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Keyboard Lighting Question

I

Int3ractive

n00b
Joined
Dec 29, 2004
Messages
25
In my thinking of cool mods to do today, an idea for a keyboard came into my mind...

I want to make a keyboard, that, when a key is pressed, an LED lights up that specific key. Yes, this would require an LED in every key, but I couldn't figure out how I might get the electronics to work.

Would it just be a CRAPLOAD of LEDs in series? Would that work? What if two keys were pressed at once? I already have a keyboard with some spare space to get the LEDs in, but now I need to figure out how to get it functional.
 
It can't be done.

You would need a switch under each key as well. And don't bother trying to mod the existing switches for 2 reasons.

#1: There are no "switches" in a keyboard.
#2: The keys are no arranged in a row like you would think. They are arranged in a matrix. There is no way to single out a specific key from the rest.

It's a good idea, but I think the novelty would soon wear off, and would become a distraction causing you to type worse than before.
 
Okay, first of all, you're both approaching it the wrong way.
First of all, it does not require a switch. Secondly, switches are available. But let's deal with the first part; a switch is not required.

Keyboards have a standard set of scancodes. If you were to inline a keyboard controller and connect it to something not dissimilar to an LM3915 controller, it would certainly be possible to use this to trigger LEDs under each key. All you need is something that can pick up the scancodes and map them to a corresponding LED.

Secondly, keyboards are in and of themselves a collection of switches period. The difference is that you've got membrane switches, buckling spring (IBM Model M), and Alps (certain Northgates and others.) Alps and buckling spring are mechanical. In theory, if I were to put a contact at a certain point on a mechanical switch which came into contact with a +5V supply (which you can take from the PS/2 port) it could work that way. In theory. In truth, this would be even harder, because you have very little area to put not only a contact but the LED itself, especially with the design of buckling spring keyboards.

So, no, you're not going to be able to do it based on switch. However, a scancode trigger certainly has the potential of working.
 
SarverSystems said:
It can't be done.

You would need a switch under each key as well. And don't bother trying to mod the existing switches for 2 reasons.

#1: There are no "switches" in a keyboard.
#2: The keys are no arranged in a row like you would think. They are arranged in a matrix. There is no way to single out a specific key from the rest.

It's a good idea, but I think the novelty would soon wear off, and would become a distraction causing you to type worse than before.
Click to expand...


Never say never ... it can be done but you need some background in microcontrollers. You will need a mcu that has two serial ports. Inside the keyboard you would disconnect the cable and lead the communication lines to the mcu serial port ... decode the key code and at the same time repeat the keycode to the ps/2 cable. The mcu could then light the led via a demultiplexer. It would be an awsome mod, but it would seriously require some effort in modding, circuit construction, programming, soldering and making sure you don't short out anything :cool:
 
If you could....

Mount an LED in each key with the wires trimmed back, but not connected to anything...
And have two contact pads underneath each key...
When the key is pressed, the LED leads come into contact with the pads.
You set up one pad on every key to the -. Then set up the + pads into zones.
Maybe...
One zone for the right hand. One zone for the left hand. 4 zones for WAS&D.
Anyway, think about how you use the keyboard and keep from having 2 keys that you know you will use together in the same zone.

Jack and Coke. Do it! Do It! Send us a pic when yer done.
 
upriverpaddler said:
If you could....

Mount an LED in each key with the wires trimmed back, but not connected to anything...
And have two contact pads underneath each key...
When the key is pressed, the LED leads come into contact with the pads.
You set up one pad on every key to the -. Then set up the + pads into zones.
Maybe...
One zone for the right hand. One zone for the left hand. 4 zones for WAS&D.
Anyway, think about how you use the keyboard and keep from having 2 keys that you know you will use together in the same zone.

Jack and Coke. Do it! Do It! Send us a pic when yer done.
Click to expand...

Hmm ... interesting idea - doing it low tech style. If you could pull that off it would work, however, you may have some issues in actually mounting the leds so that they don't coincide with the key contacts. Secondly there is the issue of poor connections between the led wires and the connection strips making the leds not always light up. What you could do is find some conductive foam and mount it to some larger surface mount leds (+ some separating plastic not to short the circuit out. Personally, I would wait and see if those OLED keyboards come out of vaporware and it would be much cooler and more useful. But hey, this is a modding group so best of luck
 
upriverpaddler said:
If you could....

Mount an LED in each key with the wires trimmed back, but not connected to anything...
And have two contact pads underneath each key...
When the key is pressed, the LED leads come into contact with the pads.
You set up one pad on every key to the -. Then set up the + pads into zones.
Maybe...
One zone for the right hand. One zone for the left hand. 4 zones for WAS&D.
Anyway, think about how you use the keyboard and keep from having 2 keys that you know you will use together in the same zone.

Jack and Coke. Do it! Do It! Send us a pic when yer done.
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking: some simple mechanical function. It wouldn't be that hard to accomplish but probably very painstaking.
 
So I think that is what I might try, however...

What if I did hit two keys at once? What would happen? A few scenarios came to mind, but I don't know
 
Apparently everyone is fogetting that keyboard keys are opaque? Not on that, but where will the LED be mounted? I don't see how it is physically possible to fit an LED (T1 3/4, T1, or SMD) into such a small area.
 
Gotta ask Why? is this feedback for deaf people that hunt and peck? I guess it would be a way to kill some time. Kind of after the fact. I equate this to spinner hubcaps.
 
jman1 said:
I equate this to spinner hubcaps.
Click to expand...

Oooh Oooh! A spinner hubcap over a side panel window, with a fan blowing on it to make it spin! I want one! LOL

I think that if 2 leds were powered within the same circuit, splitting the voltage between the two would just cause the lights to dim.

This will be painstaking. And the results may be less than you expect. But where would we be if we didn't try?
 
Create an array of LEDs connected via a microcontroller, I haven't had much experiance in this department, but it's first year electronic engineering stuff, connect that to your computer via serial port, mod the LED array into your keyboard connect the serial cable to your comptuer (you will have two cables coming from your computer this way). You may have to modify the keys to make them larger to acomidate the LEDs. I think it'd be cool to cut out the letter in each key so that it would glow.

Have a resident program monitoring for key presses, depending on the key press light up an LED. Easy.

Lol 'can't be done'.

Could be fun to create a program so that if you used your mouse to select a bunch of letters at once, such as "HELLO" it would light up those letters on the keyboard. Or you could have delays so that the keys would stay lit for about a second after then dim. Go with a green light on a black keyboard. It'd be awsome.

Cool idea.
 
Do you think the older style buckling spring keyboards would be any easier to mod?
 
I'm getting ready to get started...

However, would gluing an LED be a problem? I really don't think so, but then again, I've never tried...
 
SarverSystems said:
Apparently everyone is fogetting that keyboard keys are opaque?
Click to expand...

Not completely on the Saitek Eclipse, where the letters are translucent.
 
The Microsoft Bluetooth has translucent keys as well.

I didn't think he had either one, otherwise he woulda mentioned it.
 
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