LED mod Questions

[gulliver]

This is for all you Modaholics. I plan on modding the **** outta my cube this summer and I have a few questions before I get started.

1) What are some good sites for buying LEDs and resistors in the US? I don't wanna wait a long time for them to ship from overseas.

2) I know all the wires need to run to the AC / DC connecter, but how do I get all my wires hooked to there if I have multiple LED mods? Is there some kind of connector I can solder onto it in order to connect many wires? If so, can you tell me what kind of connector?

3) When painting a GC case, are you just painting over the old paint or sanding it down? What kind of paint do you use? Do you add a clear coat as well?

4) Does anyone have a tutorial for doing the memory card port LED mod?

That's all I've got so far.

[Janneman]

1. dunno me don't live in the US :)

2. I made myself a little 'hub', small strands of wire that I soldered together at one side leaving loose ends at the other which I soldered my LED-wires to.

3. When painting, you'd better do it right, meaning sanding is advised, as well as a ground layer and a finishing transparant layer (spraying only with the colored paint without sanding may work as well but you might regret it later, believe me)

4. I don't know exactly what kind of mod you are refering to. My version could be explained by watching these pictures:
http://home.planet.nl/~vrie8319/front2.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~vrie8319/rearfronton.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~vrie8319/rearfrontoff.jpg

It just takes some grinding and fiddling to make it all fit, it just comes down to your improvisation (like most mods).

[gulliver]

I made myself a little 'hub', small strands of wire that I soldered together at one side leaving loose ends at the other which I soldered my LED-wires to.

I think I get what you're talking about, but can you show me a picture of what it looks like?

When painting, you'd better do it right, meaning sanding is advised, as well as a ground layer and a finishing transparant layer (spraying only with the colored paint without sanding may work as well but you might regret it later, believe me)

What do you mean by a ground layer? Can you tell me everything I would need to do it? What type of paint do you use?

I don't know exactly what kind of mod you are refering to.

I'm talking about the kind you have in your picture with the memory card ports. What I really want is for the inside of the memory card to glow. Does yours glow the way you have it now with the lights off?

@ everyone - Does anyone know a good website in the US to get LEDS?

[crumpster]

gulliver, I bought mine off ebay for $3 bux shipped (and this was coming from Hong Kong) it took a week to get to me. I got 10 blue leds and 10 transisitors for a measly 3 bux. You can also check out www.digikey.com Let me also add I live in USA and went to radioshack and they wanted $5 bux for 1 blue 3000mcd 3mm led.

[gulliver]

Damn, radioshack's a ripoff. Hey crumpster, what do you think about these (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=66948&item=3864645207&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V)? I don't know a lot about the specifications for LEDS.

[gulliver]

Come on guys. I'm so anxious to order some LEDs and get to modding. Can someone please tell me if the LEDs in the link in my post above would be good for the Cube?

[Janneman]

Maybe your link is somewhat hard to notice.

Those LED's seem fine I think, they sure are cheap :) And even if they wouldn't be very good it wouldn't matter since it hardly costs anything so why not go for it?

BTW my memory card isn't glowing itself (yet), it's just the port. See the other thread about the memorycard mod that is running now.

[gulliver]

Cool, thanks a lot bro.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by thecheekymonkey
why not try besthongkong.com, ive used them for quite a while and they are always cheap, despite the site looking and acting like **** lol

Thanks a lot bro, but I already found some on ebay from hong kong. They were a pretty good deal. 6000mcd average blue 3mm, 50pc for $10 with free shipping:D

[ROFLMyWaffle]

1. http://stores.ebay.com/hktaiyuen-LED-store_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm, http://www.123leds.com, http://www.world-led.com. The ebay store ships from hong kong in a week, but they're great led's and great prices. It's like a starting bid of $.01 and shipping of $5 for 25 leds. They also sell 100 packs for slightly more. When I got my 25, the stamps added up to $4.10 so you only end up paying $.91 for 25 great leds. They're REALLY bright. Haven't used 123 leds or world led but I hear great things. 123 leds also sells wire and resistors of all different ohms for $.05 so I'm planning on ordering some later. Also check out http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz. That might help you later
2. I soldered a wire to the positive and negative points on the fan connector and soldered the rest of my led strands to those. Also check out things called "Breadboards". I believe they have em at radio shack and you can use them as 100 way single wire splitters or something. I'll experiment with that.
3. I didn't clear coat, or sand, just washed and removed labels. I posted something about painting on my Post That Cube! thread.
4. Duey2k.com might have one, if not, you could contact him and I bet he'd make one. It's kinda pointless unless you have a clear memory card. First, nothing that far back could shine through a memory card (i think) and second, the flaps close without a card so you can't enjoy it.
       Hope that helps you out

What type of paint do you use?
I used vinyl dye. See pictures in my Post That Cube! thread.

what do you think about these?
Those look good. They're cheap so why not go for it.

Thanks a lot bro, but I already found some on ebay from hong kong. They were a pretty good deal. 6000mcd average blue 3mm, 50pc for $10 with free shipping
OOO! Gotta tell me the seller. That's a great deal.

[gulliver]

Hey, thanks for all the info:) I coulda sworn that people were modding their memory card slots that allow their 1st party memory cards to glow but I guess I read wrong or something. I don't remember where I thought I saw it cuz it was a while ago.

I talked to Duey2K a month or two ago about a tutorial for the memory port mod. He said he was gonna do it but nothing yet.

One question about resistors: if I'm using four of the leds I got from that link I posted, do I still need a resistor or will they be ok since they're only going to 12v?

2. I soldered a wire to the positive and negative points on the fan connector and soldered the rest of my led strands to those.

So all you did was solder the two wires to those two points and soldered all of your wires from led connections to those two wires?

You can find that guy's ebay store here (http://stores.ebay.com/Chi-Wing-LED-product-shop_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQdptZ0QQftidZ2QQtZkm). He's got a lot of good deals on leds.

Edit: Hmmm...for some reason that link isn't working. Just go here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=26207&item=7516705616) and you'll see the link to his store.

[ROFLMyWaffle]

No problem.

He's still working on it. He's in the process of moving in right now and getting his store up.

:rolleyes: I gave you a link for the calculator/wizard at http://led.linear.org/led.wiz . Just plug in 12v for source voltage, 3.3v for diode forward voltage, (doesn't say the normal forward current, just the max of 30 mA, so that usually means 20mA normal) so go ahead and put in 20 for diode forward current, and finally, how many leds in your chain. It may actually give you a few different options for wiring these. I typed it in and unfortunately, you can fit 3 max in series (3.3 X 4 > 12v. But if you had leds with a forward voltage of 3v, you probably could. Just refer to the wizard in the link above), but you can take multiple chains of leds in series and solder them to the main wires as I said in #2.

Yes

Ok, thanks for the info

(each paragraph is the answer to the cooresponding paragraph in your post)

EDIT: 4. http://www.kracker-inc.com/modules.php?name=Tutorials&op=viewtut&id=6

Doesn't seem like a memory card would still fit but check it out anyway because that's what you were looking for.

[ROFLMyWaffle]

Just checked out that led store. I think the one i gave you up a little further had better deals though.

[gulliver]

Originally posted by ROFLMyWaffle
:rolleyes: I gave you a link for the calculator/wizard at http://led.linear.org/led.wiz . Just plug in 12v for source voltage, 3.3v for diode forward voltage, (doesn't say the normal forward current, just the max of 30 mA, so that usually means 20mA normal) so go ahead and put in 20 for diode forward current, and finally, how many leds in your chain. It may actually give you a few different options for wiring these. I typed it in and unfortunately, you can fit 3 max in series (3.3 X 4 > 12v. But if you had leds with a forward voltage of 3v, you probably could. Just refer to the wizard in the link above), but you can take multiple chains of leds in series and solder them to the main wires as I said in #2.

Thanks again bro. No need to roll your eyes though. What I asked didn't have to do with calculating the voltage to find what resistor to use, just wanted to know about running them without a resistor and what would happen. I know I'm a noob to this, but I just figured that if there was no resistor, then each led would run at 3v because its source is 12v. It just made sense to me but if that's not the case then so be it.

[ROFLMyWaffle]

Yes thats true, they would run at 3v but thats not enought for them to light.

[Janneman]

well they'll probably light (a little)

Just like I once put 4 white led's in series on 12V without a resistor, the current was 10mA, pretty much a no-go if you ask me :)

(forward voltage of white led's are generally the same as that of blue led's)

[ROFLMyWaffle]

that wizard works good though. If you follow it's instructions, it will give you very good results.

[gulliver]

Cool, thanks guys. So if I figure what kind of resistors I need then they'll light as bright as they're supposed to and I'll be set?

[ROFLMyWaffle]

Yep! They'll look top notch. Just look at my red cube :D

[gulliver]

Cool cool. Hey, I haven't seen your red cube lit up. Post some pictures of it turned on.

[Xboxmodder999]

I get all my leds from www.123leds.com. Great company to deal with. They test ever led they ship out, so you are gurentied that all leds wil work when you recieve them.

It's about $12.50 for 50 leds shipped, and takes only a 2-3 says in the USA.

[ROFLMyWaffle]

Originally posted by gulliver
Cool cool. Hey, I haven't seen your red cube lit up. Post some pictures of it turned on.
Look further back. I posted pics of it lit up before I painted it and when it was still silver. Didn't add any leds so you're not missing anything.

[gulliver]

@xboxmodder - thanks bro. I'll check them out next time I need to order some leds. Actually, I need resistors. Do they have good prices on them?

Originally posted by ROFLMyWaffle
Look further back. I posted pics of it lit up before I painted it and when it was still silver. Didn't add any leds so you're not missing anything.

Yeah, but I wanted to see it lit up painted red. The color of the case changes the effect completely.

[ROFLMyWaffle]

They have amazing prices on resistors. I bought a bulk pack at radioshack that placed them at about $.03 a piece, but I only got like 5 of what i needed and i needed like 15, so an extra $.02 a resistor is nothing and you get just what you need.