RGB advice for unique custom build by an RGB wary builder

[TheBeast2211]

Hi all,

As a general rule I'm not really one for RGB in my rigs, but this very unique build definitely needs some subtle RGB love and your advice or suggestions would be hugely appreciated. So I'm currently building an UnRaid Server and separate HTPC rig for living room VR/TV duties inside a1930's timber console radio. The radio has what is known as a "Magic Eye", which is a small glass tube (light bulb) that used to light up green when a user received a strong signal while manually tuning into radio stations using the dials on the front.

 

I would like to recreate the green magic eye effect that you can see in the attached close-up pics using an RGB solution of some kind. In a perfect world I would also have software control of the LED so that I can create colours other than green on occasion.

 

In one of the other attached pics you can see the actual glass tube that makes up the magic eye - the dimensions of this are approx 85mm in length with a diameter of 25mm. You can see in the pic of the rear of the radio how the tube is mounted into the frame. My thoughts are to remove the rear plastic casing and some/all of the internal components of the tube so that an RGB LED can be placed inside. Due to the limited space available I assume I'd be looking for a solution that involves only a single RGB LED, or possibly one of the LED strips that can be cut down to size (in my case down to only 1 or 2 LED's).

The Mobo I am using is an ASROCK B250M Pro4 Micro ATX, which has no 5V or 12V RGB headers that I expect will seriously limit my options. Am I right in saying there are RGB options that are connected via USB 2.0/3.0 headers or even just using molex or SATA 15pin power? If so then these are the connection options I have available.

 

The other major snag in all of this is that the Mobo is running the UnRaid OS instead of Windows, so perhaps I'll be limited to just a fixed green LED of some kind with no software control - which I can live with if need be.

 

Do any of the RGB experts on here have any thoughts/links to potential solutions for this? Thanks heaps for any help guys!

 

 

 

[thrasher_565]

well i no Arduino you can program it to do anything and its cheap but you have to learn to program it.

 

i no aqua computer might give the best options when it comes to custom stuff. you might be able to set it up to say cpu temp and change based on that.

 

are you doing rgb els ware?

Edited May 6, 2021 by thrasher_565

[TheBeast2211]

39 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

well i no Arduino you can program it to do anything and its cheap but you have to learn to program it.

 

i no aqua computer might give the best options when it comes to custom stuff. you might be able to set it up to say cpu temp and change based on that.

 

are you doing rgb els ware?

Yeah an Arduino is an option I'll consider if I can't find something more off the shelf. I will be mounting a Rasberry Pi in there actually - do you know of any RGB products that work on those?

In terms of other RGB probably just going to have a small 5V LED strip that will connect to the HTPC (not the UnRaid Server) and light up the radio dial section. The HTPC won't be always on though, so really need the Magic Eye to be powered and/or managed by the UnRaid machine.

 

 

[thrasher_565]

9 minutes ago, TheBeast2211 said:

Yeah an Arduino is an option I'll consider if I can't find something more off the shelf. I will be mounting a Rasberry Pi in there actually - do you know of any RGB products that work on those?

In terms of other RGB probably just going to have a small 5V LED strip that will connect to the HTPC (not the UnRaid Server) and light up the radio dial section. The HTPC won't be always on though, so really need the Magic Eye to be powered and/or managed by the UnRaid machine.

 

 

ya the problem with an manual controller is you get w/e mods is built in to it. the Arduino you would program it on an pc then un plug it. i dont no if you can use a remote to it to change modes that i dont no. i have seen craze stuff thow with rgb. i seen a snes with a interesting rgb led. 

 

 

[TheBeast2211]

6 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

ya the problem with an manual controller is you get w/e mods is built in to it. the Arduino you would program it on an pc then un plug it. i dont no if you can use a remote to it to change modes that i dont no. i have seen craze stuff thow with rgb. i seen a snes with a interesting rgb led.

 

Interesting! That SNES setup would be ideal with the Arduino. And I could probably program my Harmony Elite remote to control the RGB settings he uses on that shitty remote. Cheers Dude

[thrasher_565]

1 minute ago, TheBeast2211 said:

Interesting! That SNES setup would be ideal with the Arduino. And I could probably program my Harmony Elite remote to control the RGB settings he uses on that shitty remote. Cheers Dude

ya gl