Tutorial: Adding multiple LEDs to a basic case fan.
- Thread starter Tealc
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It's a learning process. The first fan for me was a tad fiddly but then I had been fiddling with LEDs for a little while when I attempted it and already had gained a little soldering skill from my previous job.
Looking forward to your result.
Looking forward to your result.
first try didnt work.
are the led's ment to be a certain way round or does it not matter ?
all i done was was wire the led's up (3 of them) with one end with the resistor and the other end the negative.
could you do a diagram for 4 led's please tony.
this kind of project is not my strong point lol
are the led's ment to be a certain way round or does it not matter ?
all i done was was wire the led's up (3 of them) with one end with the resistor and the other end the negative.
could you do a diagram for 4 led's please tony.
this kind of project is not my strong point lol
Yes the LEDs are meant to be a certain way around.
I thought you were going with 8 LEDs per fan so I am wondering why you wired 3 up.
If you look at a LED you will see one leg is longer than the other. The long leg is normally the positive side and the short leg is the negative. A current must flow from the positive wire through the positive leg, through the LED and out to the negative leg and then onto the next LED or negative wire.
I can't do a picture right now as Mrs Teal'c is busy on my super fast gaming rig shopping on Argos.
If you wire just one LED incorrectly the whole line won't work as a diode stops current flowing in the reverse direction.
Maybe I need to revisit the tutorial to ensure polarity is mentioned.
I thought you were going with 8 LEDs per fan so I am wondering why you wired 3 up.
If you look at a LED you will see one leg is longer than the other. The long leg is normally the positive side and the short leg is the negative. A current must flow from the positive wire through the positive leg, through the LED and out to the negative leg and then onto the next LED or negative wire.
I can't do a picture right now as Mrs Teal'c is busy on my super fast gaming rig shopping on Argos.
If you wire just one LED incorrectly the whole line won't work as a diode stops current flowing in the reverse direction.
Maybe I need to revisit the tutorial to ensure polarity is mentioned.
right tony,one fan has been done now and what fun i had doing this one,i learnt a lot on how to fit them/solder them up so the next 3 should come easy.
here are some pictures of the nearly finished fan.
these 8 led's are actually running of one molex with one resistor.
here are some pictures of the nearly finished fan.
these 8 led's are actually running of one molex with one resistor.
Interesting placements of those LEDs.
How did you wire it up?
You can't have wired them all in series as they wouldn't light up.
Did you wire it up so you have 4 wires coming off your resistor going to 2 LEDs each? The reason I ask is because that type of wiring is not recommended for low watt resistors like the 1/4 watt ones. You are in essence loading a full 1 Watt onto a 1/4 watt resistor and it'll fail pretty quickly. Don't believe me? Power up your LEDs and put your finger on the resistor. Does it get really hot?
This is what I wrote in Post#2 of the tutorial
I'd hate for you to go glueing all this up and then have to rework it after a few hours of use due to this error.
Electronics is a funny thing you know.
Pardon me for saying though but they don't seem all that bright, or is it just me?
White should give good illumination yet they seem to be less bright than my Orange ones which produce generally less illiumination.
How did you wire it up?
You can't have wired them all in series as they wouldn't light up.
Did you wire it up so you have 4 wires coming off your resistor going to 2 LEDs each? The reason I ask is because that type of wiring is not recommended for low watt resistors like the 1/4 watt ones. You are in essence loading a full 1 Watt onto a 1/4 watt resistor and it'll fail pretty quickly. Don't believe me? Power up your LEDs and put your finger on the resistor. Does it get really hot?
This is what I wrote in Post#2 of the tutorial
I didn't know this before embarking on my fiddling with LEDs journey either.
I'd hate for you to go glueing all this up and then have to rework it after a few hours of use due to this error.
Electronics is a funny thing you know.
Pardon me for saying though but they don't seem all that bright, or is it just me?
White should give good illumination yet they seem to be less bright than my Orange ones which produce generally less illiumination.
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sorry for the late reply tony.
yes they are wired up with one resistor.
when i started the fan up some of the led's were hitting the blade's so i pushed them through a bit and now some of them dont work which is ok because i need to tidy the led's up and will start again as i know what to do now.
i will use 4 resistors for the 8 led's and see how bright they are like that but i did try one led with one resistor and to be honest was not all that bright but will go with a different aproach and see how they come out.
did you like the way i put the led's ?
i thought it would be easier to put them there to make the buile look a bit tidier and when ive finished should look good.
will try to do a fan within the next few days and post a 2nd picture of the work done.
thanks for all your help during this time tony.
yes they are wired up with one resistor.
when i started the fan up some of the led's were hitting the blade's so i pushed them through a bit and now some of them dont work which is ok because i need to tidy the led's up and will start again as i know what to do now.
i will use 4 resistors for the 8 led's and see how bright they are like that but i did try one led with one resistor and to be honest was not all that bright but will go with a different aproach and see how they come out.
did you like the way i put the led's ?
i thought it would be easier to put them there to make the buile look a bit tidier and when ive finished should look good.
will try to do a fan within the next few days and post a 2nd picture of the work done.
thanks for all your help during this time tony.
Yes you have to be slightly wary of where the LED lenses reach to. That's why I put a dab of hot glue on them once I'm happy with their location.
You'd expect them to be pretty bright at 10,000 mcd. I do know that ebay sellers tend to be a little enthusiastic with their values but still. I've got a couple of white LEDs kicking about here so will have a look and see how bright they are compared with my Orange. Maybe they don't throw light as well as coloured ones.
Yes I think having them doubled up in a corner should provide a good effect. The fan surface seems slightly reflective too which should improve the effect. I found that my red fan looks so much better than my black fan when reflecting the light they receive. I've got some spray lacquer here which I've been meaning to test out on my black fan.
You'd expect them to be pretty bright at 10,000 mcd. I do know that ebay sellers tend to be a little enthusiastic with their values but still. I've got a couple of white LEDs kicking about here so will have a look and see how bright they are compared with my Orange. Maybe they don't throw light as well as coloured ones.
Yes I think having them doubled up in a corner should provide a good effect. The fan surface seems slightly reflective too which should improve the effect. I found that my red fan looks so much better than my black fan when reflecting the light they receive. I've got some spray lacquer here which I've been meaning to test out on my black fan.
Yes just look at this difference.
Top fan is red with 16 LEDs and the bottom fan is Black with 12 LEDs. Ok so the top has more LEDs but they just seem to give more light per LED despite me using a similar resistor value (150 for 3 vs 100 for 4). The whole effect of the light seems to come from the LED light reflecting or at least warming the material of the fan spinning beneath. Shining the LEDs on a stopped fan just looks bad.
Both fans are more or less the same material reflectiveness. It just seems that black absorbs more light than the red.
You've got me thinking now what White would look like.
I may spray my 80cm fan I did the other day just to see, if I can get the fan blades off that is.
Top fan is red with 16 LEDs and the bottom fan is Black with 12 LEDs. Ok so the top has more LEDs but they just seem to give more light per LED despite me using a similar resistor value (150 for 3 vs 100 for 4). The whole effect of the light seems to come from the LED light reflecting or at least warming the material of the fan spinning beneath. Shining the LEDs on a stopped fan just looks bad.
Both fans are more or less the same material reflectiveness. It just seems that black absorbs more light than the red.
You've got me thinking now what White would look like.
I may spray my 80cm fan I did the other day just to see, if I can get the fan blades off that is.
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just a quick update.
i have scrapped the led mod's for now due to me wanting a new case (700d/800d).
what ever case i get i will mod the fans (sharkoon 120mm) when i get the case.
the sharkoon fans are white so the white led's should shine a bit brighter.
i have scrapped the led mod's for now due to me wanting a new case (700d/800d).
what ever case i get i will mod the fans (sharkoon 120mm) when i get the case.
the sharkoon fans are white so the white led's should shine a bit brighter.
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So, do you do this as a service because i would live to say i can do the mod but i know i cant. i have 5 x Arctic Cooling F12's i would love to mod like this
I'm not offering it as a service but if I were it'd be quite expensive. It's a very manual and time consuming operation. Parts alone would be £2-£3 and they take about 90 minutes. I probably could do them for £10 each if return postage was covered. I didn't take on this project to make money. I did it to make pretty.
