Lights, camera ... keyboard

[jagga]

Hello everybody ... as you can see I'm new to this comunity; and I start my journey with a question .. how can I put some LED's in my keyboard ? What I mean is this: I want to put about 4 LED' above my keys, at the top of the keyboard and I was wondering if/how could I conect the LED's directly to the keyboard (if anyone knows what the power cables are, pictures would be helpfull :p).

Thanks to all!
I'll put some pictures with what I am planing to do tomorow.

[Luke122]

Welcome aboard!

Grab a multimeter, and find the +5v line on the cable coming into the keyboard.

Then all you need is the LED's, the proper resistors, and the wire to connect them. :)

Here's a calculator to find the proper resistors for your LED. (http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz)

[jagga]

Welcome aboard!

Grab a multimeter, and find the +5v line on the cable coming into the keyboard.



Unfortunatly I don't have a multimeter :dead:Any other ideas ?

[Luke122]

Typically it's the red wire, and the ground is the black wire.

A cheap multimeter will only cost a few dollars, and it can save you not only tons of frustration, but it could keep you from replacing a motherboard or a power supply if you accidentally short the wrong wire.

I'd suggest borrowing one, or else googling the pin out arrangement for the keyboard you are using. Is it USB or PS2?

[jagga]

Typically it's the red wire, and the ground is the black wire.

A cheap multimeter will only cost a few dollars, and it can save you not only tons of frustration, but it could keep you from replacing a motherboard or a power supply if you accidentally short the wrong wire.

I'd suggest borrowing one, or else googling the pin out arrangement for the keyboard you are using. Is it USB or PS2?

It's a PS2 keyboard; I'm going to school now and when I come back I'll try to find a multimeter, I'll look for one on my way back.
I'll keep you posted.

[Spawn-Inc]

do you want the leds to make the keyboard glow or make them like a spot light so you can type in the dark?

[jagga]

Well I had 2 ideas .. one of them was drilling 4 holes in the upper part of the keyboard ... above the keys and the LED's would stick out; but then I kinda changed my mind and would rather put them UNDER the keys .. what do you guys think ?
I'll probably get a multimeter very soon, I found one, not that expensive, that can measure from 200 mV to 500 V, both AC and DC, cam measure amperage, resistence, and a couple of other things.
I don't know much about moding, I'm kinda used to working with the soft part of the PC, grafic design, site building/management etc. but I'm hoping to learn alot.
Thanks everybody!

[Luke122]

If you do put the LED's on the top of the keyboard, make sure they are aimed at the keys, cause they are hella bright, and will make it way too hard to see the screen.

Putting them under the keys would be a better idea to make a nice glow, but wont really help you see the keys in the dark. Also, to make the whole keyboard glow from under all the keys, you'd need probably at least 8 LED's.

EL wire would work well to light up the whole keyboard evenly (under the keys), and someone here did that fairly recently.. hit the search to check it out.

If you are just looking to light up the keys to see them in the dark, then THIS MOD (http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/nappis-spotti/index_eng)is for you.

[jagga]

Do you know a shop that delivers stuff like this to Romania ? I guess I could find some here but I couldn't find any on the web .. Also, what do I need to buy from these store ? Because I'm only 17 and I don't have a credit card.
PS: The link is probably broken, it doesen't work.

[Bucko]

The link worked for me.

[xRyokenx]

The link worked for me.

I tried it too, and it worked also. Basically the guy mounted a couple extra keys from another keyboard in the upper right and left parts of the keyboard and focused 'em on the keyboard... but taking a look at it would work better...