Replacing LED lights in Computer case?

[Super Warrior]

Where/how would i acquire Replacement LED lights in a computer case? I have some on a family member's computer that i accidentally burnt out about 5 years ago(back when it was my comp, and i was new to moding).

This particular family member has lately been thinking about selling the comp, but those few dead LED lights are the only flaw(i just finished upgrading this comp recently too, so i might as well finally fix those LEDs if i can).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[redwudz]

There are hundreds of styles and sizes of LEDs, but I would try a electronic store or a local Radio Shack store. They are marked two ways for polarity, with a flat spot on one side or the replacement ones will have one longer lead, for the positive side, if I recall. Since they are running off the motherboard, nothing will happen if you wire them backwards. In fact it might be just as easy to not worry about polarity and just flip the motherboard front panel hookups for them into the reverse position if they don't light. They won't be damaged by being reversed.

You will likely need a small soldering iron and some solder to attach the wires to the LED leads. A couple of pieces of heat shrink tube about 1/8" dia. and about 3/8" long will keep the leads from touching on the back of the LED.

To mount them, the easiest method is a hot glue gun. Use the low temp glue and be careful not to melt anything. Or clear epoxy if you don't have a glue gun available.

If you are lucky, the old LEDs are the regular round type, but even if they are odd shaped, you should be able to find one that fits. I would stick with green and red LEDs as they run on about the same voltage.

But I have to ask, how did you burn them out?

[Super Warrior]

It was about 5 years back. I had gotten my first new comp, a gateway. After i learned how to upgrade the ram & disc drive for the first time, i caught the Pc moding bug. The gateway case only had room for 2 disc drives and for some stupid reason, i wanted a case with at least 4 to put more stuff. Which was stupid, a comp only needs *1* disc drive, two at the most.

Anyway the gateway comp came with no documents on how to connect stuff like the power, led, etc. So when i got the new case i kinda screwed up and connected them wrong. Like putting the HDD LED on the reset switch pins. I remember when powering the Pc on, both LEDs came on briefly then shut off and would not come on again after no matter where i connected them. They were done.

Edit: By the way the custom case i ordered to replace the gateway tower, i bought from frozencpu.com and wow, that place had terrible customer service. I have not bothered with them in years so maybe they changed...and are no longer jerks...

[ahhaa]

there are so many dead computers around, ask at any repair shop- you'd even have a fairly good chance at a replacement harness...

[ozymango]

You can also get LEDs that'll turn different colors depending on the polarity (e.g. they're green if they're connected one way, red if you connect them "backwards"), this way, even if you put them in backwards, they'll still work. In funky colors!

And why not choose a blue or other cool LED, instead of the everyday boring red or green?

Or go down to your local computer repair place and ask if they've got any broken front panels (with working LEDs) that they give you, they'll probably hand over a box of 'em.

One minor caveat: LEDs can be pretty picky when it comes to voltage, some have a very narrow tolerance, some have a lot more, so if you get new ones, check the voltage requirements, and do a voltage test across the connecting wires on your PC to make sure it's within that range. I've seen a few times where the voltage the LEDs could tolerate was just a bit less than the voltage supplied (not on a PC, but on another project), and the LEDs burned out after about a week. And it would suck if you did all that work and it worked great for a week, and then died.

[solarfox]

And why not choose a blue or other cool LED, instead of the everyday boring red or green?

One minor caveat: LEDs can be pretty picky when it comes to voltage

You just answered your own question. Depending on what kind of circuitry on the motherboard is driving the LEDs, you may not be able to substitute a blue or white LED for a red or green one because the drive voltage may not be high enough. Red LEDs generally only require about 1.4VDC to operate; green LEDs, about 1.7 - 2VDC. Blues and whites, on the other hand, usually require somewhere between 3 - 4VDC. (The technical term to look for on the LED's spec sheet is the diode's "forward voltage" rating.)

[ozymango]

Red LEDs generally only require about 1.4VDC to operate; green LEDs, about 1.7 - 2VDC. Blues and whites, on the other hand, usually require somewhere between 3 - 4VDC.

Yup, good point, though I didn't really think he was gonna go out and get blue LEDs, I'm thinking more that it can be useful to check the voltage at the connectors for whatever it is that got blown out. I've got a no-name cheapo mb that came in one of those "bare bones specials" at Fry's a few years ago, that has one led connector, for a red/green led, and I put it in a new case and never did remember if it's green when the hard drive is working, or red when the hard drive is working.

[dphirschler]

At Micro Center, I saw a kit that came with all the LEDs and switches to connect up a mobo without a case (if someone wanted to). It was pretty cheap, like $5 or so. That might be an option for you.


Darryl

[redwudz]

At least from my experience, any of the motherboard leads to the front panel switches and LEDs are current regulated and I don't know of any way to blow a LED from that source. It's all logic level signals there. Maybe if you hooked them to the internal speaker leads.

You can short out any of the leads or hook them up backwards or about any which way and about all that will happen is the switch or LED won't work. I think I have done all of that at least once. Of course there are 3VDC and 5VDC voltage sources around the front panel connect area that could definitely cause some LED damage.

If you do find a front panel with LEDs and leads, you will still have to remove the old ones and place the new ones, but it will save a little soldering.

[Super Warrior]

Hey check these out guys, prewired case Leds:
http://www.directron.com/blueled.html
http://www.directron.com/ledyellow.html
http://www.directron.com/ledgreen.html

These are 5mm sized though. Is 5mm the standard led case size? I've heard of 3mm too, but so far can only find the 5mm.

[TBoneit]

Have you tried a loacl computer store, not somepladce like Best Buy but a true computer store? We are always throwing out old cases with the LEDs still in them.