The AlphaSmart NEO and NEO2 are great little word processors for distraction-free writing anywhere you want to go, but they lack the backlight of the later Dana model. Well, [starboyk] has done what many thought impossible and added a backlight to a NEO2. Experience gained from a ton of console mods and repairs led to the question of whether the NEO2’s LCD is similar to a Game Boy’s.
[starboyk] started with a fresh NEO2 from ebay, then swapped out the reflective polarizer for a translucent polarizer and added a trio of LED backlights meant for the original Game Boy across the back of the screen. The best part is that the backlight has its own power switch and a brightness control pot. It sounds easy enough, but this mod is not for the faint of heart as it sounds like a really tight fit in the end. Apparently we only need 500 orders to get a custom backlight manufactured, but barring that does anyone know of a backlight that’s 157mm x 44mm?
You can always stick with the mod where you power the USB-A port and use a USB reading light like I did with my NEO.
now if you could only use it as an ssh terminal.
I did this to an old Motorola paging terminal. Why they didn’t add a backlight at the factory puzzles me. I took the Seiko EL backlight and its inverter out of an old AT&T/Ultratec folding TTY unit which was in not too good of shape, as the character LCD used was the same size.
Here’s a better solution for backlighting:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYHZHZNL/ref=pe_386300_442618370_TE_dp_i1?th=1
Thanks very much for sharing how you did this. When you say you used a “translucent polarizer,” are you talking about something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Polarized-7-8×5-9in-Polarizer-Polarizing-Educational/dp/B08XVRDFVP/ref=psdc_3109907011_t2_B06XWXRB75
Please let me know. I really want to do this to my Neo.
Also, for anyone who’s interested, I think you could use this for the backlight rather than the lights for the Gameboy:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BYHZHZNL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
I bought one, and it’s pretty bright.
Thanks for your help.
After you do this mod, can you still read the screen if the backlight is turned off?