I'm trying to wire up a neon power indicator lamp like ZapWizard used in his famous Ammobox Case http://www.zapwizard.com/LANPC/PWR-Light.jpg How can I wire this into my PSU? I read on the project log that he wired it directly to a 12 volt source. Can anyone help? And can all answers be put in layman's terms (yellow wire, red wire) Please don't hot-link to images not on your own webspace!
A neon will not work directly off your power supply output rails. Most indicators like you show are for mains use. You could however remove the neon and replace it with an LED so that you can use it at low voltage.
Most of these lamps contain a resistor but you might want to check that with a multimeter first or with the documentation (if you have it.) Then you need a yellow wire (12v) and a black wire (ground.) Attach the yellow wire to one pin and the black wire to the other pin. It should light up. edit: I was under the impression that you could get 12V neons but maybe I''m wrong?? edit: http://www.classd.ltd.uk/products/detail.asp?ProductId=3306
Neons have a strike voltage around 50V, so there's no way they can light at 12V. Those indicator lights are most likely small filament bulbs or LED's.
That component is suppose to work off of the main lines since I have a few of the same kind. As suggested by the post above, replace the neon light with an LED instead since the only way you can probably power that off is with a tie in to the main voltage line or with an inverter. There are 12v indicator lights but those utilize those little light bulbs, some kind of nomenclature I forgot, instead of neon bulbs.
as has been pointed out, neons generally work off the mains. There should be some writing (or a sticker) on the side that tells you what voltage it expects. If it's mains, you run extra lines of the live and neutral lines on the IEC connector at the back of the PSU, so it's running in parallel with the PSU. If that doesn't make any sense, then you probably shouldn't be messing around inside your PSU...
The lamp is rated at 110v~125v so I guess I could splice it right into the IEC connector and it'd run just fine. I do think I'll grab a multimeter though to simplify the process. That way I could tell for sure witch line to solder it to right?
I think you may have just got it, but mine is not soldered to 12volts, but to 120volts. So it lights anytime the PSU is plugged into the wall, rather then when the PC is on. (There are plenty of others lights for that)
Ah thanks Zap. Well besides a small shock to my finger I got it working fine! I testing it by just plugging a power cord in the wall and carefully putting one wire in the ground of the IEC male end and then the other in the positive end.
