Mouse Encoder Help

[KG4CGC]

Need help folks.
Been using the same wireless mouse and keyboard for a couple or 3 years now and the scroll wheel on the mouse started acting up. I use the scroll wheel a lot and it started to make the page jump back up while I was trying to scroll down.
I took it apart and cleaned the wheel encoder with alcohol, soap and water and Windex™ and dried it all out and it seemed just fine. However, last night the problem reared it's ugly head again and it's getting worse.
Is there something specific to cleaning encoder wheels? I used canned air to blow it out too. I also read that contact cleaner is not a good idea with these things.
What do you guys do?

[W5BRM]

Sometimes things just wear out and cant be fixed. I'd just buy a new wireless mouse. $16-$70 at walmart. 3 years is about 2 years beyond the average shelf life of todays computer addons no matter how much they cost.

[NQ6U]

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz79/gyrogeerloose/how-to.jpg

[WØTKX]

How does that encoder work? Slots in a wheel with an LED shining through?

And just ta piss you off, I'm really good at keyboard Winders without the mouse.

[K7SGJ]

Back when I used to mess with that kind of stuff just to see how it works, I found more had problems with the led source and/or the led detector rather than the encoder itself; assuming it is optical, rather than mechanical.

[WØTKX]

Yes. This is my suspicion as well.

[KG4CGC]

It is not optical.

I looked at some mice and keyboards online. They pretty much all had crap reviews. I'm talking about the $30 range but even a few of the high end ones were often maligned as pretty looking crap.

I'll post up a picture of the encoder. I may even be full of crap. It may not be an encoder but it looks like one.

[KG4CGC]

Follow up.
What I ended up doing was shooting contact cleaner into the encoder. BTW, contact cleaner also makes good cutting oil in a pinch.
I shot it in there and spun it a few times but what worked was using the chuck on the drill to spin it for a couple of minutes in both directions.

[kb2vxa]

Hmmm, my new Microsuck optical mouse started jumping up a line soon after it was installed but only one line isn't more than a small annoyance so I never bothered trying to fix it. A castrated mouse doesn't have sticky balls, a great improvement so it comes down to if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

"...what worked was using the chuck on the drill to spin it for a couple of minutes in both directions."

That just may get you a job at UL evaluating mouse wheels, the one that spins longest before dropping dead wins.

[KG4CGC]

Hmmm, my new Microsuck optical mouse started jumping up a line soon after it was installed but only one line isn't more than a small annoyance so I never bothered trying to fix it. A castrated mouse doesn't have sticky balls, a great improvement so it comes down to if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

"...what worked was using the chuck on the drill to spin it for a couple of minutes in both directions."

That just may get you a job at UL evaluating mouse wheels, the one that spins longest before dropping dead wins.

Sometimes the scientists would feed the mice a mixture of steroids and amphetamines and let them run in their wheels until exhausted. By the time they dropped, they didn't have enough energy to get out of the wheel and it was already spinning so hard that it would continue to spin for another 20 minutes just from the momentum. When it finally did stop after 20 minutes of "whump whump whump whump" the mouse would be dead from stroke caused by blood pooling in whatever side of the mouse was against the wheel.

It did help to develop the program behind how the military dispenses steroids and amphetamines to soldiers in the field.

[n2ize]

I would have just thrown it away and got a new one. Get an optical mouse. The old ones are crap.

[N2CHX]

I've had two Logitech M305 optical, wireless mice for years now with no problems whatsoever. I think I maybe paid $20 each for them. The biggest PITA is putting a battery in them every few months.

[KG4CGC]

I've had two Logitech M305 optical, wireless mice for years now with no problems whatsoever. I think I maybe paid $20 each for them. The biggest PITA is putting a battery in them every few months.

Microsoft Wireless Mouse 1000. Like I said, the scroll wheel encoder just can't handle my touch. Some have said that 2 0r 3 years is 1 or 2 years past its life span. While we do have recycling in this backwater town, throwing out a mouse and keyboard every year is waste.
The tactile detent, the sub-click of the scroll wheel, wears as it rolls over time. This could be a factor in it's failure but if I clean it it comes back to life.
And yes, people, the mouse is optical. Who the hell doesn't use an optical mouse these days? Fred Flintstone?

[N2CHX]

Microsoft Wireless Mouse 1000. Like I said, the scroll wheel encoder just can't handle my touch. Some have said that 2 0r 3 years is 1 or 2 years past its life span. While we do have recycling in this backwater town, throwing out a mouse and keyboard every year is waste.
The tactile detent, the sub-click of the scroll wheel, wears as it rolls over time. This could be a factor in it's failure but if I clean it it comes back to life.
And yes, people, the mouse is optical. Who the hell doesn't use an optical mouse these days? Fred Flintstone?

Oh, i don't disagree. I have no clue if your MS mouse is repairable or not but I am saying that Logitech makes some good stuff that seems to last. I beat the hell out of my one mouse especially. I used it probably 12-16 hours a day. It gets tossed into my backpack and taken to work with me where I use it with my laptop at work, and I also use it here at home of course. I code all day long at work and part of my evening doing freelance work and personal projects, and I've been doing this with this mouse since January 2011. The mouse is probably a year or so older than that. My point is, even if your MS mouse can't be saved, ditch MS and buy something that's going to last-- don't buy a MS mouse again. From what I've seen, they are overpriced and not all that great, whereas I've had nothing but good luck with Logitech.

[kb2vxa]

They're like all the other stuff made somewhere across the wide pacific in Nobody Knows Where Land wearing somebody's badge... outsourcing.