mousepad mod!

[obliv]

mousepad mod- updated!

i just made a USB glowpad, pretty simple, 5volt led's in series (2.5 volts a piece, not ultrabrights, which im thinking about getting) but it connects to my usb port, which makes it hella convenient, the picture sort of sucks, my digi cam hates when it doesnt have its flash, and its not sanded yet, so the LED's dont shine through as well.

http://www.printroom.com/_vti_bin/V...etsfire&album_id=105283&image_id=3&courtesy=1


updated! -- and yea, its just an everglide, but the wiring job i did was rather messy (i was in a hurry, took 30 mins) and the black pad covers that messy job -- so does electrical tape heh.

if i used heatshrink and made everything perfectly insulated, id prolly change pads, but the fact of the matter is, i didnt cause i was lazy.. the mousepad even turns off if i screw with the usb wires too much, since i didnt insulate all too well, heh.

 

[residentevil2]

that sound like one cool mod. I never thought about that .

Thanks for posting this ill have to try it one day

sorry but when itry to go to the link it askes me to login.

But i get the idea in my head

 

[obliv]

fixed the link, looks weaker than it is, but im prolly gunna rewire in some ultrabrites instead.

 

[*spazzed*]

is that just a regular mouse pad?

maybe if you use a translucent gel mouse pad, it will "glow" more

 

[notasparagus]

Do you lnow how many volts USB has? I was thinking about making a couple mods for my comp with a USB hub I have. Also, what wires did you use in the USB cable?

 

[3nigma]

usb and ps2 supply 5v. i use to have a link that listed the volts and stuff but i cannoy find it

 

[spazzkid]

can anyone give me a guide how its done?

 

[UnWishedLegacy]

That doesnt look too bad, I've been thinking about using a 9v battery to save a USB port and will be able to include an On/Off switch- after all- whats the point of having a mouse board with lights if its bright in the room.

Apparently, if you use a decent 9v battery- a couple of LED's can last almost a year- IF YOU DONT TURN IT OFF!! so a battery could be a decent alternative AND you wont need to worry about accidentaly ripping the USB out of the back of your rig.

Heres a similar mod with the directions that I'll probably use (once i get my dremmel.. after 6months i STILL havnt got round to getting it). Okay- its not exactly the same as yours- but still an effective mod.

http://hw.metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/glowpad/index_eng

 

[obliv]

u use the red for +5v and black for ground on usb, and actually, usb is a more MOBILE alternative, i lan a lot and all i have to do is unplug it from the hub i have, just added ultrabrites, gunna sand it tomorrow, will rock.

 

[obliv]

a simple guide with no pictures...

cut a piece of 1/2" thick plexi glass to whatever shape u want

using a dremel, bevel in a way for your wires/led's to fit into the plexi, i didnt have a dremel at the time so i did some very very tedious drilling with a 1/4"bit, came out sloppy, but my mousepad covers that .

after so, u take the leds and solder them together in series

+LED- ---- + LED -

the + end of LED 1 goes to red wire, the - of LED 2 goes to black wire..

thats in a series, so if u get 2.5 volt led's, they'll run a bit hot cause of the 5v supplied (2.5 max volt led's will burn out)

i got 4 volt max led superbrights and undervolted them, much easier and the led's will last longer.

after so, to get the best results, sand down the edges very nicely (600 grit is good) so the led has less cracks to fight through

its pretty simple, the soldering can get messy, make sure the iron has a very fine tip

 

[spazzkid]

i wud start doing this tommorow. but wait, can i use an optical mouse on this glowing plexi WITHOUT an opaque mouse pad?

 

[WyrmMaster]

No, you need to put something over it. But, it's really only the edges that glow, so what it think looks best is to have something covering it so all you see is teh edge.

 

[BinarySuperman]

Nice job, im thinking about doing this as well, i just need some thick plexi, and i havn't decided what color to go for, blue or red, cause my optical mouse is red, or maybe i should change that to blue.

 

[obliv]

i wanna change my mouse's led to blue, but i cant figure out for the life of me how to open the ms intelli explorer, and i also need to know what kind of LED to put in there, whats the voltage of the stock led?

 

[X2sandman]

obliv, you have to take off the little black feet on the bottom of the mouse.