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- 12 Nov 2009
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- 123
Very nice.
Tutorial: Adding multiple LEDs to a basic case fan.
- Thread starter Tealc
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 1 Mar 2008
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- 26,303
Great tut. Nice work chap.
So I finally installed the second attempt at doing this to my case. I can't believe I'm so lazy, but anyway.
Top fan is the 16 LED version on the Xilence fan, much neater work. The bottom fan is the 12 LED version done on a Tri-cool, a little haphazard I think.
Day shots, one with filters closed and one open.
Night shots, one with filters closed and one open.
I wish I'd removed the grille of these before I installed the hardware instead of rushing to fit everything the day the case arrived.
Top fan is the 16 LED version on the Xilence fan, much neater work. The bottom fan is the 12 LED version done on a Tri-cool, a little haphazard I think.
Day shots, one with filters closed and one open.
Night shots, one with filters closed and one open.
I wish I'd removed the grille of these before I installed the hardware instead of rushing to fit everything the day the case arrived.
Associate
I actually came because of this thread <3
Associate
Genuinely looks hot, like you've got molten metal in your case smouldering away!
Pretty awesome stuff.
Pretty awesome stuff.
I have a question, considering you're using the molex from the psu (and i assume psu's don't have too many molex connections on them) how would you go about doing this to multiple fans? Multiple molex connections, or just the one, spread across a lot of fans?
PSU newb here.. running a 5 year old rig which doesn't have much of an impressive psu, so i'm interested
Besides that, awesome guide and outcomes
PSU newb here.. running a 5 year old rig which doesn't have much of an impressive psu, so i'm interested
Besides that, awesome guide and outcomes
Initially I did use the same kind of thing as is pictured in post #31, but as I added more and more led strips, led fans etc to my case I found it was getting a little tricky to squeeze the two molexes and the wires into the case.
So I bought a couple of terminal blocks from the pound shop, wired it up and hot glued it into my case as pictured. The bloody front panel wires get on my nerves, they make them so bloody long that they just get in the way of everything.
I now have 4 spots for wiring anything 12v up, and I can double or even triple up wires to each terminal. I also wired a switch up so I could flick it off for any reason, although I can't see that I would need to.
I didn't take any pictures as I was wiring it up though so this quick schematic may help someone.
So I bought a couple of terminal blocks from the pound shop, wired it up and hot glued it into my case as pictured. The bloody front panel wires get on my nerves, they make them so bloody long that they just get in the way of everything.
I now have 4 spots for wiring anything 12v up, and I can double or even triple up wires to each terminal. I also wired a switch up so I could flick it off for any reason, although I can't see that I would need to.
I didn't take any pictures as I was wiring it up though so this quick schematic may help someone.
Soldato
So had a message in trust today from schizo3177 asking about 80cm fans and the potential for adding white LEDs to them. He's going to try it himself but seeing as I had a few minutes spare today and a spare never used fan I'd thought I'd give it a quick whirl.
Anyway here's the fan. Xilence 80cm redwing.
I won't bore you with the procedure again but slight changes were made to fit the 80cm size and reduced LED count. I used two 510 ohm resistors in parallel to give me an overall resistance of 255ohm. 12v - (2.3v x 3) = 5.1v to drop at 20mA = 5.1 / 0.02 = 255 ohm. Perfect.
Here's one side lit up. Decided on 3 per side as 4 might have made it too busy.
And all lit up. A gloomy day enhances the colour.
A bit messy but was rushing to get it done before the wife got home with the kids.
And overall shot. Used a two wire old modem lead for the LED power supply, this would just hook right into my 12v terminal block on the rear side of the motherboard.
Makes me wonder how well 4 per side would look, it'd be a bit of a fiddly job to wire up the LEDs due to the cramped space but might work out well enough.
The LEDs seem to stick out the side of this design a great deal and would cause problems if the fan were to be fitted in a restrictive space. Probably will add insulation tape to the sides to protect it from the case.
Also chopped off the Molex and just joined the fan header wires up to make that neater.
Here's a more shots just for fun.
Comments, questions, advice, just ask.
Anyway here's the fan. Xilence 80cm redwing.
I won't bore you with the procedure again but slight changes were made to fit the 80cm size and reduced LED count. I used two 510 ohm resistors in parallel to give me an overall resistance of 255ohm. 12v - (2.3v x 3) = 5.1v to drop at 20mA = 5.1 / 0.02 = 255 ohm. Perfect.
Here's one side lit up. Decided on 3 per side as 4 might have made it too busy.
And all lit up. A gloomy day enhances the colour.
A bit messy but was rushing to get it done before the wife got home with the kids.
And overall shot. Used a two wire old modem lead for the LED power supply, this would just hook right into my 12v terminal block on the rear side of the motherboard.
Makes me wonder how well 4 per side would look, it'd be a bit of a fiddly job to wire up the LEDs due to the cramped space but might work out well enough.
The LEDs seem to stick out the side of this design a great deal and would cause problems if the fan were to be fitted in a restrictive space. Probably will add insulation tape to the sides to protect it from the case.
Also chopped off the Molex and just joined the fan header wires up to make that neater.
Here's a more shots just for fun.
Comments, questions, advice, just ask.
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Associate
looking nice 
Might give that a go myself, my fans have a clear housing so the light can radiate all around(which might look ****, but never mind)
Might give that a go myself, my fans have a clear housing so the light can radiate all around(which might look ****, but never mind
)
right,ive got 99% of the stuff i ordered and just waiting on the led's now.
here are my weapons of choice for this battle.
i will be putting 4 white led's on a 80mm fan and hope they come out bright enough.
will give a update once i have done one and see what it look's like.
wish me luck !
here are my weapons of choice for this battle.
i will be putting 4 white led's on a 80mm fan and hope they come out bright enough.
will give a update once i have done one and see what it look's like.
wish me luck !
right,ive got 99% of the stuff i ordered and just waiting on the led's now.
here are my weapons of choice for this battle.
i will be putting 4 white led's on a 80mm fan and hope they come out bright enough.
will give a update once i have done one and see what it look's like.
wish me luck !
Looks like some form of torture implement!
Loving this thread mate, think i might have to give it a go
56 Ohm 56R Carbon Film Resistors 1/4W 0.25W X 100
Heavy Duty Helping Hands Magnifying Soldering Stand
hi m8.
the resistors are the one's you linked me to on e-bay.
if you copy and paste the items i have listed and put them into e bay then they are are on there.
helping hands are very nice and very heavy and should come in handy for soldering.
Heavy Duty Helping Hands Magnifying Soldering Stand
hi m8.
the resistors are the one's you linked me to on e-bay.
if you copy and paste the items i have listed and put them into e bay then they are are on there.
helping hands are very nice and very heavy and should come in handy for soldering.
The resistors were specified based on a 3 per circuit arrangement so wouldn't work so well on 4 wired in series. You could probably just wire the 4 in series without a resistor, or possibly 2 White LEDs per circuit with 2 of the resistors in series (to make 112ohm) for full LED brightness. We were initially talking about 12 LEDs per fan and the 56ohm resistors were specced for that configuration.
Hope that doesn't confuse you.
I use a fire lighter thing I picked up from the pound shop, a cigarrette lighter would be the same. I've also used the soldering iron to radiate heat into the polyolefin shrink but it takes ages to go down.
Hope that doesn't confuse you.
I use a fire lighter thing I picked up from the pound shop, a cigarrette lighter would be the same. I've also used the soldering iron to radiate heat into the polyolefin shrink but it takes ages to go down.
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Associate
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- 16 Mar 2010
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- 369
really good stuff