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

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • pearsaltchocolatebar
      1·
      11 months ago

      There’s nothing wrong with getting liquid in it so long as it’s dry before being plugged in.

      You could wash your computer’s motherboard with soap and water, and it would be fine as long as you pulled the CMOS battery beforehand.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        there’s 2 problems here.

        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.