How to connect front LED, power switch, etc

Souness · 20 Mar 2007 at 11:24

I am having trouble connecting the pin connectors for the front leds and switches to my motherboard(DS3P). The manual states a particular orientation with regards to the positive and the negative sides of the pins, but i have no clue how to tell which end of the connector is positive and which is negative? Why is the simplist bit of the PC so complicated

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Defcon5 · 20 Mar 2007 at 11:40

The black plastic bit normally has a + or -.

On the mobo, as long as they're in the right pins the polarity doesnt matter

ns400r · 20 Mar 2007 at 11:43

Defcon5 said:
The black plastic bit normally has a + or -.

On the mobo, as long as they're in the right pins the polarity doesnt matter

Of course it matters if your connecting an LED !

Souness · 20 Mar 2007 at 11:53

i have a lian-li PC-7 and i'm positive that i saw no + or - markers. any other way to tell? When looking down on the flat surface of the connector, with the wire cojming towardes you, is the +ve always on one side?
_____
|......| <- flat side
|......|
------
...| <-wire
...|
...|
...|

[ignore the dots]

Defcon5 · 20 Mar 2007 at 11:57

I tend to just jab them in any old way, wont break anything (i never have anyway)

DaveMac · 20 Mar 2007 at 12:00

Switches are momentary thus work either way, LEDs won't illuminate - just swap over.

You won't cause any damage by putting them the wrong way around.

tripitaka · 20 Mar 2007 at 12:38

I tend to find that the side with the writing on usually faces into the case, if that makes sense?

Nick1881 · 20 Mar 2007 at 14:09

reversing an LED's connections could possibly damage it, it is a diode after all.

james.miller · 20 Mar 2007 at 14:13

on the back of the molex on the LED's is a triangle. that triangle represents the positive pin. match that up with the positive on the motherboard and bob's your cross-dressing aunty.

pastymuncher · 20 Mar 2007 at 16:38

james.miller said:
on the back of the molex on the LED's is a triangle. that triangle represents the positive pin. match that up with the positive on the motherboard and bob's your cross-dressing aunty.

I did'nt know this until i read it on here a few weeks ago. Now my TT Armour has all the leds on the front working for the first time in a year and three mobo's later.

pcAnywhere · 20 Mar 2007 at 16:52

Why on earth don't they tell you this sort of information in the manual?!

PS. I've found that the "labels facing inwards" method works for my cases

overcl0cker · 20 Mar 2007 at 18:54

I've never checked the right way of putting the LED cables onto my mobo and they've always worked.. Maybe you can switch them round OR maybe I've just been REALLY lucky

!!

oc.

WJA96 · 20 Mar 2007 at 19:32

mr_x_plosion said:
reversing an LED's connections could possibly damage it, it is a diode after all.

I don't think that's right. If you think about how diodes work, if you connect it the wrong way round it just doesn't pass any current. Connect it the right way round and it does.

RaiderX · 20 Mar 2007 at 20:05

an easy way to tell, the black wire is always negative and the coloured one is positive

tripitaka · 21 Mar 2007 at 09:33

I don't think that's right. If you think about how diodes work, if you connect it the wrong way round it just doesn't pass any current. Connect it the right way round and it does.

I don't think that's correct - once the reverse breakdown voltage is exceeded the diode will become damaged. Mind you, I've never managed to damage a case LED in this way.

an easy way to tell, the black wire is always negative and the coloured one is positive

I'm not sure that the connectors for the case LEDs always have a black wire...

Souness · 21 Mar 2007 at 10:12