Supplies
IntelliMouse
Another LED
Soldering Iron and Solder
Mini Phillips Head Screwdriver


All the supplies seem self-explanatory except for the LED. You can change the LED to any color you can find, (i.e. blue, white, green, yellow, orange, red...why?) but if the LED is not bright enough, then your IntelliMouse Eye will not be able to see the surface it is tracking, therefore it will not work as well. We went out and bought a Blue LED at a local electronics store for $4. The specs on our LED is as follows:

LED Specs
Forward voltage: 3.7 typ. 4.5 max
Forward Current: 20mA typ. 30mA
Brightness: 2600mcd
Viewing angle (deg): 30
Lens Color Clear
LED Size 5mm

We went with the 3.7volt hoping that it would be brighter then a 5volt. FYI we have heard of some people using a blue 5volt, and it worked just fine.

http://www.taconuts.org/articles/2000/dec/3/page1.php



Lasers are classified by wavelength and maximum output power into the following safety classes:

* class I: inherently safe; no possibility of eye damage. This can be either because of a low output power (in which cases eye damage is impossible even after hours of exposure), or due to an enclosure that cannot be opened in normal operation without the laser being switched off automatically, such as in CD players.

* class II: the blinking reflex of the human eye will prevent eye damage. Most laser pointers are in this category, with output powers of around 1 to 5 milliwatts.

* class IIIb: can cause damage if the beam enters the eye directly or if the beam is directly reflected into the eye. This generally applies to lasers powers from 5 milliwatts up to several hundred milliwatts.

* class IIIa: similar to IIIb, but with large beam diameters, such that the pupil will only allow a 'class-II'-amount of light to enter the eye. Lasers in this class are mostly dangerous in combination with optical instruments which change the beam diameter.

* class IV: highly dangerous; even non-direct scattering of light from the beam can lead to eye or skin damage. This generally applies to laser powers of more than a few milliwatts. Lasers in this class are usually than several hundred milliwatts or more.