Power LED strips from my PC USB

[carlosmunoz08]

Hi Everyone!

I am new here so forgive me if my question is kinda simple/ "Newbish". Would it be possible for me to power an LED strip that I would like to put near my PC via USB? I'm planning on doing this all DIY. I'm thinking of soldering onto the led strip the power wires of a usb cable- and then connecting the usb to my PC. Is this a good even a plausible idea? What do you guys think? Am I skipping a step here?

Thanks

Carlos 

[manikyath]

if you can power them with 5 volts, sure, but most LED strips i know of are powered with 12 volts.

[carlosmunoz08]

I see... Thanks for the quick reply! I have to think of another way to power them then...I guess I have to go with a 12v or greater(?) DC adapter then....

[JohnnyCorporalTech]

mmmmmmmm... LEDs!!!!!!

[VVoltor]

You could use a boost converter to go from 5 to 12 volts.

Or solder individual LED's in parallel with a resistor for each LED. (individual LEDs are something like 3.4v, hence the resistor) But that's a real pain if you want to use more than a couple of lights.

 

[carlosmunoz08]

2 minutes ago, VVoltor said:

You could use a boost converter to go from 5 to 12 volts.

Or solder individual LED's in parallel with a resistor for each LED. (individual LEDs are something like 3.4v, hence the resistor) But that's a real pain if you want to use more than a couple of lights.

 

Yea.. I think ill pass on this solution.  but thanks for the input

 

[DrMikeNZ]

21 minutes ago, carlosmunoz08 said:

I see... Thanks for the quick reply! I have to think of another way to power them then...I guess I have to go with a 12v or greater(?) DC adapter then....

I you want to power it from your computer, you could drill a hole somewhere on the back panel in the case (or PCIe slot) and put a standard DC power jack socket connected to the 12V and ground from the power supply, then use this to power the LED strip.

I was going to do this for my desk lighting, although I found a spare 12V power adapter from an old router that I use instead.

[carlosmunoz08]

1 minute ago, DrMikeNZ said:

I you want to power it from your computer, you could drill a hole somewhere on the back panel in the case (or PCIe slot) and put a standard DC power jack socket connected to the 12V and ground from the power supply, then use this to power the LED strip.

I was going to do this for my desk lighting, although I found a spare 12V power adapter from an old router that I use instead.

I don't want to sound lazy but I'm gonna start looking for an extra 12v power adapter right now. haha! Btw is it safe to use a power adapter greater than 12v? 

[DrMikeNZ]

2 minutes ago, carlosmunoz08 said:

I don't want to sound lazy but I'm gonna start looking for an extra 12v power adapter right now. haha! Btw is it safe to use a power adapter greater than 12v? 

Most likely not. If the LED strip is rated for 12V input then using higher voltage could blow the LED's. If the LED strip has a controller that has variable rated input (eg 9-16V) then it should take care of it for you as long as you are within the rated controller input.

[carlosmunoz08]

1 hour ago, DrMikeNZ said:

Most likely not. If the LED strip is rated for 12V input then using higher voltage could blow the LED's. If the LED strip has a controller that has variable rated input (eg 9-16V) then it should take care of it for you as long as you are within the rated controller input.

Thanks again! That saved me a possible headache

 

[killer5247]

get a nzxt hue +