Bling up your nunchucks

[Gaffer]

No, it's not a line from the latest 50cent song.....it's all about modding the nunchuck to emit a cool blue light to match the wiimote.

Nunchuck Modded

Looks good but will inevitably use up more battery power depending on the LED you opt for

[wiistar]

Blackpool Illuminations anyone...?

[jord@n]

not really blinging but still better then just white

[Gaffer]

Apparently his next mod is to put them in the C and Z buttons (not sure why though - it'll definitely look likr blackpool then )

You'll need what's listed in the tut.....soldering iron and solder can be had from any hardware store as can a triwing screwdriver set.

I would recommend using two thin bits of wire (with sleeving) to solder onto the "test points" and run these up to the LED. This way, the wires running past the other circuitry (including the microchip) will not contact and cause a short/burn out.

Also, you can get the LED's cheap from maplin:
3mm HiBright Blue Diffuse/Clear glow LED's (JA20W) @ £1.67 each


There are some more mods here:
Easy A Button backlight mod
Indicator mod (this looks VERY VERY cool imo)
Multicoloured backlight mod (for more advanced modders)

[Bayden_uk]

Thats spot on. dont know if i will try it myself tho, i alwayse mess things up

i wonder of you can send it off to him so he can do it for you?

[Ashy]

Looks good but then who looks at the damn things when you're playing anyway?

Plus the nunchuck uses enough power on its own without an LED.

[Hodgeworth]

Does look fairly decent. Wont be having a go myself though, I wouldnt trust myself risking a nunchuck

[Gaffer]

I'm sorely tempted.

Scratch my previous maplin link, you can get 100 x 3mm 5000mcd hi-bright blue led's for £5 (inc. postal insurance) and shipped from HK from ebay instead.

The forward voltage is a bit high at 3.2v though (as is the current at 30mA).

An alternative is to get 20 x 3mm 3000mcd "normal" blue led's for £6 from the UK. The led's are slightly dimmer but they use less power (3v which is perfect for the nunchucks) and less current (only 20mA), so battery life shouldn't be too compromised.
Also, the only problem with the mod is that it looks too bright, so maybe these "normal" (rather than hi-bright) led's are a better bet?

EDIT: the modder apparently used 7000mcd LED's (Ultra-bright) which is why it looks so bright (probably eats batteries too )
Generally speaking, the wiimote only puts out about 3.2V so the forward drop on the LEDs have to be at or below this.

EDIT #2: I just bought the same 7000mcd LED's that the modder used from ebay (comes to 14p each). However, i intend to add a 22ohm resistor (27p each) in series which will limit the voltage to only 2.8v and the current to only 20mA which should make the batteries last much longer (and the Light should appear slightly dimmer too, only about 5000mcd so I'm hoping it will all end up much easier on the eye)


EDIT #3: LED's arrived (but not resistors). I think I'll try the simple mod on my wired NGC controller first (not worried about current use here as this is powered from the cable port). I plan on using one for the yellow c-stick and one for the grey analogue. Will post up piccies when it's done.

[Gaffer]

Right....done and done.

Here are the parts I used (4 22ohm resistors and 4 led's for the nunchucks). I also used 2 led's alone for the ngc controller (as this is wired, so I'm not worried about battery life). I STRONGLY recommend using electrical tape to insulate the legs of the led's. When adding the resistors, as they are in series it doesn't matter wether you solder them to the anode or cathode and it doesn't matter which way round they are:



and here is the finished product:



You can also do it to NGC controllers (but may need to carefully remove some of the casing to allow the led's to fit properly). Doesn't show up too much during the daytime (perfect) and not too distracting at night:



and finally, I modded my nephews classic controller too....here you go:



In total, it took about 1/2 hour - 45min per controller because the solder took some time to adhere to the flat metal "test points". I don't have "high flux" solder, so it took a long time to do, but should be quicker if you have the right stuff (plus, my soldering iron is a bit naff).

[Bradwiin]

im definatly jumping on the band wagon