Yes, direct wiring is the only option, but as I said in the first post, I can't figure out how I could route them without touching any conductive surfaces. Don't need to cut anything in the switches--there are already long side slits where the LEDs are inserted, in the bottom part of the housing so it would be under the plate. Pass an LED through the top of the switch and bend the ends sideways to come out of the front of the back of each switch.
It seems sort of doable. I imagine it as follows:
- desolder all the switches
- separate them from the plate and the PCB
- mod switches as desired
- seat them onto the plate firmly
- insert LEDs and wire them. Perhaps use coated copper wire to avoid contact with any metal on the PCB and the plate or else use liquid electrical tape to coat bare wires after they've been connected
- once the wiring is done, insert the PCB over the switch pins and solder the switches.
Some questions:
- love some pointers on good wiring to use for this. I don't believe I can use any bare metal wire, unless liquid electrical tape dries quickly and is easy to use for this in practice
- Also are there any guides on how to connect the LEDs properly in terms of where to place resistors in the chain for keyboards?
- Should there be one circuit for ALL of the LEDs? One or more resistors to get to a proper value in series, and then the loop splitting to all of the LEDs, some in series, some in parallel by rows?
- And finally supplying power. Where do I connect the ends of the LED circuit wires? Find the +5V signal and ground locations on the main power hub area (say we're talking about a Filco with an internal connector, because I don't know what Leopold's power supply mini USB area looks like internally) and solder in corresponding wire ends to them?