Front panel blue lights on Antec Sonata

[bink472]

I just recently built my first computer and everything works fine except the blue lights on my case aren't lit. My motherboard is an Asus P4P800 Deluxe and I've connected all the front connectors except for the sound. Is the power for those lights on the sound connectors or do I possibly have another one of the wires connected improperly?

Thanks in advance.

Scott

 

[Bookie]

try reversing the way you have the wires connected to the motherboard, they could just be in backwards which would cause the lights to not work.

 

[asadovsky]

yeah you prolly just have the positive and negatives backwards

 

[User1001]

Is it an indicator light? If not there may be a separate power wire (it looks just a HD power cable).

 

[bmg]

There's a separate 4 pin plug for the blue lights.

 

[bink472]

LoL, I found it. They were plugs that look just like the plugs that come from the power supply. Was expecting them to be one of the tiny little guys. Anyway, I plugged it and was like "cool, blue lights". Then I made the mistake of looking at them head on and nearly went blind. So I unplugged them.

 

[bmg]

I unplugged mine also. The novelty wears off fast.

 

[capricorn]

I ended up getting a pushbutton on/off switch, splicing into the + side of the connector, and mounting the switch in one of the 3.5 inch metal blanks. It has, however, remained in the off position since installed. If I ever need a nightlight ....

-cap

 

[diehlr]

What about hooking the blue lights up to a "Fan Only" connector? Wouldn't that make them dim by default and brighter when your system temperature increases? Might be kind of cool for CPU load visual feedback. Just a guess.

 

[tacom8]

Originally posted by: diehlr
What about hooking the blue lights up to a "Fan Only" connector? Wouldn't that make them dim by default and brighter when your system temperature increases? Might be kind of cool for CPU load visual feedback. Just a guess.

No kidden those lights are bright with straight up connection to the ps . Heck, i never knew there were lights there till some guy in a forum said he hooked up his and they had a "nice soft glow" to them....

Guess you could also toss in a voltage divider or a buncha diodes to drop it to more suitable levels. Come to think of it, i think i did try the fan only and they wouldn't light, not enough V? Anyways, it would be nice to add some functionality to the lights since i don't even use them now, im sure i'll think of something later.

 

[diehlr]

I was thinking converting them into stereo VU meters might be cool. What is the standard line output voltage on sound cards? I'm pretty sure my Santa Cruz has internal pins with the audio signal on them. Might burn it out of those diodes draw too much current, but I can't imagine that.

 

[diehlr]

Found out, most sound cards only output on the order of a few volts.

However, the reason why the Fan Only connector didn't work.. Those diodes probably are 5 volts. The fan only connectors might only output on the 12 volt pin. So, if you can find something that supplies a varying 5 volt signal with enough juice, then it should work as a signal to light up those lights. I might mess around with it later.

 

[Naruto]

If they use 4 pin molex, can't you 5 volt the thing by switching around the pins.

 

[diehlr]

My guess is they already are running on 5 volts. A lot of LEDs are 5v. Some are 12, though.