How to dim HD and Power LEDs?

[jay2tall]

Ok so here is an odd question.. and I know HOW to do it, I'm just exactly sure what i exactly need. So here it goes. I have a Thermaltake Element S case. I love this thing, its awesome, easy to assemble, good cable management, EVERYTHING is awesome. Except the insanely bright HD and Power LED on the top. They are so bring in fact, that at night when it is in standby the power LED blinks so bright that it lights up an entire corner of my room. I can see it blink with my eyelids shut, it reflects off the ceiling.

So I propose to make some sort of inline resistor that I can just plug into the power LED and HD LED plugs that connect to my motherboard. I figure i could find a plug similar and just solder a resistor inline and shrink tube it. Now my question is this, are there any ill effects to doing this? Is it bad for my motherboard to have a higher resistance on those outputs? Also, what Ohm resisters should I use and what type of resistor would work best? I am handy with a soldering iron, and understand basic electronics, but when it comes to exact resistances and type of resistors, I'd like to look to someone that knows a little more.

Any ideas? Right now I have a little square of folded paper taped over the LED... not so attractive.

 

[badge]

Radio Shack has resistors. But nobody there knows what the h*** they are for! There you go.

 

[jared51182]

Dude, the folded paper is the way to go! (Sorry, I can't be of help here, but I did the same thing with a hub I have - the paper that is)

Edit: Just color the paper the color of the case! Bam! golden

 

[jay2tall]

^ haha color the paper... lame.. sorry. I like the clean look. I am serious, these LEDs could be made into flashlights. When the Blue Power LED is on and the Red HD LED is going to town, they make a Purple circle on my ceiling. haha.

Anyone know what Ohm resistor I should work with? I usually do hit up "the Shack" as it is called now, for that sort of stuff. I just need to know which to get.

 

[jared51182]

Okay, well just thinking about it, in principle, placing a resistor in the line shouldn't have any effect on the MB, as the power is just being supplied to the LED in the circuit, and so just putting a resistor in may just kill the power to the LED and it would just not light up at all. Just a quick google search turned this up:

http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/led_dimmer.htm

and this:

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/electrical-and-computer-systems/79590-any-way-to-dim-led-bulb/

I think the second one might be more helpful.

 

[badge]

So I propose to make some sort of inline resistor that I can just plug into the power LED and HD LED plugs that connect to my motherboard. I figure i could find a plug similar and just solder a resistor inline and shrink tube

You probably already know, but every time I have replaced a resistor I had the bad one to get the specs from. Anythng close should work, but you don't have that option. If you solder in an inline resistor that is out of spec, the entire system will 'short' out. I doubt there is 'plug in' resistor. Perhaps someone at a local PC repair shop may have an answer as to the resistor question. I'm not sure an inline resistor would be the answer for an LED source. Maybe a dimmer LED? Fry's electronics has all kinds of LEDs available. I bet the LED on the case is 'special'. Besides being flashlight worthy.

 

[jay2tall]

^ i thought about replacing the LED's but they protrude from the panel a little, so they would have to be exactly the same size. I was also thinking of maybe a very small variable resistor. I could then adjust it to my liking. Not sure yet.

 

[badge]

How about an automotive dimmer switch, like LED dash light dimmer? Would that work?

 

[jay2tall]

ehh i think i will just want to set it and it can stay hidden in the case. I can probably get one at the Shack cheap.

 

[badge]

A resistor? Switch? Will it just dim the lights or can it turn them off and on?

 

[badge]

Swap you're system into an Antec 300. Problem solved? Best answer.

 

[jay2tall]

^Negative. Not Antec 300. haha this case is awesome, just bright leds.. stupid thermaltake. they want to flag down aircraft

 

[badge]

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[jsc]

Going to be trial and error. I'd start with a 47 ohm 1/8 to 1/2 watt resistor. Then work up or down as you need. Power rating of resistor will be irrelevant because very little current flows. Assuming the work is done in a competent manner, no ill effects. All you are trying to do is reduce the current through the LED's. So the LED lasts 300,000 hours instead of 200,000 hours.

 

[Paperdoc]

I had a similar situation recently so I can offer specific numbers and guidance. My need was to mount some LED's on my car console as indicators. In the electronics parts shop I tried one out by connecting to their 12 vdc supply and confirmed it was too bright and would be distracting at night in a dark car. Based on the voltage and current spec's for the LED, we decided a series resistor of 500 to 1,000 ohm should be about right, and tried one at 1 Kohms. Hooked up in the store it looked right, so that's what I bought.

Putting a resistor in SERIES with the LED as you suggest will not bother the mobo at all - it does not care what current is actually flowing through the LED light circuit (as long as it's not too high). And no, it will NOT short out anything and cause damage - you are INCREASING the LED circuit resistance, not decreasing! What will happen is simple and not damaging. If you put in a resistor too small, the LED will still be too bright. You will need to use a higher-value resistor, or put 2 or more in series. If you put one in 'way too large, the LED will be very dim, and in the extreme case will not put out any appreciable light at all. In that case, merely putting a second resistor of the same size in parallel with the first probably won't do much good because your first resistor is VERY much higher than it should be and half it's value is probably still too high. You would be better substituting a resistor that is only 10% to 20% of the value of that one that makes the LED too dim.

Try a 1K resistor to start. If the LED is drawing 10 mA, that will drop its supply voltage by about 1 volt. If it's still too bright, try 2 in series, or three. Test this on BOTH of you bright LED's and find the right value. If necessary, go back to the store and buy the right ones - say, a 3.3 K instead of three 1K's in series. As for power rating, a 10 mA current through a 1K resistor is only 0.1 watts; if it's 20 mA, that's still only 0.4 watts. So a ½ watt resistor is very likely suitable.

 

[jared51182]

If Paperdoc is right, then what I thought was correct, and my physics degree was not for nothing! yay. I have since moved onto non-physics stuff, then back into it lightly, so not very fresh or organized in the head.

But I second paperdoc in that it shouldn't damage the system and you should just be able to play around with it without too much worry, just make sure you discharge any static, as you will be working inside the case to try this all out, and you don't want anything silly to go wrong just to fix an LED.

Also, come back here and let us know how it goes, just in case it works, and we will be able to later help others.

 

[jay2tall]

Looks like I now need to find some little leads that will connect to the mobo and then to the connector that plugs into it. I want to make this nice and clean. No cutting factory wires or anything... Unless I absolutely have to..

 

[Paperdoc]

It can be pretty tough to slip the connector for one pin out of the connector body at the end of the cable, and even tougher to un-crimp that one connector from the wire so you can slip a resistor into a series position. It is easier to cut the wire about ¼" above the connector body and bare that little stub, then bare the end of the wire. Get a piece of heat-shrinkable tubing of the right size and slip it up over the wire. Solder your little resistor into place on the end of the wire (cut its leads to a short length), and onto the wire stub at the connector. When cool, slide the heatshrink tubing down over the resistor and solder points and heat-shrink it. It will look pretty neat and clean, and be properly insulated. Repeat for the other LED.

If you really don't want this mod visible, do it at the other end. Disassemble the case front or drive cage mounts enough to get at the connections to the LED's themselves. Make your break-insert mod there with the heatshrink tubing again, then reassemble. Nobody will take the case apart to look for your mod, so it will never be seen.

All of this assumes you have already played around enough to know which resistor to mount. For that "playing around" phase just make your wire cuts and temporary connections without heatshrink tubing, etc. In fact, considering how low the currents are, you might get away without soldering, just twisting wires together or using alligator clip leads.

 

[qasamm]

A simple solution to dimming bright LEDs is LEDdim, from the dot com with the same name.

Sam

 

[celulari]

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hahahahahaha
LOL

i have the same great case... buy i think thermatake used laser led on it... i think you can actually see them from the moon!!!