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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Hardware Hacking > Powering LEDs inside computer

Powering LEDs inside computer
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lothar56
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Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Iowa State Univesity
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Mar 12, 2006, 11:45 PM
 
I'm currently working on putting an entire beige G3 tower inside a Mac Classic II case. I've got all the components in there and it runs fine, now it's time to make it pretty. I'll paint the case black and accent it with a blue apple logo, and I'd also like to add a couple blue LEDs. I can power them either off of the current 'on' LED or off of the Zip power cord, either one should work, right? And exactly what LEDs should I look for, I'd rather not mess with resistors. I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, my internet connection right now is literally too slow to search on MacNN. I'll get some pics up around Wed.

Any help?
     
Tuoder
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Mar 13, 2006, 05:07 AM
 
Originally Posted by lothar56
I'm currently working on putting an entire beige G3 tower inside a Mac Classic II case. I've got all the components in there and it runs fine, now it's time to make it pretty. I'll paint the case black and accent it with a blue apple logo, and I'd also like to add a couple blue LEDs. I can power them either off of the current 'on' LED or off of the Zip power cord, either one should work, right? And exactly what LEDs should I look for, I'd rather not mess with resistors. I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, my internet connection right now is literally too slow to search on MacNN. I'll get some pics up around Wed.

Any help?
If you wanted to use the current "on" LED I would get my hands on a voltometer (or multimeter). I would check the voltage and polarity of the current LED, and search for a blue LED with the same rating.

Zip power cord? For a Zip drive? It should work. LEDs use virtually no power anyway, but I would stick with replacing the existing LED.
     
lothar56  (op)
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Mar 13, 2006, 02:19 PM
 
Alright, thanks for the info. I've got many beige G3's and some of them have a standard HD/CD power connector, but a couple (those that came with SCSI Zip drives instead of IDE ones) have a smaller connector. I think this is because the first Rev of the mobo didn't allow more than one drive on an IDE bus, so the Zip had to be SCSI, and the Zip drives aren't wide enough for a zip ribbon cable and a standard power adaptor.
I'll probably make a run to Radio Shack Wednesday, I'll also stop by and upload some pics for everyone to see.
     
   
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