DIY RGB?

[AeroMagnus]

So long story short, my case has one LED that uses the 5v out of a molex connector and I think its just... directly connected lol. So I had this idea of making my own RGB strip for my case (which would only be R because thats the theme and basically i thought aboout putting standart, store bought LEDs 

 

Just so they give more light to my fans and case, will I kill my psu? should I do it in series or in parallel? 

[thrasher_565]

wont kill your psu. molex has 5v and 12v and there's a mod to make it 7v. sata will have 12v 5v and 3v.

Edited April 18, 2020 by thrasher_565

[RandleMcmurphy]

21 hours ago, AeroMagnus said:

So long story short, my case has one LED that uses the 5v out of a molex connector and I think its just... directly connected lol. So I had this idea of making my own RGB strip for my case (which would only be R because thats the theme and basically i thought aboout putting standart, store bought LEDs

<snip>

 

Spoiler

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006LW2NJM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AGJKRJ5V61VPC&psc=1

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6MCJ29/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3GO5VFCNOM5I7&psc=1

 

[AeroMagnus]

23 minutes ago, RandleMcmurphy said:

 

  Hide contents

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006LW2NJM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AGJKRJ5V61VPC&psc=1

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6MCJ29/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3GO5VFCNOM5I7&psc=1

 

 

1- 

2- that's almost $30, where doing it myself would cost like $8 

[AeroMagnus]

47 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

wont kill your psu. molex has 5v and 12v and there's a mod to make it 7v. sata will have 12v 5v and 3v.

Thanks, I checked my the voltage with my multimeter and it is using the 5v, also the specs in my PSU say it only delivers 3A, so not that much, I'll just use some 330 ohm resistors between each LED

 

I'm using molex because I think it's easiert to work with than SATA

[fordy_rounds]

Things to be aware of when using LEDs:

Each LED has a voltage drop across the LED to light it. Give it too little, it won't light; give it too much, it'll draw too much current and burn out. That means you have three ways to wire a bunch of them:

1. In series: this might be the easiest way, but you have to factor in the voltage drop. If your LEDs each require, say, 1V, and you put more than 5 of them in series on 5V power, you won't get light from any of them. However, this is easy because you only need one current-limiting resistor in the series (and it can be a smaller value since it's not as high of a voltage drop across it).

2. In parallel: this allows you to put more LEDs, but be aware of the current draw from each. You could put e.g. 100 LEDs on 5V, and have no issues, since each is dropping the voltage by only 1V. However, each LED should have its own resistor, and your power supply needs to be able to supply enough current to all of them (i.e., if each LED requires 10mA, then 100 of them requires 1A).

3. What you might call a grid, you put a few in series and put all the serieses in parallel. With this topology, you might put, say, 4 LEDs in series with a single resistor, and do this 25 times, then put the groups in parallel. This would then mean you have 4V drop across each series, allowing you to use smaller resistors, and have only a 250mA current draw. This may be the best way to wire a lot of LEDs.

Note that the values I gave here are all purely theoretical; use the actual values for your components. Look at the datasheets if you have them or can find them online; otherwise, use your multimeter to measure the drop across your LEDs (wire an LED with a resistor and power it up; measure voltage across just the LED, not the resistor).

Also, if doing anything in parallel, be certain to use a resistor on each parallel leg, especially if using LEDs from different vendors or in different colors. That way the resistor picks up the slack of any possible mismatches in voltage drops.

[Raptor_Fawr]

You might need to put a resistor along the cable, but it is doable. I think there are some projects online like this one https://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-LED-Strip/ so be sure to follow some instructions before attempting, otherwise the led strip could malfunction and stop working as soon as you power it