Case LED information

You_are_a_cunt · March 3, 2017

Currently discussing the probability and logistics of creating a couple of custom PC cases (one for myself, one for a friend) and we got to the electronics part which threw up a couple of questions:

1. What is the voltage given by a modern motherboard for the Power and Activity LEDs?

2. What would be the best way to integrate fan control (preferably voltage control due to lack of PWM) to allow for more fans than the motherboard can handle, without actually buying a fan controller?

While it would be nice to have the fans ramp up according to temperature, I suppose manual control is also fine, as long as the PC itself doesn't sound like a rocket engine all the time (aka not having the fans run full RPM all the time.

3. Are case USBs available to purchase? I really don't want to go through the entire ordeal of making my own cables and PCBs for the "front" USBs. We figured we could reuse the assemblies from "donor" cases, but that would require finding said cases (which would add pointless expenses to the builds). It would be awesome to find 2x USB 3.0 w/ headphone/mic jack assemblies (specially if they're cheap enough).

4. Since fan headers provide 12V to fans, would it be possible to wire LED strips directly to these connectors or should we stick to powering them off of a Molex (or SATA) connector

5. How should we static shield/ground the case? The main idea is to have them built out of wood and plexiglass with the motherboard tray being the only other metal part? Do we just run a wire from the tray to the PSU to ground it?

6. Are there any other electronics matters that we need to consider?

Any help is highly appreciated.

W-L · March 4, 2017

12 hours ago, revsilverspine said:

-SNIP-

For the front panel LED's they are standard 3V and already current limited so you can directly attach an LED without any resistors. Continuing with front panel stuff you can get mountable USB connectors such as this for custom builds:

https://www.ocp.com/panel-mount-cables/

https://www.startech.com/Cables/USB-2.0/Internal-and-Panel-Mount/1-ft-Panel-Mount-USB-Cable-USB-A-to-Motherboard-Header-Cable-Female-to-Female~USBPNLAFHD1

For your fans if you don't want separate controllers your best option is to use the motherboard's built in system and use power splitters for PWM fans to have them group controlled. Included in that if you want to you can put LED strips onto the fan header but you do not want to exceed the 1Amp capacity of most headers so your will have to limit the length of the lights.

For the motherboard and such they are grounded via the 24 pin and other connectors so you won't have to worry about grounding.