Need help keeping Logitech mouse's LED 'active'

[stompah]

Hey guys,

I perfored a blue LED swap into my Logitech Dual Optical mouse. For some reason the blue LED has a 'waking'. If it is not on a white piece of paper it may take upto an inch of travel before the LED gets brite.

Any ideas? I already voided the warranty by doing the mod and I am sick of using a piece of paper as a mouse pad. If I cant fix it or I kill it it is likely that I will swap to a ball mouse... so no loss is I kill the mouse.

CAUTION!!! MODDER WITH A SOLDERING IRON ON THE LOOSE! :)

[cwb27]

I'm not familiar with the exact workings of an optical mouse, but does the optical sensor rely on the LED? If so, it may not like the blue spectrum wavelength.

Again, I'm don't know a whole lot about optical mice, but this was the first thing that came to mind.

Edit. You could always try putting the red led back in, if the problem goes away, you'll know it was the blue doing it.

[TheFrag]

cwb27 has the idea, do what he says

[Diggrr]

You could add some resistence to the diodes' power to make it glow dimmer...that may bring it a tad closer to the red spectrum.
Worth a shot.

[stompah]

Originally posted by cwb27
I'm not familiar with the exact workings of an optical mouse, but does the optical sensor rely on the LED? If so, it may not like the blue spectrum wavelength.

Again, I'm don't know a whole lot about optical mice, but this was the first thing that came to mind.

Edit. You could always try putting the red led back in, if the problem goes away, you'll know it was the blue doing it. It wasnt liking the red LED when I did the swap. The blue LED is weakerand like you said the sensor doesnt like it.

When the mouse is inactive the LED dims. Waking from this 'dim' state is troublesome for the blue LED on any surface but white sheet of paper. But when the mouse is active its just as precise as the red LED.

Since its a USB mouse I might just whip out the voltmeter find the voltage that the mouse gives when in active mod and then use a resistor to bring the 5volt USB line to the mouse's usual LED voltage. I was hoping for a PCB mod that would eliminate thecicuit that ds this or even a software mod.

thanx guys

[Temo Vryce]

I might be wrong on this but I'm sure that a friend of mine has a Logitech mouse that came standard with a Blue LED. I know that logo on the top of the mouse is lit with a Blue LED, but the bottom LED might be red.

[Tbird man]

actually a blue led is better than a red one as it has a shorter wavelength ant this should make it more accurate. if you want to know why companies use red leds compare prices. blue leds are still pretty new.

[Carnil]

Originally posted by stompah
Hey guys,

I perfored a blue LED swap into my Logitech Dual Optical mouse. For some reason the blue LED has a 'waking'. If it is not on a white piece of paper it may take upto an inch of travel before the LED gets brite.

Any ideas? I already voided the warranty by doing the mod and I am sick of using a piece of paper as a mouse pad. If I cant fix it or I kill it it is likely that I will swap to a ball mouse... so no loss is I kill the mouse.

CAUTION!!! MODDER WITH A SOLDERING IRON ON THE LOOSE! :)

The problem is that the sensor for the LED isn't very sensitive to blue light. You could try adding a second, red, LED to the bottom to give it something to see.

And on the scale mice work on, the wavelength of a blue LED vs that of a red LED won't change accuracy one bit.

[TheFrag]

ya but a blue one would look a lot cooler

[krott5333]

Just make the LED always on, if its USB powered, no loss.

[MajinSSJVegetto]

You could get a bi-color LED that is red/blue and wire it with a little etra circuit that detects the voltage and switchs to blue when voltage is high (active mode) and to red when low (sleep mode).

[Crazy Jayhawk]

Since it's a USB mouse you can just grab a constant 5V from the USB cable.

[dyzio]

Try using a very highly textured mat such ass the really good mouse pads for ball mouses! :burn: :burn: :burn: :burn:

[Slaught]

I doubt that would make a difference, as it sounds like the white paper make the mouse active due to it reflecting more light. I.e. the paper being white makes it reflect more light than it would on a darker surface, and so the mouse picks it up as being on a surface and makes it active.
That would make sense to me anyways :)

[dyzio]

GET BLODDDY WHITE MOUSE MAT THAT REFLECTS A LOT OF LIGHT OR ONE OF THEM OPTICAL "HIGH LIGHT REFLECTIVE" MATS!!!


Just a guess it helped me :D :D :D
try anywayz

[stompah]

I fixed the problem... I swiped my sister's grey mouse pad and gave it a good cleaning... problem solved! :)

[Diggrr]

Hey, that's cool.
By the way, what's the specs on the diode you bought...I was just wondering, that if you'd bought the low light one instead of the super bright, that might have been your problem all along.
There's only $1 difference between them at RadShack, and I have an optical Belkin that would look good in blue.

I'd just like to hear about yours, kindof like having a crash test dummy :D

[fuzzba11]

I modded my logitech iFeel to have a blue LED (since it has a blue bottom and top it looks much better with a blue glow :p ), and I've had no problems with the wakeup function. Are you sure you got the right specs on the LED? If so, I would recommend trying something other than a white sheet of paper, that's probably the worst surface after a mirror to work on...

Got myself a 3M Precise Mousing Surface for optical mice and the accuracy difference in gaming is definitely noticeable, plus I got the one with the seperate wristpad so I won't have to worry about getting calluses on my wrists anymore... :eek: