USB Powered Keyboard Light

  You will need:
- A regular male USB  x1
- A 5mm bendy straw  x1
- A 5mm  white  LED   x1
- 270 ohm resister       x1
- scrap wires  
 Tools:
- Soldering iron
- Glue gun 
- Electrical tape
- Heat shrink tubing 
- Scissors 
- Hobby knife  

Step 1: Step 1

 Get the USB, and peel the rubber off the USB with a hobby knife.

Step 2: Step 2

Strip the wire down to just the black and red wire.
And solder onto pieces on the red and black wire.
Remember to heat shrink the wires. 

Step 3: Step 3

Get a straw out and make a hole in it three cm from the bottom. 
Then push the wires you just soldered in the hole.

Step 4: Step 4

Solder a 270 ohms resister in series on one of the legs on the LED.
Now solder the Led to the wires.
The long tap shoud connect to the black wire, and the short to the red.
Remember to heat shrink the solder joints. 
And test the light.

Step 5: Step 5

Now fasten the straw to the USB and the LED with the glue gun.
Also wrap some electrical tape around the hole where the wires are pushed through.

Now type in the dark: )

Comments

[NinjaBoy12]

The keyboard automatically lights up on any mac

[vicvelcro]

I recommend soldering a 270 ohm resistor in series with one of the legs of the LED to limit the amount of current passing through the device, otherwise the life expectancy of the LED with be relatively short.

[Arduinonator]

thank you l will ad that to my instructables

[vicvelcro]

Now you should be able to use the device much longer without it releasing any magic blue smoke or getting warmer than it likes to be.

[Solderking]

i recently made a tiny usb polarity tester just for kicks, and i used a 3 volt regulator to avoid using resistors, but that all depends on what your led rating is. i was actually about to make something similiar to this lol

[darrenhall]

Hi - would this work with multiple LEDs - my wife has her laptop kept next to her calligraphy work station, she needs a down lighter to highlight her paper when she is working - the laptop would be a ready power supply without more tailing wires or using batteries.

DZ

[Arduinonator]

yes it wold work but if I was you I wold parallel connect the LED's not in series to get most light out of them.

[darrenhall]

That's great - cheers.

DZ

[Arduinonator]

glad to help :)

[zews]

i built one of these and when i plunged it in the computer said usb dose not support this accessory

[Arduinonator]

are you sure you have just connected the black and red and not the other wires it might disturbed the system
or maybe you just have bad contacts
thank you for building my project :)

[thematthatter]

you have a mac book pro. the keyboard already lights up ! :-I