Installing some LED's

[Guest musicdied]

Hi, I'm musicdied and I'm planning on doing a minor mod on my case. I want to drill out some holes and put some LEDs on the outer rim of the front of my case. The thing is I have no idea how to do this correctly because I want to hook it up to my powersupply (Enermax 431W Dual Fan) So if somone could direct me to a page where I could get some info or somone could help me out on the technique I would be greatful ^__^

[Guest musicdied]

will any two wires do? Isnt there more that two wires from a psu plug? The thing I'm really worried about is the resistors, i dont want to have too little and cause damage...

(just for the record I am REALLY new at this and know very little aside from how to soder)

[Guest FreakyDrOverclock]

the only things you can destroy are the leds (to little resistors) or your resistors (VERY bad soldering skills)

Just try, it's a cheap way to earn your wings!

good luck and don't burn your fingertips (i did that the first time )

[Guest musicdied]

lol, I'm not stunded enough to burn myself ^_^'

But I dont want to screw up with ฮ worth of leds and resistors, I dont have any idea how to start..

[Guest musicdied]

yes, a simple answer that an idiot could understand ^_^

Just one more question, how powerful a resistor should I use?

[Guest musicdied]

oh yea, and should it be

---->12v wire------<><>resistor<><>----<~~led~~>-----<><>

resistor<><>----<~~led~~>-------<--ground--

or

---->12v wire------<><>resistor<><>------<><>resistor<>&l

t;>----<~~led~~>----<~~led~~>-------<--ground--

[Guest musicdied]

Yup, I'm probily going to be using 2 for now and if it works out I might install a few more in the future.

Thanks alot ^_^

I see if I can pull this off now!

[Guest musicdied]

you know, i just thought of somthing else, what kind of connector should I use to hook it up to my powersupply ^_^' floppy connector? peripheral connector?

[Guest musicdied]

blah, dont have an old fan ^_^'

guess I'll have to see if i can pick up a cheap one a strip it

[Guest FreakyDrOverclock]

you could use anything that has a molex-connector...i'm sure your radio-shak has somethin like that

use a 5V Y-cable, if its cheaper

and dont forget to use insulating-tape so you dont get a short-circuit

[hooked911]

why dont you just use ohms law to find the resistance you need. if you know the voltage of the led's you can use E

                                                                        ----

                                                                         I*R

if the voltages of the led's add up to more than 12v

in series then you will have to make a series parallel circuit

[bass_freak]

I have always used the trial and error method with LEDS, me and math don't get along, so i just keep uping or lowering the resistors till it works the way i want, might take a few leds, but hey, least i didn't have to cut down a tree for some scrap paper.