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geekhack Community => Keyboard Keycaps => Topic started by: Pacifist on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:16:37

Title: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Pacifist on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:16:37
Should I go with backlighting or no for my next board? Caps will probally be thick ABS or PBT. I want to see what other people think.

Also how much power does backlighting drain? If I have a backlit 60% wireless board, would my batteries be significantly affected?
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Ghetto Caps on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:20:55
back light use less. 

im guessing most of the people on this forum can touch type..



EDIT: your battery will drain like a madaF****  it would at least half your battery life.

any ways... what keyboard are you making
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Pacifist on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:26:07
back light use less. 

im guessing most of the people on this forum can touch type..



EDIT: your battery will drain like a madaF****  it would at least half your battery life.

any ways... what keyboard are you making

Either sprit or mod a poker. Prefer to make a sprit board, as pokers are expensive. Was thinking about going down the 40% road, but it doesn't have a full alpha set. Put on an alum plate, ergo clears, an alum case, and I'll have a good travel board.

Either that or filco minila air or some other wireless board. Maybe matias has a 60% wireless board with quiet switches in the workings.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Ghetto Caps on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:28:45
back light use less. 

im guessing most of the people on this forum can touch type..



EDIT: your battery will drain like a madaF****  it would at least half your battery life.

any ways... what keyboard are you making

Either sprit or mod a poker. Prefer to make a sprit board, as pokers are expensive. Was thinking about going down the 40% road, but it doesn't have a full alpha set. Put on an alum plate, ergo clears, an alum case, and I'll have a good travel board.

Either that or filco minila air or some other wireless board. Maybe matias has a 60% wireless board with quiet switches in the workings.


Cool, personally i think wireless is not reliable for keyboards yet and not that use fil due to the fact your keyboard does not move like your mouse.
If your planning to travel with some laptop setup just get a short cable that's the perfect length.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: keymaster on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:29:15
40% just sounds like it would be a pain to use... Go with 60% minimum.

I like backlighting with thick, non-backlit keycaps. This seems to be popular among the Korean crowd as well.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Pacifist on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:29:49
back light use less. 

im guessing most of the people on this forum can touch type..



EDIT: your battery will drain like a madaF****  it would at least half your battery life.

any ways... what keyboard are you making

Either sprit or mod a poker. Prefer to make a sprit board, as pokers are expensive. Was thinking about going down the 40% road, but it doesn't have a full alpha set. Put on an alum plate, ergo clears, an alum case, and I'll have a good travel board.

Either that or filco minila air or some other wireless board. Maybe matias has a 60% wireless board with quiet switches in the workings.


Cool, personally i think wireless is not reliable for keyboards yet and not that use fil due to the fact your keyboard does not move like your mouse.
If your planning to travel with some laptop setup just get a short cable that's the perfect length.

I'd like a bluetooth board to use with a phone.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Ghetto Caps on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:31:13
back light use less. 

im guessing most of the people on this forum can touch type..



EDIT: your battery will drain like a madaF****  it would at least half your battery life.

any ways... what keyboard are you making

Either sprit or mod a poker. Prefer to make a sprit board, as pokers are expensive. Was thinking about going down the 40% road, but it doesn't have a full alpha set. Put on an alum plate, ergo clears, an alum case, and I'll have a good travel board.

Either that or filco minila air or some other wireless board. Maybe matias has a 60% wireless board with quiet switches in the workings.


Cool, personally i think wireless is not reliable for keyboards yet and not that use fil due to the fact your keyboard does not move like your mouse.
If your planning to travel with some laptop setup just get a short cable that's the perfect length.

I'd like a bluetooth board to use with a phone.

dang your hardcore... i just use a cheapo Anker Bluetooth one.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Pacifist on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:32:58
40% just sounds like it would be a pain to use... Go with 60% minimum.

I like backlighting with thick, non-backlit keycaps. This seems to be popular among the Korean crowd as well.

Yea. At first I thought it was just a 60% minus the top row. Turns out it does that plus chop off extra keys. I can memorize one layer plus part of another, but not two.

With thick caps, the backlighting surrounds the caps right, making your board glow in a sense?
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: keymaster on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:53:39
40% just sounds like it would be a pain to use... Go with 60% minimum.

I like backlighting with thick, non-backlit keycaps. This seems to be popular among the Korean crowd as well.

Yea. At first I thought it was just a 60% minus the top row. Turns out it does that plus chop off extra keys. I can memorize one layer plus part of another, but not two.

With thick caps, the backlighting surrounds the caps right, making your board glow in a sense?

Yes, this is a good example of what I'm talking about:

(http://i.imgur.com/yBEL2LG.jpg)
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Ghetto Caps on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:57:13
40% just sounds like it would be a pain to use... Go with 60% minimum.

I like backlighting with thick, non-backlit keycaps. This seems to be popular among the Korean crowd as well.

Yea. At first I thought it was just a 60% minus the top row. Turns out it does that plus chop off extra keys. I can memorize one layer plus part of another, but not two.

With thick caps, the backlighting surrounds the caps right, making your board glow in a sense?

Yes, this is a good example of what I'm talking about:

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/yBEL2LG.jpg)

The thing is...  He wants to go wireless, Im pretty sure he can't power 60 leds off batteries for a reasonable amount of time
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: ebacho on Mon, 27 January 2014, 23:58:36
If your phone supports it you could just use an OTG cable instead of wireless/bluetooth.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: keymaster on Tue, 28 January 2014, 00:03:01
40% just sounds like it would be a pain to use... Go with 60% minimum.

I like backlighting with thick, non-backlit keycaps. This seems to be popular among the Korean crowd as well.

Yea. At first I thought it was just a 60% minus the top row. Turns out it does that plus chop off extra keys. I can memorize one layer plus part of another, but not two.

With thick caps, the backlighting surrounds the caps right, making your board glow in a sense?

Yes, this is a good example of what I'm talking about:

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/yBEL2LG.jpg)

The thing is...  He wants to go wireless, Im pretty sure he can't power 60 leds off batteries for a reasonable amount of time

Then I would say for him to go wireless instead of having backlighting. I don't see the point of a wireless keyboard in most home setups, however.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: acidtrip69 on Tue, 28 January 2014, 00:16:14
I don't have any backlighting on mine. it helps you learn to type by feel faster, but if you are going to get a keyboard with no lighting you HAVE to get thick PTB caps its must. If you want backlighting you can go abs or normal ptb caps i would go for the ptb caps
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: exitfire401 on Tue, 28 January 2014, 00:35:55
I don't have any backlighting on mine. it helps you learn to type by feel faster, but if you are going to get a keyboard with no lighting you HAVE to get thick PTB caps its must. If you want backlighting you can go abs or normal ptb caps i would go for the ptb caps

I wholeheartedly agree here. Thick PBT all the way, but personally, I would suggest them whether you go backlit or not. I have some KBT Thick white/red doubleshots on my new board, and the lighting effect is really cool.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: rowdy on Tue, 28 January 2014, 03:39:54
Not really backlit - on a wireless keyboard the increased drain on the battery would not be worth the slight underkey glow.

If you were going for backlight-friendly keycaps, then there might be a slightly greater incentive to go backlit, but again I would probably steer away from it due to battery usage.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: SpAmRaY on Tue, 28 January 2014, 06:47:16
The biggest question you've got to ask yourself is, are you going to use your keyboard in the dark?
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: HipsterPunks on Tue, 28 January 2014, 07:03:38
The biggest question you've got to ask yourself is, are you going to use your keyboard in the dark?


(http://i.imgur.com/D8G2zZh.jpg)
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: regack on Tue, 28 January 2014, 07:48:12
1) Do you like backlighting?

   No: Then why are we having this discussion?

   Yes: see question #2


2) Can you turn the backlighting on and off at will?

   No: Skip the backlighting

   Yes: See question #3


3) Will it always be wireless? (i.e. is wireless an add-on or a permanent mod?)
     
   Yes: Skip the backlighting, it would cost more and eat your batteries. 

   No: See question #4


4) If it still has a usb port, will you ever plug it in with cable?

   No: Skip the backlighting, it would cost more and eat your batteries.

   Yes: Get the board with backlighting and use it (the backlighting) situationally.

 
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: moonexe on Tue, 28 January 2014, 09:46:21
40% just sounds like it would be a pain to use... Go with 60% minimum.

I like backlighting with thick, non-backlit keycaps. This seems to be popular among the Korean crowd as well.

Yea. At first I thought it was just a 60% minus the top row. Turns out it does that plus chop off extra keys. I can memorize one layer plus part of another, but not two.

With thick caps, the backlighting surrounds the caps right, making your board glow in a sense?

Yes, this is a good example of what I'm talking about:

Show Image
(http://i.imgur.com/yBEL2LG.jpg)

Is that aftermarket lighting? I'd love to have something similar on my G80...
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: HPE1000 on Tue, 28 January 2014, 10:03:13
I am not a huge backlighting fan, but I am going to backlight my board from sprit and use thick abs keycaps on it, GMK classic beige to be exact. I like the glow from under affect WAY more than glowing through the keycaps.


Although, I am going to say, I don't think any configuration of sprits board is going to be cheaper than a poker 2. Poker 2 can be had for 100-120.

Minimum price for sprits board

$50- PCB
$20- Cheapest Plate available from sprit (acrylic, not even metal)
$45- Lets say this is the cost of switches
$10- Leds
$???- What case are you putting it in???
$8- Stabilizers
$20-40- Shipping

There is probably even more cost behind it, soldering supplies, etc.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: eddie on Tue, 28 January 2014, 11:03:07
Backlights are pretty useless unless you're typing in the dark and can't touch type. If you can use blanks then there is no reason to have backlighting.
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: moonexe on Tue, 28 January 2014, 11:15:16
I don't even touch-type and even I can use blanks... :rolleyes:
Backlighting just looks cool. And sometimes looking cool is worth it. :p
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: noisyturtle on Tue, 28 January 2014, 11:19:18
Do whatever you like most. Why do you need us to tell you how to live your life?
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: moonexe on Tue, 28 January 2014, 11:25:22
Do whatever you like most. Why do you need us to tell you how to live your life?
Did you even read the original post? The concerns about battery life are the reason for his question, not whether or not others approve of his preference...
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: SpAmRaY on Tue, 28 January 2014, 11:26:02
Pacifist if you do backlight make sure you get plenty of these  ::)

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51126.0 (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51126.0)
Title: Re: To Backlight or Not to Backlight
Post by: Pacifist on Tue, 28 January 2014, 13:02:14
Pacifist if you do backlight make sure you get plenty of these  ::)

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51126.0 (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51126.0)

I already own some.

I am not a huge backlighting fan, but I am going to backlight my board from sprit and use thick abs keycaps on it, GMK classic beige to be exact. I like the glow from under affect WAY more than glowing through the keycaps.


Although, I am going to say, I don't think any configuration of sprits board is going to be cheaper than a poker 2. Poker 2 can be had for 100-120.

Minimum price for sprits board

$50- PCB
$20- Cheapest Plate available from sprit (acrylic, not even metal)
$45- Lets say this is the cost of switches
$10- Leds
$???- What case are you putting it in???
$8- Stabilizers
$20-40- Shipping

There is probably even more cost behind it, soldering supplies, etc.


I am going to install a custom plate and case and mod the switches and get different caps so I don't want to buy a Poker II. Too much wasted.




Thanks everybody for the suggestions, I have an idea of what I'm going to buy now.