Studio Illuminated Keyboard into XPS M1530? They look identical! - DOES NOT WORK!

Well, that's a GREAT way to squash a thread that was humming along at ten pages and counting!

Appropriate user name.... SPLAT!



JK, good find!

 

That put an end to this lol.

 

Strangely enough that had been posted a few pages back and nobody even noticed it lol.

 

So there's no way to connect an addional cable and draw power from the battery?

 

try to mod it?

 

It shouldn't be that hard to solder the wiring for power to the mb.

 

Would it be hard for a n00b?

B/c I am definitely a hardware n00b, and would be nervous soldering something to my laptop's mobo.

...that said, I'm still interested in trying this out, it would be sick-0-licious

 

It could be that the power requirements enable backlighting, though just not as bright as if you had the other cable plugged in. Or there might be a simple mod to it. You never know for sure unless you try it out.

 

guys there was a post here to prove it was working, without plugging in the additional wire.

 

Are you talking about the guy with two posts who took a photo of the alleged keyboard (not powered on, mind you) and claimed it worked, yet oddly photographed it when it wasn't? That guy?

 

Yep, that'd be the guy he was talking about lol. Guys, if I were you I'd give it up. A backlit keyboard would be nice to have...but nice enough to where you're going to tear your computer apart and solder a wire to your mobo just hoping it outputs the right amount of power?

 

well you can take a multimeter and measure the voltage and current first.

 

prolly a good start

 

So what exactly happened to the guy that showed us the picture with the studio keyboard and claimed it worked but didn't take a picture with the laptop switched on lol ???

He got our hopes up...!

 

He just didn't attempt turning it on. Theoretically, it could be that the 2nd power strip just gives it more juice, but it might be able to work except at a slightly dimmer state with just one strip.

There really is no way to know for sure until someone actually tries it out.

 

Greaat. So now if I wanted a backlit keyboard I have to find someone with a multimeter too. That's not something I keep around the house.

Point: is it really worth it? Do you actually look at your keyboard when you type anyway? I know I don't.

 

You don't need a multimeter, you just gotta plug in the keyboard and try turning illumination on and see if it lights up dimly or at all. It could be the electricity from the single connector will provide enough light for illumination to some degree.

Even if it doesn't light up due to not enough electricity... there is still hope!

There has been word about the M1530 possibly having an extra UNUSED Sata Connector on the inside where a second Hard Drive would have gone. Due to form factor of the M1530, there is an extra SATA connector that is UNUSED since Intel's Turbo manager detects two SATA ports, so while the port may not be available for a second hard drive, the connector may still be physically soldered on the motherboard.

What this means, is all you'd need is a small converter (similar to DVI to VGA converter, no electricity, very cheap) to allow it to be plugged into a sata connection on the motherboard which would provide more than enough juice for it.

 

I'm not reading this entire thread, so if this has been covered already - I apologize

Anyway, you won't be able to swap keyboards as there is a power slot (similar to the 1730's lighted keyboard) that isn't on the 1530's motherboard. There is no way to do it unless you can create pcbs's and slot connections. If you can do that then you should be working for Dell as an engineer and not modding a laptop....

Would be pretty sweet though!

 

Maybe you could just read the page you're posting on ???

 

What about trying to tap a USB port for power?

 

The lighted keyboard on the studio line is pretty weak IMHO. They should have used brighter LED's similar to the 1730's. Especially since they charge you extra for it - it should be a little nicer.

Hopefully the next generation of XPS 1530/1330's will have a backlit keyboard....

 

I just want to say, that illuminating KB it's still not available in Europe (I've checked PL / UK webpage) so I think it's gonna take some time till we find out if it's can swap it...

 

I doubt the illuminated keyboard is coming to Europe, its gonna be like LED screens with the XPS M1530.

 

anymore movement in this thread has anyone ordered a replacement keyboard yet and put one in?

 

Personally I m still angry at the person who fitted the Studio keyboard into their M1530 and claimed it worked but deliberately didnt turn it on....

lol

 

Yeah, he got all our hopes up! Haha. It was a rather sketchy post in hindsight, and the user hasn't had any activity since. Maybe it was a prank?

 

If someone can post a part number of the Studio keyboard, that would be awesome.

 

someone order one!!!!!

 

Im sure if someone put up a part number, there will be people willing to try it out.

 

hey guys.
do you think the keyboard in studio 15" will fit with xps 1530.
I want to replace my keyboard with dark color and I see that I love studio 15 keyboard.
can some one tried?

 

Somebody started a whole thread on it already because they wanted their keyboard to be backlight.......seems like nobody has tried it yet tho

 

If it did work, the power that the notebook feeds to the keyboard might not be enough to power the backlight too well. It might turn out a lot dimmer on the M1530, though you'd need to compare the keyboard in both notebooks to tell.

 

oh that sucks
I dont have experience on opening notebook so I'm scared to try

 

Haha yup...

 

Its worth a shot if anyone wants to donate to me id be happy to do it!!

But on that "other thread" someone noticed on the manual that theres a separate power supply for the keyboards lights...

If thats the case and its too dim, someone has to hard mod it and show us all!!

 

You could fry the connection between the keyboard and the motherboard by adding the Studio 15 keyboard, if the Studio 15 keyboard takes up too much power. So be careful. Dell might not cover that on warranty, you could end up with a notebook that doesn't have a working keyboard.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=265975

Already a discussion here, reported to mods to move

 

I doubt that it could do that, considering the fact that the lights does not consumes the same amount of power like the screen lamp and especially if you get the power from outside (the hard disk connector or something).

 

The threads have been merged. Please try to keep discussion related to the XPS m1530 and the studio keyboard here so it doesn't clutter up the forums.

Thanks.

-Kdawgca
NBR Mod

 

Kdawg, i think you forgot to shave, your scaring the members away.

 

So here it is Also i have the part number for this keyboard And as you can see in the picture there are 2 wires coming out of it, obviously there is a connector on the motherboard, if you like to i can show you that conector aswell

TR324 Keyboard, US English

​

Obviously i searched for the part and Dell does not sell this keyboard yet.

 

some one must have 2 systems already so can someone tried or do we still have to wait until Dell sell the keyboard?

 

I'm gonna bet we'll have to wait.......

 

that's really bad!

 

Haha yeah it would be sweet to have a black backlight keyboard in a 1530.....or even just a black one would look better

 

//agree.
the led is just an extra to me! would be nice if it's working.

 

yeah exactly.....I wish the whole inside of the 1530 was black.....thatd be sweet

 

Just in case anyone cares, it seems to be closer to availability as the backlit keyboard IS now an option on the UK site. Good luck finding the part guys

 

I am almost positive this can be done on both the M1330 and M1530 if they use the same style keyboard. what appears to only be different would have to be the power lines for the keyboard backlight. We just have to find the spec voltage that line requires and it is pretty easily to find contact points on a laptop with power. I am assuming one could easily tap into the USB power lines at 5V and that would be more than sufficient and we might have to place a regulator to regulate the voltage from 5V to whatever the keyboard requires. If they are blue LEDs I would assume that the keyboard requires about 4V or around 3.7V which the forward voltage for a typical blue LED. The keyboard would probably draw no more than 100ma from the USB which is not much at all. There are many regulator chips that are a one chip solution I believe. I used to be a flashlight fanatic and know a decent amount about LEDs and their drive circuitry.

 

anyone with a studio 15 have a multimeter so they could test the voltage for the separate power connection? sounds like it could be tapped from a usb port or something.