Laptop Keyboard LED mod

[Demon10000]

Howdy:

I've got a laptop that I use on occasion to work in front of the TV. I don't use laptops often, and they all seem to have a different keyboard layout, so I often find myself hunting for keys (especially the fn keys for things like volume up/volume down).

I've decided to do an LED keyboard mod so I can see the keys easier. I know it isn't really a case mod, but it is technically part of the case of my laptop, so I thought this might be a good forum for it.

The laptop is an Asus K53U. Asus makes a similar laptop that has an LED keyboard, and it appears that it will work with my laptop, only I need to provide power to the LEDs (the power is on a separate ribon).

My thoughts were to tie into the fan power with a wire and attach it to the ribbon. Before I did that, I wanted to bounce a question off people with more experience.

Is there any sort of low profile wire that will work good for this. The wires will have to lay under the keyboard, and this doesn't leave much room in the laptop. I need something very thin that won't cause problems down the road.

I know that I'll have to soldier the wire to the ribbon and splice into the power for the fan -- any tips or recommendations on doing this? My thought was to solider two wires to the ribbon and secure them with electrical tape or hot glue. I was then going to cut the wire on the fan and soldier the wires together with the corresponding wire from the led, and then secure it with electrical tape.

Am I overlooking anything obvious?

 

[Jorona]

Laptop fans are usually voltage regulated, so unless you want your keyboard to get brigter and darker with temp, I wouldn't hook it to the fan. Also, the LEDs may only be 3v or 5v, and hooking them to the 12v fan could damage them aswell as the fan controller.