Colored LEDS, how do I give them juice?

Angry · Dec 24, 2001

Okay, heres the thing, I have I bunch of red,yellow, and green LED lights for cases, I want to hook them up to the AT powersupply I use for powering my fans in my case and on cpu heatsink..I just got this case and it coming along very good...fans can be mounted anywhere...besides the LEDS that run into my motherboard for the case, I would like to use these extra leds to give my case some light. I have switches, one that im using for fan control.

SO how do I go about giveing the little lights,err leds life?

Sagei · Dec 24, 2001

LEDs are 5 volt devices.

You will notice that one lead (leg) is longer than the other. That is how you can tell the polarity on them.

Don't remember which is which so just apply power one way or the other until it lights. Don't worry it does not hurt them if the are plugged up backwards. They just won't light.

Once you figure out the polarity just hook them up in parallel and put your switch into the 5 volt wire in series.

Angry · Dec 24, 2001

::edit:: nevermind

KILLorBE · Dec 24, 2001

The yellow wire is +12V, the red wire is +5V.
Standard LED's are 2-3V (Yellow/Orange, Red and Green).
The long lead (leg) should be connected to the +.
It's better to use a 1/4 watt resistor (to limit the current and voltage), depending on the voltage it should be 100 ohm for 2-3V, and 700-1k ohm for 5V (@5V a 1k Ohm resistor will give you ~1.8V which should be enough).

You can connect 2 LED's in series and use a 100 Ohm resistor.

Just make sure the resistor is 1/4 watt, cuz too much current will shorten the LED's life.

el · Dec 24, 2001

Sagei said:
LEDs are 5 volt devices.

this statement is just wrong. LED vary greatly while using this maybe okay. if you pay 5bucks for a while LED that is 2.3volts forward you are going to be ****ed if you run it at 5volts for 30seconds. get a resistor on that bad boy!

Angry · Dec 25, 2001

ok thanks guys, think i just get a neon light or something...

kronchev · Dec 27, 2001

Sagei said:
LEDs are 5 volt devices.

You will notice that one lead (leg) is longer than the other. That is how you can tell the polarity on them.

Don't remember which is which so just apply power one way or the other until it lights. Don't worry it does not hurt them if the are plugged up backwards. They just won't light.

Once you figure out the polarity just hook them up in parallel and put your switch into the 5 volt wire in series.

NO! WRONG!! LIAR!!

most leds are NOT 5v!! check with the manufacturer!! some are 4v, some are 3v, if you crank more than the normal voltage in, itll shorten the lifespan considerably! like from 10 years normal to down to a few months! DO NOT OVERVOLT LEDS!! ive had LEDs MELT before because of putting too much volts into em! yes, youd use the 5v rail, but resisters are in order!

Godfodda · Dec 27, 2001

kronchev said:
NO! WRONG!! LIAR!!

most leds are NOT 5v!!

Okay. Off-topic, but...

Being ignorant and being a liar are two totally different things. Granted, passing ignorance off as information is not beneficial to anyone, but I doubt it was done to intentionally mislead the original poster (as a liar would).

My .02

Welcome to the forums, but play nice. Most of us don't bite.

dugans · Dec 27, 2001

LEDs can be bought in a variety of voltages as well: local radio shack has them from 2.3v to 7v. Not that I do much appearance stuff, but I have started to mess with it a bit.

So far: 1 pc has a red 7v led backlighting an Athlon sticker.
1 pc has a blinking 5v green led behind an inlet fan and 2 3" "black" neon tubes on either side.

Dabljuh · Dec 27, 2001

Question: Any Idea how to put a REAL lamp into the case? I mean a strong one that could be put to the 12V line probably. So I would have a computer and a under-the-table-lamp at the same time when I had a clear case

Im just jumping for some cool ways of attracting attention on LANs, other than just owning all in Counter-Strike

dugans · Dec 27, 2001

Welcome to all who are new to The Forums!

Heat would be the major issue- lights all put out a certain amount of heat, and generally the brighter they are the hotter.

Heat Is The Enemy!

Dabljuh · Dec 27, 2001

Who cares. I'm going to have like 6-8 fans only caring about Airflow in the case. That should be plenty to keep the air cool even when a 150W energy saving lightbulb is installed.

Dabljuh · Dec 27, 2001

Sorry, didnt want to sound disrespectful. Only to notice that I am aware of internal air temperature problems and solve them by massive airflow caused by many many fans placed in the case

dugans · Dec 27, 2001

S'aright! don't get offended easy anyway

But we do try to "play well with others" around here!

Good luck with the light job: just stay away from halogens!

Angry · Dec 29, 2001

Hey guyz do neon lights generate heat or anything? ones made for pc cases anyway? They also have these neon light strips...

btw Im pretty sure he didnt mean to intentionaly mislead me, I found out before he mentioned it, hehe had the voltages thinking for teh wires backward, hooked a led up to teh 12v and it shattered instantly...not burn up..literaly shattered all was left was the 2 aluminum wires that were leading into it... :beer:

Live and learn thats what this stuff is all about!

Strangelove · Dec 30, 2001

Angry said:
Hey guyz do neon lights generate heat or anything? ones made for pc cases anyway? They also have these neon light strips...

No neon tubes generally don't produce heat.

hunter1895 · Dec 30, 2001

radio shack has 12volt leds with built in resistors so you can hook them up to a 12volt PS. they also have 7,5and 3volt i think.

Colored LEDS, how do I give them juice?

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