Acer TimelineX 3820TG Backlit keyboard mod

Looking at Hendricksons 10th photo, (first post in this thread), with keyboard removed, the Mic plug would be on the right side, a few inches up from the "X" in TimeLineX.

Feed wires from MIC jack through to bottom area with access cover removed, past memory, and into area where WiFi card resides for final connection to keyboard installed plug. I did not do this because I did not see it as a possibilty until I finished my install.

 

Today I succesfully installed my backlit keyboard. Although I must say that I like the large enter key on my German edition, I am happy to have QWERTY again

To power it I used the Bluetooth modules power supply. The result:
YouTube - backlit keyboard on Acer 3820TG using Bluetooth power

The bluetooth module seems to run at 3.5V, which was less than I expected, but I think it is bright enough like this. People can always use this signal to power a transistor which allows power to come from the USB port, so that is also an option. The nice thing about my setup is that all I modded was the Bluetooth module. Since the connectors are all smd and me and my soldering iron are not that precise, I decided to take the powersupply wire for the module and remove some insulation. There I attached a wire to run to the wifi compartment. The grond can also be picked up on the module: there are some soldering points on it and one of them is the ground, so here it is easy to connect a wire. There are plenty of illustration in the processor upgrade guide so look there for more inspiration.

By running it at 3.5V it only consumes 40mA, which is significantly less than the 150mA@5V (which is 0.75W which is high relative to the 8W consumption for the entire machine. (Battery is 64800mWh which runs for 8 hours (yeah right) so 8.1W consumption on average). It is still bright enough for me.

I really like the softswitch option using fn+f3: no searching for suitable switches, no destructing of the casing. The only modded thing is the bluetooth module and that I can easily remove/replace, if I should ever need the warranty. Switching it together with the bluetooth could off course be a disadvantage for some people, but I really don't think it is an issue.

Sorry that I made no pictures, but I forgot/was too busy playing. Everything you need can be found in the processor upgrade guide (which is really cool!) and in this topic. All you need is a multimeter to find the right wire to tap in to. If you have the bluetooth module in front of you with the connector facing to you and to the right, it is the wire at the bottom that you need.

I have only been using this for 60 minutes so if you want to attempt it, it is all at your own risk!

edit: O yeah, the thing I disliked the most about this whole operation was molesting the new keyboard to make it fit. It might have the same connector but it is definitely not a perfect replacement! (I used a wire cutter to make the tabs smaller and a knife to lower the tabs on top of the keyboard).

 

Congratulations. No modification to the 3820TG makes it more functional than the BL KB.

Bronsky

 

I've done the BL KB mod on my cendirect unit using aFFC ribbon cable socket from Digikey. I used the top connection socket.

Here are some pics.







I used .0010" wire-wrap wire as the conductors. The positive voltage was lifted from the mic connector and the negative came from one of the many grounding points on the motherboard. At this time I have crazy glued the connector to the motherboard, however I am seriously thinking of scraping back some of the lacquer on the mobo to make solder pads for the anchor lugs on the FFC connector...


**EDIT**

OK, I have opened it up again, scraped off the lacquer on the ground plane and soldered the anchor pads to the mobo. This is clearly the way to go. It's almost like it was original equipment. Also note - I had to cut away some of the plastic of the top shell (under the KB) to expose the connector. This was done using an xacto knife.

 

Amazing work ... as usual.

Bronsky

 

I have emailed with the seller and they are going to send me a new keyboard!

But it's another two weeks of waiting :-(

 

It looks like, when I get a new 3820TG, I may just be able to swap the USB card with the power and ground wires already soldered onto it. That way, I can put in a BT module while I have it out and the origianl USB board can be put away in case I every need to swap out the original parts and send the unit in for warranty work. While I have it open, I will swap in the I5 and the IC diamond.

Bronsky

 

That didn't take long.
So much for leaving it stock.

 

I was going to start a pool to see how long it would take for me to open the new unit.

Bronsky

 

the 3810T keyboard will work on a 4820TG with minimal modding, right?

 

Yes and no. Depends where you get the power source on how much you have to mod it.

 

It will fit the same as it does on the 3820TG ... I guess you can call that minimal modding ... only an hour of filing and 4 soldering points.

 

Earlier people were saying the keyboards were around $30, is that still true? I'm looking at eBay and it seems 18 is the normal price; this is the correct keyboard, right: Original NEW Acer Aspire 3810T Keyboard Backlit US - eBay (item 170552543787 end time Nov-12-10 23:13:11 PST)

 

That looks right. I paid $30 for my original one about 6 months ago and around $20 when I bought one last month.

Bronsky

 

Is the backlit keyboard nicer to type on?

 

IMO, it is a better quality keyboard.

Bronsky

 

Hey Martin,

nice idea with the BT module, soldering to the MB, would definitively terminated acer's warranty. but even removing the modified bt card before sending it in, could be an issue (at least for Acer Germany: I once ask them if they could send me a replacement for a defective fan, which could have been replaced through one of the bottom lids...no way without voiding warranty...)

anyhow, where have you purchased your BL BK? Is quality okay or is it even a original sparepart?

Does somebody know if there are any QWERTZ Backlit Keyboards out there? 'cause: "Ich schreibe öfter über Äpfel"

 

Almost everything anyone has undertaken in this thread terminates their warranty. It is an assumed risk.

Bronsky

 

Thank you! I bought it from ebay, took about a week to get delivered. No idea about different languages, although I do remember encountering a Spanish version. Just search for 3810 backlit keyboard on ebay. Quality is fine, it just needs some modification before it fits.

 

I am absolutely aware of that. I really don't want to make any obvious / or irreversible changes. This is why modding an possibly changeable module makes the topic interesting for me.

if your satisfied with your item, could you pm me the ebay seller you bougth it from?

thx!

flunserl

 

Really impressed with mods to the 3820TG and potentially the 4820TG. I have a quick querry with regards to installing the backlit keyboard in the 4820TG using the BlueTooth module. Has anyone got pictures that I could view.

Bronsky - the 4820TG is quite an attractive unit and I'm currently leaning towards it if I can mod it using with backlit KB BT combo. Would it be potentially possible adapt a USB 3.0 module to this unit?

 

The only possible way I could imagine adapting a USB 3.0 is by canabilizing the Wifi PCIe port. Lack of ESata and USB 3.0 is one of the few weaknesses of this unit.

Bronsky

 

All the necessary pictures are in the processor upgrade guide.

If you have any questions I can try to answer them.

 

I would say it's possible to install the keyboard without loosing the guarantee...

I almost made it. I connected the power by "disconnecting" the wires to the inbuilt mic. Why Im saying disconnecting with " "? Cause I thought the wires were you just to pull out of the socket, but sadly the wire snapped when I was trying to do that. I tried to lift the plastic snap while pulling out, but maybe Robstv can explain how he did it. Other than those two broken wires, I wouldn't say I have done anything to break the warranty. I did the installation by feeding the wires just be removing the keyboard and the upgrade cover in the bottom. I never separated the laptop anymore then that.

I few tips, be very careful with the powerribbon from the keyboard (the one you lead your wires to), mine got rip off close to the end, so I had to grind what was left a little and lead my wires to that short ribbon.
The keyboard snaps that hold it in place can be very tricky to get to snap the backlit keyboard in place. I had to grind the slots on the new keyboard with a dremel and paint it with a permanent marker. Also, the three snaps in the middle at the top are accessible from the back when you remove the battery. You can gently push them from behind in order to make them snap the keyboard in place.

 

I was curious whether anyone one has considered configuring an unused Fn key to trigger say the keyboard lighting? I'm not too clear how the assigned or unassigned Fn key signals operate. Maybe this would be a good option with he signal being rigged to some FET using either the 3V or 5V rail on the main board?

Thanks - matijn_mf and Bronsky for the links...

Liking the 4820TG....

 

I can second that. I had the keyboard in my house for 10 minutes and I already tore up the powerribbon. By scratching off the insulation and soldering the copper pathways together I managed to save the keyboard. Otherwise it would be 13 bucks to replace, but then I would have had to wait for another week...

The backlit keyboard even has a FN key assigned for the backlit function (F9). It would off course be very nice to tap into this, but I believe this would be hard. I must say that I do not know the inner workings of the 87 keys over 5 (or something) wires, but I guess it would be hard to tap into this.

 

have a Travelmate 8371, would the mod work?

 

Does anyone know how to read/write SMBus? I found a utility that can scan the bus, but when trying to detect a peripheral on the SMBus connected to the mini-PCIe wifi slot, I'm not seeing the unit. I'm going to try to connect it to the memory module in case the SMBus is not connected to the mini-PCIe slot.

 

We're not sure. No one has tried it yet that we know of. I would guess that the keyboard has the same footprint, the thickness is the only issue. I recall that the travelmate KBs are thicker than the timelines.

Bronsky

 

HardwareDirect (HWDirect; eProTek Systems - Bridging forward - HWDIRECT - The hardware register access software utility for CPUID, CPU MSR, PCI, PCI Express, and SMBUS from eProtek Systems) is a good app for system bus accesses. You'll need to paid version though to write to the SMBus.

As for controlling the backlight with the Fn keys; just like the brightness function, these are handled by the embedded controller. If the 3810T comes with a backlight, then the code is that models EC. So, it is plausible that there is a method to control the backlight, but it'll require digging deeper then most would bother.

More realistically, somehow controlling the PCIe bus (for us with no bluetooth) would be doable.

 

I tried HWDIRECT, didn't seem to work on my system. RW-Everything works well, I'll have to play with it. RW-Everything is not seeing anything on the SMBus on the wifi card. I didn't put pullups on the lines assuming it had them, I'll try adding them. I would rather use this than soldering on the memory dimm.

 

For anybody considering doing the backlit mod, i would invest in a tapered jewelers file. What a difference doing the filing. I haven't even pulled out my dremmel and almost got a proper fitting the first time. Just a few edges to clean up tonight.

Bronsky

 

I'd be curious in the unused bluetooth PCIe slot. Populating it with a dummy card might be easier then trying to hijack an active device.

I'd say the hardest part is communicating on the SMbus with a slave without disrupting the system. Once you're able to communicate on the SMBus, the rest is easy.

 

The BT is a 4 pin connector, not a PCIe slot. The Wifi is the slot. I would think that a keyboard wired to a 4 pin connector could be turned on and off by using FN/F3. It should not be too hard to reroute the F3 to the F9 and have it work to turn the BL KB on and off.

Since I'm putting my old BT module in this unit, that is not much of an option for me. I think I'm going to put the KB in without a switch for now. I miss the backlighting.

Bronsky

 

Bronsky, thanks for the info about the BT connector. As my model isn't equiped with BT, im not aware of how it's turned on and off. If you get a chance while your unit is open, pull out a multimeter and check to see if cycling the power to the BT module (FN+F3 or FN+F9, which ever one it is...) actually cycles the power on the connector itself (That is if you can get the system to run while it's open). From there, I could possibly come up with a solution for a dimmable backlight, based on a uC and some PWM.

As for the BT module, we'll, it can be hardwired to the +3.3v so it would be always on.

 

I have it talking on the SMBus, there are two resistors that need populated to connect SMbus to the wifi slot. I also had to pick an address that wasn't used by the system. The problem now is RW-everything always sends two bytes after the address, while the switch only needs one byte, and I can't control what goes in the first byte. I've contacted the author to see what I can do.

 

Very good work Folsom. What slave device exactly are you talking to?

 

I'm using an LTC1710 from Linear Technology. Digikey has them in stock.

 

USB goes to the mini-pcie connector, and I'm also thinking about getting a small FTDI USB-serial board. I would use one of the outputs to drive the backlight. The FTDI can only source about 24mA, so I would have the output control a FET.

The nice thing about this is that there are drivers available from FTDI, and I can make a small program in visual basic to set the backlight on/off.

 

Good Idea. Nice to know USB is there aswell; considering I'd like to integrate a 3G/4G modem. Simpler then having to hub off one of the external ports.

Serial would allow for easier interfacing than SMBus. As well, you could easily implement a PWM control for the backlight intensity.

 

New KB is in with no problems. Nothing special ... put a coupling in-line so I can take the KB off if I need to work on anything.

The tapered jeweler's file made the fitting really easy. It is a very solid fit because I could easily file slots nearly 3/4 the way down the side lip of the KB and keep them square.

Bronsky

 

I have the SMbus switch working now. The author had me change the .ini file to switch to a different SMbus write. The switch turns on / off, and the RW-everything can run a script on startup to send the on /off command, and then close the program. Not as nice as I like, but it will do for now. I still have the USB-serial on order, I'll play with that separately to see if I can get a better solution, perhaps some kind of task bar icon and hotkeys.

 

Awsome work. There are little utilities that allow you to call up a program using key combos. I'm sure you could have a Fn + F* combo have it open the RW-Everything with your on/off parameters.

This might be good candidate if ever you device to keep with the SMBus interface: ISL97677 SMBus/IC 8-Channel LED Driver

 

I've seen those LED drivers, a friend that works at Maxim said I should use them. More work to use, right now the switch I am using has two outputs, so I can have two levels of backlighting.

 

Okay, this is odd. Within the first few pages there are pictures of my original backlit KB mod. I think I was the 3rd to do the mod. I took power off the hot wire of a USB port located on the USB card on the left side of the notebook. I used the port in the back. I took the ground off the left side of the port. The power and ground went right to the keyboard ribbon.

In my new unit, I didn't want to modify the USB card again so I swapped the USB from the first unit into this new one. I hooked a coupling in-line for easy removal of the keyboard if I need to take the notebook apart again. This way, I still have the original USB card that could be put back in the notebook, along with the bilingual KB and the notebook could be sent for warranty work if needed.

In my old unit, when it was originally installed, the USB worked fine. In this unit, the USB is unrecognized. I get error 43 which could be a hardware malfunction or a driver issue. I uninstalled and reinstalled the USB drivers. The other port, on the same card, works perfectly.

Here's the other wierd thing. When the computer shuts down, it takes about 20 seconds for the KB to shut off. The USB takes time to power down.

I was concerned that I might have had the polarity on the KB reversed but I don't see how that would make any difference since it is merely a lighting circuit and should be able to be wired either way.

When I put the USB card in, I also added a bluetooth module and swapped an I3 for an I5 CPU. I'm running bios 1:13 but I can't see that making a difference either.

My old computer was damaged by water and the old mainboard was shorted. I'm wondering if the USB port was damaged at the same time. Since I still have 2 functioning USB ports, I'm not tempted to modify the new USB card. I prefer to keep it stock to preserve the warranty.

Any suggestions on a way to confirm that it is a hardware issue? The USB card that i took out of that unit worked perfectly. I suspect that the port on my original card shorted when my mainboard died.

Bronsky

 

Hey Bronsky,

I'm presuming you haven't used the USB card from you damaged laptop since, we'll, it's been damaged. It's plausible to presume something is wrong with it.

What I'd try is the presumably broken card, however without the backlit KB attached (so that it's not drawing any current, just break the path which ever way is easiest). If the problem still persist, I'd have to agree that the card is damaged. I would say it's not worthwhile to try and fix it, water likely took out more then one component.

As for the polarity of the backlight, since it's LED lighting, it should only function when the polarity is correct. Inverse the wires and you should get no light, unless they've attached some tricky circuitry on the KB side, which I really doubt they would.

You should be able to pull power from elsewhere than the USB hub.As for the KB still being lit up with the PC off, it is possible that the EC is holding a couple supplies active so the USBs are on for a while even in an S5 state, but it's probably caused by the faulty card. I would refrain from using it to prevent further damage to the mobo.

So, in a nut shell, use the new USB card.

 

Wonder if I can get a spare USB card from Acer US? You know anybody selling parts for these units yet in the US or Canada? I've had the KB unplugged and the USB problem persists. I think the the USB port itself is damaged, probably from when the original board shorted. The other USB port on the card works perfectly. The power in and out of the USB is a steady 5 volts and .5ua. The port just seems dead. I don't see if doing any damage to the mainboard. I have run a bunch of continuity checks, and the system still certifies for my company's milspec software. Still, it would be nice to fix that port. I'll probably solder up the new card this weekend.

Bronsky

 

You're the only one I know with a spare unit. I was hoping you'd be our source for parts

 

I'll take a look at that service manual for the 3820 to see what this USB card looks like. I'll try to give you pointers to debug it.

 

Funny thing is that it would probably be okay to operate like this but anything that is not perfect drives me nuts. All that work and I want everything to operate by spec.

Bronsky