modding my pc

[del]

i am currently giving my pc a good old re-vamp - clear panels, neons, uv cathodes and lots of L.E.D's (light emmiting diodes). Now i have ordered 100 bi-coloured LED's from www.rapidelectronics.co.uk, but i am having trouble.

because these are led's that work with FV and RV (forward voltage and Reverse Voltage) these produce different colours. What i want to do is thke the 5V pins out of the molex plug on the powersupply and solder them directly to a pcb that i am going to make. what i want to know is there anybody who could design me a pcb of where i have a slide switch, that when in one position all the led's are one colour and when the slide switch is in the other position, they are all the other colour. I am going to have clusters of led's in parralel so that they don't lose power, so that there are 5 leds to a cluster and 20 clusters. i really need a way of switching the current over manually so that i can choose when they are either red, or green.

if you can help i would really apriciate it as it would be a wonderful project!

thanks

[del]

i will have 20 seperate clusters with 5 led's on each cluster, (i am making a front panel with 50 leds in a line down each side) but i am using the 5v dc from the psu and i need to reverse the polaritys when i switch it

[del]

wow! thank you very much.... all i have to do now is make a pcb from it! i will have to post a picture of the finished PCB somewhen during next week!

[kevin]

Why waste the energy?

[kevin]

ummm, have you heard of the energy problems in the world today, I mean yeah, it's a little energy, but with you keeping your computer on all the time except for a few restarts is wasting what could be used in something that's neccessary. It's not already used, it has to be gathered and then dispersed.

[SocKs]

heres my suggestion, forget what your case looks like, spend money on performance hardware. It's like people and cars, they will upgrade whats on the outside instead of whats under the hood, or somthing they will actulay use.

Plus, it uses up amperage

[kevin]

maybe if we use all teh fossil fuels quick people will move onto a more enviroment friendly sources like solar or water

Ok, so let me get this right, you're suggesting we pollute some more, to pollute less of what we already polluted?

[kevin]

wow, that's pretty heartless, so for your own pleasure you're going to put in your two cents of pollution. :rolleyes:

[kevin]

I try not too, we can say I don't put lights on my computer and leave my computer on all the time. I bike most places I go, to school, to practice, to hang out, to go to the store. So no, I'd say I have a pretty good stance on pollution at the moment.

[kevin]

I got a ride on once from my sisters boy friend when I was 10 I think. Never have since.

[Whisper]

it will get polluted anyway so might as well get it out of the way
Don't ever talk like that

Your goverments already about to drill in a wildlife refuge in alaska permenantly destroying the habitat and harming allot of the migratory wildlife so it can get a pathediclly small amount of oil.

[SocKs]

To power your computer and monitor it takes about a dollar a day, with no lights. For LCD's its about 30 cents a day.

With LED's, Cold Cathodes, a pretty much fully lit computer costs about 1.45 dollars.

The only neons I have on my computer are on the fan, because the fan with neons was cheaper than the fan without...dont ask me why.

Plus, all those lights are going to heat up your case a good bit.

Neons are just dumb...plain and simple.

If you want the lighting, get a blue laser mouse

dirtbikes and ATV's take up so much less gas than anything else, that was also a dumb statement, considering people are driving around in their hummers.

[del]

sorry to interrupt your little "save the world" argument, but i have already spent £500+ on upgrading whats inside, my computer is only on for a max of 2 -3 hours a day, and these leds wont be on all the time. they will have a second switch that allows me to turn them on and off! oh and by the way in our house our cental heating system (water and radiators) run of solar power and these charge up batteries in the loft, secondly we in my house recycle 80% of all of our waste, and our van and car runs off vegetable oil. So to be honest i think that i have a pretty good argument for wanting to do this!

[kevin]

sorry to interrupt your little "save the world" argument, but i have already spent £500+ on upgrading whats inside, my computer is only on for a max of 2 -3 hours a day, and these leds wont be on all the time. they will have a second switch that allows me to turn them on and off! oh and by the way in our house our cental heating system (water and radiators) run of solar power and these charge up batteries in the loft, secondly we in my house recycle 80% of all of our waste, and our van and car runs off vegetable oil. So to be honest i think that i have a pretty good argument for wanting to do this!

So you're just wasting your family's energy, But I'm talking about chincilla.

[SocKs]

are you joking? in an open room no they dont, in small enclosed metal case? it will boost your temperature a few degrees depending on how many lights, and how well the airflow is in your PC. I know for a fact lights will make it hotter inside the case.

If you only use your PC for 2-3 hours, wahts the use of having lights in it for only 2 hours a day? what a waste of money, buy the new blue laser mice, they will cost you a pretty penny, or buy an illuminated keyboard, somthing that will actulay help you...the keyboards are pretty sweet actulay, they use LED's so they wont ever go out.

http://www.eluminx.com/product.asp?pid=4
or if you dont have an LCD monitor, since your running off of your familys electricity, they use a lot less electricty
If you run it on the correct resolution, LCD screens are crystal clear...Very nice. Or go plasma.

http://www.necdisplay.com/products/ProductDetail.cfm?Product=349&ClassificationFamily=2&Classification=1

[SocKs]

I just read all of his posts and didnt see him say anything about putting them on the outside. Plus that would be even worse than putting them on the inside, why would you put lights on the exterior of a computer? If he did, and if his case is in view of where he sits, hes gonna have a headache whenever hes at his PC.

Lights in/on PC = Waste of money, waste of time

and yes, lights do increase the temp in a case, theres been studys that show that they do.

[Kiros]

Yep, it's apparent when you think about it. Energy cannont just disappear with light; sure, the light is reflected off the case, and that's why you can see it, but not all of the light is reflected, and thus transmits it's energy through radiation, warming the metal, and possibly the air at the same rate.

Eh, it's been a long time since I took physical science... don't quote me on anything :P

[nwshc]

Lights in/on PC = Waste of money, waste of time
LEDs=No excess heat :roll:

[kevin]

Does it matter? No, heat is still going to come off them, and waste energy, it's stupid.

[del]

let me get a few things straight -
1) i have a 17" LCD screen
2) my pc is water cooled
3) my pc case is made of perspex, not metal
4) the led's are on the exterior of the case
5) my pc sits on the floor
6) i have a mouse that lights up blue already#
7) the LED's reqiure very very little voltage/current to make them work, thus taking longet to warm up. and led's don't get hot.
8) i have UV cathodes in my pc currently

[kevin]

dude, it still takes energy, what don't you understand about that?

[nwshc]

Kevin, what do you not understand about who the fuck cares? His little LEDs are not going to through the world into a rolling blackout.

[kevin]

Kevin, what do you not understand about who the fuck cares? His little LEDs are not going to through the world into a rolling blackout.

Why don't you look at a few of the things they said...


"what and you dont pollute?"
accusation...

"it will get polluted anyway so might as well get it out of the way"

That's ridiculous. People everyday are trying to rid the world of pollution and he makes himself confident in that he can make them work harder becuase he doesn't care.

maybe you don't care, but I do, what's there to question about my priorities.

[nwshc]

Yes, I have read everything. I do not need a recap.

The whole point of this thread what to help a kid out with LEDs. And you come in boasting "Why waste the energy?"
Who cares? LEDs are a very effecient source of light, using very little energy. And that kids LEDs have no relevance to what the power plant burns to create that energy. Its not the kids problems the power plants pollute. His LEDs are not going to make the plant do double time. But you seem to think that his LEDs are going to turn everything into a toxic waste dump.

They are little lights. They use little energy. It is not his problem the power plants pollute. Get over it.

[kevin]

If you haven't noticed, people are frantically trying to do that, I see your point. But why make their job harder?

[SocKs]

lights are just dumb,

2) my pc is water cooled

Are you trying to waste money?

5) my pc sits on the floor

That will heat up your computer faster than anything else, dust collects more than anywhere else on the bottom 6 inches of the floor, dust is isulation.

6) i have a mouse that lights up blue already#

but is it a blue laser mouse? the color and the laser are different things. My mom has a mouse with a blue LED in it, but its a red laser mouse.

lights on/in your case do nothing, I dont get why people do it, to sombody who knows what they are doing with computers, it just makes you look like dumb. spend money on your car, or somthing, theres got to be somthing better to spend money on than lights. Lights just have no purpose on a PC other than the power light.

[SocKs]

no offence, but yours doesnt even look good. Get some cable braids, that will actulay help your system, and makes your system look cleaner. Those type of lights on an all clear case makes the lights harsh on your eyes...most people dont want to see the actual lights, just the lighting effects. if anything, lights only look good in cases where the side has a clear panel, that way you can put the lights in the corners, and you only see the effects.