Mouse Mod

[cybertron]

For your amusement, my first real mod.:)

I added a couple of yellow LEDs to an old Logitech cordless mouse I had lying around. Why yellow? Because that was one of the colors that came in the 20 pack of LEDs I picked up at Radio Shack and I was hoping through the blue plastic it would make green. No such luck. They don't list the volt or amp ratings so I burned a couple out before I figured out what I needed, and they're really dim LEDs (one in particular) but they served their purpose. I successfully managed to add LEDs to something and I got some practice soldering.

I would have changed the color of the sensor LED but it was encased and would have been more trouble than it was worth to change. Plus I don't think these are bright enough to work for a mouse.

Anyway, here's the incriminating evidence:

First try - tiny little LEDs and an awful soldering job. Eventually I broke these off trying to rearrange them to fit (this mouse has very little space inside) and decided to go with the two bigger yellow ones instead:
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod1.jpg

You can see the ghetto piece of cardboard I had to put in between the wires to keep them from shorting out. Lazy? Yeah. Works? Yeah.:)
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod2.jpg

One side.
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod3.jpg

The other side with the crappy dim LED.
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod4.jpg

Now I need to go get some decent LEDs (glad I didn't in the first place, I would have been pissed if I burned out a $5 LED instead of a 10 cent LED but then if I had had voltage information for them I probably wouldn't have burned them out either). I've always kind of wanted to paint that silver black too, but we'll see on that. I don't actually use this mouse anymore so there's not much point in putting a lot of time into it.;)

[DaveW]

That actually looks pretty sweet. Shame about the dim LED, get that replaced if you can.

-Dave

[tybrenis]

Yeah, Radioshack LEDs suck total ass, the cheap ones I buy in packs of a hundred for five bucks off of eBay are a hell of a lot nicer, and they actually come with voltages and everything. The Radiocrap ones are so dim, and are colored by the outside shell, not by the actual parts of the LED.

[Razors Edge]

yo ty hook me up with some of those LEDs, the 20 packs i get off raidioshack for $3, I couldn't get them to work.

[cybertron]

Yeah, Radioshack LEDs suck total ass, the cheap ones I buy in packs of a hundred for five bucks off of eBay are a hell of a lot nicer, and they actually come with voltages and everything. The Radiocrap ones are so dim, and are colored by the outside shell, not by the actual parts of the LED.
Hmm, maybe I should look for them somewhere else then. I'll have to go back and see if their more expensive ones are still just colored by the shell. The worst part is that the "white" ones are more yellow than the yellow.:)

At least the soldering iron I bought there works well. Remind me never to buy one of those at Wal-Mart ever again.

I did discover last night that I lost a piece somewhere along the line so the wheel no longer clicks when you turn it. I could rig something up to fix that but I probably won't bother.

[cybertron]

So has anybody ever bought LEDs from ledshoppe.com? I just saw an ad for them and they're selling 100 5000mcd blue LEDs for $10. That's about twice as bright as the expensive one I bought at Radio Shack but incredibly cheaper. And I was happy with the brightness on the RS one so these should be great. I guess for $10 even if they suck I'm not out that much, and if they work I'm set for life on blue LEDs.:)

[b4i7]

let me know how those leds work out for you....frome led shoppe.....cuz if they are good then ill have to make an order

[cybertron]

Order is in. Oddly enough they charged me sales tax, despite the fact that they're in Hong Kong and I'm in Minnesota. But whatever, it was only .65.

[cybertron]

Well, looks like it took about two weeks for the new LEDs to get here. Not super fast, but fine considering that they were coming from Hong Kong and shipping was free. I think the mouse looks sweet now (wasn't sure how it would look leaving the red one, but I like it), it's even bright enough to photograph in the dark:

Top:
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod5.jpg

Sides, which are even now:
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod6.jpg

http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod7.jpg

Bottom:
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod9.jpg

The LEDs are great, especially considering the fact they cost 10 cents apiece. Noticeably brighter than my Radio Shack one, although not quite as deep a blue unfortunately. Still very happy though. Couldn't believe that they fit 100 LEDs in the little padded envelope they sent them in though.:)

LED Shoppe LED:
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod10.jpg

Radio Shack LED:
http://www.nemebean.com/mods/MouseMod11.jpg

[Indybird]

Woah that looks so much nicer (no offense to your previous ones)! Lookin' good...

[ShadowSniper]

I've been waiting for your LED's to arrive. :P
Now I can buy some too. Also, the mouse is looking much better.

[cybertron]

Woah that looks so much nicer (no offense to your previous ones)! Lookin' good...
None taken.:)

I didn't particularly like the way the first one turned out, but it was more of a learning experience than anything else so that was okay. This one's more of the finished product. If I didn't use a Diamondback Plasma for my main mouse I would mod that too, but it's already got enough LEDs and looks like it would be a bit of a pain to get open.8)

[a_punker]

well done, that reallly looks great.
I know how tough it is soldering with a really bad iron (heavy + low power - "close the window in case the breeze cools the bit down too much")