy color protector fits on the boxy pixel shell. I know the battery bulge is a bit more angular on the aluminum shell to fit the rechargeable battery pack, but those would be perfect for it.

I'm thinking the possibility to use baterries from wireless telephones an isue the conectors to remove and add one new rechargeable battery when necessary.

I don't have GBC, BUT THIS LOOKS SO POSSIBLE THANKS!!!!!

Really cool video, I’m just worried about the heat coming from the battery?

Wow, great video! I’ll definitely have to try this out! Do you know if it would be possible with USB-C? I know literally nothing when it comes to chargeable batteries, so I don’t know what works and what doesn’t.

Nice video!

I have a question. When attaching wires to the charging board, why did you solder to the teeny-tiny pins, instead of the larger pads marked + and -? Are they the same? Those pins are so small that I'm worried about my ability to solder to them with my limited skill level and limited tools. Also, have you had any issues with heat, with the battery sitting on top of the charging board? I noticed some comments with concerns about that.

Hi Nice video. Whats the tool name that removes de soldering? :) thanks

Hi, nice and clean job, keep it up! But what about the difference in voltage? How well does GBC handle overvoltage (from batteries' 3V to TP4056's 4,2V when battery is fully charged it is 1,2V of overvoltage)?

This is very interesting, Hey can the same be put in a gameboy pocket?

So dope!

I'm not exactly a fan of packing the charging board in with the battery. Those TP4056 chips can get pretty warm when charging a battery from flat, and while it's unlikely to cause the Li-PO to catch light, having one spot constantly getting toasted is likely to reduce the batteries overall lifespan. On the original pocket there's just enough room to fit a TP4056 on the other side of the board between the D pad and B button. You need to chop off the middle motherboard mounting post, but it still works fine without that, and this also gives you that screw hole to feed the 6 wires neatly through to keep them away from the button contacts (A small amount of heat shrink tube around all the wires at that location is a good idea). To mount the charger to the motherboard you can just use a couple layers of car body double sided trim tape to lift it up away from where the button rubbers fit. Putting the charging board there is also pretty cool if you have a transparent case because you can see the charge indicators through the front of the case. I'm pretty sure this same approach would work on a GBC.

Do you have a video on replacing save batteries in old cartridges?

I know you just had the charging board loose in there, which is fine, but if you found a clean way to keep it in a fixed position, being able to see the charging light through the back of the case would have been a nice touch. A simple small drill hole through, and maybe even some more of the insulating tape to hold it fixed. If the LED changes color or turns off when the battery is charged, then visibility of the light would be very useful.

I like the Eneloop AA and AAA, what is the problem? Nice vídeo anyway!

tp4056 can get quite hot. In GBP, I limited the battery charge current to reduce heat.

awesome video. subscribed :) oh btw, can i use a 14500 battery instead of that turnigy battery? because the size is similar to an AA battery. maybe i don't have to mangle the case. thanks man

very nice gameboy color rechargeable battery

Cool. I'm going to try this on my Gameboy Advance. Thanks. Also as said before, NEVER cut two battery wires at the same time!!

Can you recommend to date the best backlit screen doing the rounds?

Just thought I would point out the fact that you did not need to remove the micro usb port on the charge control board as it has two small pads on the outer side of the port for you to solder your own port to. Less of a chance to damage the BMS board that way.