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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Hellcatz on Wed, 27 July 2016, 19:23:16

Title: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Wed, 27 July 2016, 19:23:16
Hey I have facew PCB and I was wondering how I would manage to setup rgb Underglow layout on it? Something like this http://m.imgur.com/a/lECL4 
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Thu, 28 July 2016, 18:55:53
bump
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: kohi on Thu, 28 July 2016, 19:12:28
the pcb should support smd rgb LEDs from what I'm seeing on the wkl website
perhaps just buy some LEDs, solder them on, and program them using the software that wkl provides?
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Fri, 29 July 2016, 02:32:47
there are no places for smd led on the underside of the pcb
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: rowdy on Fri, 29 July 2016, 03:09:06
there are no places for smd led on the underside of the pcb


An SMD under the PCB would not show much, if any, light above the PCB.
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Fri, 29 July 2016, 06:36:43
there are no places for smd led on the underside of the pcb


An SMD under the PCB would not show much, if any, light above the PCB.
not really trying to light the upper side of the pcb just the underside
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: tacnificent on Fri, 29 July 2016, 10:21:29
there are no places for smd led on the underside of the pcb
I have 3 WKL kb and they all have solder pads for RGB. They should be W1, W2, 3, etc

http://imgur.com/LGe5ckZ
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Fri, 29 July 2016, 16:46:10
this is what the underside of the pcb looks like. https://geekhack.org/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=55888.0;attach=97706;image
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Fri, 29 July 2016, 16:59:37
i didnt know that rgb led come in 2 pin layouts
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: nugglets on Fri, 29 July 2016, 17:17:25
i didnt know that rgb led come in 2 pin layouts

They just constantly change colors, though. No ability to program them.

I'm not sure if/how you could add RGB to a Face.W, which is what you have btw. That's not a WKL B.Face.
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Fri, 29 July 2016, 17:46:55
no way to just get a roll of rgb leds and somehow tap into the usb for power?
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: nugglets on Fri, 29 July 2016, 17:58:36
no way to just get a roll of rgb leds and somehow tap into the usb for power?

You have the breakout pins for power up near the USB port, so technically yes. But you would also need a data signal, which usually means soldering to an unused pin on the controller. Then you need a firmware that supports the underglow, using the pin on the controller to provide the data. I don't know if such a firmware exists for the FaceW. It could almost certainly be done, but I'm not sure if it has or not.
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: sprit on Sat, 30 July 2016, 20:54:50
You are hitting the key point!
There is an extra USB power holes near USB connector on my PCB.
RGB smd stips are much more powerful,  flexible way than the current static dull underglow, in my opinion.
And very soon we will have thin fiber RGB strings on the market.
When i proposed underglowing and RGB strip to winkeyless.kr, he had no idea what is it, and expressed no liking LEDs and even underglowing, back in 2013.
Now I am working with more variety of people to design Next generation PCBs and FIrmware, Softwares.
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Sat, 30 July 2016, 21:25:02
You are hitting the key point!
There is an extra USB power holes near USB connector on my PCB.
RGB smd stips are much more powerful,  flexible way than the current static dull underglow, in my opinion.
And very soon we will have thin fiber RGB strings on the market.
When i proposed underglowing and RGB strip to winkeyless.kr, he had no idea what is it, and expressed no liking LEDs and even underglowing, back in 2013.
Now I am working with more variety of people to design Next generation PCBs and FIrmware, Softwares.
so which which connection would I solder the 3 pins from the rgb strip to. I got 4 holes ground clk(d+) data(d-) vcc
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: sprit on Sat, 30 July 2016, 21:59:21
Hello ! Dear Hellcatz

Depends on if the strip has clock or vcc
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Sat, 30 July 2016, 23:13:40
WS2812 RGB LED? also found a post https://github.com/jackhumbert/qmk_firmware but cant seem to make sense of it
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Wed, 03 August 2016, 19:46:27
Bump
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: TerryMathews on Thu, 04 August 2016, 10:09:46
It looks like you have the v1 PCB. Here's the instructions for underglow:

http://blog.winkeyless.kr/169
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Thu, 04 August 2016, 13:56:15
It looks like you have the v1 PCB. Here's the instructions for underglow:

http://blog.winkeyless.kr/169
i have a face w pcb from sprit not from winkeyless
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: TerryMathews on Thu, 04 August 2016, 14:20:43
It looks like you have the v1 PCB. Here's the instructions for underglow:

http://blog.winkeyless.kr/169
i have a face w pcb from sprit not from winkeyless

Am I crazy or did your post say bface earlier?
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Thu, 04 August 2016, 16:19:06
It looks like you have the v1 PCB. Here's the instructions for underglow:

http://blog.winkeyless.kr/169
i have a face w pcb from sprit not from winkeyless

Am I crazy or did your post say bface earlier?
maybe
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Fri, 05 August 2016, 09:00:20
[attachimg=1]
So found the pins sprit was talking about and would just need to know how to connect the rgb strip to it. Haven't got the rgb strip yet but open to suggestions.
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Capmerica on Fri, 05 August 2016, 13:24:04
May I ask what Pcb you are using? Because if you are using the one from wlk it is totally compatible for the underglow.(http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160805/ceacc4140cd708ff4697dafd57bec0be.png)
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Fri, 05 August 2016, 20:13:16
sprit face w pcb. I know its possible as sprit gave me the blessing but dont think there is any software support on it0
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: Hellcatz on Mon, 08 August 2016, 20:27:55
bump
Title: Re: Rgb Underglow?
Post by: MajorKoos on Sat, 03 September 2016, 06:06:41
I've using same PCB as you on 5 or 6 of my keyboards.  It's a great PCB, especially with the boot mapper client, but hard to hack.

The data pin for the RGB strip needs to be connected to a spare pin on the controller.  I haven't spotted any pins which have been broken out from the controller, so it's likely going to involve soldering a wire directly to one of the controller pins.  The D+ and D- pins by the USB port are for USB data.  Perhaps it's possible to hijack one of the pins along the bottom which are used for programming the PCB, but I'm not sure.  My soldering skills aren't good enough to make a connection direct to the controller without borking the board so I've held off the temptation.

Then there is the firmware.  Either I need to figure out how to get the ps2avrGB firmware to run on the board or figure out how to get QMK onto it and reprogram it.  I believe there is some additional complexity because of VUSB which needs to be solved in that case.

In the end I took the easy way out and went the GH60/QMK route for my RGB needs.