case badge backlight as hd activity indicator

piraterocker7 · Jun 2, 2004

like the topic says, can you use one a light (it might be an el light i think, i will poste a link later) as a hd activity indicator instead of the standard led? is it too powerful?

thanks

-me

tbones1337 · Jun 2, 2004

hmm... there might be a way to do it... it might involve a transformer or something.. whats an EL light?

piraterocker7 · Jun 2, 2004

i'm not sure exactly how an el light works or what it is, here's a link on how they look (only i want one in green) it hooks up to a molex, but is there a way to do like on off on switch from the hd led pin on the mobo, if so, where in teh circut would it go?

-me

edit: heres a link http://www.casejunkiez.com/reviews/lighting/el_badge.shtml

EL stands for electro-luminesent, they explain it in the link

ponkan pinoy · Jun 3, 2004

Well, I think the main issue is powering it, the EL light might need more juice than the header on the motherboard (whatever it's called

) is willing to give. In that case, you could use a relay that's wired to the header, and that way you'll get all the juice your PSU can give

Alucard · Jun 3, 2004

The Thermaltake Blue-Eye does the effect you want only with a fan, I'm not sure if you can get the little HDD led cable somewhere but if you can't you could order one of the fans and cut that HDD led extension off and rewire it to a case badge that uses leds. I don't know if or how you could do it with a EL case badge but I'm sure you can.

Thermaltake Blue-Eye

daniel_dynasty · Jun 3, 2004

jus buy some LEDS. or maybe some kind of laser

piraterocker7 · Jun 3, 2004

im sort of stumped, i could just buy and led, but i don't have anything to spread teh light throughout the badge, what volatage are the mobo headers, you still need a resistor for an led right? if so, what ohm

-me

Mark620 · Jun 3, 2004

My kids had an el wire necklace that ran off of a battery. It had a converter and everything, all you would have to do is cut it down to size and wire it into your ps. I believe it used two batteries wich should be 3VDC so all you need would be the right resistor.

Mark620 · Jun 3, 2004

piraterocker7 said:
i'm not sure exactly how an el light works or what it is, here's a link on how they look (only i want one in green) it hooks up to a molex, but is there a way to do like on off on switch from the hd led pin on the mobo, if so, where in teh circut would it go?

To do this you would need a relay from the drive light circuit to switch the power to the el light.

piraterocker7 · Jun 4, 2004

Mark620 said:
To do this you would need a relay from the drive light circuit to switch the power to the el light.

so how exactly would i wire it and where can i get a relay (im a noob at these electronics things, i hope to learn from this experience at least some stuff)

-me

PROkillernoodle · Jun 4, 2004

To spread the light from a LED all you need is a frosted piece of plexi. with white paper on the front. One tip: use several PCB mount low light leds instead of one big one.

Mark620 · Jun 4, 2004

piraterocker7 said:
so how exactly would i wire it and where can i get a relay (im a noob at these electronics things, i hope to learn from this experience at least some stuff)

-me

You would need a low volt relay...read the power to the led and try to match it. You would need a spst relay with a ?? VDC volt primary and a 12 VDC 1 amp(I would think) switching capability for the power supply to the el. I also think you will need a solid state relay because of the switching speed (a HD indicator only blinks for an instant and is only on for a along time during large reads & writes)....

legendosiris · Jun 4, 2004

www.melvine.be has a little HDD led unit that blinks with HD access. I'm surprised there arent more devices like this?!?

Ramlaen · Jun 4, 2004

that websight looks like a good solution

legendosiris · Jun 4, 2004

personally i'd like this melvine unit but Overseas shipping just isnt worth the cost. anyone know another way to get one of these units or a similar one?

Mark620 · Jun 4, 2004

Try one of these:

http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?&ha...VDC+Relay&Dk=1&D=*3VDC*+*Relay*&N=0&crc=false

case badge backlight as hd activity indicator

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