And once again we attack the keyboard. God only knows where the idea of this mod
came from. Lazyness, I
guess. I never can get myself up from the chair to the light switch and put
the light on when it gets
darker. Hopefully this'll help.
This mix of four pictures already shows how easy the making of this mod
is. Open the lid, a few borrowed keys from another keyboard attached with
some superglue(tm), solder the LEDs and the switch, and voilá.
Heh, well, simplified, at least.
Okay, so I took two keys from another keyboard for the stands on which
the LEDs will be installed. This way
you'll get the LEDs to illuminate a bit higher and therefore light up
a larger area. The picture shows also
the holes which are drilled for the feet of the LEDs, and another set
for the switch.
The connection itself isn't anything special. +5v voltage is dropped
down to +3.8v which is suitable for
the blue LEDs in question, and the current is set to 18mA. This is about
half of the maximum current the
LEDs can endure. Thusly, the LEDs aren't that bright.
Well, look at that. It works. I was surprised how bright the LEDs were,
even if we are down to half of the
maximum brightness. Even on daylight you can see the blue shine.
This article (as many others) is being written during midnight, the keyboard
lit with the innovation in
question, and I can find the keys even without the lights of the room.
(Gah, who needs lights when you can
write with your eyes closed, translator notes :)
And here we are with the semi-mandatory ArtZ image from the very bright
and expensive LED. Hopefully the
price of blue LEDs will drop to a reasonable level. These superbright
ones are way too expensive.
And so we have ended one more mod. Some tips in finding the suitable voltage
can be found in the previous
article where we made lights inside a keyboard.
So, the LEDs are blue, 4.2 candelas and the diameter is 5mm. The voltage
threshold is 3.6-4.0v and the maximum current per led is 20mA. The price for
the monster in question was 35mk (~5.8 USD) a piece, bought from sp-elektroniikka.
As you can see from the pictures, the spotlight is quite narrow, 15 degrees.
There are LEDS with broader angles, but they aren't as bright as this one.
If you can satisfy yourself with some other color because of the price or
some other reason, they tend to be available with a broader spotlight.
Content in english!
Sisältö suomeksi!
En ota mitään vastuuta tuhoutuneesta tai hajonneesta laitteistosta tai sen osasta.
Disclaimer! I will not take any responsibility for any destroyed or damaged hardware.