Ratpad MX700 charger

G

Gshady

n00b
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
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Hey all, This is my first post here. Im a long time [H]'er but never visited the forums.

I was so inspired by the MX700 painting thread that I decided to try it myself. The only problem I ran into was that the paint was not drying fast enough and if I put the mouse back in the base charger it would mar the paint. (After 3 days the paint was still not fully cured)

Anyhow I decided I needed a way to charge my MX700 without putting it in the base so I came up with the Ratpadz charger. Its a little bit of a pain to get the contacts aligned properly but it takes about the same amount of time as it does to get the base to work half the time.

The biggest problem I had was drilling the hole in the back of the base. The bit was dull and it messed up the paint. That's easily fixed, but since this is for my work mouse I don't think I'm going to bother with it.

ratpad_mod1.jpg
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That is a cool and clever idea. But what happens when you spill water or coke all over it???
 
Thanks!! The only thing that Im not really happy with is the screw by the tabs. I would like to put something else there that will hold the mouse exactly where it needs to be and that looks better.

The mod took me only about an hour. I drilled two holes and ran the wires up through the, then I dripped solder into the holes to make two little bumps. I sanded the bumps down untill they were the right size and then put a screw in the end for alignment.
The wire I used was an old extension for headphones. I soldered the two leads to the backside of the little connection tabs on the base on the inside. I'll have to take pics of that I guess.

Hmm.. about the coke or water... I guess I'll let ya know when that happens? *Crossing fingers that That NEVER happens!
 
nothing happens. It's low voltage..

Kick ass mod bro. I guess you could say we inspired eachother now :) heh
 
You know, I have been having so much trouble getting one of my MX700's to charge that I was trying to come up with a different way to charge it.
I have been running the battery's down, then replacing them with another set of rechargeables that I had in the charger.. but NOW.... I am going to have to try and do your mod.

Great job.. and very innovative.

D.
 
:) Awesome.

I will say I'm having trouble getting this thing to charge easily though. The tabs are solid so they have to be the right height in order for both of them to connect. Right now they aren't quite right. If they were spring loaded somehow...then they would be perfect. Maybe a bigger contact area on the bottom of the mouse would help too.
 
That's fucking awesome. I wonder what Kyle thinks of you putting holes through "his" mousepad.
 
That is awesome, its so simple that you wonder how it hasn't been done before. As far as you not liking the screw. Maybe if you used a smaller screw and placed a small rubber cap on top of it. May look better, and keep you from hitting that hard screw with your hand all the time.
 
Found this at the Logitech website.
Spare Parts
Maybe you can get replacement contacts designed for the charger and put them in the pad. If successful it would probably fix those charging problems you are having.
 
Thanks for the kudos guys.
As for the charging issues, I took care of them and found away to get rid of the screw altogether. There is a little circuit board that is seperate from the rest inside the mouse that has the contact points connected to it. I inserted a spacer underneath where it screws down so that it recessed the contact points which made it very easy to tell when the mouse is in the right spot since the bumps get caught in the recesses. I can remove the screw now since its not need to align the mouse, but I can't decide whats worse a screw or a hole. ;)
 
i think it looks nice, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a wireless mouse by having a wired mousepad?
 
I was thinking that while I was making it. The wire to the pad is not as obtrusive as having a wire constantly nagging you while your trying to frag someone. At the same time though it does limit where you can take your mousepad which is weird but no different than those that have LEDs that light up thier mousepad.
 
Now what we really need is a mouse pad that is one entire power source, that way the mouse will remain light, beause there will be no battery inside (does that make sense to you guys)?

Great Job!
Show a pic of the mousepad without the scew.
 
debaucher -
Sometimes the charging issues with the mx700 are buildup on the contact points on the mouse. I don't know how many times I've had to scrape them to get them to make contact with the charger. I'm not sure if that is the problem you are having but it is definitley something to consider.
 
i want to do something similar with my lan case, build the receiver into the case, then make the charger ontop. My next suggestion would be to try and size the PCB and see if it would fit under the pad too. that way all in one solution :) Pity I cant do this with a Func 1030, maybe the one redeeming feature of the ratpadz gs is that is has that space underneath.

 
I learned from my mistakes and made another ratpad MX700 charger. This time, no screw and I fixed the way the wire goes into the base unit. All in all it looks pretty darn good. I've included pics of where I soldered my connections and also what I used to recess the contacts on the mouse.
ratpad_mod6.jpg
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Also I've included pics of my gf's mouse that I painted. It turns out you CAN paint the sides!! Its not really rubber it's a rubberized coating that can be sanded off. IT TAKES ALOT OF SANDING, but it does come off and if you ask me its well worth it.

mx700_green1.jpg
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Dude that is a badass mod. Huge props on being innovative and ending up with a sexah looking (and possibly marketable) product ;)
 
I really doubt that it would be something marketable even though everyone around the office swears it would. I just don't see people paying to not move thier mouse 1 foot to charge it. Plus you have to defile a perfectly good Ratpadz to do it and I don't think Kyle could bring himself to do that. :) heh
 
Hehehe I had sent Steve an email and now your on the frontpage. :D
But I wonder if anyone will notice since the D3 guide just came out.
 
With the contact points on the mouse recessed, does it effect the charging at all when it is the cradle?
 
Its a great mod, but one thing that strikes me as odd - you now have a wireless mouse, and a wired mouse pad. Is that much better than a wired mouse, and a wireless mouse pad? OK, no wires to get in the way on the mouse ... but apart from that the advantages are ...?

Kudos on the mod though.
 
ninethreeeleven said:
Now what we really need is a mouse pad that is one entire power source, that way the mouse will remain light, beause there will be no battery inside (does that make sense to you guys)?
Click to expand...

This already exists :) I have a Wacom Graphire, and it comes with a wireless mouse. The pad does all the work. And yes, the mouse is really light.
 
First of all, awesome mod. It would be great to just zing it to the corner to start charging when I get up for a little while.

One idea (which has probably already been thought of)...how about adding a connector to the back of the charging cradle instead of hardwiring? That way, you can easily disconnect the mouse pad and have a (more or less) normal MX700 back?

Again, awesome job.
 
Home Page whoo hooo. Rock on!!

As for the connector on the back of the base, My boss and I were just talking about that!! Im heading to radio shack tonight to research a solution.

I also have a graphire tablet but the mouse does not compare to the logitech at all.

To answer the question about still charging on the base, YES it still charges fine on the charger itself.

Thanks for all the great comments guys/girls!! For being my first post on the forums here it certainly is a warm welcome!!
 
exceptional job!!! its great to see creative modding nowadays with all this prefab junk on the market
 
by recessing the contacts that should cut down on the buildup you mentioned. Good job! and nice work on your girlfriends mouse too.
 
netcoord said:
i think it looks nice, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a wireless mouse by having a wired mousepad?
Click to expand...


The mouse is still just as wireless as it was. The mouse pad, which never moves, is no diferent than the big ass cradle the mouse usually has to sit in.
I think I'm gonna copy your mod man, it's just too damn good. I'm gonna get about a 5ft cord for the pad and then stick the cradle on the floor somewhere where it's completely outta site.
 
The mouse on the Wacom graphire sucks though. I doesn't glide across the pad and is worse than a ball mouse since the felt underside gets all grimy from picking up the oils left from the palm of your hand when using the mouse pad. Also it has 2 buttons and a scroll wheel.

editted: because I didn't read to into previous post
 
Thats great!! I hope you have no trouble doing it. I've done 2 now and they both were pretty easy, the hardest part was getting the solder to come off the iron and stay in the hole. One thing I would suggest would be to make the whole really small all the way through so that wire fits through snuggly. This will keep the solder from draining out the bottom. I made the holes bigger on top about half way through to allow for the solder to creat a bump. The plastic may melt a little bit while you are soldering but it shouldn't get out of hand. The cable I used was an extension for headphones. I just cut off both ends and trimmed back the extra wire inside. It worked out perfectly and I think the wire was only a couple bucks.
 
what kind of voltage and power does the charger provide? Would it be possible to recharge the mouse using USB power?
 
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