Which Clevo is this ?

Can anyone identity this Clevo

http://www.g-tune.jp/products/solution/nextgear-note_i5720/#i5720_07

I think it's P650 but it's lacking the RGB keyboard

The reason I'm asking I want to buy one but it's only available in a JP keyboard so I need to get a US keyboard and fit it

 

Clevo P650RS. RGB keyboard isn't in all regions. Where are you buying? You can fit a U.S. keyboard to it, not sure if the RGB will still work though.

 

Do you live in Japan? Is G-tune the only clevo reseller in JP?

 

Yes, it is a P650 as mentioned. I've seen versions before without RGB and just a white keyboard.

 

Yeah it's seems and the price is good also I can add 3 year warranty for 95 USD so it's not deal
I have learned in the past not to import clevo's as it's a nightmare for warranty my last clevo broke twice and cost me 250 USD in shipping

Don't really need a RGB keyboard just a US one is fine for me

 

With similar layouts if you touch type you can set your preferred layout in windows.

 

That would be great. I would prefer just white LED only keyboard.

 

In a previous P650 model that Sager had, the prices didn't change much when they updated it with an RGB keyboard. I don't know if it would really affect pricing so much. Even on an RGB version, should be able to set it to white backlight though.

 

I'd just like it to be white by default because that's the color I want and I do not wish to install the CCC/Hotkey garbage app on my lappy to change it from blue to white. I don't like how my Clevos behave with that piece of junk software installed. So, I have to put up with the ugly blue default until @Prema has the final mod with tweaked EC to change it to white default keyboard backlight.

 

Quite right; CCC should be optional, not a necessity for the system to run as intended. Especially so since it is Windows-only.

Did you check if modifying the registry works? Perhaps it would do to adjust the ' HKCU\Software\hotkey\' parameters and then take away permissions from all but local administrator?

It's too bad your favourite is white ... for red and green it'd suffice to swap the corresponding wires on the flat ribbon cable:

Spoiler: Clevo P870DM3 - keyboard backlight connector

So:

• Cut and resolder 4+5, 7+8 and 10+11 for default=red.
• Cut and resolder 4+6, 7+9 and 10+12 for default=green.

There's also option #3: short 4+5+6, 7+8+9 and 10+11+12 with a small blob of solder at the connector's pads or even all 4-through-12 with a small strip of aluminium foil taped to the ribbon cable's end. It'd be all-white only then, so no more christmas lighting ... if you'd even call that a loss, that is.

 

Awesome info. Thanks. May try the foil trick. Clevo should make a light standalone LED controller app for Windows and Linux. The only useful part of CCC/Hotkey is the LED control feature and the hit on stability and performance makes it unfit for installation.

 

Cool .

Take care between #3 and #4; the rest is harmless, but you don't want to risk shorting voltage and ground, even if there's not a lot of power on this circuit. Could go for a trial-run with a smaller strip starting at #12 so it'd work for two zones only.

Have an RGB kb too. Let me see if it's possible to scratch off the isolating layer from the cable and short the copper threads by soldering a wire across all of them.

 

All hail @t456! You are officially the NBR modding guru!! Your knowledge about mods and fixing weird broken stuff is unbelievable!!

 

I look forward to seeing how that works out. Wonder if using a layer of foil stuck with Super Glue would work OK in terms of making proper contact? One could likely scrape it off very carefully with a razer blade to undo the mod later if they wanted to. I'd be a bit worried about the foil moving or working its way over and shorting power to ground over time if only using tape to hold it in place.

Absolutely... amazing fellow he is, Brother @t456

 

Wouldn't the JP keyboard layout be almost the same as the US layout? I don't know the US layout exactly (as I'm european), but it seems to me the main difference is the narrower space bar. Are the characters between the alphabet and the Enter key column swapped around on the JP and US layout, or what?

 

So ... turns out that was actually quite easy:

Spoiler: Clevo P370SM3 - kb backlight cable scraped

Carefully scraped of the insulating plastic with a box cutter and verified each wire with a multimeter. Also tried hot air gun at 480°C (my soldering station's max), but it wouldn't budge. Maybe a strong acid would do ... it'd be a much cleaner solution. Anyway, thought to use oversized, braided wire; that way there's at least one solid connection, rather than 11 individual soldering joints.

Spoiler: cable fully soldered and wire trimmed

Won't win a beauty contest ... meh, can't be bothered. Amazingly, it worked in one try; verified by measuring all pins at the connector's end, which showed zero resistance to any of the other pins. Of course, now we're shorting the lot, but this is far simpler to accomplish than taking care of several individual lots.

Spoiler: kb backlight cable pinout

Don't care about individual control over left/mid/right, so why not hook them all together? Now, we also want to join the three grounds in order to divvy up the load.

Spoiler: cable cut through

Using a box cutter the cable is now fully split between pin #9 and pin #10 (this is for the SM3, mind). Actually cut through so there's a physical gap between both sides of the cable. Also verified the pins at the end of the cable again; no connection between 1-9 and 10-12 and all connections in-between are still intact. That kinda surprised me since cutting took quite some force, so especially #9 and #10 might be expected to have become dislodged from the solder and wire.

Spoiler: cable cut 'stitched' with glue

Hard to tell, but that's a large blob of super glue. It's meant to fill the gap we've created by the split. Don't want it to short, after all.

Spoiler: electrical tape

That could've been taped tighter ... .

All of this is a bit silly/excessive; using a small-tipped soldering iron it is immeasurable easier to simply short-solder the pins on the motherboard connector. There's not even a risk of de-soldering the connector itself since you'll be using leaded solder and the board will have used lead-free, so there's some 10°C leeway. However, it was a good exercise since it proves that modding these tiny flat ribbon cables is possible. Never know when that may actually become useful ...

Yes, that'd be my worry too. The soldering iron method would be the first choice, I think.

 

Nice! Thanks for demonstrating that.

Do you think something as simple as using this on the end of the ribbon cable where the open contacts are might be effective? If so, potentially reversible later on (like if I wanted to sell it to someone that prefers fancy multi-colored LED keyboard) or not?

https://www.amazon.com/CircuitWriter-Precision-Pen-silver-based-grams/dp/B00B88B9KI?th=1&psc=1

 

Yes, that might do. The trace should be at the extreme end where it is just exposed, any further and socketing the cable would wipe the trace.

 

I may give that a go to see if it works. That's what I was thinking, making the trace on the part of the cable just outside of the socketed contact area where it could not get rubbed off by the contacts. And, if it works, covering it with some clear fingernail polish for durability. Then if I ever needed normal LED color function back to sell it or what not I could just use my thumbnail or razer blade to scrape off the painted on trace.

 

Just about to order and it's sold out But found another seller http://www.tsukumo.co.jp/bto/pc/game/note/n1584j/