LED

[KEV1N]

Hey! I have a translucent front bezel, it's this opaque white (Antec Gemstone, blue). I was planning on putting some blue LEDS in behind the front bezel so the front kinda glows blue while the computer's on. I ordered some of these "high output" blue LEDs from Radio Shack. Can these be powered by just splicing off the normal "power-on" LED line? How do I power these? I got these Radio Shack ones.

5.0mm Low Current Super Blue LEDs, 3-4V, Luminous Intensity 500 MCD.

Also, if could these be wired to the regular power supply, what kind of resistor would I need? I don't know much about electronics.

Thank you!

Kev

 

[KEV1N]

Also is it possible to run two LEDS off of the same mobo header?

 

[Mark R]

N.B. You haven't sepcified what the maximum current for the LEDs is. I've assumed 15 mA - if this is higher than the maximum, then you will need to increase the value of the resistors.

If you only plan on using 1, powering it from the 5 V supply then a 100 Ohm resistor will be appropriate.

Note that LEDs, if connected in parallel must each have a resistor.

An alternative, if you want a lot of LEDs is to run 3 of them in series from the 12 V supply. In this case, a 150 Ohm resistor will be appropriate, per string of 3.

Circuit 1
Circuit 2

Best not to run 2 LEDs off the same header - they will both operate dimly, although there will be no risk of burn out.

 

[Chintan]

Hey Kevin,

Nice to see you here!! I didn't know you visit these forums

anyways... here's a link on how to change case LED's and it will give you lots of good info on what you are planning to do:

LED How-to Guide

good luck... and IM me one of these days. talk to you later.

 

[KEV1N]

What's up Chintan! I move to my apartment in Davis tomorrow. Thanks for the replies. Mark, it was very kind of you to have those drawings up. Thanks. I plan on switching out the standard LED in my case for a blue one, and using another blue one powered off of the power supply to light the blowhole over my CPU area. Thanks!

 

[KEV1N]

I got two 12V "Blue Lamps" (which are just white lights with blue lenses). They were only like $1 at the rat shack. I mounted them inside the front of my translucent case and there's like a cool blue flame fading up the front bezel. This did the trick. What's cool is, it goes right into the PS. I'm still going to swap LEDs though. Thanks for the help again!