TI-84+ SE Backlight?

[Spartacus5]

Ok, so im a total newb at taking stuff apart, but i do have some school experience with PCB's so im not totally confused here, but it would be nice to have a backlight on my 84+SE. How would i go about doing that. In simple terms, so i dont screw it up. I cant afford to buy another one.

[c_plus_plus]

Take it from me: DON'T TOUCH THE INERDS OF AN 84+SE! I tried to back light mine and later the screen became messed up. I am now stuck with a half-working calc that I can't return.
I would recommend this project only if you have an extra lower-end calc to try it on.

[hydravien]

Backlighting a ti 84+ i will say is very hard if not impossible.

My way around this however is a frontlight.

Frontlights work by directing light from a source down into the lcd, where it is reflected back up by the lcd mirror and out to you. You dont have to remove the lcd from the metal plate or separate the reflectore from the lcd, which makes it much safer.

That being said i still managed to almost screw it up... Using my infinite wisdom i hot glued part of the wiring to the back of the pcb for some strain relief. but in assembling the calc it fell off my desk, and just barely clipped the lcd ribbon cable, so if you decide to do this i must recommend extreme caution.

anyhow, to accomplish this mod, i used small wire from inside a phone line. The frontlight is out of a broken gameboy advance sp. it fits the screen almost exactly on the ti84. you need to solder your own wires onto that. Then solder one of the wires to a small dip switch. The wires coming from that and the frontlight are tied into the calc's main batteries. I believe the battery in a gameboy is a small li ion or lipo which would make it 3.6-3.7v, so you only need to tie it into 3 of the calcs main batteries. 2 will not work, 4 will overpower it and it will burn out.

After your circuit is complete place the plate from the frontlight on top of the ti screen. Ensure that it is facing the right way or else it will direct light up at you and obliterate what the calc reads. Also you will need to remove the foam from the front of the calc where it holds the lcd in place. When reassembling it you will need to remove about half of the foam attached to the silver... thing? for lack of a better word.

To make a hole in the case i used an engraver i had handy from a previous feat. I built up a small mount out of hot glue and then mounted the switch firmly in place using rubber reinforced ca (superglue). after that, re assemble the calc and youre good to go.

Keep in mind this will kill the main batteries faster. I run rechargeables and i also dont intend on using it too often.. after all how often do you find yourself working in the dark.

[hydravien]

some more images

the really blurry one is an extended exposure... you cant read anythign on it but it just shows that the light is brighter than what the other pic shows.

[TheStorm]

*cough*look at the post dates*cough*

[hydravien]

yea i realise that, but does backlighting ever go out of style?

and if the people involved here do not want to backlight their calc anymore then perhaps it can be of use to others who might stumble across it years in the future such as myself...

[iklln6]

*applauds at date* i will post my pictures when / if i succeed

[zenome]

[xchris]

I know a guy that managed to 'transplant' a backlight from a PSION Workpad (the device was dead) to a Ti83... unfortunately the result was a bit 'freaky'... the backlight was not very good...