So, over the years I’ve been staring at the Thinkpad’s thinklights and wondering why my Lenovo 3000 V100 doesn’t have one.
While waiting for the x200s (Thinkpad that is) to get cheaper and within my price range, I added some of the missing functionality to my laptop.
After notch up the bezel, I’m looking at the webcam’s usb connector and trying to connect a wire to it… No success. I can’t get power from here.
The LCD’s inverter is my next victim. I locate a 3.3V high connector and connect a wire to it:
Ok, now pick up a switch:
and connect it to a resistor (after calculating the right value offcourse!):
Apply some isolation measures, route the cables and connect the power (+3.3V) to the resistor and switch:
Now, the switch’s interface. I first made a huge hole so that the blue part of the switch would be accessible, but that turned out to be stupid.
Adding a hot peace of metal did the job for the switch. I also set the led so that it glows towards the keyboard.
The led’s ground is -nearly- soldered to one of the boltholes which is grounded.
And voila, all these black pieces of tape are my achievement…
Finished product (nearly; missing black tape over led):

This is after some black tape has been applied, so that light only goes towards keyboards and not the user’s eyes.
And during the night:

Led & switch detail:

Check it out:DIY is the way