Why red? (optical mice)

placeboplacebo
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
When optical mice first came out, I couldn't stop drooling over the sci-fi look of that glowing diode on the underside of the peripheral. To me, it was cool beyond cool- something that was right out of Star Wars. But now that optical mice have been shipping with all Mac desktops since 2000, I'm getting bored of seeing red on all the optical mice I use, whether by Apple, Logitec, or Microsoft. They all look the same.



But why? I would much rather have a blue diode glowing on my mouse, and from surfing hardware mod forums, I've seen that a hanful of people have replaced their diodes (after hours of tedious soldering and failures) sucessfully. And the "modded" mice function identically to their unmodded counterparts, with no loss of tracking despendablility. That just shows that the color red wasn't chosen for a specific reason.



So why haven't any companies jusped on the opportunity to make mice that track green or violet, instead of red?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    dog almightydog almighty Posts: 464member
    That would have been so cool for the CRT iMac flavors and a light blue color would fit perfectly with current Macs. Maybe red is cheaper?
  • Reply 2 of 23
    dnisbetdnisbet Posts: 201member
    When I first read the thread title the first thing that came to mind was the wavelength of red light, but then having read your post it obviously doesn't make much difference.

    I'm stumped, if all these manufacturers are using red diodes then there must be a good reasons.



    I always thought the pattern made by the diode on the Apple mouse was cool (it looks like an evil bunny in my eyes) whereas my logitech one is much more boring (and not transparent).
  • Reply 3 of 23
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dnisbet

    I always thought the pattern made by the diode on the Apple mouse was cool (it looks like an evil bunny in my eyes) whereas my logitech one is much more boring (and not transparent).



    I was about to write you off on my "insane" list, but I flipped my Pro mouse up against the wal, and now I see that you are right...



    But anyway, here is a mod photo:







    I went on reading in a couple forums, and it seems that the only real reason to use red is that red LEDs make more light from less power than other colors.
  • Reply 4 of 23
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    It is possible, that since the apple mouse is black and transparent, a blue light wouldn't show through the chassis as well as the red one, why is this an issue? I don't know, perhaps it's a consideration for people using their computers late at night with all the lights off. blue would be too dim through the black, so at a glance it would be harder to tell if it was on.





    not that that makes ANY sense, but I'm just grasping for straws here, I would love a green light myself.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Here's another:



  • Reply 6 of 23
    xmogerxmoger Posts: 242member
    Blue & white LEDs are ~10 times as expensive as red LEDs too. The CCD sensor may be more sensitive to red light, possibly.
  • Reply 7 of 23
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Red LED's have:



    - cheaper unit costs

    - lower turn on voltages



    Basically, less power, more light. Though usually Blue and Red LED's produce the same brightness at a given drive (mA current). And since the mouse bus transmits more than 3.5V of power (Blue turn on Voltage), a Blue LED would work fine.



    White LED's are basically just Red, Green, and Blue LED's in a sandwich. So they have a high turn-on voltage, and in most cases you need a special DC-DC step-up converter just touse them. You may also notice that a lot of White LED's are purplish. That's because it's GREEN LED's that produce a weaker light output per mA of current drive.



    Since apple isn't particularly cost sonscious, especially when, in volume, a Red LED is, say, $0.50 and a Blue is $1.20, I don't imagine that we will have Red LED's fo long. (not sure how strong the LED's are in the mice, and thus not sure of the prices). Expect Apple even to go all the way and make a White LED assembly.
  • Reply 8 of 23
    gigawiregigawire Posts: 196member
    We have some kensington mouses at work that have blue diodes, and they were pretty cheap too.



    Blue diode
  • Reply 9 of 23
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gigawire

    We have some kensington mouses at work that have blue diodes, and they were pretty cheap too.



    Blue diode



    Well, that proves it.



    I've never seen one of those, though.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Yeah, red is just "one of those colors" companies go with, I guess. I had an old Fender Twin amp years ago that I replaced the red jewel light to a purple one.







    But yeah, Apple...what with "Aqua" and the overall "blueness" they seem to dig (the default OS X desktop, the big blue, power lights on some models, etc.) you'd think it would be a no-brainer that their mice would glow blue.



    In a recent thread I spoke about seeing some Compaq laptop at an Office Depot or Staples and the lights on it (power, caps lock, etc.) all glowed a gorgeous blue. Again, would be neat to see blue lights on an aluminum PowerBook. Even the charging ring: now it's amber or green, right? How about a pulsing blue when charging and a solid one when battery is full?



    Just thinking...
  • Reply 11 of 23
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    As I mentioned, Blue has become the color of choice for PC-weenies at this point, making their dropped-CRX versions of computers. Expect Apple with go with white (already used on the Powerbook) since it requires an extra IC and some passive circuit elements just to get it to work. (Namely an LM2703 chip, one 30V/1A diode, an inductor, two caps, and 3 resistors) That adds about two bucks to the volume cost.



    Most PC companies have neither the inclination, the money, or (jestfully) the engineering ability to integrate white LED's.
  • Reply 12 of 23
    dog almightydog almighty Posts: 464member
    How about some blue lights for the caps and num locks on the keyboard, too? Or even go so far as a blue light in the optical speaker port! Go mad! ONE BLUE LIGHT DESERVES ANOTHER!
  • Reply 13 of 23
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Yes, and Apple could use the phrase "Blue Light Special" in any accompanying marketing materials. For a small fee, of course.



  • Reply 14 of 23
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pscates

    Yes, and Apple could use the phrase "Blue Light Special" in any accompanying marketing materials. For a small fee, of course.







    That's how Apple is going to kick off its new campaign to sell Macs at K-Mart.



    Shit, am I allowed to say that yet, Kasper?
  • Reply 15 of 23
    dnisbetdnisbet Posts: 201member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    I was about to write you off on my "insane" list, but I flipped my Pro mouse up against the wal, and now I see that you are right..



    insane me? pah! it is amusing though isn't it!!



    BTW who else would be on your "insane" list?



    So how come Apple use green LED's in their keyboards? Are they just unsuitable for optical mice?
  • Reply 16 of 23
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by LoCash That's how Apple is going to kick off its new campaign to sell Macs at K-Mart.



    Shit, am I allowed to say that yet, Kasper?



    I KNEW it!!! Target is much too uppity. And Wal-Mart is too blue collar. But Kmart? It makes ALL the sense in the world now! Cool! Out of the four in my town, one is still open for business, so that's cool.



    I hope that fox Jacklyn Smith poses for some ads with it. Her clothes sell like CRAZY there, so Apple would be wise to attach themselves a bit to that gravy train! Kmart, here we come!







  • Reply 17 of 23
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    IIRC, the red is due to the high-contrast of red light. makes for more accurate tracking.



    http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question631.htm



    oh yeah, that link is just a general bit about them, not why they're red...
  • Reply 18 of 23
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    Actually, yellow is high contrast. Magenta is low contrast. But that's just to the human eye. A sensor can be attenuated to any spec you desire.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I bet you could use an infrared LED but then you wouldn't know if it was on.
  • Reply 20 of 23
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dnisbet

    insane me? pah! it is amusing though isn't it!!



    BTW who else would be on your "insane" list?



    So how come Apple use green LED's in their keyboards? Are they just unsuitable for optical mice?



    They should use blue on the white keyboards. Blue light and white look so nice together.



    And about my insane list: the guy that does (did?) blue's clues, and...um...Gollum?
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