Modding optical mouse modding...[done and now with pics]

please dont hate me if this has been posted b4 - i searched 'optical mouse' and got so many results that i cudnt look through more than 2 pages - none of which answered my questions.

basically i have a cheapo a4 tech optical mouse and a heap of blue LED's and i just wanna swap the blue ones into the mouse instead of my red ones - is this ok? will the mouse still work and should the led's voltages etc be the same - the ones i have are 3.5volt 20ma ones - i have no idea about the ones in there.

thanks for any help

chaz

 

Yes, it should be a straight swap. The LEDs in optical mice are superbrights, just like the ones you want to put in.

It appears as though the plastic underneath the LED isn't colored, so the color output won't be affected (unlike with MS mice, which have a red lens).

 

I put a blue LED in the sensor bit of my MS optical mouse and it works fine for me

Darkside.

 

the microsoft ones have a Clear lens, although the base of the mouse is red plastic

 

My MS mouse ain't got a red bottom part.....

Darkside.

 

I read an article about replacing LEDs a while ago... It said that for it to generally work with most mice models, the LED should be at least 1000mcd, have a clear lens, and use the same voltage as the old one. Easy enough, right?

 

well my ones are 6000mcd so that shudnt be a prob - i will have a go tomorro and post up my results - providing my mouse still works

chaz

 

Did the same thing to my Logitech optical, with the blue led it refused to work .

 

I hope to order a 8500mcd white led, and use that. I'd really like to see how this one turns out.


Edit: I've heard of more success with microsoft mice than any other brand.

 

changing the led may not work due to the surface you are using as for some reason different colours dont pick up to well on fancy mouse mats.
if it doesnt work too well try using a bit of a4 paper as a mouse mat, usually helps

 

Have you got a picture of it? I would like to know how it would look with a blue LED inside. A blue LED with the red lense bottom = purple.

Can you change all the LEDs inside?

 

mission accomplished!

check it out - i did it!

it turns out that the plastic bit on the bottom of my mouse isnt red after all as the back one shines blue also and as for it not working properly it seems ot work fine on either the crap chipboard desk ihave now or anything else i had to hand to put under it.

here are the pics:





any comments?

(ps i did have a total mare as i am rubbish at soldering and only have a big soldering iron that i use on car stereo wires so i managed to rip a track off the pcb - i just dribbled a bit of solder accross from the nearest bit of remaining track to complete the connection - thats ok innit?)

chaz

 

That's really neat. I've heard of people using infrared LEDs, too, which dont give off visible light.


Im definitely going to try doing that.

 

Erm anyone know where i can get new rubber feet for my micrsoft optical wheel mouse?? i sort of lost a couple whilst doing this mod as ya have to remove them to get at the screws

 

You dont need 'em tbh

 

I just use my mouse on a normal beech wood table top and it sorta scraatches the table without them i know i could use something else so i tried it on a pice of plastic and it screaches and scratches like helltried it on a normal fabric mouse mat and it wont even move it just keeps stopping and the mouse never worked well on fabric to begin with

 

You can use an infrared LED? That would be crazy, not seeing any light, deff. the opposite of the normal mod though it would be interesting...