Case underglow

[Firewrath9]

I want to add a white underglow to my PC (see my new main build in sig), its a meshify C, and I want to add a white underglow using LED strips.

My current plan is to buy a cheap ebay 12v white LED strip: https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Strip-Light-SMD-3528-Flexible-Tape-300led-DC12V-indoor-outdoor-lighting-rope/222532356387?var=521379163397&hash=item33cff64923:g:SccAAOSw7o5Z3T15&frcectupt=true

and get a SATA to fan (aka sata to 12v): https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sleeved-SATA-15Pin-to-2-Way-3Pin-4Pin-Fan-Power-Adapter-Extension-Cable/132948900581?epid=15028940610&hash=item1ef45f3ae5:g:XiUAAOSwIxVcXqf9&frcectupt=true

 

then I have a dremel, some extra wiring, a soldering gun & solder, and some heatshrink, so I cut off the fan header, solder on the extra wire, dremel a hole in the bottom-most PCIe bracket (unused), and then run the 2 wires to the bottom of the case where I use some tape (prob electrical, if i still have some) to attach the led strip, and solder it to the LED strip to the bottom. (ill solder while its not on my pc), and use heatshrink to cover the exposed wires.

Do you guys think this is a good idea, and does sata recieve 12VSB?

[Jurrunio]

21 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

12VSB

there's only 5vsb as far as I'm aware, and it doesnt supply enough power to power your LED strips either.

[Firewrath9]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

there's only 5vsb as far as I'm aware, and it doesnt supply enough power to power your LED strips either.

k, thats good, because I don't want to to be shining when the PC is off, and I'm sleeping. I might try to find a switch so I can turn off and on the strips.

Do you think this will work?

[Cyracus]

1 minute ago, Firewrath9 said:

k, thats good, because I don't want to to be shining when the PC is off, and I'm sleeping. I might try to find a switch so I can turn off and on the strips.

Do you think this will work?

I ran led strips off a molex cable (had to give it some purpose in life) shouldn't be a problem to wire a switch in 

[Firewrath9]

3 minutes ago, James Evens said:

how can i run my 3.5 inch drives with sata without 12v and so little power?

hes talking about standby power, which is when the PSU is plugged in but the pc is not on.

 

also why a drill? the PCIe cover is thin, and I don't want to ruin the case, so I won't do it through the bottom. There are holes anyways becuase there is a 120mm fan mount in the bottom that I don't use.

[Jurrunio]

7 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

k, thats good, because I don't want to to be shining when the PC is off, and I'm sleeping. I might try to find a switch so I can turn off and on the strips.

Do you think this will work?

if you just want a 12V wire, use a 4pin molex. It's a much bigger plug to work on

 

6 minutes ago, James Evens said:

how can i run my 3.5 inch drives with sata without 12v and so little power?

because 5vsb and 5v are different things. 5vsb allows your system to respond when you try turning it on, 5v powers the SATA drives.

[Firewrath9]

1 minute ago, Cyracus said:

I ran led strips off a molex cable (had to give it some purpose in life) shouldn't be a problem to wire a switch in 

Not a fan of molex, but I am already using sata, so I'm just going to use that. I have some molex to 12v fan connectors. Wish they would stop using molex. Sata is superior in almost every way unless you need more than 55W.

[Firewrath9]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

if you just want a 12V wire, use a 4pin molex. It's a much bigger plug to work on and I assume higher power delivery capability as well.

I don't need more than 55W (1.5W per channel and there are 3 12v channels on the sata connector). Also, I don't want another cable to manage, and I'm already using sata.

[Cyracus]

4 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

Not a fan of molex, but I am already using sata, so I'm just going to use that. I have some molex to 12v fan connectors. Wish they would stop using molex. Sata is superior in almost every way unless you need more than 55W.

I was just saying how I did it, single line dedicated to my lighting so if I have to remove it it's 1 clip from the PSU. Any 12v line will work (of course don't butcher the 24 pin or 8 pin cpu lines lol)

[Firewrath9]

Just now, Cyracus said:

I was just saying how I did it, single line dedicated to my lighting so if I have to remove it it's 1 clip from the PSU. Any 12v line will work (of course don't butcher the 24 pin or 8 pin cpu lines lol)

yeah, don't want to mess with cpu or pcie. I won't mess with anything directly connected to the psu, because I don't want to die lol

[Jurrunio]

9 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

 Also, I don't want another cable to manage, and I'm already using sata.

That's why I recommend using an extra cable, if you do a bad job on a cable you dont otherwise need anyway, you can just put it aside rather than sticking with it.

 

4 minutes ago, James Evens said:

The drives are running on 12V and the 5vsb are totally uninteresting since this would make the led glow 24/7 and even then the 5v vsb lines are often in the range of Amps which is more then enough to drive a LED strip.

I didn't say your 3.5" don't use 12V., I have seen builds in which LEDs stay on 24/7

 

the 750w G3 PSU OP is using can only do 15w on the 5vsb rail

[Firewrath9]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

That's why I recommend using an extra cable, if you do a bad job on a cable you dont otherwise need anyway, you can just put it aside rather than sticking with it.

I'm not hooking it directly to the cable, I'm using a sata to fan adapter to get the 12v and the ground, that way if i mess up, its just a fan connector.

[W-L]

On 3/9/2019 at 1:24 PM, Firewrath9 said:

I'm not hooking it directly to the cable, I'm using a sata to fan adapter to get the 12v and the ground, that way if i mess up, its just a fan connector.

From reading over what you plan and want taking the fan adapter and cutting off one of the leads and directly soldering it onto the LED strip would be the simplest solution and would fit the needs of having it turn off with the PC when not in use. Adding an inline switch would be easy enough if you wanted to turn it off when the system is still one occasionally. 

[Firewrath9]

On 3/10/2019 at 5:17 PM, W-L said:

From reading over what you plan and want taking the fan adapter and cutting off one of the leads and directly soldering it onto the LED strip would be the simplest solution and would fit the needs of having it turn off with the PC when not in use. Adding an inline switch would be easy enough if you wanted to turn it off when the system is still one occasionally. 

Yeah, I actually just got some sata extender cables on the way so I’ll cut off the male connector, and the 3.3v &5v and one of the grounds, and just solder some wire that I have (Friend gave me a solder & wiring set) as an extension.

Btw, the sata connector has 12v and ground, and the strip has 12+ and 12-, is ground - or +? I think its + as the electrons come from - which is 12v? But on batteries “ground” is -. Thanks, I’m not that good with actual electronics.

 

[W-L]

46 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

Yeah, I actually just got some sata extender cables on the way so I’ll cut off the male connector, and the 3.3v &5v and one of the grounds, and just solder some wire that I have (Friend gave me a solder & wiring set) as an extension.

Btw, the sata connector has 12v and ground, and the strip has 12+ and 12-, is ground - or +? I think its + as the electrons come from - which is 12v? But on batteries “ground” is -. Thanks, I’m not that good with actual electronics.

 

Here this diagram should help, it is +12V and - (GRD) that you want from the sata power connector.

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/551953-modding-faq-new-layout/