A big thanks to litewave.co.uk for supplying this neon string :D

Is your keyboard boring? Ever wanted it to look cool at a LAN, well, look no further!!! You CAN have a l33t keyboard! To achieve the look of a glowing keyboard, you will need:

The following neon string is the type you need. The invertor box makes no noise at all, whereas some make a whining sound that can get on your nerves. It has a 4 pin molex connector, for ease of connectability:

and it all comes in a nice little box!

When I set out to do a this keyboard mod, I was thinking it would take a long time. But I soon realised this is a really easy quick mod to do, that has a great finished effects. You will have it all finished in under 30 mins! Well, let's get going!

I started off by popping off all the keys on my keyboard. On my keyboard there's 2 layers. The key layers, then under that is the pressure pad the keyboard uses to interrupt the key presses into what is sent down the wire. I only need to take off the first top layer of keys. This is easily down just be using a flat head srewdriver. If your careful you won't break anything! (I didnt!).

Now, what I saw, shocked me!:

eeeeeeek!

Yes, that is dirt! Absolutely disgusting stuff. I've head the keyboard 2-3 years now, so its expected I guess :P - I had to hover all that crap out before I can fit the neon:

All clean, time to mod the bitch!

Thats it all clean. Took about 5 mins with a hover :D Time to mod this bitch then! Take all your keys off at the area you want the neon to be. [Editor : make sure u have a picture of it or another keyboard near so you remember where to put the keys back !!!] Try and think what sort of pattern you want the neon to go in. This is depending on the length of the string, but with 4 foot's worth with this string, its up to you!

Dont tack anything down yet!

You will need to secure the string from coming out while you're using the keyboard. I used a very small amount of blu-tack for each section I tacked down. I choose not to use superglue, becasue this could impair the keyboard, and als, if you want to remove the neon string in the future, you're gonna have one hell of a job! Try and tack it down where the string bends, to secure it well:

See the bottom right corner, prime place to tack it with your trusty bl00 tack!

Now the string is hopefully fully secured, feed the power wires out as discreetly as possibly out of a key channel. If you have a more discreet way to hide the power wires, please mail me. As the invertor is attached to the neon string, the wires give you 30cm to the neon invertor, then another 30cms to the PSU to the 4 pin molex connector. The neon string PSU also has a sticky pad on the bottom, so stick it under your desk or on the side of your case. Then feed the molex end of the wires through a drive bay, or round the back of your PC through an I/O port. Still with me? Good :D.

One thing I also noticed on this PSU of the neon, is a unique dimmer mechanisim. Theres a small hole in the PSU, and you simply put a small flat head screw drive in the hole, then turn either clockwise or anticlockwise to dim/brighten the neon. Very simply, works on resistance, so less power to the neon, the dimmer it is, nice little touch :D

With everthing in place, turn off your system, and connect up the molex conenctor (don't think I need to tell you how!!) Power your system back up, and ... voila! It works, and glows :D

All done. Nice little effect added to the keyboard!

You may be thinking, does the neon string hinder the keys? No is the simple answer. If you secured the neon string down probably, you won't have any trouble at all! - Now go to a LAN and show off!

Pros + Cons:

Pros