UL30 Backlit Keyboard Mod

Hi,
I'm looking for a backlight keyboard for my asus UL30VT but not in qwerty. i'm french so i need a FR keyboard. The only one i found is on assuspart for 97,13€ which is a bit expansive...
Worlds Greatest Site for Asus Spare Part
Maybe you know where i can find a cheaper one?
thanks

 

nobody can help me

does someone have any info?

 

Ceolwulf post, where I got mine from...

My apologizes I missed the part where you wanted the FR layout, you can drop a post to the shipper..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/465841-ul30-backlit-keyboard-mod-11.html#post6153148

 

thanks i've just sent a message... still looking...

 

Hi,
I've just done this mod, very happy with it, got a switch in the ethernet port that works fine. The only thing is it seems to have coincided with my SD card reader stopping working. Anyone else had this. Is there a possiblilty that i have shorted the SD reader hardware with my mod. I have chosen to go for the connections to the USB port so it's in the same region. Any ideas?
Simon

 

If anyone is interested, I have one of the backlit keyboards ready to go into a mod but can not go through with it as I cannot risk anything with the work issued laptop I was going to do it on.

So if anyone is interested in doing this mod and needs the keyboard, shoot me a PM. I verified that the backlight is good using a 5V source from a USB plug.

 

qwerty one i suppose?!

still looking for a french one, the seller from ebay only got US keyboard

 

Yes mine is a US QWERTY layout, sorry!

 

All,

I tapped into a 3.3V supply on an ASUS UL80Ag-A1 and found the backlighting to be bright enough for visibility of the keys in the dark. The brightness was good to not disturb movie viewing and being powered by 3.3V reduces the current (and subsequent power) consumption of the backlighting.

 

My power cable for the leds has broken off any idea how to fix this?

 

Could you please show us a picture of what that looks like? And perhaps the general area of where you found the 3.3V if you don't want to re-open your laptop?

 

Can some one give me the measurements from the u80 back lit keyboard?
Please measure from the outer edge of the 'esc' key to the outer edge of the 'del' key. I think this should fit in the 1215n nicely. Thank you!

 

Here are some photos. The keyboard in the dark is actually brighter than shown in the picture.

 

The width of the keyboard is exactly 302mm, as noted by the asus store.

 

Thanks for your reply soul! I know the width of the keyboard is 302mm. But I wanted to know the measurement from the left outer edge of the esc key(not including the frame) to the right outer edge of the delete key(again not including the frame. From the looks of it it looks like if i strip the u80 keyboard from its frame it will fit nicely inside my 1215n. However i just wanted to make sure.

 

I have a U80 backlit keyboard that I do not need if you really want to find out gqbigpaps.

PM me if interested

 

Yeah it would be great if you can gimme the measurements please.

 

Hi there, since 2 weeks I'm the lucky owner of an UL30VT
Bad thing is that the keyboard is german but luckily I found this topic way before I bought it

Now I'm going to replace the keyboard with an US backlit one. I'm not sure which one I should buy....

This one

or

This two

or

This three

Are there any differences or should I just go with the cheapest one?

 

Just about the first, I've asked him a question few days ago and he answered me
Here it is :

So, maybe not the first :/

 

No, it is just not for the UL30. Like he said.

 

I used "this two" and can only vouch for that one You will have to unscrew back plate to use it...

 

Yeah I read about that? Unscrew it and replace it with the original right?
Does the keyboard, after replacing the back plate, fit perfectly or is it touching the screen ??

So option two is the way to go or is there a better one out there? Is the one in the Asus estore, which seems to be always out of stock, different to the one on ebay?

 

You can't cut it down to size in any way from what I can see... you would end up cutting into the LED layer for the backlight which would probably not make it work anymore.

 

You remove the uneeded back plate as it is totally in the way. This leaves the keyboard slightly thicker, than the original, as posted way back.

The key is how neat and flat you lay out your wiring. Mine did not touch screen, unless, notebook was under arm or in back pack. I used the felt pads to cure that and to protect the shiny black bezel from wear marks from raised lip of the palmrest base plate. I was getting the wear marks before the keyboard mod.

The original Asus keybaord may be better but I do not have one to measure thickness. I have not heard of any problems from Soulsaber yet Asus does not seem to want to or cannot stock them

 

Hello,

Does anyone know if this will work, P/N 04GNV61KUS00-3:
ASUS UL30 BLACK FRAME BLACK BACKLIT US 9J.N1M82.H01 04GNV61KUS00-3 Laptop keyboard - KeyBoard|ASUS|Gemwon - Laptop / Notebook

It seems to be significantly cheaper than P/N04GNUS1KUS00-3:
NEW ASUS U80 U80A U80V Series Backlit keyboard Black US - eBay (item 180524358313 end time Nov-20-10 00:37:00 PST)

In the link to the Asus webpage, it lists the P/N as 04GNV61KUS00-3. Based on this alone, I would assume that the keyboard from Gemwon should work.

Has anyone else found the black keyboard cheaper than $18 (including shipping)?

Thanks in advance!

 

The only problem is that the gemwon.com website is out of stock and has been out of stock for awhile similar to the Asus store.

 

Does this mean the ebay u80 keyboard is my only option?

 

Yes. I had been waiting on the Asus website and the gemwon website for 3 months before I got sick of waiting and went with the ebay u80 keyboard.

The drawback is needing to bend the ribbon cable for connecting the keyboard interface. Beside the backlighting, the keyboard is alot more solid than the stock keyboard.

 

It is more solid because it is about 1mm thicker haha

You will see if you have not already received it

 

Im about to order the keyboard and just wanted to make sure that this was the right keyboard to order: New Original ASUS U80 Series Keyboard Black Backlit US - eBay (item 180535671849 end time Nov-17-10 06:12:53 PST)

Please let me know. Thanks.

 

Not a problem if you don't mush the laptop I use cheap felt dots that fixed that and the grit/dirt wear marks on shiny black bezel...

The lighted keyboard feels WAY better than stock..

 

well considering the stock one is a freaking trampoline lol

 

Has anyone considered running the power lines up the the screen backlight? that way you can dim them both. only problem is having to dim the screen to turn off the keys while watching a movie.

 

Has anyone tried this on the U35JC?

 

It should work, it's the same keyboard and pretty much same design.

 

I attempted doing this mod on a U30JC by wiring the keyboard to the USB port. But when I put the laptop back together, my trackpad doesn't work anymore and when I plug the power cable ribbon back in, it doesn't really stay connected, I have to hold it down in order for the power button to function.

Can anybody thats done this mod or has taken a U30JC apart offer any advice on how to get the trackpad to work again or how to get the power cable ribbon to stay in place?

On the plus side, the backlit keyboard is working.

 

@sodapop123 are you sure the touchpad ribbon cable isn't just unplugged?

 

Thanks for replying ALLurGroceries. As it turns out, the ribbon was loose. I feel so stupid. Everything is hooked back up now and running smoothly.

Just a little advice for anybody else opening their laptop, all the ribbons are very fragile and strip easily, I would advise to use extra caution be removing any of the ribbons.

Does anybody know if it is safe to use the USB port that the backlit keyboard is wired to? I haven't tried to plug anything into it yet, because I am afraid something might go wrong.

 

Hi,
Im planning this also on my ul50vt. Have you tried it yet? Cant find any threads about this for the ul50.

Magnus
Sweden

 

Iv'e been waiting if someone have done this mod with the u33jc? Anyone?

 

@magnussueco

sorry for the late reply, but yes I've done it to a ul50. It's very similar to ul30 though, so if you just read thru the thread you should be fine.

 

Should be fine. You're just piggybacking on the voltage lines, and usb spec is so low for minimum voltage that I think EVERY manufacturer puts enough power through that the negligible LED power draw will be ... negligible.

The way it's wired up, it's in parallel, so the path of least resistance will always have power. Ask an electronics engineer (or electrician) for the exact reasoning for this - all I know is that if I soldered together something like this theoretically, the worse case scenario is an unpowered usb plug.

Carpet tape.

Or, you can use coloured cellophane, there's a link here where the mod was done to a g73 keyboard to change the backlight colour.

 

good stuff, hope this is possible on the U31 F model.

 

Awesome, ill try this on my UL80JT

Hopefully it works.

Tape plus keyboard= 40 USD

 

Does this work for the New Asus U41JF ?

 

Is only one pin for ground and one pin for 5V?

or is it 1 pin for 5v
and the other 3 put together for ground?

 

Hey everyone,
I cant seem to find where to buy the backlit version of this keyboard... The link in the original post no longer works. Anyone know where I can buy it? A direct link would be WONDERFUL. Thanks!!

 

New Original ASUS U80 Series Keyboard Black Backlit US - eBay (item 180535671849 end time Feb-15-11 06:12:53 PST)

there you go. This should fit all recent Asus 13-14in models

are you talking about the 4 pins of the USB port?
In that case the two outer pins are 5v and ground. It varies on which is which, so you just have to get a voltmeter and test it out. The middle two are for data, don't mess with them as that could destroy the usability of that USB port.

 

Hey thanks for the link, that will fit a UL30VT, correct? It says UL80, which if I recall were a bit bigger, just wanted to make sure. Thanks!

 

Yeah the ul80 was bigger. But the keyboard was exactly the same size.