Mount LED's in DVD drive.

[Smoblikat]

Hello, so I am working on a project to make a nifty DVD drive. It is the only piece of equipment in my system that doesnt glow....so I need to change that

I cut out some acryllic to replace the face plate, and will be buying 6 little LED lights to mount behind it, but I need to know how/where to give them power?

Thanks!

 

[Sleepingforest]

Use molex to power them? Just google it!

 

[PottedMeat]

or tap off the drive board where the sata power cables are

 

[crabbyman]

Could you tap into the power LED for your case? So when the power is on, the LED on your drive are on?

 

[wirednuts]

use 1000 ohm resistors off the 5v red wire on your power supply. done.

 

[mfenn]

or tap off the drive board where the sata power cables are

That's gonna be the cleanest way. You should be able to pretty easily solder another tab onto the +5 and GND where the connector meets the PCB.

 

[Smoblikat]

That's gonna be the cleanest way. You should be able to pretty easily solder another tab onto the +5 and GND where the connector meets the PCB.

Thats what I wanted to do......im just not sure how to do it. Where does the power come in from?

 

[PottedMeat]

Thats what I wanted to do......im just not sure how to do it. Where does the power come in from?

see the SATA data cable? next to it is the power cable - black = ground, yellow = +12V, red = +5V

there should be multiple solder points you can use on the drive

make sure you put in the right resistor so you don't fry your LEDs

 

[Blain]

DVD drives read & write by light. Won't adding lights inside, disrupt the drives function?

 

[Smoblikat]

see the SATA data cable? next to it is the power cable - black = ground, yellow = +12V, red = +5V

there should be multiple solder points you can use on the drive

make sure you put in the right resistor so you don't fry your LEDs

How do I know what size resistor to use?

DVD drives read & write by light. Won't adding lights inside, disrupt the drives function?

I think the read laser is blocked off, but I could be wrong...............either way this is still a fun project.

 

[ElFenix]

How do I know what size resistor to use?

use 1000 ohm resistors off the 5v red wire on your power supply. done.

edit: http://ledcalc.com/

 

[Vinwiesel]

DVD drives read & write by light. Won't adding lights inside, disrupt the drives function?

Agreed. Once you verify it is all working how you like it, I would be sure to cover the backside of the LED's with some black paint so light only exits to the outside.