Is it possible to Back light a keyboard?

Just like the title, is it possible to DIY a notebook back light keyboard? Or maybe get one off another notebook and hook it up?

 

You can not make a true backlit one yourself. You could possibly get one from a different notebook. There was lots of discussion on the dell forums about putting a studio 15 keyboard on the xps 1530.

 

Yesterday I saw a studio keyboard for sale on ebay.

 

this would be for a sager 9262

 

Just learn to touch type. Who needs yet another power draining item in their notebook?

 

it would take a minute to two at most out of your battery life. not a killer imo.

 

The studio 15 keyboard is no where near the same size as the d901 /9262 keyboard.
You have some options though.
If you choose, you can buy a clear keyboard. Buy a backlit keyboard, or one with transparent keys like the Mitac M8355 keyboard, and physically remove each key and swap it with the ones on your Sager. Than you can mod the keyboard and install your own lights. You could power it off of the USB hub, or something like that. It would be a fun project, but it may not work or look so good.

K-TRON

 

For an easy keyboard mod to make to light up... you actually do not need a back light.

Rather (for black keyboards with white letters... like Clevo ones), you can actually use a blacklight / UVlight and the letters would glow bright... even better than backlights.

I was at a LAN party and they had blacklights in the room, and I was surpised how it lit up my keyboard.

so I thought an easy mod to do it to integrate a mini UV LED light on the LCD casing that points at the keyboard to light it up.

... which is a lot easier than making an all out backlit one.

In any case, I think backlight keyboards are more for aesthetics, than usefulness.

When you start typing or using them for gaming, you do not even look down anymore... nots very useful unless if you not know how to type (touch typing). LOL.

Only a "show-off" feature IMO.

 

ahh some times when gaming it's a odd key and I sadly am not a touch typer.

Gophn do you have pics or something of that UV mod. That sounds like something I would be interested in.

 

a more simple mod would be to get a USB flexlight, like these:




You can use it to point over your keyboard to help see the keys.

The mod of the flexlight

modding them by replacing their basic LEDs with UV LEDs.

 

Check this out.

 

have a look at led light strips and electro-luminesant wire. you could string that round the border of the keyboard and get a fairly good lighting effect. plus its efficiant stuff, so you could run the whole lot off usb power.

 

What about putting an Alienware M17X or Dell XPS 1730 keyboard on the Sager 9262?? Do all three still share the Clevo internals?? Would it just be a case ordering a placement keyboard and downloading the drivers??

Just wondering...

 

I am looking at 1.2mm EL wire right now- link. But how would I connect it to USB power?

 

im not too good at electrics, i j7ust know it can be wired into a car, so wiring it to a laptop usb plug shouldnt be too hard. 1 lead coming out a usb plug is 5v power. ive seen huge runs of it running from a 9v battery, and a whole car run with it running from the ciggerette lighter. a resistor may be needed for the short length.

1.2mm aint much. if you have enough space around the keyboard use a thinker cable. they dont give out masses of light, more of a glow, but the thicker wire gives out a wider glow.

i have a 3mm indent around my HP keyboard and i would use atleast 2mm of that if i was doing this. even then, im not sure if it would "light" the centre keys. note also this stuff doent like right angles.

LED light strips will give much more light. a 25cm wide angle LED strip placed along the top of the keyboard will light the whole keyboard nicely, but will cast shadows when your fingers are in the way.

another option is glow paint, but unless you could remove the keyboard and spray it with the stuff it will look pretty patchy. not to mention take ages.

 

I work in a machine shop, so I was thinking I'd pull the keys off and mill a small channel for the EL wire in the keyboard base. The 1.2mm EL wire apparently holds its shape well and can be used for angles, but if the 2mm would fit and not cause interference with the keys then yeah...

 

now, EL and LED are good alternatives... but you are planning to light the bkgnd area between the keys? or are you going to somehow make the letters on the keys light up?

the 1st one may be feasible, but light on the background may make your foreground letters harder to read...

the second... iirc, the keyboard has decals on them, i wonder how you going to make the letters light up?... buy them and replace them?

hmm... very curious...

 

Im unsure. EL wire will illuminate only the area beneath the keys, and possibly make them even more difficult to read in the dark. LED strips above the keyboard really arent feasible either, so I'm at a loss. How do the Dell Studio 15 backlit keyboards work?

 

i think that the letters are translucent...
and not a sticker/decal/print... but i did not pop a key to look at the underside...

 

Well, I guess that rules out backlighting for my U330. Unless I want to make a mold for the keys and run it at my friends injection mold shop...