Here's a story about how I upgraded my CST L-Trac from non-glow edition:
to glow edition:
...without resorting to hacks.
IntroductionI love my CST L-Trac trackball; it's one of the best input device purchases I've ever made.
But shortly after I bought mine and fell in love with it, I found out that CST was planning to release an LED-backlit version with a translucent ball. Now there's no way I'm going to spend $120 again just to get a glowing ball. And even though the thought crossed my mind about buying a second one (one for home, one for work), I decided it was best to just go without. Over time the urge to splurge subsided.
Discovering Untapped PotentialLast week I decided it was time to clean my trackball, something I do semi-regularly just to keep things rolling smoothly. But this time I happened to notice some unused solder points on the PCB. They looked like LED mounting points!
Notice the points labeled D4, D5, and D6 in the above image. The "D" (short for
diode) and the SMT resistors suggest they are for LEDs.
Now, like any good keyboard hacker, I have a lot of spare LEDs lying around. So I grabbed some to see if they would work, but no such luck. So I probed the LED points with a multimeter and discovered that they were not receiving any voltage. It became clear that CST must use a single PCB design for both models to cut costs, and even though they had not released the LED glow version when I bought mine, they had already redesigned the PCBs and begun manufacturing them with LED support.
But how could I get LEDs to work with my trackball?
Going Straight to the SourceWell, it seemed obvious that I wouldn't be able to reprogram the trackball controller by myself. I got the impression from the CST website that this is a company who cares about what they do and seems to stand behind their products, so I figured it couldn't hurt to reach out to them for help. I called the phone number listed on their contact page. The guy who answered the phone was able to answer all of my questions, determined that I was capable enough not to break anything, and put me in touch with the engineer who handles their firmware.
The engineer sent me a new firmware version along with the controller manufacturer's firmware flashing utility and full instructions for starting the trackball in bootloader mode and writing the new .hex file. This process worked flawlessly, and a quick touch-test with a spare LED confirmed that the solder points were now receiving power!
Modifying the HardwareAt this point all that remained was to solder the LEDs in place and replace the ball with a translucent one. Since I already had the LEDs, all I had to do was disassemble the trackball and remove the main PCB. This involved removing a few other components like ribbon cables and, on my model, the ports on the front of the trackball for extra buttons. I also had to pop out two white retaining clips using a pair of pliers.
Once the PCB had been removed, soldering the LEDs into place was pretty straightforward. Just remember to place the anodes (longer leads) on the side closest to the resistor. I also chose to leave a small gap (1-2mm) between the circuit board and LED, so that I would be able to bend the LEDs to point them if necessary. As it turns out, you can bend and point the two LEDs on either side, but the one on the front will hit the ball if you try and bend it. Bending the two side LEDs seems to help slightly with light output.
I purchased a translucent ball from
TrackballWorld, a site which I believe is run by the folks behind CST.
ConclusionSo essentially, I now have a CST L-Trac Glow Edition that's almost indistinguishable from the factory models, other than the SKU sticker on the bottom. That's why I'm calling this an "Unofficial Official" mod.
I'm so super thankful to CST for their awesome customer support and for making such an incredible product.
Firmware LinksThis whole project started because I stumbled upon a page on the CST website entitled
L-Trac Glow Patch. It turns out that page provides a firmware intended to patch some bugs in early releases of the glow version, but the same firmware will also work with non-glow versions using the Rev. 1.1 PCB. I thought about flashing the Glow Patch firmware myself before calling CST tech support, but I decided it wasn't worth the risk of potentially bricking my trackball until I first tried going through more official channels. I can also verify that the .hex file in the Glow Patch firmware has the same MD5 sum as the
LEDON.hex file in the copy CST tech support sent me.
L-Trac Glow Patch Firmware on CST Website (recommended) - This is the official firmware provided by CST. If I were you and I didn't know me, I would prefer to get my firmware files from the manufacturer instead of some dude on a forum.
CST Tech Support Firmware - My Copy - This is the version sent to me by CST tech support, and probably what you would get if you called and asked.
The only real difference between these two archives is that the second one includes an
LEDOFF.hex file in case you want to disable the glow. Feel free to download both and confirm that the MD5 sums are identical.
Bonus Mod: Redesigned RollersWhile I was in there I also replaced the existing rollers with a redesigned version which provides smaller contact points so that the ball rolls more smoothly and quietly:
If you have an L-Trac you probably know that feeling every once in a while where the rollers "grab" the ball and it takes a tiny bit of force to free up that axis. In fact, that's probably the only complaint I've ever had about the L-Trac. But these new rollers completely solve that problem. This, combined with the lighter weight of the translucent ball, has made my favorite pointing device markedly better.
