How can I clean my mouse wheel without taking apart my mouse?
I noticed that my mouse wheel when scrolling up would sometimes scroll down instead (and vice versa). I figured it's probably because there is some dirt and grime inside the mouse wheel casing that's somehow interfering with the sensor.
How can I clean it without taking the mouse apart? I guess I could fill it with some isopropyl alcohol and wait a bit to shake it out or something but I don't know how well that would work and I don't want to make it worse obviously.
Does anyone have a better idea maybe? It's a Logitech G703 Lightspeed
If you flip the mouse over you should see a circular piece of plastic. Rotate this and it should be able to pop out, at which point the ball will also fall out. Inside you will see a pair of rollers and a wheel, all of which may have gunk on them. Clean off the gunk and make sure they spin properly. Replace the ball, the circular plastic, and then rotate the plastic to lock the mechanism.
I highly suggesting overcooking a new hard boiled egg and using the yolk from that rather than just replacing the same overboiled egg yolk from before.
I didn't know you could still get mice with wheels. I've only seen optical ones in the past decade or two. I don't miss the mechanical ones. Oh wait, you mean the scroll wheel. In the old days there were mice with wheels on the bottom to sense the mouse positioning.
For your mouse, I'd just take it apart if it is possible to do, and clean everything.
The mouse had wheels which sat on the balls. It was sometimes necessary to clean those as well. Though, I suspect that the person you responded to wasn't thinking about those wheels.
Not old enough, apparently. They originally were two wheels, and even when they switched to the ball, there was actually still two smaller wheels inside which were turned by the ball.
I can't find a pic, but I'm sure-ish (like 70-80%) that I once used a mouse that had 2 wheels on the underside, one rolling vertical and one horizontal. I don't think it was very good.
Get a good no residue contact cleaner. Unplug the mouse, then spray in the sides of the wheel opening and then work the wheel like a clitoris in a porno. Repeat a couple times. Give it time to dry then test it.
Only thing I could think of is contact cleaner. I’d make sure it’s compatible with plastic like the brand I buy. Contact cleaner is used for electrical products/circuits and is non conductive. I use it to clean the charging port of my phone when dust gets in there and my vape for similar reasons. Depending on the design of your mouse I don’t see why you couldn’t try flushing it with contact cleaner.
unfortunately... I don't think you can. You might be able to get some 90% IPA (use a fresh bottle. IPA absorbs water from ambient humidity.) and q tips and get it 'okay-ish' for now, but the rotary encoder is generally pretty heavily enclosed (precisely because of this issue.) Flooding the thing with IPA or, submerging it.... is not a good idea. I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you were willing to buy another mouse when it makes things worse.
Ifixit does have a guide for replacing them, you maybe be able to take it apart enough to clean it out more thoroughly.
The first is that there's all kinds of nooks and crannies that hold liquid in. Getting it dry again is problematic, without opening it up. IPA is less problematic than, say, tap water, but still problematic.
The other is that the G703 has a rechargeable battery that can't be removed without opening it up. At which point you might as well just clean out the mouse wheel's encoder or replace it.
Those damn scrollwheel on logitech Gxxx mice are know to glitch like this. If it's not fixed after you cleaned it, it's time for a new mouse. Mine drove me crazy until I replaced it with an MX Master.
I've only ever used it on musical instruments electronics, not anything as tiny and complicated as computer peripherals but Deoxit might be worth trying. It's good stuff
I use a paint brush, air compressor, cotton swabs and a tooth pick to clean mine when I'm too lazy to take it apart. Also if you have an air mattress, then you may have an air compressor.
Do you have an air compressor? Yes -> Use that. No -> Do you have a drinking straw? Yes -> use that -> Do you have lung capacity? Yes -> drinking straw No -> Do you have a fine brush? You see where this gets you? Right. Give a man an air bottle, and he can clean his mouse one day, show him how to think practically and he will be able to clean anything any day of his life.