Modding Mouse LED

mnelson07 · 06-12-2007, 11:38 PM

So I was looking at my mouse (which I like a lot) and I was wanting to change the LED in it. Everything else with my PC is a black/blue scheme and I want the mouse to match it.

First I plan to change the LED to blue (if possible) and then spray paint the white to a shiny black.

I know I could easily buy a mouse like the Razer Diamondbacks but this is much more cost efficient and gives me a personal sense of accomplishment. Also, I've bought the Diamondback and a few other mice and I just don't care for any of them compared to this mouse. I've had it forever and it works wonderfully for casual use and gaming. I love its feel and button placement. I only mention that so I don't get pointless responses suggesting I purchase another mouse.

Anyways, I attached a picture of the LED itself when I cracked the shell off. I've looked around online for places to buy an LED light. But I have no experience in this field of modding. I don't know if I'll have to solder anything, or what. The only place I found something somewhat relevant or looking close to what I needed was FrozenCPU.com. They had 3mm LEDs which I thought could possibly be it, but their stems or whatever you call them look extremely long.

Oh, and sorry for the somewhat blurry pictures. They were the best I could do.

peterhuang913 · 06-12-2007, 11:41 PM

I think the LED sensor only sees red.

Time to learn how to use a camera:
What model camera do you have?
You need to find the marco feature, its a little flower on the selector
With practice, images come out looking like this:

mnelson07 · 06-12-2007, 11:57 PM

How do you tell whether it only sees red or not?

I have a Sony PowerShot SD630
I tried messing with the features such as macro, didn't seem to affect the image's adjustment through the screen when I took the picture so I put it back to it's default settings.

*edit*
Just tried again and it worked. I don't know what I did differently or didn't do the first time, but the pictures are much better.

peterhuang913 · 06-13-2007, 12:03 AM

im not into modding, so i dont really know
practice makes perfect: post some new ones

mnelson07 · 06-13-2007, 12:09 AM

Here are better pics.

peterhuang913 · 06-13-2007, 12:22 AM

did you even ever hear of a 'marco' feature before i told you about it?
also, are you competent at soldering?
im fairly skilled and i hate desoldering and soldering small areas, its somewhat hard
the mouse will still function if the led is changed form red to blue, its just that its really hard to change it

mnelson07 · 06-13-2007, 12:25 AM

...yes. I told you. I was aware of it and I used it originally. For some reason when I took the original pictures the camera didn't focus correctly so I just put it back to it's normal settings.

Then, I tried again later after you commented on my pictures. It happened to work.

Regardless, this isn't the point of the topic.

kfc469 · 06-13-2007, 12:26 AM

ok unless I'm mistaken, the thing in the middle there is the photo receptor. I don't know which kind microsoft uses. as far as I know there are photo receptors that will accept any color of light, but as I said before, I don't know if microsoft used those. the only way I can think to test that is to take some blue light and shine it on the receptor and see if the mouse moves. if it does, you can go ahead and swap out the led. if it doesn't, you need to swap out the receptor as well.

when you buy the led, make sure you get the same wattage as the one that is already in there.

kfc469 · 06-13-2007, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterhuang913

its just that its really hard to change it

you don't have to de-solder it. just hold the soldering iron on the leads of the led till it heats up some, the solder will melt and u can pull the old led out. then, touch the iron to the holes where you just removed the led to melt the solder that is left over from the old led and put the new led in. its a 2 min project.

just be careful not to burn any of the surrounding components.