|
The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition
|
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
29. September 2010 @ 16:19 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by omegaman7:
Just discovered that the LED's are sensitive in a certain way. There are apparently positive and negative terminals on the lights. And it's critical that they are connected accordingly. Not usually so with 12V bulbs. Not sure if the voltage has something to do with this. Wouldn't think so. At least I discovered this BEFORE I hot glued everything back in place. I would have been screaming and yelling LOL!
This is what I've done. Sorry its blurry. When I zoom with my camera, clarity goes out the window LOL! It'll be different in the future. Probably solder, than hot glue. I got lazy.
I was testing them, and they were not lighting up. I thought somehow the use of the solder gun blew them. Much like welding without proper grounding? In any case, I reversed the wiring and all was well. Apparently positive and negative connections are critical. So I'll be wiring them, while the computer is running...
Oman7,
I thought you knew that they were Diodes! That's what the "D" stands for in LED (Light Emitting Diode). Diodes only pass current in one direction!
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
 |
|
Advertisement
|
 |
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 16:23 |
Link to this message
|
LOL! I know that now russ.
Thanks sam. Valuable information. I guess we'll see what happens :S
The thing is, the device I bought:
This one
It Did have obvious resistors(it would need them, due to 12V molex input), but I don't believe the stock LED's in my tower did. I think they're being fed what they need. Perhaps off the 5v rail. Or a different rail, regulated by the mobo. Which would be whatever the Fpanel puts out...
Wish I had a voltage meter. Then I could determine exactly what the Fpanel puts out :(
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. September 2010 @ 16:38
|
|
ddp
Moderator
|
29. September 2010 @ 16:47 |
Link to this message
|
omega, they are using 5volts.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 16:48 |
Link to this message
|
|
You think the F_panel is universally 5V then?
If that's true, than the LED's are only getting slightly more than their requirement. Which allows them to be brighter. At probably a slight cut in life...
I knew there was a reason I love this thread! xD
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. September 2010 @ 16:54
|
|
ddp
Moderator
|
29. September 2010 @ 16:54 |
Link to this message
|
|
front panel gets power from motherboard not psu directly so circuitry is already builtin.
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:23 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by omegaman7:
LOL! I know that now russ.
Thanks sam. Valuable information. I guess we'll see what happens :S
The thing is, the device I bought:
This one
It Did have obvious resistors(it would need them, due to 12V molex input), but I don't believe the stock LED's in my tower did. I think they're being fed what they need. Perhaps off the 5v rail. Or a different rail, regulated by the mobo. Which would be whatever the Fpanel puts out...
Wish I had a voltage meter. Then I could determine exactly what the Fpanel puts out :(
Oman7,
Typically, most LEDs require less than 2v DC. They can handle about 5v, maximum, before blowing out, although I don't recommend it. You could also daisy-chain about 8 of them in a series circuit (+ to -, + to -, and so on, and use the 12v DC from the PSU fed to each open end. If that isn't bright enough for you, you could use 7 instead, for a bit more brightness, or 9 for a bit less. The down side to the Series circuit is that if one LED dies, the whole string goes out.
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:29 |
Link to this message
|
|
That's one of the first things I learned about basic electronics. Wiring in series. 2 12v batteries in series = 24V, and so on. I hope that isn't the way it was wired stock. I guess I'll find out when/if I pop the led's...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:30 |
Link to this message
|
Typical cheap large LEDs have a 2V voltage drop. Smaller ones may be less. Typically bright blue/purple/white ones have higher than 2V.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:32 |
Link to this message
|
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:35 |
Link to this message
|
|
Notice as it's a UV LED the Vf is 3.2-3.8V.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:37 |
Link to this message
|
|
Do you think they would survive ~5V, or is that over doing it. 25% overvolt does seem extreme.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:43 |
Link to this message
|
|
No, if it says 3.8V max I wouldn't expect them to survive 4V for long, let alone 5V. Even if they did survive, with no current limiters you'd probably fry them anyway.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
29. September 2010 @ 17:54 |
Link to this message
|
Man...I'm buying a voltage reader today. It's the only way to be 100% certain. I've wanted one for a long time anyway :p If I don't, I'm calling MSI to know EXACTLY what the damn wires are reading... ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 00:50 |
Link to this message
|
I wonder if they're getting the other typical voltage. 3.3V. Lets find out! I just got my voltage meter. P.S. I did not shop this. I would have done a better job :p
Here it is:
I may consider these LED's next time. 7 colors rolled into one is pretty intriguing. I could be into that xD
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index....clickid=prod_cs
Uh oh... It looks like the power source on the board may be wonky LOL! It reads ~.8V, and 14.5ma. And since the previous blue LED's took a long while to power up, I'm forced to conclude that the voltage output is unstable. I have gotten 4 yrs out of that tower. Can I really complain? I'll check it again in an hour.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. September 2010 @ 01:16
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
30. September 2010 @ 01:25 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by omegaman7:
I wonder if they're getting the other typical voltage. 3.3V. Lets find out! I just got my voltage meter. P.S. I did not shop this. I would have done a better job :p
Here it is:
I may consider these LED's next time. 7 colors rolled into one is pretty intriguing. I could be into that xD
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index....clickid=prod_cs
Oman7,
It's interesting, I clicked on the roll of Solder, right under the 7 color LED, and happened to notice that it was 60% Tin and 40% lead, while the Solder I get from my local independent electronics store is silver based and is 100% lead free! I thought that lead was out for good!
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 01:32 |
Link to this message
|
What I've been seeing is that you CAN buy lead free. But it's not like its been outlawed. Perhaps it should be though eh ;) The stuff I have says it has lead in it...
Interesting. Despite being .8V, the UV LED's seem to be responding to the low voltage nicely. I may just give the go ahead to installing them.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. September 2010 @ 02:08
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 16:23 |
Link to this message
|
I went ahead and installed them. Not quite as bright as I would have liked, rather dim actually. But that's ok. I may run them later in series, splitting 5V. Then they would be 3 times as bright ;) Theoretically anyway.
I guess My camera has trouble capturing Black light (Ultra Violet), as it's seen by you and me. What's weird is the color you see here.
Before:
After:(Use your imagination, suppose to be UV)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 16:25 |
Link to this message
|
|
Ultra-violet isn't part of the visible spectrum, nor is it emitted by LCD screens. So good luck getting it on camera!
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 16:26 |
Link to this message
|
LOL! I figured as much :p
Finally bought a Sata card. I desperately need one now. I also bought a blu ray burner. Now I can start REALLY playing around xD
BD BURNER
Sata card (Hopefully it works for me) people are saying it isn't supported by Windows 7. I call BS! I think its another example of ignorance...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. September 2010 @ 16:37
|
AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 17:16 |
Link to this message
|
Umm just for the record, that is a SATA 1.5 card. All of your drives would be 3.0 AFAIK.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 17:21 |
Link to this message
|
Sata 1.5Gb. If I'm right, that bandwidth can handle upwards of 100Mb/s. Since none of my drives exceed that, I'm betting they'll be fine. Besides, I may use it for optical drives. Depending on its abilities...
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! |
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 17:38 |
Link to this message
|
Correct, no problem with using S-ATA 1 cards. 7 of my server drives run off SATA 1 cards.
|
AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 17:41 |
Link to this message
|
|
Thanks for the confirmation sam. I was beginning to wonder if I made a bad purchase decision. I suppose in the long run, perhaps. But even an SSD connected will smoke a mechanical drive. Given they run a nearly constant speed, and their super latency ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. September 2010 @ 17:44
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
30. September 2010 @ 18:36 |
Link to this message
|
|
Oman7,
On the brightness of those LEDs, you should be fine. It's going to be plenty bright in the dark, when they can be most annoying. I put one of my speakers in front of the Power and HDD light, when I run something overnight, otherwise the bright flashes of the HDD LED will annoy the crap out of me! They get very bright in the dark! LOL!!
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
|
30. September 2010 @ 18:40 |
Link to this message
|
|
Haha yep. My housemate taped over his HDD LED, and when I watch a TV episode off my PC in bed, or am sleeping with it on overnight, clothes get placed over the top, so they cover up the front LEDs :P
|
