Kailh PG1511 series

This article requires additional photographic illustration — internals

Kailh PG1511 series

Manufacturer	Kailh
Product code	PG151101Dnnn
Switch type	Clicky; tactile; linear
Sense method	Metal leaf
Rated lifetime	50–70 M
Pretravel	2.0±0.6, 1.4±0.3, 1.1±0.3 mm
Total travel	4.0±0.6, 3.5±0.3 mm
Keycap mount	Cherry MX mount
Switch mount	Plate mount, PCB mount

Kailh PG1511 series is a family of Cherry MX clone switches. It is the basis for the original Razer switch, manufactured for Razer by Kaihua.

Description

PG1511 series switches are made by Kailh in China, and are branded "Kailh" or labelled "PG1511" (one or the other). They are available in clicky, linear and tactile versions, with support for both through-hole and SMD RGB LEDs.

Kaihua have published detailed comparisons between their switches and Cherry MX switches on their website; the photos at least are taken from a review posted at mouse.zol.com.cn.

Like with most Cherry MX clones, the internals of PG1511 series are virtually identical to genuine Cherry switches. One key difference is that PG1511 series switches do not have gold crosspoint contacts.

Bounce time for the SMD types is cited as 5 ms or less, at a keystroke rate of 3–5 keystrokes per second.<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-SMD" />

Lifetime

Lifetime was originally cited as 50 million keystrokes.<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-classic" /> The through-hole LED types are cited as having lifetimes of 60 million for the click type and 70 million for the linear and tactile types.<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-RGB" /> The SMD LED version has a lifetime of 70 million keystrokes across all versions.<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-SMD" />

LED illumination

Through-hole

PG1511 series adopted the use of all four of Cherry's base holes (inner holes for monochrome LED, outer holes for jumper or diode) for a single four-leg "DIP" through-hole RGB LED. Kailh cite the benefits of this arrangement as being:<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-RGB" />

• Better illumination by bringing the LED closer to the keycap
• Greater light output from a through-hole LED than an SMD LED
• Lower heat output from through-hole LED versus SMD LED
• Lower LED power requirements

Most "speed" types accept any LED types, but have no lateral support for LED legs. The bronze "speed" type only accepts two-pin through-hole and SMD LEDs; the exterior holes for jumpers, diodes and four-pin through-hole RGB LEDs are omitted to make way for the click bar.

SMD

PG1511 has also been adapted to accept SMD illumination. These versions have clear covers, and two wide holes for LED legs, to accept two- and four-leg through-hole LEDs as well as allow space to place an SMD LED under the switch. These are depicted on the PG1511 SMD page, although the diagrams still show the classic design.<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-SMD" /> The pages for the reduced-travel versions do have diagrams for the new design.<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-gold" />

Click mechanism

Most PG1511 series switches use a click collar to achieve audible feedback, derived from the Cherry MX design. The new bronze type (PG151101D188) uses a "click bar",<ref name="DT-click-bar" /> a rod spring pushed aside by the slider in a manner similar to a click leaf. The click bar design was first seen in the diminutive PG1350 series, and provides a distinct click on both press and release; the click bar does however remove the hysteresis from the switch.

Travel

Standard switch travel is the standard 4 mm with 2 mm pretravel; this is still the case for the SMD types.<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-SMD" /> Four additional designs have a reduced travel of 3.5 mm:

• A gold clicky type the 1.4 mm pretravel
• Bronze (clicky), copper (tactile) and silver (linear) types with 1.1 mm pretravel<ref name="Kailh-PG1511-bronze" /><ref name="Kailh-PG1511-silver" /><ref name="Kailh-PG1511-copper" />

Note that these colour names were taken from an AliExpress listing, as they are more convenient than Kailh's names. Kailh use "coppery" for the tactile switch, "golden" for the 1.4 mm clicky switch, and "thick golden" for the 1.1 mm clicky switch. The silver switch's slider has metallic pigment as with Cherry MX Speed Silver, while the other sliders are matte.

Variants

PG1511/Kailh Yellow was the first variant, which appeared around 2007. The characteristics of Kailh Yellow and Kailh Red are the same. Kailh Yellow is no longer sold. Since then, a number of different varieties have emerged, and it's not clear what exactly is on sale.

The Kailh website shows the standard SMD types to have a black lower shell, but production parts have a white shell. The part numbers for these types are not yet known.

The monochrome PCB mount variants have part numbers but have not yet been sighted; all observed types are plate mount.

Current

	Part no.	Colour	Type	Actuation	Travel	Pretravel	Click mechanism	Illumination	Fixing pins
	PG151101D01	Black	Linear	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	Monochrome	No
File:No photograph.svg	PG151101D15	Black	Linear	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	Monochrome	Yes
	PG151101D05	Red	Linear	50 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	Monochrome	No
File:No photograph.svg	PG151101D43	Red	Linear	50 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	Monochrome	Yes
	PG151101D49	Brown	Tactile	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	Monochrome	No
File:No photograph.svg	PG151101D09	Brown	Tactile	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	Monochrome	Yes
	PG151101D60	Blue	Clicky	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	Click collar	Monochrome	No
File:No photograph.svg	PG151101D10	Blue	Clicky	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	Click collar	Monochrome	Yes
	PG151101D94	Black	Linear	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	RGB T/H	No
	PG151101D93	Red	Linear	50 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	RGB T/H	No
	PG151101D92	Brown	Tactile	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	RGB T/H	No
	PG151101D91	Blue	Clicky	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	Click collar	RGB T/H	No
		Black	Linear	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	RGB T/H+SMD	No
		Red	Linear	50 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	RGB T/H+SMD	No
		Brown	Tactile	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	RGB T/H+SMD	No
		Blue	Clicky	60 gf	4 mm	2 mm	Click collar	RGB T/H+SMD	No
	PG151101D191	Gold	Clicky	60 gf	3.5 mm	1.4 mm	Click collar	RGB T/H+SMD	No
	PG151101D188	Bronze	Clicky	50 gf	3.5 mm	1.1 mm	Click bar	Mono T/H+SMD	No
	PG151101D189	Silver	Linear	40 gf	3.5 mm	1.1 mm	None	RGB T/H+SMD	No
	PG151101D190	Copper	Tactile	40 gf	3.5 mm	1.1 mm	None	RGB T/H+SMD	No

Discontinued

	Part no.	Colour	Type	Actuation	Travel	Pretravel	Click mechanism	Illumination	Fixing pins
	PG151101D02	Yellow	Linear	50 gf	4 mm	2 mm	None	Monochrome	No

Keyboards

All switches assumed to be "Kailh" branded unless specified otherwise.

• Armageddon Strike Eagle MKI-3 (red)<ref name="DT-Armageddon-SE" />
• Genius M1 (red, linear)<ref name="GeniusM1" />
• Genius Quake 87:
  • Blue<ref name="AliExpressBlueQ87" />
  • Black<ref name="AliExpressBlackQ87" />
• Newmen GM-10 (blue, linear)<ref name="Newmen-GM10" />
• Nixeus MODA (brown, tactile)<ref name="NixeusMODA" />
• QPAD MK-10 (brown)<ref name="QPAD-MK10" />
• Rapoo KX (yellow, "PG1511" and "Kailh")
• Rapoo V7 (yellow, "PG1511")
• Rapoo V500 (yellow)
• Rosewill RGB80 (blue)<ref name="Rosewill-RGB80-blue" />
• Tesoro Lobera Supreme (brown)<ref name="Tesoro-Lobera-Supreme-brown" />
• Tesoro Tizona (red, brown, blue, black)<ref name="Tesoro-Tizona" />
• Some Tt eSPORTS Poseidon Z Illuminated (blue)<ref name="PoseidonZ" />
• ViewSonic V1 (red)<ref name="ViewSonicV1" />
• Xenics Scorpius M10TFL (red, brown, blue)<ref name="Xenics-M10TFL" />
• Zalman ZM-K500 (red)<ref name="rzwv-Kailh" />

Unconfirmed

Per List of Keyboards using Kailh switches:

• Genius Quake 104
• Keycool KC87
• Shogun Bros Cross Blade ("Mixed Stroke" version)

Gallery

• 
  Original switches
• 
  "PG1511" switches in the Rapoo V7
• 
  "PG1511" switch disassembly
• 
  Kaihua PG1511 RGB Blue (left) and Blue (right)
• 
  Kaihua PG1511 RGB Blue with RGB LED fitted
• 
  View of LED from below
• 
  Speed types
• 
  Gold and bronze types, opened

External links

• Kailh — 红轴将被取代 Kailh黄轴大战Cherry轴 (Chinese only) — Detailed disassembly shots of PG1511 vs Cherry MX. Dated 2011-11-10. Retrieved 2015-07-28.

References

<references> <ref name="Kailh-PG1511-RGB">Kailh — PG151101D91 RGB轴</ref> <ref name="Kailh-PG1511-classic">Kailh — Kaihua keyboard switches</ref> <ref name="Kailh-PG1511-SMD">Kailh — PG1511 帖片轴</ref> <ref name="Kailh-PG1511-gold">PG151101D191 金轴</ref> <ref name="Kailh-PG1511-bronze">PG151101D188 厚金轴</ref> <ref name="Kailh-PG1511-silver">PG151101D189 银轴</ref> <ref name="Kailh-PG1511-copper">PG151101D190 铜轴</ref>

<ref name="DT-click-bar">Kaihua Kailh click bar switches.</ref>

<ref name="DT-Armageddon-SE">Deskthority — 日本語 (page 2)</ref> <ref name="GeniusM1">Geekhack — Cheapest Mechanical Keyboard EVER? Posted 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="AliExpressBlueQ87">AliExpress — Buy Genius Mechanical Keyboard … 87 Keys Black Switch …^{[Volatile reference]} Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="AliExpressBlackQ87">AliExpress — Buy Genius Mechanical Keyboard … 87 Keys Cyan Shaft …^{[Volatile reference]} Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="Newmen-GM10">PCOnline — 蓝轴也疯狂!冰点价新贵GM-10机械键盘评测 (Chinese only) Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="NixeusMODA">Newegg — Nixeus MODA Mechanical Keyboard (Brown Soft Tactile Switch) MK-BN14 Keyboard Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="QPAD-MK10">PChome — 无与伦比 QPAD MK-10机械键盘首测 (Chinese only) Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="Rosewill-RGB80-blue">TweakTown — Rosewill RGB80 Mechanical 16.8m Color Backlit Gaming Keyboard Review Dated 2014-07-09. Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="Tesoro-Lobera-Supreme-brown">MechKB Blog — Cherry MX RGB and Tesoro Lobera Dated 2013-12-05. Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="Tesoro-Tizona">Tesoro — Tizona product page Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="PoseidonZ">Tt eSPORTS — POSEIDON Z Illuminated – Blue Switch Edition Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="ViewSonicV1">AliExpress — Buy Free Shipping Gaming Keyboard Fairy Genius k9 …^{[Volatile reference]} Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="Xenics-M10TFL">Coolenjoy — 제닉스 SCORPIUS M10TFL 내부 (추가 스위치) (Korean only) Dated 2014-02-06. Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> <ref name="rzwv-Kailh">ちゃたりたいね — ZALMAN ZM-K500 Kailh赤軸 (Japanese only) Dated 2012-10-29. Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref> </references>