Compatibility of OCZ/M17 keyboard with Clevo D900 Chassis

A few months ago, Gophn noticed that the OCZ Whitebook/Alienware M17 had a strikingly similar keyboard to the D900K that both of us own.
He told me he wanted to have a backlit keyboard for his D900K, so I tried it out for him.
Well I finally went around and purchased the keyboard a week ago

In short the keyboard does not work with this chassis, let alone its similar design.

However there is more to it than that, so continue reading.

I purchased the keyboard from notebook review member ichime.


As you can see the two keyboards are strikingly similar:
(OCZ/M17 above, D900K bottom)


There are a few differences, for one there is an extra key on the OCZ/M17 keyboard to the left of the spacebar which the D900 series does not have. The OCZ/M17 keyboard is also thicker, and lacks the plastic component under the spacebar which the D900 series keyboards have

When you look at the keyboard in section the differences become even more apparent:
(D900K left, OCZ/M17 right)


(OCZ/M17 above, D900K bottom)


(D900K left, OCZ/M17 right)


For one the M17/OCZ keyboard is thicker and has different mounts than the D900 series keyboard.
The keyboard is thicker because it is illuminated. There is simply a metal panel on the reverse side which braces the keyboard, and keeps the light from the backlight pointing up through the keys.

Interface wise they are the same. They are both 24 pin connectors for the keyboard. The only difference is the OCZ/M17 keyboard has a backlight so it has an extra 4 pin lead, which is powered by an internal USB hub.
(OCZ/M17 left, D900K right)



On the flipside, the keyboards are different, and made by a different manufacturer.
(OCZ/M17 above, D900K bottom)


(D900K left, OCZ/M17 right)


How it looks:
Stock D900K keyboard:


OCZ/M17 keyboard:




Now for the more interesting part.

Since it did not work in my D900K after three trials, I figured that I could swap the backlight from the OCZ/M17 keyboard onto my D900K keyboard.

Well last night I tried just that.
I used a 1500 watt heatgun, and I heated up the backside of the keyboard. I heated until it was extremely hot. With a small amount of force, I removed the back plate to a certain degree.
Underneath I found the backlight.

You can see here how the keyboard is put together. Its a keyboard, a thin membrane for the LED's to mount to, and a metal panel on the backside:



In short the keyboard has two strips of Surface mount LED's which run down the length of the keyboard.
There are two and only two strips of SMD LED's. I was quite dissapointed by this, because it is reason why it is so dull.


Here is what the underside of the keys actually look like:
Notice that they are clear, so that the light diffuses through them, and up and around the keys.
Notice the small engravings in the plastic, those are to catch and spread the light. The light from an LED will only transfer along a white or rough surface. It will fail to conduct along a distance if the material was left clear.



After pealing the rear panel back a little more, you will see the strip of LED's.
There is one led every inch on the strip, so there is a total of 24 led's running the back plane of the keyboard. In total the combined load is 237mah at 5V.








Here you can see the two LED strips. They are the orange bands running down the keyboard:





After looking at the keyboard I realized that the panel will not come out because it is permanently glued to the interface board on the keyboard.
I would have to completely sacrifice the keyboard, by cutting the plastic membrane in order to free the LED strips.
After seeing how dull they were, I decided that if I wanted a backlight I would build one myself, which was actually powerful.

So I used a small amount of epoxy and a heatgun and I reassembled the keyboard.
It is still functional and the LED's work.



If anyone wants the keyboard I will have it in my for sale thread.

Thanks for reading

K-TRON

 

Interesting!

But now I wonder about m15x's keyboard and 8662 *hint**hint*

 

nice and detailed.

too bad it cannot be salvaged by taking apart the LED strips and keys.

thanks for your efforts.