how to distinguish + and - wires on case power connections

fonzio · 2 Aug 2007 at 20:42

nearly finished building my thermaltake armour beast, using mobo gigabyte p35c-ds3r ive now come to connecting the power leads except there is no mention of which is + or -

i have speaker which is red and black
power 5w - red and black
hdd led - red and white
power led - blue and white
reset switch - blue and white

so im stumped have everything else in to, hope one of you guys can help me

thanks
fonzio

Jokester · 2 Aug 2007 at 20:44

Power lead buttons are switches, it doesn't matter what way round you plug them in.

Jokester

fonzio · 2 Aug 2007 at 21:01

Jokester said:
Power lead buttons are switches, it doesn't matter what way round you plug them in.

Jokester

hmm thx jokester its just that the mobo manual says to make sure they are fitted correctly one pin bein + and the other - which must mean that in this case the leads must go a certain way

not sure whether to trust a guy called jokester lol dont wana fry my board

vincent1989 · 2 Aug 2007 at 21:12

fonzio said:
hmm thx jokester its just that the mobo manual says to make sure they are fitted correctly one pin bein + and the other - which must mean that in this case the leads must go a certain way

not sure whether to trust a guy called jokester lol dont wana fry my board

assuming the mobo is mounted the 'normal' way...ie PCI slots at the bottom of the case then i always put the pins in with the writing face down (pointed at the bottom of the case) and have never had problems related to that...

i always thought i read somewhere that that was the right way round, i may have imagined it however

wuyanxu · 2 Aug 2007 at 21:14

if im correct, the power switch on any given case just acts like a conductor. when you press it, it conducts, when you release it, it doesn't conduct.

so it doesn't matter which way they go.

also, it is possible to turn on a computer by touching the power pins with a screw driver, and that further proofs the power switch don't have any + or -

-Nick- · 2 Aug 2007 at 21:17

i've always just done it by trial and error....is that bad? lol

fonzio · 2 Aug 2007 at 21:17

ah ok thanks guys

ah well here goes

thanks again

fonzio

vincent1989 · 2 Aug 2007 at 21:27

why not just look in the one your currently using?

DaveMac · 2 Aug 2007 at 21:44

Power and reset are momentary switches so will work either way around.

LEDs will either work or not, & if not swap it around.

No damage will occur.

Watch out for the power LED - it goes vertical on that mobo, the manual has it on a different page to the rest of the connectors.

hohum · 2 Aug 2007 at 22:17

Positive and negative for front panel connections can be determined by the wire colours. Negative is always black or white. The coloured wire (red, green, blue, orange etc etc) is the positive connection.

PhillyDee · 3 Aug 2007 at 13:03

Not to be picky, but i once had a lead which was black and white. I always wondered which one they meant to be negative. Even so, it was just the reset button, so it mattered not a jot.

tipes · 4 Aug 2007 at 19:43

hohum said:
Positive and negative for front panel connections can be determined by the wire colours. Negative is always black or white. The coloured wire (red, green, blue, orange etc etc) is the positive connection.

Correct description.