Project: Ay

@ G-dubs - Did you mean Big Trak? Yes me too. A friend of mine had one and I was so jealous. I must have mentioned it to the wife at some point over the years as she picked it up for Christmas as a surprise.

@ KD - No it's not difficult to get hold of. I've got it just resting on a small shelf where one of drive bays ends. Not sure if you will see all the wiring but will take the side off and see what it looks like.
 
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Ok.

Here's a quick picture marked up.

ledpowerthingy.jpg


And yes I know it's 8 way. For some reason I thought it was 12.

So you can see the White Molex which was originally from a 3 pin fan to Molex converter thingy. I actually removed the 5v pins using a pointed tool. I have disconnected the connector from the PSU for the image.

I soldered and heatshrunk a length of red wire to the yellow and routed it up to the switch.

switchpanel.jpg


The switch on the left is the LED on/off switch and the switch on the right is the one that turns the panel illumination on or off.

As you can see the +12v comes in on the right, loops to each switch in turn and ends with the leftmost one. The lead directly below the +12v on the leftmost is the Accessory lead going back to the terminal block. The Accessory lead on the right switch feeds power to the LED array on the panel so it can be lit independently of the case and fan lights.

I can switch a good few Amps with this combination, certainly more power than I need at present.

The power lead from the switch feeds into the back of the terminal block and I've added some short links going from one cavity to the next and done the same with the grounds. I then fit all my positive LED leads into the left of the terminal block and all my ground leads into the right of the terminal block. It of course doesn't matter too much if I wire them up wrong as no current will flow through these single colour LEDs backwards.

It's really simple but it works really well. I could have spent money and created a connector bank of 2 pin headers or something but this is hidden around the back of my case and allows me to work with bared wires rather than have to crimp stuff on.

As for wiring on the fans they are deeply fixed and would involve removing hard drives and countless cables but as luck would have it I do have a 80cm fan wired up in the shed. When I did the tutorial I didn't pay much attention to the wiring up so I can see how that can be a little confusing. Will see what I can come up with to illustrate the wiring method better.
 
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Having spent the last 10 minutes or so re-reading the thread and stuff, I think I'm now starting to understand!

What I'll probably do is try and draw up a circuit diagram up on paint or the such like later when I get time!


As an update on the project and case, I received the other case yesterday, and will upload pictures later, with the quick once over I reckon I'll be using that case instead, however will no doubt take me a while sitting down with both of them to work out which I'd prefer!

I also ordered a PSU yesterday off of OCUK, whilst the ethos is very much second hand, I want to put a semi-capable system into this, so I didn't really want to cheap out on the PSU. If all goes to plan it will only be this and possibly a HDD that will be brand new... I'd update with pictures of the PSU however since DX next day has failed and apparently now isn't going to arrive until tomorrow -.- Quite frustrating really as I never had any issues with DPD, but ah, such is life...

kd
 
No need mate.

I thought it was worth doing a fresh one for my tutorial anyway.

schematicx.jpg


As you can see the +12v red wire feeds each string of 4 LEDs in series through a current limiting resistor. The wire is linked before the resistor and off to the next one. I could have used 4 red wires to do the same job but chose to create links to reduce wire clutter. The black wires just form a chain connecting up all the end cathodes. I routed the red clockwise and the black anti-clockwise so that I could save a little bit of wiring as the wires do not need to go all the way around the fan.

I would probably use a higher resistance if I were to redo this now. 100 ohms is a bit low considering the true Vf of the LEDs is just 2.1v. They are still working after more than a year though so it can't be that bad.
 
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Ok, so here's to hoping my diagram is correct....

Basically I've tried to work this out, and on the basis the Pink LED's should be about 3.2-3.6V I'm looking at 4 sets of 3 LED's on my fans (Because 3 makes an easier circuit!) This would give a total of 12 Fans obviously :) I reckon 3 should be ok for brightness as they're 5mm and 10000MCD

3.6V*3 = 10.8V Hence the decision for 3 LED's a circuit.
Also this means the Voltage Drop should be 1.2v
The ones I found have a DC forward current of 20mA

Here's my rough diagram! First square box the red cable goes into would be the resistors!
Circuit-1.png


Questions:
1)I've got slightly confused as to what resistor value I'd be needing? I'd prefer them to be slightly dimmed by the resistor and possibly last longer rather than run a slightly higher voltage than recommended as I'd prefer not to have to fiddle with this mod for a while!
2) I just want to check as well that all the wires are soldered up in the right places on the diagram? Just so I don't end up creating a circuit I don't want to or something!
3) Where would be the best place to pick up some cheap thin cable? What kind of thing would I be looking to find?
4) Again best place to get a terminal block? Bay again? Is there any one in particular I should be getting or would any of them do? From what I can guess it needs 10 terminals as such? (4 Fans + 2 ports?) I might end up only using 3 fans would I then only need an 8 port terminal block? It becomes more complicated choosing which one by having recommended amps and all sorts...!

The other thing I've realised, is that even with the system above, again, if I wanted to remove the fans and put them in a new case, I'd have to remove them all as they're in the terminal block?

In light of this when the PSU arrives tomorrow (hopefully, I may change the wiring plan again!)

Thanks again for the help

kd
 
1) 3.6v *3 = 10.8v so there's about 1.2v to drop across the resistor at 20mA or lower as you determine, some examples below.

V / I = R

1.2 / 0.02 = 60 ohms

1.2 / 0.015 = 80 ohms

1.2 / 0.01 = 120 ohms

I would suggest trying each out and see which you are happy with.

LEDs don't dim linearly with current and will still be pretty bright at 15mA. I've never actually tested this much in depth. A LED at 20mA will still last several years whereas a LED at max 30mA might last considerably shorter.

I found 16 LEDs to be much nicer than 12 LEDs on a fan but it does get tricky with Pink/Blue/Purple/White and their higher Vf.

2) Looks fine to me but you can use the first position on the terminal block if you want. We assume that you are wiring those LEDs with correct polarity.

3) I used some telephone extensions red and black cores but you can use anything really. The current on the wiring loom will be at most 80mA for 4 series of LEDs and even if you did 8 sets of 2 LEDs in series you'd still only be 160mA which requires very little wire really. I'd go for some 7/0.2 cored equipment cable with the minimum PVC thickness you can find. Something like this or maybe a multicore which can break down like this.

Before you go buying though I'd check if you have any wiring kicking about in old unused USB leads, monitor cables and such. Provided it's not too thick and doesn't have thick insulation it'll be fine.

4) I got mine from a local pound shop but eBay do stuff like this too. Something like this cut down to the size you want. I chose 3 Amp because it is smaller in size than a 5A or 16A terminal block.

You can of course put all the LED wires from the fans into just two positiions of the terminal block, just use one Live and one Ground. Might get a bit cramped in there though. I have had several items screwed into one slot before. At the moment I've only got 3 LED fans fitted to it as I took my LED strips out and haven't gotten around to putting them back in yet. If I were to install my project Madness fan and PCB in there I'd run it off the terminal block too, or one like it. It's just a handy way to connect things up without worrying about crimping tools, terminals and standard types of connector.

If you wish to move a fan from the system to another it can just be unscrewed from the terminal block and fitted to the other system, although if you wanted the LEDs to work you'd need to hook it up to power there as well.
 
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Yeah, I did see the version of your 12 LED fan and wasn't so sure :S But would be slightly more of a pain to fit more LED's in :(

Just to clarify as well an I value of 0.02 is 20mA? Am failing to scale up my values correctly :(

Thanks for the help so far, will wait to see the PSU tomorrow and connectors to work out what to do :)

HPCaseExt.png

As a side note what you can see on the side is just some bubblewrap marks that'll just wash off

HPCaseInt.png


HPCaseInt2.png


Might work out what I'm doing with it later, cable management space still doesn't look great :(

kd
 
Ok, a small update :)

So a nice new product turned up :)

OCZBox.png


OCZPSU.png


Braid wasn't the greatest, but I've already ordered some better stuff :)
OCZPSU2.png


So was going to use the black case, but when taking it apart earlier, I discovered it is the most stupidly designed side panel in the world...

Stupid-Side-Panel.png


So back to old case...
Back-to-old-case.png


Need cake for a break :)

CAKE.png


Found out that my 20p sanding block was soft... Thought this was a bit stupid as it stopped me getting pressure on the case with sand paper... So went to a house down the road I knew was chucking a load of wood out... and got the penknife saw out to cut down the wood to a sanding paper block size :)

New-Sanding-Block.png


Got pulled away though, by Miss.kd to fix the Sink U-Bend..
U-Bend.png


Managed to nicely sand down the top :) Fairly unreflective, but perfect for primer. Still need to do underside of top panel and both sides of side panels though!
Sanded-Top.png


Sanded-Top2.png


I've now started to draw up where I might want to cut, and also work out where I can put fans in, and therefore what size fans I'll be needing...
Sketched-up-lines.png


Trying to work out if this'll fit an ATX Mobo.. Think it might, but what does everyone else thing?
Fits-ATX.png


That's about it for today, might do some more work tomorrow :)

kd
 
Just a small update:

There have been further updates, however nothing is as of yet really 'complete.'

Also back in lectures and working now, so project pace has slowed down.

Parts are however arriving happily, and I'll get some photos uploaded soon :)

For now, I'll give you a little sneak at more of the colour scheme...
This also might help to explain why updates are taking some time.

MDPC-Package.png

MDPC-Sketch.png

Braid2.png

Braid1.png

SATA-Sleeved.png


I have to say, as others have said, this is absolutely gorgeous stuff.

I did end up spending more on braiding for the PSU than the PSU itself though! xD

Sleeving the Sata cable was pretty easy. So far the biggest challenge to me has been attempting to remove the pins...

Still really struggling to get the colours to come out properly with the camera :(

kd
 
Another update!

Ok it has been quite some time...

There have been a couple of issues with the project and life at the moment that are slowing me down!

Project issues are that sleeving all the bloody cables is putting me off, the OCZ cables aren't the highest quality so it's a completely pain to get them out of the socket. This has kind of put me off in some areas.

Bigger issue is Uni at the moment. Second year has turned up with a lot more work than I was expecting, so this is taking a back seat, especially as I'm having to apply for a bunch of internships as well.

Anyway, the LED's from Hong Kong arrived in the post the other day, and tonight I finally got around to modding my lights. I drilled the holes yesterday, and this evening have put in all the LED's. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the result, think it would be something Teal would be proud of! xD

Special thanks to Teal actually, for all the help he has been giving me on wiring etc.. But it's actually been a part of the build I've really enjoyed.

Anyway. Here are some pictures :)

3LED's on Smallest fan, 6 on middle, 12 on largest. Largest is 140mm, middle I think is 80mm, can't quite remember smallest xD

Testing LEDs with some batteries to see if they worked.
batterytestled.png


All rigged in daytime shot - hotwiring my PSU to act as a power source for these xD:
dayi.png


Close up Daytime shot (brighter than they look!):
closeupdayleds.png


Night Shot:
nightshotled.png


Am going to see what I can do about actually powering the fans themselves (still working on a solution for this one xD) and I'll get some shots with them spinning as well!

I'll need to extend the cables to get the fans into position in the case when I put them in, but that's not an issue at all really.

Pretty pleased with the light they put off, definitely more than my Purple Xigmatek Crystals in my K62. Not sure if I want more light yet, if I do I'll be creating some LED strips from the LED's as well, as I picked up about 200 of them xD About 10p each, if that xD

kd
 
It's back!

Well, whilst I don't have Uni work to do at least!

I've sold off a lot of the hardware that was going to go into this, seeing as I think this is now going to be much more of a long-term project then I originally expected. However, the project is still going to go ahead!

Anyway, foolishly in the mean time, since last posting, I got a bit fed up with the whole thing, and thought sod it, and tried spraying it, without the correct preparation....

It did not go well:
idioticimpatience.png


Anyway, we live and learn, just more sanding for me to get done. I learnt the joys of sanding with the Dremel though, so getting the paint off shouldn't be too hard. :)

So I thought it was time to start working on the case properly again, so started off with some basic cable routing holes. So: holes for PSU to back of case, PSU in and CPU backplate:
cpuandcablingcutout.png


I then moved onto the Side Window, so all marked up :)
markingup.png


And started cutting.... Although this is where problem 1 occurred... It seems my Dremel seems to like eating through Dremel Discs:
discissue1.png

discissue2.png


For the record, these were the standard discs that came with the Dremel, however as you can see, to try and stop them from snapping (see above), I had doubled them up, so I'm impressed that they were demolished so quickly - pretty sure the case is quite resilient...

Anyway, based on advice, I tried out some of the speedclic discs... Seeing as they're apparently more resilient, and I had 2 lying around.... Well they didn't last long either -.-
discissue3.png


Anyway, a trip to the shops later, and I'm back with 50+ Cutting discs, and some sanding drums in preparation for fixing my massive screw up...
discissueresolution.png


Seems like the world was against me though, as coming back from the shops I fell off of the bike...
worldagainstme.png



Set me back a couple of days, but in the end I finally have a nice side window cut out :)
sidewindowcut.png

sidewindowcut2.png


Next task, was to drill the mounting holes, which frankly took forever. I've spent about 4 hours drilling 8 holes. I definitely need a better drill, if I'm going to do lots of drilling...
fanmountingholesdrilled.png


And to my delight, the holes actually fitted up!
fanmountingholesdrilled.png



So that's progress for now.
As you may have noticed, I've been banned from working outside by the gf... So, I've now relocated to my bathroom where it doesn't disturb people quite as much. I'll have to go back outside when I want to spray, but for now it'll do.

I'm currently working on cable braiding in the evening, when I don't want to annoy everyone too much with the small amounts of noise I make, so hopefully I can update you guys on that soon, and hopefully base sanding layer is going to get done this week!

kd
 
To be honest guys, chances are this will be slowly wound down. I still have the case, and might continue to do some work on it over Summer if I get bored, but I'll soon be starting a project for my own PC.

I'll update it if I do do more though

kd
 
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