Is this thing supposed to have mechanical buttons?
We are not perfect. That's why our product descriptions aren't always correct. I was able to see this when I looked at a question from a member of the community, 149toshiro. He would like to know whether the Delock 12482 does indeed have mechanical keys.
I also ordered this product a few months ago, as I didn't have a numeric keypad on my mechanical keyboard at the office at the time. I never used it, though, as I fell in love with the typing feel offered by the Razer Huntsman and bought the latter a few days later.
When I receive the email from digitec-support with the user's question 149toshiro in my inbox, I decide to take a look at the Delock keypad. Like our user, I can't find any information on the type of keys on the manufacturer's website.
No, these are not mechanical keys
As soon as you start typing, it becomes obvious that there's not a shadow of a mechanical key under there. It's definitely a rubber dome keyboard. But I'd like to be sure, so I decide to take the keys apart. My suspicions were confirmed. Under the cap, a rubber dome appears. This is a dome-shaped plastic, which is also an electrical conductor.
As the unused number pad is already half disassembled in front of me, I set about unscrewing the whole thing to get a closer look at the technology. When I opened it up, some of the domes fell off, because they're not fixed, they're just sitting on a film that I'm just discovering. The Delock 12482 pad is therefore a mix between the rubber domes and the membrane keyboard.
Still not the shadow of a mechanism
Membrane keyboards are made up of thin plastic membranes over which electrical wires can be seen running. On this Delock, there are three membranes. The bottom membrane is connected to the printed circuit and the wires run vertically across it. On the intermediate sheet, which is connected laterally to the upper sheet, the wires run horizontally. They therefore form a circuit. Between the two is a separating film that prevents the circuit from being inadvertently closed. The circuit is closed by pressing on the rubber domes and as the Delock numeric keypad has no controller, the signal is sent directly to the computer.
At this point I realise that I certainly wouldn't have been able to use the number pad for what I'd bought it for, i.e. to insert special characters using Alt + ASCII code combinations. As the signal is sent directly to the computer without being processed by a controller, my laptop would probably not have received the signal from the numbers on the numeric keypad, but from the row of numbers above the letters. I decided to check and revisited the numeric keypad. In fact, when I press "Shift" on the keyboard and "1" on the Delock, I write a "+". I could have saved money on this. This can certainly be solved with software, but I can't install anything on my laptop because I don't have administrator rights.
Fact checking
So our product description wasn't correct. We've already corrected that. Thanks to user 149toshiro, for racking his brains and doing his research before buying. This allows us to improve and provide you with the correct information. Twenty francs for a numeric keypad with mechanical switches is really very cheap, unless you're buying something made in China that's even cheaper. The Delock keypad is cheap from design to purchase. If you want to buy a number pad with mechanical keys from us, you only have one option, but this pad also comes with a controller, so your computer registers the signal correctly from the start.
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Kevin Hofer
Senior Editor
kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.chFrom big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.
