Corsair wouldn't do it... So I did.

[DarkStarrFOFF]

I have a PC hooked up to my TV in the living room so as such I occasionally need to use a keyboard on it. I wanted something wireless and preferably mechanical but not Bluetooth as this machine currently doesn't have Bluetooth.

 

In the end I used my old K65 RGB, a Raspberry Pi 4b and an old battery bank to make this abomination.

 

I actually put the entire Raspberry Pi inside the keyboard, I did have to bend the pins on the GPIO header and remove the LCD ribbon connector but it fits just barely. Originally I was going to put the battery inside as well but I would have had to remove several screw down points and add longer wiring from the charging board to the battery so I decided to simply throw it on the back and glue it down.

 

I'm using the program VirtualHere to make it all work, the server runs on the Pi and the client on my PC just auto uses the device when it comes online to the network.

 

I would have used a lesser Pi but even just feet away from the access point the Pi 0 W wouldn't stay connected to the PC via the 2.4Ghz network.

[Corsair Crimson]

This looks so sick! Love the innovation 😎

[DarkStarrFOFF]

16 hours ago, Corsair Crimson said:

This looks so sick! Love the innovation 😎

Thanks, I was really hoping to keep it all internal but with the swap to the Pi 4 it would have lost quite a few mount points to the battery and it was a little too thick in places so would have required more work either thinning the shell or move it up and possibly lose most of the top screw points. Eventually I may try to 3d print a new back shell to actually make it all internal and thinner than it currently is.

 

As I said, unfortunately on 2.4Ghz it won't stay connected properly, most likely due to the number of networks near me which is what required the swap to a larger Pi since as far as I'm aware none of the more compact models support 5Ghz wifi so there wasn't a great way to move forward using a Pi 0.

 

I swapped the cable out for a USB-C port a while before this so even with this mod I can still plug it in to a PC to use it wired if I want. I decided to go with the Speed Silvers from my K100 that I had removed and swapped out the springs for heavier springs. I have one heavier switch for the spacebar and used some clicky switches for the two lock keys on the board. In addition, since I had it all apart anyway, I sanded and painted the top plate white to help brighten up the board and the lighting. Overall though it works great.

 

I hope Corsair is planning more wireless RGB keyboards of different sizes.