hmc Hardware Hack #1: Keyboard LED Light

[mcobit]

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/10722-hardware-hack-pandora-rumble-edition/?hl=%2Brumble+%2Bedition

 

[Klumpen]

Doppelt hält besser?

 

[mcobit]

Jupp

 

[hmc]

Hmm, what mods have we had done already? Off the top of my head I can think of this, mcobit's internal USB hub hack, hmc's #2 hack to the hinge, Stephane Hockenhull's other hinge hack, someone's second screen hack (sorry, I forget who and Google's just returning P2 spam if I search for it) and various attempts at adding a second set of triggers, none successful that I can think of yet.

Three and a half weeks would be a start.  What have I missed?

Stephane Hockenhull's hinge mod is much better than mine. Much more elegant and it does nto destroy too much of the case, so it is reversible.

By the way: 

The keyboard light hack has an interesting side effect:

If the light is not at full brightness (i.e. brightness value < 255, i.e. the LEDs are PWM-dimmed), the PWM pulses seem to cause some interference signal so that WiFi immediately stops working.

Solution: Set brightness to full (255). Then WiFi works again.

Certainly this can be solved in another way, e.g. by taking care to lead the LED wires far away from the WiFi antenna, or by using shielded wire or something. 

 

[cube48]

Interesting idea about the PWM interference. I experience it too but not always. Sometimes I can have the light on together with WiFi and all is fine but sometimes it drops the connection. I thought that it's rather related to current draw although I didn't observe any high drain in SysInfo while using the light.

 

[hmc]

cube48, did you lead the wires similarly as I did in the tutorial?

 

[cube48]

Yes, but only through hinge LCD cable roll as my wires end in the hinge tube.

 

[hmc]

I assume we mercilessly break the EMI-related portions of the CE/FCC certification with our mod ;-)

 

[levi]

I'd rather assume my own taking of my Pandora apart and putting it together multiple times, including replacing the screen table with a new one of a different type, I've done that already

 

[hmc]

Update 2014-01-15:

The configbutton plugin for this mod is now available for download from my homepage:

http://www.hermocom.com/pandora-customizing-hw

 

[ekianjo]

your link is 404

 

[hmc]

Thanks ekianjo. I updated the link text, but did not care about the link itself. Bummer.

This is the correct link:

http://www.hermocom.com/pandora-customizing-hw

I also updated my post above.