I’m a fan of the Logitech Trackman mice and have been for years. These have been the most sensible solution to cluttered or limited spaces where moving a mouse around just isn’t practical. But after heavy/long-term use, it seems inevitable the index finger button will start malfunctioning. It seems to start randomly double-clicking when single clicking or begin to work in other similarly strange ways. The unfortunate thing is these aren’t the cheapest mice either, usually starting at around $30 – $40 each.
The Cheap Fix
I’ve thrown them away and just bought new ones in the past. I wish this weren’t the case, now that I know how easy and cheap it is to fix them instead. It turns out, it’s as simple as replacing a small, very inexpensive microswitch inside: the Omron D2FC-F-7N.
What You’ll Need
- At least 1 Omron D2FC-F-7N, depending on how many buttons you need to replace.
- Solder – 60/40 is recommended.
- Desoldering Wick (You can use a desoldering pump, etc., but we recommend the wick for this job)
- A Soldering Iron – Nothing fancy required.
- Phillips Head Screwdriver
How To Fix Your Trackball Mouse
This is a pretty simple procedure and shouldn’t take you long.
1) Remove Screws From The Bottom
There’s a few phillips head screws located on the bottom of your trackball mouse. You’ll need to remove them. Once you take them out, you should be able to open the mouse up. It should look something like the following picture, except I removed the USB cable for the photos.
2) Remove Mouse Wheel Assembly
The scroll wheel can easily be removed by lifting up on it. Be careful not to loose the springs and pay close attention to where they make contact at before removing it. I suggest taking a few photos with a cellphone just in case you forget or get confused during reassembly.
3) Remove Circuit Board
The scroll wheel is still shown here, but you should have removed it before proceeding. There’s two tabs that you need to gently pry outwards, one at a time, and lift up on the circuit board until it clears the retainer tabs. Do one tab at a time and don’t try lifting one side up too high before releasing the other side.
The switch you’re going to be replacing is the one located in the upper-left corner in the photo above.
Once you have done this, the board should be moveable.
4) Desoldering The Old Switch
I didn’t take any photos showing the rest of the steps since it’s straight forward. Here’s a good tutorial on how to desolder using the desoldering wick.
5) Soldering The New Switch
This step is straight forward too. Be sure the switch is firmly placed against the board and don’t hold the soldering iron on for more than a few seconds while applying the new solder. Allow a few seconds between soldering each lead since you can overheat and damage the new switch.
Finishing Up
Simply repeat the steps for each switch you’re replacing and then reassemble your mouse. It should work great once you finish and you’ve just saved quite a few bucks! You aught to be able to get many years of use from it following this procedure. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
Where do I get the right size/kind of Phillips head screwdriver? I’ve read a dozen articles on this and not one contains this crucial info.
Excellent question. A #1 Phillips head screwdriver will probably work best. You can get one of these in an inexpensive “Precision Screwdriver Set”, usually easily found at hardware stores and WalMart, depending on where you live. I’ll look into adding some to our store since you bring up an interesting problem.
Any idea were to get a replacement micro switch for the Cordless Optical Trackman left click button? I’ve tried my local electronics repair shops and even called Logitec and no can tell they are available.
Hey Chris,
I have no idea what switch is used in those. It was because I needed to fix a trackball mouse that I use that I discovered these switches. But I haven’t repaired a cordless one, so unfortunately I cannot be of any help.
If you have yours opened up and can email us pictures of the switch, I will try to identify and locate a suitable replacement.
Thank you I will look into it. I recently ordered the “alternative” trackball by Logitech from Amazon. I hate it (BTW it’s the one you referred to in this blog) but as you pointed out it;s the only one available at around $30. It would be awesome to get my Trackmans repaired.
I am so happy to have found this instruction with the photographs. I took my Cordless TrackBall Wheel apart, turned it over and the wheel and the mounting hardware fell out. I see two springs, one plastic mounting part and the wheel. I had no idea how to reassemble this until I found this instruction with pictures.
Thank you very much mklec for posting this.