Ben999_'s Dreamcast Case Modz

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[]===================[ Dreamcast #2 ]===================[]

Here is the second Dreamcast that I have modified. I put 17 blue LED's inside a translucent replacement case. It glows all over. I got another Dreamcast because I bought it broken, only for parts (busted switch), but then I ended up fixing it. All that was wrong was an off-balance laser spindle. So I found the clear case for real cheap and then got to work.

Here is the beautiful night shot. Looks much cooler in person.

The side, from further away.

Shown with the lid open, no disc inside.

I thought this pic was really cool. No flash in low light.

Turned on in a bright light it looks a little weird. You can see the breakaway fan connector I hooked up to the lid inside the case. It's there in case I need to detach the lid at some point.

System turned off, with a a disc inside. You can sort of see the LED's, maybe some wiring. Sorry I didn't take any pics of the inside.

Here's the matching controller. Notice anything different about it?

How about now? : )

That's how I wired up the LED's.

And this should definitely help you out if you would like to install some LED's in your own controller. Pin 3 is ground, pin 4 is 5 volts.

[]===================[ Dreamcast #1 ]===================[]

Well it was only a matter of time before my DC got the treatment. LED's everywhere, and everything painted glossy black. VMU LED's as well.

I painted the DC, controllers, keyboard and mouse, rumble pack, 4x memory card, and all the plugs.

I placed Blue LED's behind the 4 controller ports, shining through from behind, and also an LED inside the power and open buttons on the Dreamcast. I drilled through the buttons and filled them with hot glue over the LED's. The triangular "jewel" on the Dreamcast which is normally orange, was replaced with a Tri-color changing LED. This thing flashes blue, red, and green in different sequences, creating a very nice effect. I have a short video clip of the LED, but it seems to react to different voltages with a different sequence so it looks even better on the Dreamcast. Click Here for video (you will need the DivX codec installed).

Here is another shot of it. This one shows the LED that shines through the fan grill. Also, the LED in the jewel is red in this pic, which shows that the color is being cycled.

Close up of fan grill LED.

Here you can see how I wired everything. Also, the PSU has nice little labels of voltages (3.3v, 5v, 12v, GND). I use a lot of hot glue now, so its pretty much everywhere. This pic was before the painting.

Inside from another angle.

The front, showing the controller port LED's and the gloss shine.

From the side, modem done too.

Everything thoroughly checked. Under the lid and inside.

Don't forget the bottom.

I even painted the plugs. I used viny dye instead, I forget why.

Controller painted and vinyl dyed start button and directional pad.

And the back. I didn't adjust the contrast at all, that's actual shine!

Here's the painted rumble pack.

Keyboard. There's no way I was going to paint every key.

The mouse, as much of a pain as it was to re-assemble, still looks nice.

There's the 4x Memory Card in place.

Lighted translucent blue VMU with Blue LED's.

It lights up more from the back, but still visible. I wanted to backlight it somehow, but it's not possible without SMT (surface mount) LED's like the ones in cell phones. I don't have any, nor have I experimented with those either. BTW, it's being powered from a Double Power VMU reader that hooks up to your PC to download/transfer/backup saves.

Here's how I wired it. I think I used a 33ohm resistor for those LED's, but you may need more. I'm pretty sure there was 5v coming from the first pin, and then GND from the second pin.