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Saitek Audio Hack

I recently took my Saitek Eclipse II keyboard apart so I could make it light up with audio played from my computer.

The parts you will need for this are:
  • Saitek Eclipse II
  • Op-Amp
  • audio splitter
  • ~9V power source
  • soldering iron
  • 4 pin female header and 4 pin male header (optional)
  • Potentiometer
  • NPN transistor
  • Luck
The op-amp can be almost any op-amp. It just has to be able to work with a single 9V source. I used a LM324, but if you can find one that is a single op-amp you don't waist three of them. I used it as it was laying around. The potentiometer can be, again, almost any, I used a 10K trim pot. The NPN transistor is just a general purpose transistor. The audio splitter I got from Radio Shack, but again does not matter. Since I already built the keyboard and was not planning on writing this tutorial I will not have pictures of the building process.

Fisrt the keyboard.

Remove the screws.

Don't forget the ones under the rubber pads.

Now go ahead and open the keyboard.

Find the connector at the left side of the PCB. Remove the small connector and solder the 4 pin female connector or solder wires directly to it. I chose to also bring out where the LED connect to so I could make my keyboard work as before without havening to open it again.

Here is a close up.

If you are using a female connector cut a nice hole for it to fit in. I used a dremel for that. Otherwise just drill a hole for the wires to run out.

Close up the keyboard and put the pads back on.

That is it for the keyboard. Now gather your materials for the actual unit.

Now you should have a few more parts, but I don't have them to photograph. We are now going to build the circuit. Here is the schematic.

Put it all together and you get this.

Here is a nice view of the pot.

Your good to go, just plug it into your computer. Test it out and have fun with it! Use the pot to adjust the sensitivity. Note that you can not use power from your computer. Connecting the audio ground to your computers ground will cause the audio to be distorted.