Change the Backlighting Color on a SideWinder X4 Keyboard

Microsoft's SideWinder X4 is a low-cost, backlit, gaming keyboard, and one of the very few to feature anti-ghosting technology that isn't limited to some small region of the keyboard. Typically, this feature has only been available on very high-end keyboards. This has made the X4 a hit with budget-minded gamers.

Unfortunately, not everyone loves the color of the backlighting. The X4 features a brilliant red backlight. But many people prefer blue, or even green. In this Instructable, I will show you how easy and inexpensive it is to change the backlighting to a different color. Please note that doing this will void your warranty.
 

Step 1 Gather Materials

The keys are backlit by 10 small, rectangular, red LEDs. They are an unusual size, but I have found some 1.8mm LEDs that fit nicely. These are available from HB Electronic Components:

http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=leds.1.8mm

They also have a U.S. distributor:

http://leading-leds.com/1.8mm.html

Shipping will probably cost far more than the handful of LEDs, so you might want to stock up, or do a joint buy with firends. You will need at least 10 LEDs of your choosen color. I would buy some extra in case you break or lose some.

Comments

[the_burrito_master]

Awesome I'm getting this keyboard and it's great to know how easy it is to swap out colors. i like red and all but it's nice to know i have options. :D perhaps i'll rgb mod it.

[Neil27]

Thanks for the tutorial .. I have changed my x4 to have white backlighting, looks great. What value resistors would you need to make the leds brighter?

[electron_plumber]

If memory serves (I lent out all of my X4's), the resistors are 100 ohms each. (Should be marked brown-black-brown if I'm correct.) Assuming a 5V supply, and a forward voltage drop of about 2V for the red LEDs, that gives a current of:

(5V-2V)/100 ohms = .03A = 30mA

White LEDs typically drop about 3V. If you don't change the resistors, this would give a current of 20mA. But if you want to take full advantage of the available current, you want to up this to 30mA. That is:

(5V-3V)/.03A = 66 2/3 ohms

There nearest standard value is 68 ohms. This should be about 50% brighter. However, because the human eye is logarithmic in it's response, you will probably only perceive it as being a little brighter. I'd suggest you try doing one first to see if you think it's worth the effort. In fact, if you can simply hold a 200 ohm resistor in parallel with one of the resistors (100 in parallel with 200 gives 66 2/3 ohms) to see if it makes much of a difference.

The purists will note that these LEDs really are meant to be run at 20mA. Again, if memory serves, these are pulse width modulated, and I don't recall the duty cycle. But presumably, this works out to an average current of 20mA or less, even if the peak is higher.

[Neil27]

Thanks for the calculation electron_plumber.

I dont have any 200ohm resistors around to test that out^ or 68ohm ones for that matter.

Would these carbon film 1/4 W ones do the job?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-X-68-OHM-68R-CARBON-FILM-RESISTORS-1-4W-0-25W-68OHM-/160517023335?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item255f8f6667

Cheers for the help.

[electron_plumber]

Here's how you find out:

W = V * I = I^2 * R

(.03A)^2 * 68ohms = .0612W which is way less than 0.25W

So these can easily handle the power dissipation. 1/8W resistors would also work fine, and might be easier to fit mechanically...

[Neil27]

Thanks for the advice, I will order those resistors and give them a go.

Just to add.. I also changed the LEDs for the Num, Caps Lock etc. and the macro lights. Looks awesome!

[Neil27]

Also... Do you think it would be possible to change the macro present and numlock, caps LEDs with the same white LEDs I used?

[kamransethi]

Hey electron_plumber,
This is a great mod. I had a broken notebook LCD and I took out the WLEDs from it for modding. I followed your guide and here's how the thing looks. I love the dim white glow now. Its definitely better than how it was earlier.

[electron_plumber]

I think the white looks great, and I love the repurposing of old LEDs. I've had some cheap LED light bulbs (the kind with lots of individual LEDs) die prematurely and discovered that it's often just a single dead LED that killed the bulb. A lot of these bulbs have the LEDs sticking way up on their leads, so you can just cut them out and still have plenty of tail left to reuse the good ones elsewhere.

[kamransethi]

Yup, re purposing stuff allows great savings :)

I know what you mean, I was able to cut out 2 LEDs from a 3 LED lamp and use them as a bulb replacement on a 50 year old radio :)

Recently, I found an Samsung LCD monitor lying on the stairs and I was able to replace the burst capacitors with those from an old TV circuit board. The thing still works!

Thanks for the excellent writeup. Very impressive.

[electron_plumber]

The intensity control still works! There's nothing special to do. Like most LED dimmers, this works by flashing the LED at a high rate (beyond what you can see) and just changing the ratio of on time to off time.

[ifett1]

Thats so cool men! but i have a cuestion for you.....this change take efect with the light level? you know the SideWinder X4 have a key to change the intensity of the back light....i dont know the functionality of this, i need change some resistors too? or what i do to change de red backlight color for a blue backligth including the intensity light level...

could you helpme?

Thank you so much for you Time and your atention...