Making an old TrackIR 5 useful again
Making an old TrackIR 5 useful again
I have an old TrackIR 5 purchased way back in 2015, which has now started showing signs of age. The right pair of LEDs started to flicker and eventually gave out. The unit being long out of warranty and official service being unavailable in my area, I decided today to open it up to see if anything can be fixed. What I noticed is that the IR LEDs have become less energy efficient with time and tend to heat up, and this excessive heat within the casing can cause them to fail unless temperatures fall back to operating limits. In my case, I completely disassembled the camera module and thoroughly cleaned up the PCB using compressed air followed by isopropyl alcohol. Though this improved performance significantly, the heating issues persisted. Finally the solution was to remove the front plate containing the dark polarized glass and then reassembled the camera module. Now it looks awkward but with adequate ventilation, the LEDs are working like new. Hopefully my decade old TrackIR 5 should be good to go for another few years. Posting this for anyone who may be facing similar issues.