Bluetooth Mighty Mouse power save hack

When it comes to wireless peripherals, every little bit of battery life counts, so a modder named Ram Sripracha was a little concerned when he noticed that the LED on his new Bluetooth Mighty Mouse stayed lit even when the device was on standby. Since he was already handy with the tools of the trade, Ram cracked open the mouse to test its power consumption with his trusty multimeter, and discovered that it was actually sucking more juice when sitting idle (about .0450 amps) than when in use (around .0285 amps). With the rodent already splayed out on his desk, Ram decided to remove the LED himself and retest the current draw; sure enough, it only used .0017 amps without the light on, or about 3.9% of its draw in an unaltered state. Luckily for you, he also posted an illustrated, step-by-step guide on how to perform this surgery yourself, but be warned that Apple's crack design team made sure that disassembly is more difficult than just unfastening a couple of screws. Also bear in mind that this is just one person's experience, so you'll probably want to make sure that your Mighty Mouse is putting on this perpetual light show as well before you break out the silicone glue and soldering iron.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

[Verticalforce @ Jul 31st 2006 6:54PM]

Is it just me or this effort is not worth it?

[Seth @ Jul 31st 2006 6:59PM]

totally worth it.

[kei @ Jul 31st 2006 7:02PM]

extremely odd indeed, since it must spend more power sending out a wireless signal than a simple led.

[Kevin @ Jul 31st 2006 7:02PM]

The light is only on when you lift the mouse up. if it's down the light should be off

[LeDoubleD @ Jul 31st 2006 7:47PM]

Haha, but Kevin then you're stuck with a "does the light stay on when you close the fridge?" sort of situation.

[Olaf @ Jul 31st 2006 8:00PM]

Hang on a minute, if the LED is visible from the outside, and this mod is technically non-reversible (unless one goes through all the trouble of disassembling the entire mouse to get to solder in the LED again), wouldn't it be much easier to use a small drill bit, to drill a hole into the LED (thereby breaking the contact), which will achieve the same power-saving results, without disassembling the entire thing?

[greg @ Jul 31st 2006 8:22PM]

For all the crap the Mighty Mouse gets, I'm using it on my campus' computer lab right now and I really like it. The scroll ball thing is awesome. I can't really tell how the two side buttons function though. If you can set them to expose actions, I would be pretty happy.

[dj @ Jul 31st 2006 8:29PM]

"Hang on a minute, if the LED is visible from the outside, and this mod is technically non-reversible (unless one goes through all the trouble of disassembling the entire mouse to get to solder in the LED again), wouldn't it be much easier to use a small drill bit, to drill a hole into the LED (thereby breaking the contact), which will achieve the same power-saving results, without disassembling the entire thing?"

yep, thats how the rednecks do it.

[Patrick @ Jul 31st 2006 8:32PM]

Couldn't you just turn the mouse off when you're not using it, and achieve an even better battery life? Sure, it might take a *little bit* longer when you go back and turn it on, but it's usually pretty quick.

[ciprol @ Jul 31st 2006 8:46PM]

Gosh, can't believe so many stupid sites are carrying this non-discovery!

The guy got it wrong. When the laser sensor can find a surface that bounces its beam, then the LED will stay off, such as when sitting on a table surface. When WMM is lifted off the table and only then, will the LED light up.

One has to conclude that the Apple engineers have higher IQ than this guy, as well as any of the web site editors who cross posted this pathetic non-event!

[TimTheFoolMan @ Jul 31st 2006 9:05PM]

Ciprol, the reason this is getting so much attention is that it magically circumvents Apple's evil DRM scheme. How dare you suggest that Apple engineers are smarter than Joe Hacker? Especially one named Ram? - Tim

[ciprol @ Jul 31st 2006 9:18PM]

TimTheFoolMan: Then that's clearly an undocumented feature. Ram sure is tricky isn't he? LOL

[Dolomite @ Jul 31st 2006 9:44PM]

Wait... Isn't that LED there so the sensor can pick up the light when the mouse is lifted from the table and put the bluetooth radio into sleep mode??? I am pretty sure that's how these things work, so i think his battery life might actually go down.

[moog55 @ Jul 31st 2006 9:58PM]

I think Ram needs to get a girlfriend...

[rip @ Jul 31st 2006 10:18PM]

Obviously a mac user. A PC modder wants MORE lights, not less. And would install a car battery on the mouse if the lighting/lcds needed it.

[Mick Mueck @ Aug 1st 2006 5:17AM]

It does seem reasonable to assume that Apple engineers would have a good reason for 'wasting' power like this. Does the mouse pairing become impaired without this LED? It certainly is useful to see the LED blinking when sync with the computer has been lost, but the LED is apparently not useful otherwise (for now). The author of the article clearly has some knowledge of electronics, so he'll understand the following. Try a few different series AC coupling cap values so only the blinking can be passed through the LED (you can get tiny ceramic chip caps up to about 50uF these days). Lets not overly rag on this guy here, there is a chance he's onto something.

[jnoel @ Aug 1st 2006 9:26AM]

Enough with the friggin mouse already.

I cannot believe this stupid mouse is getting so much attention

[Cyberwhore @ Aug 1st 2006 9:46AM]

1. A guy has a faulty mouse and he does his best to void his warranty by trying to fix it himself.
2. Posts story on internet because he thinks he is so clever and wants the world to know.
3. World wonders why he fixed a faulty mouse that he could have had replaced under warranty.
4. World moves on.
5. Mr Fixit slaps his head, puts mouse back to how it was and trys to get it replaced under warranty.

[pH @ Aug 1st 2006 11:16AM]

VERY GOOD!

[Ken @ Aug 1st 2006 11:56AM]

Couldn't you just buy a different bluetooth mouse? I don't know what everyone is so excited for. This is a crappy product in a field where stellar products already live. What the hell is so important about this mouse that people would pay such an outrageous price for something with questionable ergonomics, bland design, and super limited functionality and then go and have to hack it?!

I am sorry, but I MUST be missing something here.

[Nate @ Aug 1st 2006 3:56PM]

Here's a question...would Engadget write so much about a mouse from another manufacturer?

Targus just released a Bluetooth, laser-based mouse as well. It costs the same price ($69) and has one killer feature missing from the iCrap...it recharges itself when it use (like those high-end watches, the movement recharges it)...so no need to hack or worry about battery drain from high usage.

I bet Engadget will never speak of this again, and all you Apple fanboys will tel me it sux b/c its not white (and has two buttons).

[josh @ Aug 1st 2006 5:01PM]

Why in God's name wouldn't you simply REMOVE THE BATTERIES to save battery life ?!?!?

Zero power draw.

and I thought Linux users were all senseless hackers...

[Jordan @ Aug 5th 2006 4:49PM]

Completely unnecessary - the LED turns off if the mouse hasn't been moved for a minute or so, regardless of whether or not the mighty mouse is on a surface or not. And I just tested it to check!

[Dustin Kick @ Jul 19th 2008 5:17PM]

I would like to know what specs I should look for to get a replacement LED for my wireless Mighty Mouse. It is still showing up as a bluetooth device, and everything else *seems* to work, but the LED won't light up, so I'm hoping a new LED is all it needs.