A Lighting Mod for Folks Who Don't Like Lighting Mods

P

Paul_in_Germany

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Aug 17, 2011
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Finished up a lighting mod I've been working on for a whle now and wanted to share it. I didn't document the assembly with photos, but the explanation in the video is hopefully clear. The case is a Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced

Two videos of this mod are on Youtube -- a 2-minute version and a longer 7 minute version.

Links also available via images below.

Comments -- positive and negative -- are welcomed.

All the best,
Paul



Just the meat:



The full course:
 
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Nice work man, I can appreciate your work being a DIY electronics guy myself (and professionally). I think I have enough spare parts lying around to try something like this. I like your idea of using just the stereo separation to give it some depth. If you got a chance to measure, how much of an input signal does the 131 need to drive the loop at the full 12V?

Again, it looks awesome!
 
Awesome work dude!


One question though, how did you make the plexi panel behind the motherboard glow?
 
Erik in sac said:
If you got a chance to measure, how much of an input signal does the 131 need to drive the loop at the full 12V?

Again, it looks awesome!
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Thanks Eric.

I'm no electronics wiz -- just a tinkerer -- and I'm not sure how to measure or rate the output of the amp without an oscilloscope. My multimeter's refresh is much too slow to get an accurate reading. But I believe all the TIP31 variants emitter-to-collector bridges fire at 5 volts. At the point of seeing 5 volts at the emitter, the transistor completes the circuit on the collector leg, enabling 12 volts out to the LEDs.

I believe the brightness difference in the LEDs is more of a persistence-of-vision lighting duration effect rather than a voltage variation because the LEDs always get either 0 volts or 12 volts based on the transistor state (open or closed). I think it's analogous to PWM, but visual PWM, if you will. LEDs can change state much faster than the human eye can perceive. It's this rapid state change that makes the LED appear to dim and brighten when in actuality, in a "dim" state, they're still getting the full 12 volts, only for a much shorter duration. The eye perceives this as dimmer light.

But again, I'm just a hobbyist -- everything I just said could be totally wrong. ;)

Thanks for leaving a comment, Eric-- I appreciate it!
Paul
 
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nascasho said:
Awesome work dude!

One question though, how did you make the plexi panel behind the motherboard glow?
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Thanks nascasho --

The acrylic under the mobo is edge-lit using a 5 mm 12 volt SMD LED strip with the LEDs aimed at the exterior edge of the acrylic. The critcal thing -- and this took a couple iterations to work through -- is the internal shape of the acrylic to get the LEDs to evenly light the outside corners. It's easy to get a glow effect along a straight edge. The trick was getting an even effect at the outside corners where the distance from light source to end point is much greater and the shape is more of a curve (a corner) than a straight edge.

But anyway, a 5mm 12 volt SMD LED strip was simply hot-glued to the edge of the acrylic. Easy as pie!

All the best,
Paul
 
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very nice!

(immediately makes me start wondering what could be done with an RGB leds, more channel separation etc... Also, when it's not picking up audio, it could default to a very slow fade in/out or very slow color change if RGBs were used.)

anyhow, your efforts came out freakin' awesome!
wish I had the time to study electronics and semiconductors better, there is SO much awesome shit you can do with a little creativity and know-how!
 
turbogeek said:
very nice!

(immediately makes me start wondering what could be done with an RGB leds, more channel separation etc... Also, when it's not picking up audio, it could default to a very slow fade in/out or very slow color change if RGBs were used.)

anyhow, your efforts came out freakin' awesome!
wish I had the time to study electronics and semiconductors better, there is SO much awesome shit you can do with a little creativity and know-how!
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Hey, thanks Turbogeek. I'd thought of the same thing -- the Apple "breathing" LED effect when there was no audio signal, but finally deemed it beyond my limited electronics skills. It would be a great effect. Thanks for leaving a comment -- I appreciate it!

Paul
 
I thought someone might of asked , music name please,just what I need to unwind. Nice work.
 
Really awesome work, if I decide to go with a windowed case next build I may do something like this.
 
Uncle said:
I thought someone might of asked , music name please,just what I need to unwind. Nice work.
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Hey, thanks Unc.

The short video has a piece of Relaxer by Deep-Dive-Corp.

The long video uses Pond Life by Symppath. This is the only song I've ever seen by Symppath -- it's from a compilation named Left Coast Liquid Vol 1.

All the best,
Paul
 
Super cool!

I have no exposed LEDs or anything like that, not to my taste.

Nice simple practical usage here, love it.
 
Very nice work!

Is this something that you can turn on and off? It's neat as hell in the right setting. I could see it being distracting in video games though.
 
Viper87227 said:
Very nice work!

Is this something that you can turn on and off? It's neat as hell in the right setting. I could see it being distracting in video games though.
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Thanks Viper!

Well, I didn't insert a switch to turn ot off, but it's easily diminished to zero by turning the internal (software) volume down and then turning your speakers up a bit to compensate. Because the audio signals come directly from the PC and not from ambient room noise, it's a simple matter to defeat the effect through software. This is one of the things that sets this mod apart from sound-reactive mods that use those mic-based sound reactive modules -- ambient room sounds (the volume of your speakers) won't affect the lighting at all. Its strength is solely based on where you have your software volume set.

Thanks for the question and glad you enjoyed it!

Paul
 
Any chance of some photos of the acrylic panel and how everything is wired (for us non-technical, mod lacking persons who need pictures to understand stuff)?
 
cxd9615gb said:
Super cool!

I have no exposed LEDs or anything like that, not to my taste.

Nice simple practical usage here, love it.
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Thanks, cxd -- I feel the same way. When I bought the Apollish fan I had it in mind to slap some resistors in-line to turn it down a bit. Just too much bling. I know exactly where you're coming from, friend. Real glad you enjoyed it!

Paul
 
KrylonArt said:
Any chance of some photos of the acrylic panel and how everything is wired (for us non-technical, mod lacking persons who need pictures to understand stuff)?
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Hi Krylon,

I didn't take any photos but can probably post some drawings in the next week or two. I have the drawings I sent to the plastics supplier that have dimensions and all that. It's set up for a micro ATX mobo, but it'd be a simple matter to extend those dimensions for whatever form-factor mobo you use. Give me a little time and I'll post some after-action stuff.

All the best,
Paul
 
That would be awesome, I am planning a new build around the Maximus IV Gene-Z and am really interested in the lighting method used beneath the motherboard. My original idea to use Ikea Dioders didn't turn out so well and was essentially a waste of $39 and a set of perfectly good Ikea Dioders... =*(
 
So I'm not any sort of electrician but this kind of mod is awesome as hell
I'd love to get a list of the parts/equipment you used to accomplish this.
I dont want to recreate your exact lighting layout, just the effects.
 
InsanePerson said:
So I'm not any sort of electrician but this kind of mod is awesome as hell
I'd love to get a list of the parts/equipment you used to accomplish this.
I dont want to recreate your exact lighting layout, just the effects.
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+1 :cool:

Or

OP could patent it and start selling kits that do this and become a millionaire (runs to patent office to do it first!)
 
KrylonArt said:
That would be awesome, I am planning a new build around the Maximus IV Gene-Z and am really interested in the lighting method used beneath the motherboard. My original idea to use Ikea Dioders didn't turn out so well and was essentially a waste of $39 and a set of perfectly good Ikea Dioders... =*(
Click to expand...

Well the drawings I made will work -- the Gene-Z is a microATX form factor.
 
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ur right! I don't like lighting , but I rly liked this one! hahaha

(still don't like the fand leds tho) =P
 
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