I have a 140mm forward fan I am tempted to try 18 on, i'm not much of an electrical expert though. Is there a reason you didn't go with LED's with built in resistors?
Tutorial: Adding multiple LEDs to a basic case fan.
- Thread starter Tealc
- Start date
Firstly I'm not an expert either and had considerably less knowledge and experience when I did the initial LED mods as I've now started exploring more into the world of electronics.
I went for discrete LEDs and resistors so I could save energy and wiring. A 12v LED with resistor will dissipate the same amount of energy as a string of 4 LEDs with one resistor. A 12v LED will also require a positive and negative wire connection to each and every LED which adds to the cable mess.
In my case I have 4 sets of LEDs each dissipating 20mA@12v which is total energy requirement of 1 watt. 16 LEDs wired singly to single resistors would draw almost 4 Watts.
It's actually quite tricky to wire 18 as it's an odd number per side. What I did to wire 18 was to work out the circumference and then work out the pitch between each LED and use a piece of wire to mark out the fan. Even doing this had errors and I had to manually adjust the last few points to get it to look right. Maybe 20 LEDs would be easier on a 140mm fan. I've never tried 20 as I don't have a 140mm fan I want LEDs on.
If you aren't sure which resistors to buy just post the colour LEDs you are getting.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Nov 2010
- Posts
- 16,513
- Location
- Swimming in a lake
To be honest I'd probably wire 24 over 20, for something like Blue, or Pink (in my case).
I found that wiring up 12 was much simpler than the other ones I did, because it was a multiple of 3 (the number of LED's I had in the circuit) and 4 (the number of sides on the fan). This might sound obvious, but it makes it much simpler, as you don't have to wire over any fan corners or anything like that. Don't get me wrong it's not the hardest thing in the world, but I found the 12 one of the easier ones I did
kd
I found that wiring up 12 was much simpler than the other ones I did, because it was a multiple of 3 (the number of LED's I had in the circuit) and 4 (the number of sides on the fan). This might sound obvious, but it makes it much simpler, as you don't have to wire over any fan corners or anything like that. Don't get me wrong it's not the hardest thing in the world, but I found the 12 one of the easier ones I did
kd
Bit too cold to be doing one of these down the shed atm. Besides I think the actual cost involved would be a little much as it'd take a good couple of hours to put together, plus there's postage both ways, material costs etc. Maybe if you ask when it's warmer.
that's fine mate
seems a bit much for a green glow on my psu
going to buy some led strips and run them internally in my psu instead, thanks ZZZAC
Soldering iron obviously. Don't get a £5 eBay cheapo unit though.
Side cutters would be handy.
Solder. If you can get lead/tin then get that as the lead free stuff needs a higher temperature and doesn't feel the same.
That's it really for just swapping LEDs. It's just a snip and solder job really.
If you want to get into more LED modding then some wire and heat shrink. I usually grab 7/0.2 BS4808 or some 24AWG equipment wire. 2.4 or 3.2 black polyolefin heatshrink. And LEDs.
Side cutters would be handy.
Solder. If you can get lead/tin then get that as the lead free stuff needs a higher temperature and doesn't feel the same.
That's it really for just swapping LEDs. It's just a snip and solder job really.
If you want to get into more LED modding then some wire and heat shrink. I usually grab 7/0.2 BS4808 or some 24AWG equipment wire. 2.4 or 3.2 black polyolefin heatshrink. And LEDs.
I was thinking of getting a soldering iron, obviously, a multimeter, and some cable sleeping to tidy it up a little.
I already have some solder, but I'll get some lead/tin stuff if it is lead free
Do I have to get the exact LEDs for the fan?
And I already have some wire cutters, and I may get an electric screwdriver set
I already have some solder, but I'll get some lead/tin stuff if it is lead free
Do I have to get the exact LEDs for the fan?
And I already have some wire cutters, and I may get an electric screwdriver set
You will need the same size LEDs as the ones in your fans. The ones I've seen have been 5mm standard lens. The ones I use in multiple fans like the ones featured here and in my 18LED sequenced fan were 3mm standard lens.
Flat top, straw hat, square and rectangular are other shapes which may or may not work with fans are also available in many colours.
What colour were you thinking of changing to and from?
Flat top, straw hat, square and rectangular are other shapes which may or may not work with fans are also available in many colours.
What colour were you thinking of changing to and from?
well I was thinking blue to orange (coolermaster 200mm fans) but I decided to get a fractal design r3 and put my xigmatek orange fans in that, I may change the leds in the xigmatek fans from white to uv though to make the fan blades glow
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Nov 2010
- Posts
- 16,513
- Location
- Swimming in a lake
Hmm, looking for a bit more advice.
Going to be doing some more fan mods soon, so looking to improve on the previous issues I had....
This will simply be white LEDs.
I want to fix two things though.
1: I noticed with my pink mod with 5mm LEDs they poked through and interfered with blades unless I Left bits out of the frame. All in all not great. So I was thinking about getting flat topped 3mm white LEDs for my next mod. However will this massively effect angle and stuff?
2: Stopping wiring and LEDs from not sticking flush with the fan casing. This meant that I doubt I'll actually fit the fan into the mount. Definitely more of an issue on the smaller fans, but none the less annoying. Not sure how to fix that one... Just trying to be more tidy and neat?
Oh also new mod will require some retiring slightly of mains power. Which no doubt will be fine, but what kind of grade cabling will I need? You know the kind of cable to extend a PSU cable or the such like....
kd
Going to be doing some more fan mods soon, so looking to improve on the previous issues I had....
This will simply be white LEDs.
I want to fix two things though.
1: I noticed with my pink mod with 5mm LEDs they poked through and interfered with blades unless I Left bits out of the frame. All in all not great. So I was thinking about getting flat topped 3mm white LEDs for my next mod. However will this massively effect angle and stuff?
2: Stopping wiring and LEDs from not sticking flush with the fan casing. This meant that I doubt I'll actually fit the fan into the mount. Definitely more of an issue on the smaller fans, but none the less annoying. Not sure how to fix that one... Just trying to be more tidy and neat?
Oh also new mod will require some retiring slightly of mains power. Which no doubt will be fine, but what kind of grade cabling will I need? You know the kind of cable to extend a PSU cable or the such like....
kd
Kizyoo - watch out for those uv LEDs as they appear blue/purple. It would interesting to see how they react with orange blades uv reactive though.
Kd - the flat top LEDs have a much wider cone of light than standard lens types. I forget exact figures but it's something like 150 degrees vs 20 degrees. The effect of this is that the flat led will light an area better than rounded. Good for perhaps led lighting in a case but perhaps not do good for fans. I've never really tried them on fans but I probably should have. Flats also appear dimmer because the light they produce is shared over a much larger area.
You just need to use some hot glue or something to hold the led in place.
Not sure if it's wise to mess with mains cables but 3183Y 2.5mm is the type that would be suitable.
Or did you mean an extension with IEC female to IEC male on it?
Kd - the flat top LEDs have a much wider cone of light than standard lens types. I forget exact figures but it's something like 150 degrees vs 20 degrees. The effect of this is that the flat led will light an area better than rounded. Good for perhaps led lighting in a case but perhaps not do good for fans. I've never really tried them on fans but I probably should have. Flats also appear dimmer because the light they produce is shared over a much larger area.
You just need to use some hot glue or something to hold the led in place.
Not sure if it's wise to mess with mains cables but 3183Y 2.5mm is the type that would be suitable.
Or did you mean an extension with IEC female to IEC male on it?
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 16 Nov 2010
- Posts
- 16,513
- Location
- Swimming in a lake
Yeah I basically need to do an IEC female to male. However pre-made ones are all about 0.5m plus, and I reckon I'll need about 10cm max. Not measured up yet, but that would be a guess...
kd
Just re-read your point 2 KD and yes the sticking out of LEDs from the outer casing is an issue when you have restrictive space with which to mount the fan in your case. It's particularly a problem at the centre point where the material is the thinnest. One solution to this is to not mount LEDs all the way around as in this image.
Even with 3mm LEDs the casing is quite large and the leads take up space. You can get large square SMD LEDs such as 5050 size which could possibly be glued into a round hole and provide a decent effect. If the SMD is mounted sub flush then only the forward light is seen.
5050 SMD LEDs are available on some of the LED strips and can be removed for other uses.
Here's someone else's video where they have mounted some LED tape to the outside of a translucent fan.
Quite how one would get this to work with a opaque fan though. I did consider making a slot in a frame and sticking a tape around the outside but never got any further than the considering stage.
Even with 3mm LEDs the casing is quite large and the leads take up space. You can get large square SMD LEDs such as 5050 size which could possibly be glued into a round hole and provide a decent effect. If the SMD is mounted sub flush then only the forward light is seen.
5050 SMD LEDs are available on some of the LED strips and can be removed for other uses.
Here's someone else's video where they have mounted some LED tape to the outside of a translucent fan.
Quite how one would get this to work with a opaque fan though. I did consider making a slot in a frame and sticking a tape around the outside but never got any further than the considering stage.