What's this part and where can I get it?

[Pcmaker]

This came from my Steelseries Cataclysm mouse. It's the part that the mouse wheel goes into and detects scrolling

It came from here:



it says ALPS 1 on the front



This is the back:

[tooki]

It's a rotary encoder. Likely one from this series: https://www.alps.com/prod/info/E/HTML/Encoder/Incremental/EC10E/EC10E_list.html

Be sure to measure the height precisely to match the drawings, since otherwise it won't line up with the wheel itself.

[Pcmaker]

Do I measure this distance?

[tooki]

No. Look at the datasheet: https://www.alps.com/prod/info/E/PDF/Encoder/Incremental/EC10E/EC10E.pdf

It says the height is dimension "H", which appears to be from the PCB level (the lower of your two lines) and the center of the hole.

[Twoflower]

Check the drawings included in each specific encoder (e.g. EC10E1220505). There is the complete drawing with measurements given.

[Pcmaker]

I have it narrowed down to EC10E1220503 and EC10E1260507

The only difference I see are the detent torques, which I have no way of measuring, but I don't think that really matters and also operating temperatures, of which there's a massive difference between the two

*edit* ugh, can't seem to find this on Digikey

[james_s]

Is the original part broken? Mechanical encoders are notorious for getting flaky but usually a squirt of pot cleaner/lube gets them right back into shape.

[Pcmaker]

It just feels weird when I turn the mouse scroll like the detent isn't stopping the movement like it used to and it overdoes it sometimes when I scroll one click

[james_s]

It might be worn out then, you could try cleaning it and see if that helps, or look and see if you can see what's wrong.

Finding replacement parts like this can be tricky, at least in this case it *looks* like it's a standard Alps part. It's not uncommon in high volume consumer devices to find custom components though.

[tooki]

I have it narrowed down to EC10E1220503 and EC10E1260507

The only difference I see are the detent torques, which I have no way of measuring, but I don't think that really matters and also operating temperatures, of which there's a massive difference between the two

*edit* ugh, can't seem to find this on Digikey

Hmm. The temp difference is simply because one is rated for automotive use, the other is not. So for your purposes, of absolutely no consequence.

Digikey doesn't carry Alps products. But Mouser does (and it looks like they have the EC10E1220503 in stock), as does LCSC (sorta the Chinese Mouser), and they're easy to find on eBay, either as originals or clones. It looks like if you search for "steelseries mouse encoder", there are vendors selling replacements specifically for your model.