I did this not too long ago but right now (13th Jan 2004 02:04) I can't get to sleep, so I thought I'd post this REALLY exciting post and increase my post count at the same time This Keyboard... Nice Translucent Blue cover to the side, me thinks my student budget can stretch to mod this Internals (No piccies of inside, not exciting anyway, just 2 lengths of wire and a mess of wires at the LEDs) Code: ,-----(>|)-----. Res | LEDs | 5V--[===]----|-----(>|)-----|-------Gnd | | '-----(>|)-----' LED's where 5V 30mA PS/2 current limit is 100mA max status LEDs (Caps, Num Scroll) took 25mA total (measured) So 100-25=75mA spare Res = 5V/75mA = 66 Ohm Each LED runs on 22mA (don't quote me I can't actually remember presisely ) Result and after I turned the LEDs upside down to diffuse the light a bit That's all folks Sleep Beckons now....
I spy a Genius Keyboard, nice things actually. I use the same one as that here at work, the mute/volume keys are a god send! Muting my music when someone comes in to annoy me/ask a question) You gonna do the same with the top bit? (bit with the WWW controls on) Might involve a bit of cutting but would look cool.
good work m8, how about getting a bit of led string and putting it under your keys to get them lit up. Richman
There looks like a 1-2mm gap under the plastic, I've seen people talking about light panels in other threads I think like EL wire, could I use this can I cut it to size? Can I cut holes in it?
It comes through the PS/2 port. If you read he said he had 100mA (thats the amount of power it gives)to use so he tapped off the power line that comes through.
Do ya think I can do this to the two tranclucent peices of plastic on the logitec wireless duo? I dont wanna take apart a $90+ keyboard though.
Yeah, my LED's run off the PS/2 power the keyboard itself takes 25mA which left me 75mA to play with. So any more modifcations will mean an external power source. I do need a switch though this mod is in my bedroom and VERY bright even with the computer shut down (I'm going to try a transistor switch off the clock line but I need better simulation software first) As for the $90+ keyboard if you do try any mods take it apart VERY CAREFULLY and I doubt you'll have a problem, powering mods won't be such a problem because power is coming from batteries you can draw a fair amount of current (depends on the battery life you want) unlike my wired keyboard where the motherboard has a restriction (called a fuse)
UPDATE: I've finished my degree and i'm starting to think about modding again (I've got a case project in design atm) but in the mean time I've finally added a switch to switch off the all LEDs (even the status LEDs) as whenever my pc powers down which ever status lights where left on stay on)(my ststus LEDs are still green btw ) I'm only posting as the ability to switch off status LEDs may be of interest to some people the new circuit: Code: Switch o / 5V-o< ,-----(>|)-----. Res | BLUE LEDs | o-,-[===]----|-----(>|)-----|-------Gnd | | | | '-----(>|)-----' | Microprocessor | _____________________ | | | |----------------(>|)-----------o|NumLock LED port | | | | |----------------(>|)-----------o|CapsLock LED port | | | | '----------------(>|)-----------o|ScrollLock LED port | | | Generally micros cannot provide enough current to light a LED but can sink enough current to ground to light them (Logic works in reverse to switch on the LED the micro sends 0 (off) command to the port) this is the cheapest way of doing this so I'd suspect this exact solution would work for every keyboard. So to have a switch to switch all status LEDs offl: cut the 5V line to each of the LEDs solder in some wire to each LED anode solder the wire through a switch back to the 5V supply PS. Sorry no piccies posting on bit-tech was an after-thought
PHOTOS I beggared up one of the solder joints so I had to open the case and I took the oportunity to take some piccies with my amazing(ly rubbish) camera The Installed Switch Here's the jumble of wires to make up the blue LEDs Here you can see the wire to join all the LED anodes together and the cut 5V rail (near the left end of the green wire) Here's the connections to the control board you can see I've cut two of the links (5V rail) and used the remaining bits to solder to Red Wire - Connects to Blue LEDs Green Wire - Connects 5V from PS2 to switch Short Black wire (bottom left) - connects switch to LED 5V rail Long Black wire (across top) - connects blue LEDs to ground (this was the dry joint)
