[Petrarch of the VBB]

For a few weeks, at about this time each day, my mouse loses all vertical movement. I puzzled over this for ages, and it finally came to me.
The sun starts to shine through the window with some force at this time, as it comes round the corner. This strong sunlight is then getting into the mouse, and affecting the little optical sensors that read the movement of the rollers, specifically the vertical movement one.
Weird, no?

[vyper]

Quite weird, yet oddly logical.

[Odyssey]

Finally geeks have a reason to live in the dark!

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Odyssey
Finally geeks have a reason to live in the dark!

what is this thing that you refer to as "Sunlight?"

[Petrarch of the VBB]

What gets me, is that the side of the mouse are a very dark grey, so the light can't be getting through that, and my hand covers the light grey bits...

[Odyssey]

Weird... What make of mouse is it?

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Just some generic thing I picked up for £4 at a computer fair.

[Odyssey]

So... no markings or anything? What about on the bottom?

[Ashrak]

since when does a ball mouse have optical sensors?

[Odyssey]

Now that I read it again, Ashrak's got a point... The only ball mouse I have with optical sensors is my trackball. With anything else it'd be a little bit, well, pointless...
Petrarch! Explain yourself!

[Setekh]

W3rd. Take that, Unsolved Mysteries.

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Have any of you ever taken the trouble to look inside a mouse?

The ball moves two rollers, on the end of each roller is a slotted wheel, the slots in the wheel pass through an optical sensor as the wheel turns. There is a little box at each side of the wheel, one looks like an LED, the other must be the sensor. Hence, when a slot on the wheel passes, the light from the LED reaches the sensor, when it's a solid part of the wheel, it doesn't. The sensor then translates this into the movement.

[Ashrak]

oh....so why dont you just buy a optical mouse with a singel sensor hehe

[Petrarch of the VBB]

If I wanted an optical mouse would I be using a normal one?

[Odyssey]

Originally posted by Petrarch of the VBB
Have any of you ever taken the trouble to look inside a mouse?

The ball moves two rollers, on the end of each roller is a slotted wheel, the slots in the wheel pass through an optical sensor as the wheel turns. There is a little box at each side of the wheel, one looks like an LED, the other must be the sensor. Hence, when a slot on the wheel passes, the light from the LED reaches the sensor, when it's a solid part of the wheel, it doesn't. The sensor then translates this into the movement.

Oh. Right. Forgot about that. Sorry. The ball mice I have are really old, they use some kind of other crazy system ^_^

EDIT: Simple solution - little bit of card folded over the sensor area in the mouse. Blu-tack does the job.

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Simpler solution. I closed the curtains.

[Odyssey]

There's always a better way

[Gortef]

surely it's a little odd but then again logical.