Modding MDVA Lite now available

Now available, the MDVA Lite, a barebone enthusiast kit that contain the full MDVA PCB and cable for those of you that want to make your own enclosure.








Link for more details including the new prices.

Oh, if you wonder why you haven't seen a review here at Bit-Tech, blame Macroman for sitting on a unit for the past year

 

$20 is very affordable

 

Well it is less than half the manufacturing cost so almost a bargain.

 

ooooh, i got one. Not having the enclosure gave me an excuse to get one. Are you ever going to release one without any LEDs so that we can put any color we want in it?

I dont mind soldering smt leds, but i have absolutely no abilities whatsoever when it comes to desoldering them.

edit: what screw size works best for the mounting holes?

 

112 is a hell of alot of LED's to replace though...

 

112 SMD leds!!!

I got mine some months ago. And now i'm waiting the Lite Units arrive.

 

It will be posted tomorrow. There won't be any blank PCB versions, sorry. As for the mounting holes, they are 1/8" but you can easily drill them a lot bigger if needed, no traces are near.

 

Ever since you made one for anemone I've been wondering about ways to convert different system stats (like fan speed and temperatures) into sound so that you can display them on this and other visualizers. Like for example building a circuit to convert a thermistor or FAN RPM input into a sound spectrum range so that the visualizer could double as a temperature display by changing the audio source.
Regardless this is a great deal and I applaud you for making them available and affordable.

 

Cool, that is an usage I haven't even considered, shouldn't be too difficult to do really.

 

Do you have a mechanical drawing of the mounting holes and button placements?

 

In his forum, though. Under the MDVA section.

 

Ah, there we go. This is perfect.

I might look into making a circuit board to convert fan RPMs and thermistors into spectral sound in a month or so. For now I'll just get the aluminum mount made to put it in my new machine.

 

By the looks of the traces there, it only uses one voltage line (5v? I never remember my molexes...) - is that correct? If so, any idea on power draw? <500mA @ 5v would be awesome, though that's a whole lotta lights. I just got a fun little idea and I want to make sure it'd work electrically first. Though at that price, I really can't go wrong.

 

Any plans in the future for a diferent color leds, like green or blue.

 

Trying to power it from USB are we, hmmm?

 

When someone does it first, they stole the idea from me.

Yes, external USB-powered display to hook up to and sit under my iPod dock or something.

LSDiodes' red SMDs apparently pull up to 35ma, but somehow I doubt this setup would require almost 4 amps - even 20 watts worth of LEDs would get fairly warm in such a small area. I'd rather find out from the man himself than toast a port, seeing as I can't really be bothered to wire up an ammeter to a molex for the testing.

I do have a 2.6a power brick for a 4-port hub that I can use passively, I'd just rather not waste the outlet when I've got some insane number of available USB ports (and I don't want the multiple wires from doing it in parallel)

 

I'll take a power draw reading when mine arrives and let you know what I get.
You could always make a single USB power cable with two plug-in ends (in parallel) so that you can draw 1 amp instead of 500ma.

 

No more MDVA releases planed, so get your unit now or never

 

OK! TK!

 

Ordered! I already have ideas for a case too. I've wanted one of theses every since I saw that radio mod so many years ago.