Don’t try this RGB Steam Deck mod yet

As cool because the Steam Deck appears to be like with RGB lighting, it’s possible you’ll not wish to attempt to mod your system simply but. A Reddit person who tried the mod found that including RGB LEDs may cause some fairly large points with the Steam Deck’s motherboard, despite the fact that it would not draw vital energy from the battery.

The “RGBDeck” mod began making the rounds on Reddit earlier this month. with u/WUBSY certification period attaching a small microcontroller and LED strips to the system. They closed it with a clear backing JSAUX, causes lights to shine via the vault when the Steam Deck is open. The ultimate consequence provides the Steam Deck a pleasant burst of colour (on a multiplayer PC sort).

Adam Honse, the developer behind the open supply lighting platform (u/CalcProgrammer1) LightRGBFurthermore i tried the mod and even discovered an integration that enables customers to regulate the lighting of the Steam Deck by way of the app. Nevertheless, Honse has since Released an update on Saturday night this advises in opposition to attempting it, noting that “it appears to be like like substantial injury to the motherboard”.

The supply of the issue, in line with Honse, is a small element that “would not like the extra energy draw on the interior USB connection between the motherboard and the controller PCB”, the place it provides the 5V wanted to energy the RGB lights. This half malfunctioned a couple of days later, inflicting the lights and controller to exhibit some unusual habits earlier than they stopped working fully.

It additionally did some injury to a element on the Steam Deck’s motherboard that was supposed to chop the 5V energy to the management board when the system was in sleep mode. As defined by Honse, this piece not powers down the controller whereas the Steam Deck is in standby, inflicting the system to lose energy. “We’ll must discover a new 5V energy provide that may deal with the upper present,” Honse explains.

In different phrases, the mod is not there but and that is okay; I am glad Honse got here out earlier than different mod builders cracked the Steam Decks. Hopefully it will not be too lengthy till we see a potential answer (at the very least till Valve decides to incorporate RGB within the Steam Deck by default).