[Wiseass]

Okay I tried searching and it keeps telling me that my search is under 4 words or something?

What I want to know is I'm thinking of doing a lighted mouse pad (piece of acrlic underneath my current mouse pad) and want to know the easiest way to power the LED(s)..

Also any tutorials on the subject would be a great plus! Thanks in advance!

[SniperXX]

I have some links but I need to get them off my other PC. I will post back soon as I get them.

BTW: You can power them of a battery (radio shack has little enclosures (sp?) for batts.) or power them off a USB port or someting.

[rugbyroy]

try this link out http://modding.stylespc.com/howto10.htm

[fiji]

batteries woudl work, but you would have to replace them every now and then, or you could get some kind of lower volatage adapter from a normal outlet


an old rechargable battery from a rc car, or phone?
or you could just buy some at wal-mart

[rugbyroy]

I think a usb connection would be best, as it is easy to connect and disconnect. Just an idea.

[fzepnts]

http://www.metku.net/index.html?sect...wpad/index_eng

another site with info

[Wiseass]

cool thx for the links all.

Just another quickie question, I don't know too much about electronics and the different leds and whatnot, but say I wanted to use a blue led or red or whatever, I know some of them have different power usages? Like one will need more power then the next? say if I run it off of a usb cable how would I know what power rating for the led to use, also what about batteries? I know AA are 1.5 volts so if I ran something that used say 2 AA or something like that how would I figure out the power rating?

Also I remember seeing a while back a website that sold all sorts of LEDs and whatnot?

[rugbyroy]

Here is a good LED site. http://www.eled.com/ I don't know a whole lot about electronics either, but I would think that the usb would probably have voltage wires in it somewhere. If you need some resistors you can figure out how much you will need here http://linear1.org/ckts/led.php that will tell you what kind of resistor you need at least.

[Wiseass]

okay cool...now yet more questions...how big is a 3mm led? I mean like compared to whats in the keyboard lights and whatnot. I see alot of 5mm but they almost look too big, but that could just be the pic.

[rugbyroy]

three mm is probably about the smallest you can get. That would probably be ideal for the mousepad. You can make a 3mm out of a 5mm if you file it down, just be sure to not hit metal. If you want to know exactly how big 3mm's are get a metric ruler =)

[Yarr]

3mm=0.12" right?
are we talking about round or flat LEDs?
I'm just curious.

[Xevuhtess7]

3mm is pretty much teh stsandard for keyboards and case led's, if that helps you get a reference point on how big they are.

[Goronae]

sean you typing sucks its erik whats up. I agreee with xevu's measuremnts that should be fine (measures mine)

[xace]

i've seen them somewhere for sale, ill look around

[Sn0rKy]

whats the mouse pad surface on top of the acrylic?
my mouse dont work very well on top of acrylic.