Docaroo Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Hi Guys, I'm going to add some awesome LED "Lazer" lights to my guitar body, and have them spotlight the fret board, pickups. etc (or somerthing like that!) Anyway, the ones i want to use are designed for Computer Case modding, and so come with a 4-pin molex connector as in pic1. I know i can take this off easily and be left with 2 wires.. My question is, if i connected those 2 wires to the battery pack wires pictured (well i could even put another molex on the bat pack for ease... would the LEDs work fine & dandy? or is there anything else i need to hook up to it... (PS. im kack at electronics so this might be really dumb post!) Thanks chaps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 ps.. here's what the light looks like when on! will be fantastic on a metallic blue warlock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkey69962000 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 dude look around at other thread. Many people wanted to do this including me. There are threads if you go back. Plus you need a grounding. Its easier to use like 2 AA batteries or a 9 volt battery. Sorry to rain on your parade. I think Daveq is your man if you want to use that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 ill look for other threads, my apologies for the needless post!! but something like this with a battery attached? if i ground it somehow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkey69962000 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 pm daveq. Thats exactly what you need. Talk to him. Oh its a ground whire that runs on the other side of the leds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Most of those things are designed to run on 12 VDC, IIRC. If yours is 12 volt, you'll just need to get two of those RatShaQ battery boxes, solder the red wire on one to the black wire on the other, and connect the other two wires to the molex leads, red to red and black to black. Then all you've got to do is find some place in the guitar to put it all. If your "lazer" isn't 12 volts, then you'll have to do something else, but I'd be surprised if it isn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Most of those things are designed to run on 12 VDC, IIRC. If yours is 12 volt, you'll just need to get two of those RatShaQ battery boxes, solder the red wire on one to the black wire on the other, and connect the other two wires to the molex leads, red to red and black to black. Then all you've got to do is find some place in the guitar to put it all. If your "lazer" isn't 12 volts, then you'll have to do something else, but I'd be surprised if it isn't. Well, I’m hoping that I can use that 9v battery clip pictured above, then I can stick the battery in the main cavity – I haven’t made up my mind – but I might drill some small holes for the wires if the effect is good enough to upgrade to semi-permanent! However, this is a 9v battery, I think the LEDs are 12v – ive seen some advertised as 5v but this may be wrong, will the only consequence of using a 9v battery with 12v LED be dimmer light? Many Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 Docaroo - I am not familiar with the product you have shown there. If it is just an LED (with a resistor built in somewhere), then you can experiment a little to find out what power supply will work. If there is no resistor built in, you'll want to add one in series with the LED before connecting it to a power source. Maybe that thing isn't an LED? I don't know but it sure looks like one to me. If it is an LED, I would bet that a 220 or 330 ohm resistor and a 9V battery would get it going. Unless you really want to use that particular unit, you could easily buy a blue LED and a resistor and then you'd know exactly how to wire it and what current/voltage is needed. They are pretty cheap. Let me know if you have any questions. I don't know if I really helped or not. If you can find info on that thing (electrical specs, ...), we might be able to help further. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZiKi Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 how bout you buy a led and hook a resistor up to it, then power it using a cr2032. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 The cr2032 is rated at 3.0 volts which would be too close (might be under for some LED's) to the voltage required to turn the LED on. It also has a battery life of 225 maH to 2.0V which is quite low. As soon as the battery started to drop voltage, your LED would likely stop emitting light. Now, you could put a couple of them in series and that would get you a much better voltage and slightly better life. I don't know how much those batteries cost to tell if it is worth while or not? You wouldn't really get a double in battery life but it would be better than 225. In any case, I mentioned earlier that it might be worth just buying a few LED's and resistors - that way you know exactly what the specs on the components are and how to use them best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 However, this is a 9v battery, I think the LEDs are 12v – ive seen some advertised as 5v but this may be wrong, will the only consequence of using a 9v battery with 12v LED be dimmer light? You need to find out about it before you start playing with it, unless you can afford to replace it. If it's designed to run on 12 volts and you feed it 9 volts, it'll probably just not be as bright as it would have been - by my calculations, with a blue LED, the current would be about half. However, if it's designed to use 5 volts, hooking it up to 9 volts will result in a loud pop, a flash, and a small cloud of evil-smelling smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2004 Docaroo - I am not familiar with the product you have shown there. If it is just an LED (with a resistor built in somewhere), then you can experiment a little to find out what power supply will work. If there is no resistor built in, you'll want to add one in series with the LED before connecting it to a power source. Maybe that thing isn't an LED? I don't know but it sure looks like one to me. If it is an LED, I would bet that a 220 or 330 ohm resistor and a 9V battery would get it going. Unless you really want to use that particular unit, you could easily buy a blue LED and a resistor and then you'd know exactly how to wire it and what current/voltage is needed. They are pretty cheap. Let me know if you have any questions. I don't know if I really helped or not. If you can find info on that thing (electrical specs, ...), we might be able to help further. Dave Hi Dave, Yip - it's simply and LED, with a resistor pre-wired in the circuit all attached to a clear plastic swiveling mount! They are designed to be plugged straight into a spare slot in a PC power supply unit, without any other alterations required....so i am pretty positive they all work from a 12v power supply - and will have the correct ohmage resistor in the circuit for 12v!! It seems like I might just have to fabricate some sort of 12v battery pack then wire it up to the LED (not sure about what was said about earthing earlier...how should i go about this?). I was planning on getting another 2 or 3 depending on how this one goes - so i could put then in series... or probably better off running them in parallel as they will all be the same LED? That's my current understanding of things! Thanks mateys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2004 See Here for details of the LED Lazer... notice that it says.. The “Lazer LED” has a standard Molex connector at the end of its 30cm wire so it's simple to install. Of course, this can easily be cut off and the LED connected to any 5v supply or fan/light controller. when all the others, i'm sure go with 12v pwr supplies!! I could always just try it with 5v first and it will be pretty obvious if it should actually be 12v! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 24, 2004 Report Share Posted July 24, 2004 If it's designed for 5 volts, you could use that RS battery case (270-409) with 4 AA's (6V in series) and a 50 ohm 1/4W resistor in series to power it. The 50 ohm resistor will limit the current for the extra voltage, and the AA's will give you fairly good battery life (better than 9 volts or coin cells). You might want to add in an on-off switch, so it won't keep you awake at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 If it's designed for 5 volts, you could use that RS battery case (270-409) with 4 AA's (6V in series) and a 50 ohm 1/4W resistor in series to power it. The 50 ohm resistor will limit the current for the extra voltage, and the AA's will give you fairly good battery life (better than 9 volts or coin cells). You might want to add in an on-off switch, so it won't keep you awake at night. Thanks Lovekraft, does this resistor take into account that there is (i think) a resitor already built in so that the light can plug straight into a computer PSU (12v)? ALso, that battery case has got an on/off switch on it which is very good indeed since i can turn on/off for diff songs at a gig!! super!! I think the best way would be using the radio shack case, and if i need 12v - i could just buy two couldn't I? that gives good battery life, with on/off capability! I read that I should use Lithium batterys, as they give off a steady current and the light wouldn't dimishish til the bat's went flat? or would regular's do? Thanks for all the help guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 26, 2004 Report Share Posted July 26, 2004 ...does this resistor take into account that there is (i think) a resitor already built in so that the light can plug straight into a computer PSU (12v)? ... No, that resistor is only going to work if the light is designed for 5 volts, like the one in the auction you won - basically, the resistor will limit the current flowing through any 5 volt device to 20mA, which should be safe for any LED in current production. So far as batteries go, daveq knows a lot more than I do, but I think even regular alkaline batteries should get you at least 48 hours or so of continuous service without too much dimming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2004 48 hours is plenty indeed! I'll keep you chaps updated, should receieve the LED by end of the week! will post pics when its all done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Hey Guys, Well i got the LED in the post yesterday - wow! I plugged into computer power supply and it wokr great - my question now... It obviously has a resistor wired inside the led housing, that converts the computer PSU output to the LED required voltage (5v could be??). So, would I be able to substitute the computer power supply with any (is it 12v??) 12v power supply and be good to go...? I could wire up 2 of those Radio Shack battery holders with 8 AA batterys in total giving 12v as someone else posted - should this be fine for the LED? Thanks again for all your help guys! -Stu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 Get a multimeter and find out what the voltage is on your computer supply - it's probably 5 volts, but check. You need to know that before you do anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 Get a multimeter and find out what the voltage is on your computer supply - it's probably 5 volts, but check. You need to know that before you do anything else. Unfortunately I dont have a multimeter, and dont have one at work i could borrow! But i do have reckless disregard for checking things out!! I should be able to work out what voltage the PSU is at by what its connected too! 5v is usually mobo and things while 12v is usually cd drive, etc! if not i'll just wire it up to some batts and hope for the best lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 Do yourself a favor, use a 470 ohm resistor in series if you're going to hook it up to 12 volts for the first time. That should save it if it is designed to run on 5 volts, and make it fairly dim if it's designed to run on 12. Or you could try emailing the guy you bought it from to ask. Guessing wrong is only going to cost you £2.25 plus shipping, so make it easy on yourself. Of course, you can buy a cheap multimeter for less than that at a car boot sale... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted July 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 maybe i shall resist the urge to try and destruct it!!? I could always try it hooked upto 5v's worth of batts, then if dim - must be 12v?! i will keep u guys posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted August 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 well.. got back from a quick week away now!! FINALLY found somewhere to get hold of all the bat boxes/etc that i need - Matlin Electronics (UK)... great shop, i got from one in Inverness! anyway... i cut off the Molex 4pin connector, hooked up to 12v worth of AAs in a bat box and voila - works a dream!! It also works great off a 9v (benefits being in weight and that i found a 9v bat box with an on/off switch! Also managed to use the switch mechanism of the 9v box with the 12v battery rig and worked great... now i just need to fit it to the damn guitar lol! Once i finish and assemble it that is... Thanks for the help -Stuart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biohazard Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 Wow, cool. Do you have any pictures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docaroo Posted August 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Wow, cool. Do you have any pictures? not yet... but give me a day or two! infact, you could give me a week or two if you want and i will have pics of my whole guitar finished with the LEDs wired up and sparkling!! i'll be back.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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