I recently read the article on the HDD power led using an array of leds, and I thought this might be kinda of interesting, however I'm not to knowledgable, so maybe you guys can help out. Rather then using the array of leds, could I use a couple of el wires instead, with 1 inverter? i.e. when the HD is active, the red wire will light up, and when it is not, the blue will light up, or the blue will always be on, and the red will flicker when the hd is active. I'm not sure how to do this, but I would assume it would be rather similar to using the array of leds. I'm not really sure where to begin though, so if you have any ideas please let me know! Peace!
Not sure if you reading Macro's hard drive activity light article, but in the discussion, he mentions you can omit a lot of leds and just use one red and one blue. Give it a read. edit: You ever have one of those days where everything goes wrong? I've just re-read your post, and I swear the first time round it never mentioned el-wire! You may as well ignore me
I did read where he said that it doesn't matter how many leds you use, but I can't just swap and led for a string of el wire can I? Or will something like: power to the inverter, inverter to Macro's device, then a red and blue el wire off of that work? Peace
depending on how much the inverter draws you can. I Cannot remember how macros circuit works, but I believe it used a transistor to help drive the leds, as long as you get a sufficiently powerful transistot, ie. one that can handle the inverter current you should be fine. Im sure lin or macro or cpemma will be along in a minute to confirm what I have said.
Use my circuit and replace the trasistors with power transitors, and run off 12 volts. Should work just fine. All the info is here: http://www.zapwizard.com/led_Changer And here: http://www.zapwizard.com/ide
Wow, thats perfect, thats exactly what I have been looking for. I noticed that you used the IDE cable to detect activity. Using the hdd jumper on the mb will do they same thing wont it? rather then splicing the cable. I'm kind of new to this, do you mind if I e-mail you part numbers sometime Zap, that way I know I'm getting the right transistors? Peace
WARNING LONG REPLY:: Yes you can use the motherboard's IDE jumper. It is wired like this: Linky... http://www.zapwizard.com/ide/mb_schematic.jpg For the transistors I am not sure, it depends on where you live. In the US these two transistors from All-electronics will work fine. http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=550200&item=TIP3055&type=store http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=550200&item=TIP30&type=store Any NPN or PNP power transistor should work. As long as it can handle 1 amp. Just replace the LED's with inverters, and run the circuit off 12 volts. If dont want to risk the MB you should use an Opto Isolator. (Linear's site has links for this) http://linear1.org/gm/archives/00000135.php -------------------------------- /me reading your post more care But I see you want to use ONE inverter. Ok this can be done. Inverters though put out high voltage, AC currents. Not Low voltage DC currents that my circuit uses. You can use a Relay, but this will cause a LOT of noise due to clicking. A solid state relay may be used but most cant handle greater than 125volts and 60hz. If you should use an Opto Isolator for sure if you go this way. (Linear's site has links for this) http://linear1.org/gm/archives/00000135.php -------------------------------- You can directly hack apart your inverter as I did for my lighting mod. I didn't use my HD LED's but I could have used them just as well. Link here: http://www.zapwizard.com/Lightning/Hacking.html -------------------------------- In the end using power transtors and two inverters will be the easiest to do.
