Clint, Actually, in this case you have 2 LEDs in operation with a cordless unit, whether mouse, keyboard, or something else, and is pretty similar to other similar type setups, such as silent alarms, trips, and other similar type items.
One is the send unit and the other is a receive unit. They work in tandem together, with the send and receive units both working with they same type of base signal wavelength. With alarms, trips, and similar, all you care about is either a signal or no signal - a signal and everything is well and good, BUT no signal means something has broken the "wire" between the 2 units, and something is at fault. However, with cordless units, you have not only the base signal used to send and receive, but something added on top, which is the signal or pattern that the key, button, or similar pressed generates. This works out similar to a radio or tv send and receive unit - the base signal at the studio gets a audio and/or video signal added to it, and then at the receive end, the base signal is gotten rid of and the remaining signal is what you view or listen to. With a mouse or keyboard, the resulting signal or digital pattern says what was pressed and is handled the same as in a regular corded unit. Just to clarify, the wavelength can actually be anything, from the invisible part of the red light spectrum through any value in the visable spectrm on through the invisible in the blue light spectrum - just as long as the sending unit and receiving unit have been matched properly to send and respond with the same light spectrum. There IS a tolerance built-in to both units, as there are to most electronic components, and to make sure things function properly when they are installed in the unit(s) they are going to work in, they have to be tested and matched to make sure they are a properly working match set. All the nice engineering calculations that engineers learn in school are great for ideal conditions - BUT in the real world, this hardly ever happens. One unit could be dealing with signals at the low end of rating and the other working at the high end of rating. What this does is cause impoper operation, and the more difference between the 2 values, the worse the resulting operation ends up being. One result could be jumpy mouse movements, keys not properly being interpreted as being pressed, and other things resulting. So the problem might not be software at all but rather mismatched hardware components. With quality checking the way it is these days, this is not so hard to find happening. Also, with regard to using batteries like they were going out of style, hardware problems could also cause this issue without much of any problem - the problem is, again, tolerance of components. If you have components that are all rated to use a certain amount of power, and they are all in the low range of tolerance, then your power consumption (and resulting battery usage in this case) is low. BUT if the tolerance goes to the high end of power rating, and more power is being consumed from the ideal, then more power is being used over the same time period. And the more components using greater than the "ideal" spec for power consumption, the sooner the batteries will be depleated, no matter what kind of batteries they are. In many of these cases, especially with regard to "stationary" compoents, such as mice or keyboards, that are not going all over the place (toys and similar devices are a whole difference matter,) the only solution ends up either trying to find one that uses less power as it is rated for or rig up a power supply that can solve the power problem without using batteries - with regard to the last item, you are then stuck with the length of the power cord for the supply, instead of a signal line from the original corded device - BAH AND HUMBUG!!! I am NOT discounting that the whole problem could be totally software related BUT it could be totally hardware related instead - or unfortunately a combination of both. Cordless computer components, like their cousins, the TV remote and similar, can have similar issues and problems seen. When they work like they are supposed to, they are absolutely great - when they dont, you can end up in electronic purgatory or hell, trying to figure out what might the problem be. And as components get older and used, they can burn out - especially if exposed to heat, too low power, too high power, humidity, or any number of different issues. Hopefully this might help. Ralph I hate when that happens! ;-) Oh Ok, then that is an optical mouse. Even though IR signals use an LED, that's not IR waves, but just an LED I think. Never thought about what an optical mouse uses exactly, I just looked at mine good, and it's VERY bright, actually hurts my eyes, so it could be a laser. Mine is brand new and the jerky motion has gotten worse the past few days. Obviously it's some software problem somewhere or possibly settings (other than mouse settings). I'm going to try and find out something about this, if I do, I'll post it. -Clint God Bless Us All Clint Hamilton, Owner http://OrpheusComputing.com http://ComputerHardware-ConsumerElectronics.com ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
