Project car boot

You could always wire 4 or 5 Leds in series on a 12v line from molex connector. This way each one would see 2.5-3.0v each which is fine.

Alternatively you can often buy multiple LEDs from the well known online auction site that come with free resistors to step down from 12v. As an example I have some 5mm blue LEDs which I think are standard brightness and have 470 ohm resistors supplied. Check this too http://ledcalc.com/#

I've bought a few sets from there for silly, back of the sofa prices.

Edit: Just checked my spare LED fan and they are actually wired in Parallel with resistors.

I really wish at least a bit of that meant something to me. Any chance of a sort of "buy this" and" wire it in like this" with pictures sort of thing.

Trust enabled.
 
Depends what you want to do with the LEDs. If the tuniq is purely lit by it's LED fan then it's just a straight swap for the LEDs. If you want something more like point lighting around the case, potentially out through the front fans then the wiring would be simple enough providing you have some wire, some solder, a soldering iron and some insulation tape.

I'm thinking of accenting my P183 just for something fun to do anyway.
 
Thinking of doing both, and it's a skill I would love to have.

I can solder, and have all the other stuff, even have some leds about the place. It's just the whole worry of making things go bang (like my mobo) that concerns me.

I have 2 lots of leds, of 2 sizes but no idea of their electrical rating or how the whole thing works. I remember V=IR but that's about it.

Up for a tutorial???
 
The worst thing that would happen if you wired up a LED to a 12v source and didn't put the right resistor in is the LED would go pop. It's actually pretty funny to see a normal dim red LED go bright orange, give off smoke and go bang.

If you are at all unsure about putting something in your case then run it off a 12v power adapter first, like the ones you may have to run a router or something. I've several 12v power sources around my house, you probably do as well.

Ok basically it's all about V=IR so you know about that.

The formula is thus.

Supply Voltage - LED Voltage / LED current (In Amps) = Resistor value.

So for a ultra bright orange LED on the bay.

Lenses Type : Crystal Clear

Case Style : Round 5mm

Brightness : 6000mcd (Ultra Bright)

Forward Voltage : 1.8 – 2.2v

Forward Current : 20mA (Typical) 30mA (Max)


If the Supply voltage is 12V, and the LED nominal voltage is 2V, requiring a current of 20mA (0.020A) then.

R = (12V - 2V) / 0.02A = 500ohm. You could choose any resistor value close to this.

+ve wire-----resistor----LED|
-ve wire -------------------|



If you join 4 LEDs along a single wire, (long leg to short leg) say for a fan application (wire in series)

+ve wire-----resistor-----LED------LED------LED------LED------- +ve wire|
-ve wire ------------------------------------------------------ -ve wire|


then you add each LED together to make 8V and in this case it would become..

R=(12V-8V) / 0.02A = 200ohm



You can have mutiple wires off the +12v source as the current draw is tiny.


As I said it would probably be easier to source packs of 10 LEDs that come with resistors suited for 12v applications and wiring to suit that. Otherwise you'd need to buy different resistors for different amounts of LEDs in series.

If I get a chance tomorrow/next day I will make a small LED wiring loom and take pictures as an example.

I have a few 5mm ultrabright blue LEDs along with some large 10mm White ones which I bought for different projects.

Bright LEDs are the best for lighting cases.

Just for fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO8PdCBejDs and why we need to use resistors http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLctUO1DGtw The current provided by the PSU, even on 5v line is far too much for a LED.
 
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Ok. A quick wiring job. I will probably use two core cable of some description, maybe telephone lead or something for a proper build.

I'm sure you have lots of these connectors for wiring up fans. Simply cut off the fan header part, or solder directly to it. I had one already stripped so I used that.

I soldered the 470 ohm resistor directly to the stripped wire, then soldered the anode of the LED to that. (The anode is the smaller of the two internal contacts and is usually the the one with the slightly longer leg) I soldered the black wire to the cathode of the LED.

led1.jpg


And with it supplied with 12v by my 1.5A power supply. Bit blurry.

1led.jpg


I added another red and black wire spur and assembled another resistor/LED combination there.

2ledson.jpg


And finally another spur. This one I soldered the resistor close to the LED body and also cut the resistor legs to make it tidier. This is how I would wire this up for a mod. You can also see my 12v supply here.

overall-led.jpg


A close up of a tidier LED and resistor combination.

closeup-tidyled.jpg


I had some 150 ohm resistors kicking about so I wired up 4 LEDs in series, anode to cathode and threw 12v through 4 of them in series. I don't actually remember the voltage of my blue LED or their power rating so I was a little in the dark here.

Inseries.jpg


Hope that illustrates how this thing works and how it's wired. You don't have to follow the same shape as I did. Providing it is electrically the same you can have wires coming off your main trunk that are much longer, or shorter than mine. All you need is the main power lines and a spur off wherever you want it. If you used 2 core cable you could even just expose the copper wiring and solder the LED/Resistor to it without all this messiness.

Edit: Something like this..
OnTelephoneCableUnlit.jpg


OnTelephoneCableLit.jpg


This LED mod would look so cool in orange complementing the colour scheme of your mod.
 
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Those SATA cables might work well tbh, nothing wrong in giving it a whirl :D

If they look a tad poo some orange braid on them would be awesome :)
 
Wiring pictures and instructions are great mate just what I needed to give me the nerve to have a go. You have some real skills there.

Being doing a bit of braiding meantime.

bit of a mess




Extended the length of one of them and braided both with wire and braid left over from other jobs.

these cable stripping and crimping pliers are one of the best investments I ever made. They make it so easy.










I use this tape to cover over the bare ends of the wires making it easier to pass the braiding over without snagging. It's 3M Micropore. If you work for the NHS you've probably got some in the house somewhere. If not I think you can get it from Boots.




The pin removal tool didn't do a very good job (not a good investment) In the end I used the point of some scissors to get the fan pins out of the connector




Looking a bit better.





Also going to try to wire up the front switch panel I made from an old DVD drive




 
You are right about those pin removal tools are never good! Pretty much every person who has done some braiding that I have spoken to always resorts to something more rudimentary. Mine always seems to break...grrr
Looking good though! Hows the front of the case going? or is that a no go area? :P
 
You just had to mention the front of the case didn't you....

You just wouldn't let it lie.....

yeah when i'm feeling inexplicably happy, you know, a general sense of joy for no particular reason, I just go and have a look at the front of the case and it soon goes away.

Actually waiting for some foam board trim to arrive which i'll use to cover it over. Maybe also use some as a black border for the fan holes.

I'd like to have a go at re braiding the 24pin mobo plug but for the life of me can't seem to get the pins out.

Any advice
 
In the company I used to work for we had special tools to extract those terminals from fan header connector. A nail with 2 pointed ends would be driven into a 10mm cylinder of wood. This 'tool' would extract pretty much anyway terminal, and we used hundreds of different types. If that failed a craft knife point would be used.

If you need ant further help with LEDs do let me know.
 
Yeh I get that feeling when I look at my 5870... paper clip found its way into my case and onto my card... whats that horrible smell you say??? sad times...

The 24pin plug pins have two notches from what i recall... so you need two really thin pins or staples in my case. been a while since i bothered messing with those... so there are probably simpler ways now...
 
are the locating barbed pins either side or top and bottom of each individual pin?

I've been faffing around and generally trying to get them out by swearing at them a lot but it isn't working.
 
Minifit junior removal pins are on the two sides. They are a complete pain to get out without the right tool. The tool we used for these was a two pronged affair, with a separation to go either side of the terminal. I seem to recall Molex charged an arm and a leg for them.

11-03-0044.jpg


Here's the female terminal. The tool must pass down each side and push both wings in at the same time.

863-0419.jpg


If you can find two similar things narrow enough you can shove it down the side of a terminal pushing down on each until the terminal pops free. It will need to be hard like metal and shaped similar to the official tool. I destroyed far too many of these connectors trying to extract the female terminals. By the way you extract from the front of the connector with the wires away from you, just in case.

You could always cut the wires, fit your braid, pull it back a way and solder all connections back covering with some of that heatshrink you have. 24 unique ways to fry your motherboard though.
 
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Cheers got a tool similar to the one above and have just had a go with it.

It took a bit working out just how much force to use but I seem to have cracked it.

It's this sort of help and support that I think makes this forum a great place.
 
^^ Useful for when I get into braiding & lighting too :), I sleeved part of my flat ide cable the other day lol, was a bleep to get on, but got there eventually lol :D.
 
I never understood the need for tools when braiding (unless you do an awful lot of it). I recently braided an entire PSU (inc 24 pin) with 1 bent staple, and a decent pair of needle-nosed pliers. You have to bend it correctly, but it works, and if you are having to apply a load of pressure, you're doing it wrong. Literally all the staple needs to do is push the two 'wings' of the connector in. Pushing really hard won't achieve anything, as the force is in the wrong direction.

Nice find, nice build and excellent modding G-Dubs. Liked your two Skeletons too...
 
Cheer marvin

Never had much bother with other cables and if you've seen the skelton mods you'll know i've done a few!!! (actually a bit of a braiding addict)

Just this PSU was proving a bit troublesome. I guess its all in the technique which I guess like most things in life comes with practice.

So tell me your staple/pliers technique. It sounds a bit easier
 
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