My Roccat Ryos MK Pro Keyboard started to fail. It has been a few good years to the keyboard is no longer covered by the warranty. A total of 11 LEDs lost their illumination, and while the keyboard remains totally usable, missing LEDs are a bane to my OCD. Roccat’s new devices sporting full RGB highlight, but I just don’t have that kind of money. It was time to fix things up and go full RGB!

You can read more about the stuff I do here: www.notenoughtech.com .

Also if you like what you see, and this guide helped you in any way, hit the vote button in the FIXING STUFF contest as thank you!

Best thing is - the RGB zone upgrade will cost you about $3 and 45min of your time!

You will need:

soldering iron
solder
LEDs
screwdriver
tweezers

Step 1: Getting the Right LEDs

I have contacted the Roccat’s customer support which has provided me with the LED specification. I wanted to make sure the LEDs I get are compatible. Fortunately, the keyboard punches enough power to power up all the colors, not only the blue LEDs.

If you are lucky enough, you get the reply, otherwise, you will have to browse the internet for a bit to find the matching parts.

LEDs come in different shapes and sizes so taking your keyboard apart and removing a single LED may be required to identify the parts needed.

These worked for me, and will probably for many other keyboards:

http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/neQV3Bm ($3 for a selection of different colours)

Step 2: Taking the Keyboard Apart

The process was fairly straightforward. A few extra screws are located under the sticker and the rubber pads. Your design may vary, but keyboards due to their size are fairly simple to be taken apart.

Before you start taking things apart, take the picture of the keyboard. It will be your backup plan if you forget what caps goes where. You are almost ready to start.

Disconnect the thumb keys and unscrew the additional screws keeping the keyboard attached to the case. Be careful of the cable connecting the keyboard to the controller. To do the Roccat Ryos MK Pro – Keyboard Mod you will need a soldering set. A solder sucker is a very handy tool. It costs next to nothing and it made all the difference!

Step 3: Creating RGB Zones

Unless your keyboard comes with RGB support, you won't be able to change the colour dynamically, but you can add colour zones to keep things interesting.

Draw a plan. My plan was:

1 – 0 10 orange LEDs
M1 – M5 5 orange LEDs
Q,E 2 orange LEDs
WASD 4 red LEDs
Win,FN – 2 red LEDs
Dpad 1-0 9 white LED’s

Once you have a layout sorted (Less is better unless you want your keyboard to double as a tree for Christmass) you can start with the unsoldering. My advice is to do this colour by colour. This way you won’t get confused.

Locate the LED’s pins. They are placed above the switch. To use a solder sucker to remove the solder from the board. Once the excess of solder has been removed, heat up both pins at the same time while pushing it down with a flat screwdriver. When the pins go through the board, use the screwdriver to push them out from the other side.

Check the orientation of the LED, and test the LED as well. They all face the same direction on my keyboard. Power the keyboard for a moment and touch the contact points to establish the orientation of the LED.

Push the LEDs in and bend the excess pins in random directions. The LED will stay in place. Don’t solder until you get all of them done this way. It will speed things out.

Use a little solder to get the pins secured. Make sure there are no shorts. Test the keyboard every few moments. It will save you from making mistakes.

Once all the LED’s are soldered onto the board, use clippers to trim the pins. All you need to do to put all things together is to reverse the opening up process. Once you are done you can enjoy an extremely nice Roccat Ryos MK Pro – Keyboard Mod.