![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
This is a really really simple worklog... I thought it might help people curious about cracking open their Saiteks. As long as you can solder carefully you can do this. I purchased 15 # 67-1722-1-ND LEDs off digikey knowing that I might melt a couple. If you like to gamble, buy 10. Here's the spec sheet: http://rocky.digikey.com/WebLib/Lumex/Web Data/SML-LX23SIC-TR.pdf
I purchased a Saitek eclipse with the intention of converting the blue LEDs to red and decided to take a few pictures along the way.
You all know how the factory blue backlit kb looks, so no need to go there. Here's the finished product:
^^Supersize me^^
This is a really simple job as long as you are comfortable with your soldering equipment and SMD LEDs.
I started out by removing the black screws on it's bottom and the 4 black hex screws on the 4 corners on the top side:
Here's the guts... you can see the entire keyboard (well, not the "lock keys") is lit by a series of 10 LEDs at the base of the keyboard.
The whole strip of LEDs plugs in here...
...and can be easily removed:
I soldered in the correct resistor to bring the power level down to a level within specs (using linear1's LED calc
Here's a shot of the LEDs with a quarter, Xacto knife, and butane soldering iron for scale. The ones that come with the keyboard is on the left, the new red ones I ordered from digikey on the right:
I heated up the solder points of the saitek LEDs and pushed them off with a pencil tip or xacto knife, whatever I had laying around. Make sure you get the solder molten enough or you can lift the traces on the PCB, and be careful with the solder here, as the pos and negative traces are very very close to eachother on the PCB. After the LED was off, I added a little blip of solder on the +/- traces to assist with the application of the new LEDs:
Using the slightest dab of grease on the tip of an xacto knife (anything clear and goopy... chap stick? vaseline?) you can get the SMD LED in a position that is easy to work with.
Repeat 10 times and you have a whole strip of red. The new LEDs I installed are a bit thicker than the old ones, so I removed the white plastic base before installing the LEDs. Then I was able to replace the white plastic which basically wedged the LEDs in:
To get to the Caps/Scroll/Num lock LEDs you just have to remove the two screws (and sometimes the ones on the top left that hold the grey metal plate under the ground wire in) and it pops out:
The only red LEDs I had sitting around (unfortunately severely bright... see below):
Replacing everything:
Long exposure, the LEDs I added are much dimmer IRL:
Told you these were bright:
Thanks to Dr_BenD_over at moddershq for inspiring me to do this and also for listing a suitable replacement on digikey.
I purchased a Saitek eclipse with the intention of converting the blue LEDs to red and decided to take a few pictures along the way.
You all know how the factory blue backlit kb looks, so no need to go there. Here's the finished product:
^^Supersize me^^
This is a really simple job as long as you are comfortable with your soldering equipment and SMD LEDs.
I started out by removing the black screws on it's bottom and the 4 black hex screws on the 4 corners on the top side:
Here's the guts... you can see the entire keyboard (well, not the "lock keys") is lit by a series of 10 LEDs at the base of the keyboard.
The whole strip of LEDs plugs in here...
...and can be easily removed:
I soldered in the correct resistor to bring the power level down to a level within specs (using linear1's LED calc
Here's a shot of the LEDs with a quarter, Xacto knife, and butane soldering iron for scale. The ones that come with the keyboard is on the left, the new red ones I ordered from digikey on the right:
I heated up the solder points of the saitek LEDs and pushed them off with a pencil tip or xacto knife, whatever I had laying around. Make sure you get the solder molten enough or you can lift the traces on the PCB, and be careful with the solder here, as the pos and negative traces are very very close to eachother on the PCB. After the LED was off, I added a little blip of solder on the +/- traces to assist with the application of the new LEDs:
Using the slightest dab of grease on the tip of an xacto knife (anything clear and goopy... chap stick? vaseline?) you can get the SMD LED in a position that is easy to work with.
Repeat 10 times and you have a whole strip of red. The new LEDs I installed are a bit thicker than the old ones, so I removed the white plastic base before installing the LEDs. Then I was able to replace the white plastic which basically wedged the LEDs in:
To get to the Caps/Scroll/Num lock LEDs you just have to remove the two screws (and sometimes the ones on the top left that hold the grey metal plate under the ground wire in) and it pops out:
The only red LEDs I had sitting around (unfortunately severely bright... see below):
Replacing everything:
Long exposure, the LEDs I added are much dimmer IRL:
Told you these were bright:
Thanks to Dr_BenD_over at moddershq for inspiring me to do this and also for listing a suitable replacement on digikey.
