blue led in laser mouse mod

[ArkAoss]

which site had a how to on that

 

[h0vic]

It's been awhile since I read the article. I do remember that installing the blue led actually decreased the performance of optical mice (less responsive).

 

[ArkAoss]

ahh, that's good to know. I got a cheap kensington, but it works superbly, so I guess I won't mess with what works.

 

[MGMorden]

How much less responsive are we talking here? I hate that ugly red LED in my mouse and I've got a blue LED sitting on my bench that's just burning a hole in my pocket . . . .

 

[sparkle]

taconuts has it here!

 

[MGMorden]

I went ahead and did it. Seems just as responsive and looks frickin awesome. Thanks for the idea guys.

EDIT: Just as an side note. The mod on that page was a Microsoft Intellimouse Optical. I modded a Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical so that might have something to do with losing or not loosing responsivness w/ a Blue LED.

 

[bannor11]

Does anyone have the Radioshack part # for the Blue LED that works with Logitech Optical mouse?

 

[MGMorden]

Part #276-316

 

[Supradude]

i did it to a optical wheel mouse while back, but undid it, it was way less responsive, i used the 3.7 v radio shack LED, problem is the red one included is most likely ~2v, so the blue isn't as bright, afte the mod, it worked fine on white paper and "regular" mousepads, but was erratic and useless on black & white everglide pads... just a warning to those who wish to try, i think the microsoft line takes the mod better because the casing is solid colored... the translucent logitech seemed to "leak" too much light as well...

 

[MGMorden]

I do have to agree that this LED isn't as bright as the orignal red one was. I'm looking into some other solutions though. While looking around on Taconut's page I found a site here that has a Blue LED with a brightness rating of 3900mcd. The Radio Shack one is only speced at 2600mcd, so this one should be brighter. That might solve some problems. As I've said though I've not had any problems with mine aside from the fact that the LED doesn't shine quite as bright (I am using it on an ordinary mousepad though).

 

[MGMorden]

Just another note for those with the Wheel mouse optical. If you'll notice the mouse gets brighter when you move it. It's kept a little dimmer by a resistor on the PCB (which I'm assuming it by passes when it detects movement). If you solder a small wire in place of the resistor then it will stay that bright color all the time instead of just when you move it (and it's definately safe for a blue since it has a higher voltage tolerance then the orignal red led). To make the unmoved color brighter but keep the change effect you could also solder in a lower capacity resistor (the default looks like 35 ohm to me, but I could be wrong. if it is though a 10 or 20 ohm should do the trick nicely. I'll update after I get some resistors that small, as the smallest I currently have is 220ohm).