CF-52 emissive "chiclet" keyboard

Hey all,

I came across this keyboard on Ebay Emissive Backlit keyboard Chiclet Backlight Panasonic Toughbook CF-52 CF-53 | eBay

But i removed my normal keyboard to see if it will fit, and i don´t have the third connector.

Is there even a way to get a backlight keyboard on a CF-52 ?

My model is CF-52GDN30AG

 

That keyboard is for the new 52's that came out a little while ago

 

So you mean no emissive keyboard for the CF-52G ?
Damn, i hoped to get one in.
Most off the time i use the laptop in dark circumstances (i am a theater technician)
Back to the usb led light

Anyway he could have mentioned that in his auction ( i did not have to spend my time on it)

 

Sadlmkr "may" be interested in it. I think he mentioned one, but I can't remember for sure. You may want to PM him.

 

I did not buy it, i just checked if it would work on my laptop

 

The emissive runs on up to 5 volts DC. Should be pretty easy to find a 5vdc source and hack in the emissive keyboard. I'm planning to do that to my beloved CF-74, and I've seen high-end CF-74s on eBay with the emissive keyboard installed. Might be hard to get the backlight adjustment feature working, but an always-on setup seems pretty simple.

 

That is what i am looking for, there are 5 volt sources on the rear usb ports, i don´t care for the adjustment.
found this one and ordered it.

If someone has the pinout on the backlight flatcable it would be great.

 

SHAME on Tech Tough! You can't put an emmisive keyboard into a CF-52! PERIOD! Like Springfield said, if one could hack a 5v source, then maybe, but probably won't be easy!

The CF-53's CAN take the emmisives though

 

Awhile back on ebay there was someone selling modded CF-74 and CF-52 with the emissive keyboards. Never could get any shots of the mod though.

 

To all of you guys that want it to work on CF-52 that can control the Level of lights. You may use the keyboard inverter on CF-28 that has an emmissive keyboard similar to CF-29, 30 31 not the one with green light key.

 

Talking about reading this tread, the Honkong seller rised his price for the keyboards today with 20%
I bought one yesterday for 49 euro, and today they are 64 euro

 

Teo you are one smart guy! You and I maybe the only members who have seen this uber-rare variation of the Texas board, hope I still have one around here somewhere . . .

 

Yeah....as Ohlip has said on many occasions...."The Lurker Is Here".

 

If you find one, can you take a picture of it, i have a bunch off peaces from the 28´s, but i cant remember what is what

 

Well you could look for a map of USA and look for the state of Texas...the board looks very close to its shape
Do you have a link to that 52 keyboard

 

Here are a couple of shots I got from Springfield a while back when I was going to do this upgrade to a CF-28 I had.

 

Thanks, and no, i don´t have it in my archive.
I don´t see either you can mount that piece off RF emitting hardware safely inside a CF 52
+ how to control it.

I just hack some voltage from the usb ports and let it on all the time.

Anybody know how much current the keyboard use?

 

Sure, here it is : NEW Panasonic Backlit Emissive US Keyboard BLK for CF-31 CF-52 CF-53 CF-73 CF-74 | eBay

 

Be careful -- the 5v emissive keyboards need a different Texas board. The Texas board in these pictures is the "standard" Texas board and produces about 90 volts. It would FRY an emissive keyboard (except the original CF-28 green emissive). For the modern white emissive you need a Texas board that does not have the 4 white square capacitors at the top you can see in the top picture. There are very few of those, more rare than the "standard" Texas board shown.

 

That'll make the magic smoke appear! No Genie though.

 

Now we know, I was thinking there was only one texas board for the CF-28. Thanks for clearing that up Springfield.

 

As i said, there is no way to mount that board in to a 52, so no magic smoke

 

There is a way. It just might not be conventional. I like to think outside the box. Matter o fact, I threw the box away.

Quick idea is double faced tape to the MB right where the wwan board is supposed to be. Or perhaps beside the mouse touch panel assembly.

 

I still think it is more simple to hack the usb voltage and let it always on.
if it is to bright, i can always put a resistor or a voltage regulator in

To repeat my question, anyone know how much current the keyboard is consuming ?

 

If the keyboard takes 5v, an internal USB port is a good idea. With software you could turn the port on and off and probably control the keyboard lighting (on-off).
That all depends on the current needed for the keyboard. If the USB port delivers enough current to power the keyboard. Which is the question you ask.
Is it safe to "assume" the emmisive are leds?
Next question would be, How many leds are in the keyboard?
Average power usage of a led? Simple multiplication would give a ballpark figure.
Anyone have a trashed keyboard to count the leds and possibly get a part number off of a led?

 

As soon as i get mine ( can take a wile, it is shipping from Hongkong) i will measure the current using a 5v power adapter
But i assume the usb current will be enough, i never hear someone complain about draining the battery faster with an emmisive keyboard

 

Does someone has the schematics for the 52, i need to trace the internal 5v sources

 

On one application I tapped on the backside of an external USB port. I just had to block off that external port to prevent me from plugging anything in to it. 2 things plugged in would probably overload and blow the fuse.
I was connecting an ATSC USB TV card that I mounted internally. That card had a fairly high power usage.

 

cf-52 mk1

The flat cable of the emissive "chiclet" keyboard is wider than the 52 one.



it can not insert into the slot,







If we want to replace the key board,we have to make the slot wider.

 

Check your email for my 4 emails...:smile:

 

Blair, you are the champ, thanks

 

Let me know when you get #3 downloaded and then I will send #4...don't want to plug up your email

Last one sent... now I am off to work

 

The smaller piece of copper in the extra flat cable of the emmisive keyboard is +5V which will consume 47mA. The wide area of the metal on the flat cable is to give an shortcut on some pins of the connector, so the transistor for the PWM-signal will get power in the CF-29. If u check ur keyboard cable with a closer view, u will see 5 pins are not used on the top of the smaller 13 pin keyboard cable. On a CF29 on pin 5, if u start counting from the top (normaly pin 9) u can find 5V/1A fused.

 

1 A, f*ck, this is to much for usb
But the good news (if i read you correct) is that the 5 V is already on the second small cable from the keyboard.
I suppose there is no need to make a link to ground, it will already be on the keyboard.

So if i can hack the pin 5 on the 13 pin cable and lead it to the small extra flat cable it should work (permanent full light)?

 

Yep! I had tried it some hours ago on my second CF29. Bought also same keyboard from the auction above. Thank U for sharing.
I will try on Tuesday to insert an MOSFET between the +5V and the PWM-signal of the display or of the LEDs. So I can modify the brightness.

Edit: Correction, it will not work in a CF-52 so easy, more results tomorrow.

 

You are a genius, i will be happy enough to have it at full brightness, as i said before, i will use it in the theater i work, and most off the time it is in dark conditions.

Btw, this Honkong seller is really fast shipping, never got something within a week from the far east

 

So the sad thing was, on the CF-52 is no 5V on the keyboard cable pin 9, like it is in my CF-29. But for the heads up: I got it working
The power of 5V I had stolen from the smartcard/fingerprint connector, their is a fuse of 2A. To switch the keyboard light on and off and also to dim the brightness, I had used the pwm-signal from the SCRLK-LED. I've never used this key on the keyboard, so I think it was a good idea to use this key for this function. To get the signal of 2V I soldered a cable (blue in the picture) to the connector of the LED power switch board. I used an Darlingiton circuit to switch the 5V.
Now I can turn the keyboard light on and off with the scrlk key and it is dimmed with the F1 and F2 key synchronous to the screen.

red is plus 5V, green is ground


I had traced the signal from the scrl LED to the connector and soldered the blue cable on the line




brown is minus and white is plus for the keyboard

 

Freakin crazy man! Show pics of it completed too!! Lets see some in a dark room!

 

Naa, I have to cut the slot for the cable a little bit, like tango_tough wrote. So it is not finished now for a daylight picture

off



on (look at the ScrLK-LED)



Edit: finished daylight pic

 

Things like this are why I love this board! =) You are too cool onirakkiss!!!

 

Notes:
To connect the 3.cable of the keyboard I had soldered an fan-connector on this end of the flat cable, and the opposite plug on the Darlington-circuit. I had to fold the kb-cable once, like u do it in the CF-29. Fixed with a tape to hold the position.

After I had widened the slot for the keyboard cable, I had to bend the 5 nibs on the bottom of the new keyboard, so that the nibs can slide into the notches.

The refit of my backlit keyboard works like a charm, should be normally done by Panasonic