Keyboard Builders' Digest / Inspiration
Aloidia v1
Designed by ItsBluu, the Aloidia v1 is a wireless solar split keyboard with lots of hotswap components.
KBD.news
Published March 15, 2023
Published March 15, 2023
Creators! Feel free to tip me off about your keyboard related projects to bring them to 140K readers.
Vincent Nguyen aka ItsBluu introduced his feature-packed Aloidia – split, wireless, solar, and hotswap everything. :)
I am proud to present my new design: Aloidia v1. This is a project I have been working on on and off for the past year, and also my first mechanical keyboard design. It's a fairly complex keyboard, with more than 150 parts (not counting the switches) and 7 unique PCBs – ItsBluu.
Features
- Split, hotswap, staggered multi-layout PCB compatible with MX switches.
- Extended 65%-ish layout with extra button on the left.
- Designed around the nRF52840 MCU, ZMK compatible.
- Fully wireless. No wire between the halves and to the computer. Either Bluetooth or dongle.
- Can switch between 5 different devices wirelessly.
- Solar trickle charging for extremely long battery life.
- Hotswap horizontal encoders and 5-way navigation switches near the thumbs.
- Optional encoders in the corners.
- Memory displays for ultra low-power user graphical interface. Hard to see from the angle in the video, but they display battery state of charge and connection status.
- Fuel gauge for precise battery state of charge measurement
- Over-current, over-voltage, reverse voltage and ESD protection.
- For the battery: over/under voltage protection and temperature monitoring
- 2 USB-C connectors per half allow the user to have one cable to the computer and one cable between the halves for charging.
- Parts of the PCB can be broken off without losing any functionality for a 60% layout.
Case
- Fully 3d printed case, with embedded tenting.
- The halves and palm rests snap together magnetically.
- No visible screws from the top.
- Solar panels are flush against the top of the case.
Resources
Published on Wed 15th Mar 2023. Featured in KBD #116 (source).