HELP : Power / HDD LED mod...

l||l|l|-BaRc0dE · 14th August 2001, 7:35 AM

Hey guys, going into DSE today to pick up a couple blue led's for my case, just wanted to know how to do this mod...

I strip back the current led's cables and cut em, attach the new wires from the new led's an seal wif heatshrink tubing... If they are wired wrongly i can just reverse the plug on the board and it should werk. <<-- This is my theory... is it right or wrong ????

Also, which blue led's am i spost to get so that they fit / werk, etc... or do all led's have a standard size.

Cheers.

zebu · 14th August 2001, 9:00 AM

you need a 3mm blue led for it to fit. I had some problems finding 3mm blue leds in dick smith as they were in an unlabled drawer

you shoud get a little piece of paper with it that sais things like max voltage etc, it will show you which side is positive and which side is negitive but just in case it dosnt, the flat side is negitive.

HyRax1 · 14th August 2001, 10:58 AM

3mm ones are normally used for keyboard LED's. Most power and HDD LED's are 5mm.

You don't have to do anything special. The current coming out of the mobo is more than sufficient to run a blue LED. Just switch the original with the new one and away you go. If you get the legs the wrong way around, this will not damage the LED. Just switch the legs or connector on the mobo around the other way.

Note: You will not be able to run more than one LED off a single wire since there is insufficient power being supplied to the LED connectors to do that.

More information about connecting many LED's to one power source can be found here.

spectral · 14th August 2001, 3:32 PM

what voltage do most mobos put out to the power and hdd LEDs?

I hooked up a spare LED i had to the power connector and it was really dull. I'm not sure of the std voltage of that spare LED I had thou.. but I doubt it was a 12 volter or anything..

GooSE · 14th August 2001, 3:42 PM

use 3mm 3.7V LED's

HyRax1 · 14th August 2001, 6:21 PM

LED voltages vary, but your average LED requires at LEAST 2v @ 15ma to actually light up to some degree.

"High Performance" LED's are the ones that are brighter or have a greater colour definition about them. They'll drink some more juice up than the regular LED's, but the difference is not gargantuan. For a complete run down on typical LED power requirements, just have a look at the back of a Dick Smith catalogue - it's all listed there.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, LED's on your motherboard are fed by the 5v supply, not the 12v supply, but they're not hooked up directly! For every LED connection you have on your mobo, there is a small resistor to reduce the voltage. If you hook up a standard LED to a 12v supply without a resistor in between, you can say "bye bye" to your LED as it goes <pop>!

DDsD · 15th August 2001, 2:51 PM

It all depends on teh case you have, on my olde ish (came with my p3 500) the leds in the front were 3mm ones

however the ones in my Aopen hq08 are a lil bigger at 5mm

when i was talking to the guy in Jaycar he was surprised to see 5mm LEds used in the front of cases

but hey just chekit before you rekit

14th August 2001, 7:35 AM	#1
l\|\|l\|l\|-BaRc0dE Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 177	HELP : Power / HDD LED mod... Hey guys, going into DSE today to pick up a couple blue led's for my case, just wanted to know how to do this mod... I strip back the current led's cables and cut em, attach the new wires from the new led's an seal wif heatshrink tubing... If they are wired wrongly i can just reverse the plug on the board and it should werk. <<-- This is my theory... is it right or wrong ???? Also, which blue led's am i spost to get so that they fit / werk, etc... or do all led's have a standard size. Cheers.

14th August 2001, 10:58 AM	#3
HyRax1 48656C6C6F20576F726C6421 Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: At a desk. Distro:Ubuntu Posts: 7,077	3mm ones are normally used for keyboard LED's. Most power and HDD LED's are 5mm. You don't have to do anything special. The current coming out of the mobo is more than sufficient to run a blue LED. Just switch the original with the new one and away you go. If you get the legs the wrong way around, this will not damage the LED. Just switch the legs or connector on the mobo around the other way. Note: You will not be able to run more than one LED off a single wire since there is insufficient power being supplied to the LED connectors to do that. More information about connecting many LED's to one power source can be found here. __________________ If practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, why practice?

14th August 2001, 3:32 PM	#4
spectral rebmeM Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 11,541	what voltage do most mobos put out to the power and hdd LEDs? I hooked up a spare LED i had to the power connector and it was really dull. I'm not sure of the std voltage of that spare LED I had thou.. but I doubt it was a 12 volter or anything.. __________________ "Simplicate then add lightness" - Colin Chapman

14th August 2001, 6:21 PM	#6
HyRax1 48656C6C6F20576F726C6421 Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: At a desk. Distro:Ubuntu Posts: 7,077	LED voltages vary, but your average LED requires at LEAST 2v @ 15ma to actually light up to some degree. "High Performance" LED's are the ones that are brighter or have a greater colour definition about them. They'll drink some more juice up than the regular LED's, but the difference is not gargantuan. For a complete run down on typical LED power requirements, just have a look at the back of a Dick Smith catalogue - it's all listed there. EDIT: Forgot to mention, LED's on your motherboard are fed by the 5v supply, not the 12v supply, but they're not hooked up directly! For every LED connection you have on your mobo, there is a small resistor to reduce the voltage. If you hook up a standard LED to a 12v supply without a resistor in between, you can say "bye bye" to your LED as it goes <pop>! __________________ If practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, why practice? Last edited by HyRax1; 14th August 2001 at 6:24 PM.

14th August 2001, 9:00 AM	#2
zebu Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Albury Posts: 794	you need a 3mm blue led for it to fit. I had some problems finding 3mm blue leds in dick smith as they were in an unlabled drawer you shoud get a little piece of paper with it that sais things like max voltage etc, it will show you which side is positive and which side is negitive but just in case it dosnt, the flat side is negitive.

14th August 2001, 3:42 PM	#5
GooSE Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 6,423	use 3mm 3.7V LED's