[Alan] procured a few game young boys from a Yahoo auction with the intent of using them for some other projects, but one of the game young boys was shipped with a very corroded battery which had eaten up one of the terminals. When [Alan] had repaired it, he was left with a game young boy with no battery terminal at all, so he chose to splice in some lithium-ion batteries.
Not only does the game young boy now have a new battery pack, but [Alan] was able to source a USB charger to deal with the batteries’ charging needs. However, he realized that his battery pack was 3.7 volts, while the game young boy only needed 3 volts. To lower the voltage of the battery pack to the required voltage, [Alan] grabbed a 1N4148 diode and put it in series with the battery pack, which also helps avoid any accidental reverse polarity.
This isn’t the most technically advanced game young boy hack we’ve ever seen but it’s terrific to see new life breathed into these classic video game systems. Not to mention that [Alan] saved some lithium batteries from the landfill!