USB keyboard incorrect wiring.

[tadka]

If I cut the off the USB plug of the keyboard wire and then take another wire with a USB plug on it that was cut off another keyboard and connect the wires together (by twisting and insulating) but the colours are not the same so I basically just guesstimate which is which and then plug the newly wired keyboard into the computer and it is not working could it have burnt the keyboard? Wires obviously were not connected correctly. I reconnected by sandwiching a wire in the middle between the original wire and the original USB plug but it is still not working… Should I bother trying to rewire again or is it best to assume that the keyboard is toast?

[tadka]

It’s working! My insulation wasn’t very good, I think they were shorting in places. Just had to do it properly and keyboard saved.

[Ed P]

Not a good idea at all! The wires are typically very fine and fiddly to connect, your chances of failure are very high. Get a friend to solder a female USB breakout on the keyboard wires, using this pinout. Then you can use any old compatible usb cable to join up to it.

[tadka]

I should just buy an extension but every time I go to get a new keyboard (I break them often) I forget so I just cut the plug and rewire. Only this time the colours were not the same – blue instead of black (guessing) and pink instead of red. It should have worked the first time (assuming those colours are what I think they are) but I guess it just wasn’t done properly.

[Bob Williams]

Got a WILKOS store near you Tadka? Buy one and a spare for £11.00:

https://tinyurl.com/pn6rmkm

They have a ‘Store Locator’ tab on the site.

 

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

I’m forever breaking aux cables, so I’ve found using a small extreme cheap and flimsy wired aux extention  fixed my issues.

As the cheaper ones use a smaller gage wire the wire buts less stress on the plug so the wire doesn’t snap and ad the wire puts less for on the plug, the plug puts less stress on the port.

Works well for phones in cars. I’ve killed many aux ports on phones using decent wires. Cheap and flimsy is what is needed for the half of the ports.

 

[Ed P]

Nice link Bob, it is always useful to have a spare wired keyboard. There are circumstances where usb wirelss keyboards go walk-about at boot and the only way out is to use a wired connection.

[tadka]

Bob Williams wrote:

Got a WILKOS store near you Tadka? Buy one and a spare for £11.00: https://tinyurl.com/pn6rmkm They have a ‘Store Locator’ tab on the site.

No Wilko near me but this time I did buy two keyboards from PC World for £12. I’m not a complete idiot, I do learn from my mistakes occasionally 😀 I wish I learnt not to break them  :/

It’s incredible how they can make a keyboard and ship over here all the way from China sell it for £5.50 and still make a profit.

[Bob Williams]

I have a Logitech Comfort K290 KB –   https://tinyurl.com/j8e3qj2

This is the most comfortable KB for my arthritic hands, as it has a sloping front palm rest and the rear tilt legs are slightly higher than normal. Does not suit everyone though: a mate who bought one also has bad fingers and could not get on with it, although I suspect that is a factor connected to impatience. Before I got my new Hearing Aid, I couldn’t hear the mechanical keys in action, but now they make a real racket! I switch off the HA, which also has the benefit that I cannot hear SWMBO 2 rooms away. ? The Logitech has more features than I need really, but I got it for the comfort option.

I do have an old Trust KB in one of my Bits Boxes, if the Logitech dies.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

I still love my cheap £12 ms keyboards.

[tadka]

Which one is that Duke? The £5-6 ones I buy have terrible key sensitivity and feel. I nearly bought one similar to Bob’s only flat but at the till I realised it was wireless and they didn’t have a wired one so I went home with a couple of cheapos again. Really like the look of the one Bob linked, might actually buy one for my next keyboard.

[Bob Williams]

Which link Tadaska? The cheapo Wilkos one, or the Logitech K290?

I just found a new, cheaper  link for the Logitech at Amazon, at £26.03 –     https://tinyurl.com/ydfbvj8u

Remember my warning, I love it but it does not suit everyone.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

@tadka the MS wired 600. I bought it to’ tied me over’ as I was sick of buying crappy £40 ish boards, I either didn’t like or would fail. So I decided I was going to spend some serious money on a mechanical one, but only after testing a load out.

So the MS 600 “stop gap” turned up, and I’ve now got 4 of them. My eldest loves it to, he had one on his Imac, which I find ironic, it’s so not a brand for an apple set up.

I like them as to me they feel similar to my thinkpad x200t/220.

 

Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600, UK Layout – Black https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001QT6V7A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_LmrGzbWJBQP3D

[Author]

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