the things I do for my computer...

[Avatar28]

Well, finally got around to doing my first REAL case mods. And what a pain it was.

I spent the entire evening modding my computer and really didn't accomplish all that much.

I changed my keyboard LEDs to blue. That wasn't too hard, except for getting the darned thing back together. Stupid cheapo keyboards....

Then I worked on my power supply. Lessee, skinned my knuckle, almost burned myself twice, lost track of how many times I zapped the *bleep* out of myself...I almost managed to kill the power supply. I was trying to bench test it and accidentally shorted the hot to ground which ended up welding the plug and cord together. So I had to rob the plug from another power supply. But in so doing, I lost the EMI shield that came on this one...But I now have a blue LED in my power supply.

I did okay at first, but it was only 3.3 volts and wasn't bright enough, so then I had to unsolder it and resolder it to a 5 volt. I started with the 3.3 cause the LED was rated at about 4.5 volts or so max. That was a pain in the butt to get done right. Then I spent an hour trying to position the LED right. Oh yeah, and I put the top on and off so much, I ended up breaking one of the wires where it was soldered onto the fan at the top, so I had to resolder that. And that darned LED STILL isn't that bright, not for one that's supposed to be 2600 mcd. I need to get a couple more scattered around in there. Hopefully I can just splice into the existing wires now though.

LOL. The stuff I do for my computer.

 

[Oni]

It's an addiction. You'll be back for more soon

 

[Crazy Jayhawk]

You've only just begun.

 

[Avatar28]

Oh, I know. I've gotta get a dremel. I've got some plans for it. Gotta cut out one of my face plates for the VFD I'll be getting. I've got plans for making a lighted mouse pad too. And I'm sure I can come up with more uses than that for it. But, yeah, it IS rather satisfying.

 

[LittlePiggie]

glad to see you up and running around, hacking at your computer . you know what would be cool? UV LEDs on every edge on the inside of your case...that would rock

 

[Avatar28]

glad to see you up and running around, hacking at your computer . you know what would be cool? UV LEDs on every edge on the inside of your case...that would rock

As opposed to a couple of big cold cathodes. Hmmm. I likey. Do the UV LEDs put out any visible light at all? If not, it would really rock since there would be no visible illumination, yet the flourescent stuff is still glowing.

 

[UnWishedLegacy]

As opposed to a couple of big cold cathodes. Hmmm. I likey. Do the UV LEDs put out any visible light at all? If not, it would really rock since there would be no visible illumination, yet the flourescent stuff is still glowing.

Depends on how powerful the LED's are- they may give off a slight amount of purple light but nothing much if its in a lighted room (or any amount of daylight).

I take it you have a window installed too.

 

[LittlePiggie]

no

 

[Avatar28]

Depends on how powerful the LED's are- they may give off a slight amount of purple light but nothing much if its in a lighted room (or any amount of daylight).

I take it you have a window installed too.

Three of them, actually. Each side and the top. I got that Kingwin case with them already there, simply because it looks better to have one where the case was designed for it.

 

[Dios67]

Three of them, actually. Each side and the top. I got that Kingwin case with them already there, simply because it looks better to have one where the case was designed for it.

ahh but if they are already there... the challenge and not to mention the FUN of adding a window is gone..... ahhhhh.. another example of how the younger genaration is getting lazy *jk*

Seriously... its all good in da hood

 

[Avatar28]

ahh but if they are already there... the challenge and not to mention the FUN of adding a window is gone..... ahhhhh.. another example of how the younger genaration is getting lazy *jk*

Seriously... its all good in da hood

To each his own. Seriously, though, I've yet to see a home made window mod that looks as good as this. For one, the windows are flush with top and sides, not recessed like you would usually see. At any rate, I wanted to spend my time and money on more important things.

 

[UnWishedLegacy]

Dios67: sounds like you would be a good candidate for S.C.A.T (Skilled Craftsmen Against Tackiness).

A group of people here that think the the best mods are ones you do yourself- and the pre-made ones are for little kids or people who can't be bothered/not commited. Thats the viewpoint I got anyway- but I kinda agree with them in part (started with a tacky rounded cable with a ElectroFluro-cable inside it. I thought it looked kinda cool ).

There are a few links in people's sigs (not mind- my mods are only port re-locations, cutting fan holes and the occational 7v mods).

But for those who want a quality finish with no fuss- then pre-made panels & modded cases are fine, after all- not everyone is confident with a Dremmel.

 

[bterry13]

The question remains, are you doing this for yourself... or your computer

 

[UnWishedLegacy]

The question remains, are you doing this for yourself... or your computer

..... Or maybe its just for the hell of it.

 

[Avatar28]

Okay, wasn't able to borrow a camera for any before/after pics. But, I managed to get it NICELY cleaned up.

First I went to Radio Shack and got a 100 watt soldering gun. I was able to remove some of the excess wires with that, but it STILL wasn't getting hot enough. So I took that back and swapped it out for their big boy 125/250 watt gun. THAT was able to melt it, though I STILL had trouble with some of the connections (this despite the fact that part of the soldering gun's tip was literally glowing orange it was so hot).

With the Aux cable wires out of the way and the two extra drive power cables removed, I was then able to much more easily control the remaining cables. I went ahead and added another LED into my PSU. Though I admit I'm a bit concerned about them. They're glowing nice and brightly, but I had no way of calculating the correct resistor, so I attached them both in parallel directly to my 5v line (despite that they're rated for 4.5v max).

During my trip to radio shack, I also picked up some more extras. I got some wire clips and some zip tie downs. Basically it's a small, almost flat square with sticky tape on the bottom. It's got holes on each side that you feed a zip tie through. You put it where you want it, then you run the zip tie through it and it holds whatever you've got firrmly there.

So I ran my ATX connector straight out from the PSU, then doubled it back, zip tied it down, and then ran it almost back to the PSU and tied it up there. That left just BARELY enough wire to reach my ATX connector. I was able to get my other cables out of the way similarly.

I've still got a couple of wires I have to do something with. My fan wires in particular to the case fans. They ruin the neat look of the rest of the system wiring.

I also bought an auto black light from Walmart while I was there for $10 and put that it the bottom. It's not properly mounted because I'll need to remove the rails for the lower drive cage first. But it glows nicely and my cables look good in there. The light actually uses a thicker bulb that most auto neons too. It uses one of the thick ones like you might see in a small AC powered blacklight (1/2" or so diameter). My only complaint is that the bulb is 7" long, but the whole thing is much longer, so it barely fits in the case. And I'd certainly not be able to add another.

I also need to do something about replacing the rainbow fan at the top. It ruins my look and lighting effects somewhat.

But I'm quite proud of myself so far. Still have quite a ways to go, but I'm making progress. I need to see about picking up a dremel now though.

 

[f00t]

burned myself twice, lost track of how many times I zapped the *bleep* out of myself...I almost managed to kill the power supply.

you're supposed to turn off the power when doing mods...unless you have a pile of extra cash.

 

[weponhead]

Capacitors man capacitors.. those huge ones in the PSU's

 

[Avatar28]

Well it wasn't a problem if I didn't stupidly forget to unplug the damned thing when working on it.

 

[sirtoby]

it doesn't matter if you turn it off.. although you of course should do that.

But the capacitors are eletrically charged for even months after.. even if you turn it off. That's why you should turn in monitors, TVs and PSUs to people that know what they're doing..

Personally I'd never touch neither the inside of my monitor nor the PSU. If I wanted a blue led PSU, I'd buy one.. .. better to spend a bit cash rather than get zapped with from a 220V capacitor..

 

[Avatar28]

Actually, I DO know what I'm doing for the most part. But no, the caps are NOT charged for that long. The PSUs are made to drain the caps fairly quickly after the system is off (or most are anyways). For what it's worth, I only got shocked once with it unplugged and turned off. And that was when I hit it about 2 seconds after unplugging it. When I waited about 10-15 seconds I was fine.

I used to WORK on monitors. Actually, I had to work around inside them somewhat while they were turned on and running as I was attempting to adjust the picture. These were the huge old Trinitron models. I only got hit once. That was by a 17,000 volt capacator. Ouch! I actually had 2 or 3 tiny spots where it burned me. And my arm hurt for several days afterwards from where it jerked back so hard, I think I pulled something.