When i was in grade 5, pokemon red on the gameboy was all the rage on the schoolyard. AA batteries were constantly running out. One day, this one kid showed up with a massive 4S alkaline D-cell battery pack, soldered together and duct-taped to the back of his gameboy; his dad had built it for him. That was the inspiration for this repair/upgrade.
Selling points of this design:
Battery holder fits in the hand while holding the NDS lite.
Can be charged through the charging cable just like the original battery so no need to disassemble for charging.
Parts will interlock for easy assembled but also be sturdy and solid for daily use.
Uses the original screw from the original battery lid.
Uses common, standard parts.
Lasts for 8 hours of gameplay, Sleep mode for for 3-4 days.
Assembly instructions are available on the thingiverse page.
Source code for 3d printed parts are available for Fusion 360.
Files
fakebatt.stl
This is the dummy battery that fits into the battery bay, protrudes through the battery door, and attaches onto the battery cylinder.
Standard Tesselated Geometry -
47.15 kB -
01/22/2018 at 04:13
1×
3D printed parts from PETG
PETG or stronger is ideal due to flexability and strong inter-layer adhesion. PLA may work but not recommended.
1×
PCB protected (against under-voltage) 18650 cell
These are easy to find over amazon, aliexpress, ebay, etc. as high power flashlight batteries. You can also salvage them from laptop battery packs, cheap powerbanks, discarded Teslas, Powerwalls, etc. but salvaged cells must have a under-voltage PCB added. These PCBs can be sourced from aliexpress.
2×
Wire
Approx 100 mm total
2×
Flat copper strip, or metal strip
Those plastic/metal anti-theft magnetic sticker markers contain 3 usable strips each!
2×
M2 Screw, 4mm
Longer is not recommended as they will poke into the battery.
Solder 2 pieces of wire about 5-10cm, each with a small spring on one end and a small strip of copper on the other.
See project photo for reference
2
Wrap the strip of copper on the fake battery and glue it on the backside so the NDS's contacts can touch them when the battery is inserted.
See project photo for reference
3
Insert the fake battery and leave the wires passing through its central hole. Secure the wires onto the fake battery with glue gun or your adhesive of choice.
very cool mod to extend battery life but believe it or not, Nintendo themselves still sells a $15 replacement battery for the DS Lite if you're not too keen on buying a third-party battery
This is a great project and helped me breathe life into an old DS. Thanks for this.