LEDs for case lighting.

[Adragontattoo]

what you need to do is make sure that the total Voltage of the LED together is more then the supply.

I.E. 6x 2.1v LED's total are able to draw more power then the supplied 12v. No resistor needed.

You could do each grouping of LED's off of a single 12v but you would have to wire the seried groups in parrellel

|

 

[Oroka Sempai]

How would I know the voltage of the LEDs? They just came loose, the store selling them just knew that they were blue.

They are running fine off the front power and HDD indicators on my case... if that helps?

 

[Adragontattoo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_circuit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED

the main two I use when I need help

 

[Oroka Sempai]

that wiki link says my LEDs should be 4.5v, so 3 should be fine on a 12v source. I am going to daisey chain 4 white LEDs I have together and see what happens.

 

[Oroka Sempai]

In series, do the LEDs go +-+-+- or ++--++--? I thought it was +-+-+- but I seem to be having some problem somewhere getting this going :/

 

[Adragontattoo]

look up series and Parallel

 

[Deadbot1_1973]

That would proably be the easiest way to do it... I can just run a wire around the inside of the case and position the LEDs as I like.

Now, with that said, can I still do a 4 LED set-up 'in series'? I really dont understand how you can chain those LEDs together like that and not fry something.

Because, basically each LED in the series is acts like a resistor. As you add more in series the resistance builds. with 3 you need to add in a resistor to make up for the extra voltage, with 4 you are actually over resisting. If he went to 5 LEDs it would likely still light, but be a bit dimmer(as the 5th LED is adding a bit more resistance).

To make it easy to understand, L.E.D. is the proper acronym. It stands for Light Emitting Diode. A diode is a special type of resistor that only allows current to flow in one direction. If you try to pass current across them the wrong way they will not allow it to flow until you hit the reverse voltage limit. when that happens they heat very rapidly and tend to make the magic smoke.

edit Wikipedia on Diodes...sure to make your eyes gloss over

To answer some of your questions....
Attaching positive to negative to positive to negative is serial.
Attaching all the positives together and all of the negatives together is parallel.

 

[dr-00]

Hooking up and hoping like that is EXACTLY how I blew my PSU.

NOT RECOMENDED!
NEVER HOOK UP LED'S TO MOLEX CONNECTORS WITHOUT KNOWING
THE VOLTAGE RATING OF THE LED AND HAVING THE PROPER RESISTOR
SO THAT IT DOESNT BLOW AND TAKE YOUR PSU WITH IT!

its not fun!

 

[TweekinDragon]

the easyest way to get the resister you need and not spend money is to find old electronics and salvage parts from them. the older the better cuz most of the newer electronics have mostly serface mount rather than the old bulky type curcuits, unless you can get the surface mout ones to work for you,i found that one good place to find these older curcuits are in old car radios

 

[asusradeon]

if u check u have the right voltage LEDS (12v) and you have a resistor wired in series with it for protection you should be ok.

 

[ctrl_alt_del_]

thead jack - does anyone know where one can purchase dual color LEDs? I want to replace the ones on my rheobus and can't find reg/green ones... performance-pcs has white and blue only... =(

 

[Sleepy_Steve]

McMasters?

 

[Adragontattoo]

thead jack - does anyone know where one can purchase dual color LEDs? I want to replace the ones on my rheobus and can't find reg/green ones... performance-pcs has white and blue only... =(

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4825101&postcount=13

 

[ctrl_alt_del_]

I knew I caould count on you guys - thanks!!!!