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Great trackball lighting solution!

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johnnysmitch:

I've been looking around for the best/easiest way to light up my blue translucent trackball, and I stumbled upon this at radioshack (aka 'the devil'):
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=26-139

It's great because it kills two birds with one stone; I needed a usb hub to hook up my interfaces and only send one wire to the computer (it's also usb 1.1, which I've read around here is supposed to be better for this sort of thing), PLUS it's got an ultrabright blue LED in it that runs right off of bus power.  On top of that, it's going to be very easy to mount under the trackball.  And it's only $15.  A word to anyone else who wants to try one - the LED might not seem bright enough for you at first - you have to take the casing off and pull out a little translucent rubber disk they put in there to keep the light from blinding people (ha, bunch of sissies...)  Once you pull that out, you can put the casing back together and it's bright as the frickin' sun.  Savvy?

(Link fixed by Moderator)

hulkster:

yeah or you could get one LED cannon for 2.99 on the web  ;D  hooks straight to your pc power supply.

Stingray:

Looks like a good solution if you're also looking for a USB hub.

-S

RayB:

Expensive... You're paying as much for the fancy casing as you are for the actual light and other parts. If it's going to be hidden under a trackball, then it's a waste of money... (unless you really need the USB hub)


johnnysmitch:

the USB hub is the main thing - it's a very good price as far as USB hubs go, and I know at least I personally needed a USB hub for my project (because of how I must route my wiring for my USB trackball, USB spinner, and USB Ipac), and because the LED runs off of the usb bus, I don't need to worry about tapping the power from my computer's power supply (which would require an additional molex extension cable in my case).  Just wanted to pass the find along in case anyone else was in my situation (many usb components and longer distance because of showcase style cab - might make things a little easier for people with rotating cp's as well, because of concerns about # of wires) :-\

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