I got the new iPhone when it came out and I have been taking a lot of pictures and video with it. It's a pretty good camera, but it would be better with a flash. FastMac has an external battery pack with a built in flash, but it looks kind of bulky. I really wanted the Mophie Juice Pack Air to come with a flash, but for some reason they didn't put one in...so I decided to do it myself.
The following is a photo tutorial of just how I did it. After completing the project there are a few things that I wish I would have done differently and as a result, I bought another Mophie and I am going to do it again. I will be giving this Mophie away, FOR FREE, as soon as I have finished the second mod. If you would like this Mophie Mod, subscribe to our Twitter Feed @ChannelProject. We are going to give it away LIVE on one of our Podcasts. I'm not sure which one, so you'll have to keep tuning in for the next few weeks.
Click on any of the pictures for a full size image.
The first thing that you need to do is break apart the body which is glued together. Using a tiny flathead screwdriver, work the seal open at the top inside, where the phone slides in. Just get enough of it apart so that you can slide a credit card into.
Using a credit card, or some thinner plastic card, slowly work your way down the seal toward the bottom of the cradle. The card will break the seal apart easily without damaging the plastic.
Now separate the back part of the cradle from the front. The iPhone connector in the front of the cradle plugs in to the circuit board at a 90º angle so you have to pull it apart at a 90º angle.
Once the front and back are separated, peel off the piece of reflective tape to reveal the main circuit board. Using a tiny phillips head screw driver, remove the two screws holding the main circuit board to the back piece. Gently pry off the two long skinny circuit boards that run along each side of the battery. They are held on by some pretty tough glue and connected to the main circuit board by two gold "rainbow" ribbon connectors. Be very careful not to damage these.
With the skinny circuit boards dislodged, you can now pull the main circuit board up and out, away from the body.
It will remain connected only by the battery wires.
If everything was done carefully, the battery charge indicator LED's should still function.
With all that out of the way, now you can start on the battery. This was the most difficult part for me. The battery needs to removed so that it can slide down and make room for the LED and switch to be installed at the top. It is encased in a soft foil (which can tear very easily) and glued to the back. To get at it, however, you will need to cut out the the small plastic wall that separates it from where the circuit board sits.
Using a razor blade, you can easily score the plastic wall a few times at its base and then break it off the body.
Now for the hard part. Take a very thin piece of flat plastic (I used the back of a flashlight container that I will show you later) and gently work it underneath the battery, peeling it away from the back. The glue is very tough and it will take a while. I didn't think of this at the time, but you may want to use some kind of solvent like Goo Off to keep the glue from re-adhering to itself as you work.
After you completely separate the battery from the back, you can remove it with the circuit boards still connected to each other. Also, peel the masking tape off of the top of the battery to expose the terminals.
For the light assembly you will need three things:
The first is a switch. I used the switch out of this little flashlight that I picked up at Home Depot for $5.99. Just unscrew the top and bottom of the light and push the switch out with a small screwdriver.
The second is a cap for the switch. I used the rubber switch caps from this laser/light pen also from the Home Depot, also $5.99. All you need from this are the rubber caps so if you can find something else suitable without spending the money, give it a shot. To remove the caps you will have to twist and pull the ends off with a set of pliers, then push the switch assembly out and the caps will come with it.
The third thing you will need is, of course, the LED. I found this at SuperBrightLEDs.com. At 5500 mcd's, it's not as bright as I would like (I was looking for something around 10,000 mcd's) but it was the brightest low profile LED I could find. This is important because the space where you will mount the LED is only a few millimeters deep and a standard LED is too deep. They are $.59 a piece and shipping is $4.00 so grab a couple.
Here I took a Dremmel and dug a hole in the rubber switch cap. You can see it here with the flashlight switch above it. The cap will go through the plastic back and the switch will seat in the cap.
This is the point of no return! Now you must drill the holes that the light and the switch will go through to the back side. I drilled the hole for the light dead center and as close to the top of the battery compartment as possible. I tried to off set it to the left (opposite side as the camera) but there wasn't enough room. Even with the battery moved down as far as it would go, it still interfered with the positive battery terminal. There is only enough room in small gap between the positive and negative battery terminal to mount the LED. The switch is much smaller and can be mounted just above the negative terminal. Start with a small drill bit (like a 1/16th in) for the pilot hole and then use slightly larger and larger bits until you reach the desired size. I can't stress this enough, if you use too large of a bit you will tear the plastic...I did. Eventually you will get to a 7/32 in hole for the switch, and a 5 mm for the light. If you don't have metric drill bits use equivalent size.
Figure out which side the anode and cathode is on. There are two anodes and two cathodes. With the battery and circuit board back in place but not secured, position the LED so that the anodes are on the left and the cathodes on the right. Clip off and remove the bottom anode/cathode pair. It may also be necessary to grind off some of the bottom portion of the LED to get it to fit with the battery. Now use an adhesive to fix the LED and switch cap in place. I used Gorilla Glue. Then solder one wire from the anode to the positive battery terminal and and another wire from the cathode to the switch. Complete the circuit by soldering the last wire from the switch to the negative terminal. I used 22 gage wire here but do yourself a favor and use phone wire or small headphone wire. It will be much easier to work with. Position the battery as close to the light and switch as you can and press it in place. There should be enough glue still on the battery to keep it in place. Put a small piece of electrical tape across the bottom of the battery where it will touch the circuit board, then screw the circuit board back in place.
You may have to bend some of the wires/connections after soldering but you should be able to get to get the two pieces of the cradle back together without any gaps. Use a small drop of adhesive in each of the corners and press together until it dries.
When it is done it will look like this. Hopefully yours won't have the chip by switch button. To use it you just have to hold the switch down. I'm not really happy with the placement of the switch, that's why I am doing the Mophie Mod 2.0 and why I will be giving this mod away.
Here are some pictures that I took with the light on and off.
Our NRV-10 M-Audio mixer low light and with LED.
Here is picture of me in a dark hallway.
Any questions, hit me up on Twitter @ChannelProject or email me ryan@standuporlando.com
09.22.2009 
;)
How would you feel if you bought one of these at the peak?
