I asked this question in my project log, but thought here would be better..lol.. I have several questions... I am looking at adding a VU Meter - 2x10 LED Stereo VU Meter to the front of the case, but I really don't know anything about them, except their purpose. I'm looking at this one:VU Meter - 2x10 LED Stereo VU Meter , has anyone tried it or seen it in action. Are they hard to hook up? Looking at the pic, is it two seperate parts? I would like to place one on each side of the upper bezel. I would buy a pre-assembled one... I have a soyo dragon plus mb with onboard sound, which is pretty dam good btw, and Creative Inspire 4.1 4400 speaker/sub setup, does this make a difference? Second question: I have a Sunbeam rheobus with color changing LEDs, I'd like to relocate the leds to another part of my bezel, any problems with soldering on wires to to extend the LEDs??? Thanks for the help Electronic NEWB DDK
Hey daydreamingknight, It just so happens that i bought what u are asking about a few weeks ago. I havent gotten mine to work yet and i have emailed there tech support many times and still no good has come from it. Its not that its hard, its just so SMALL and everything is cramed so close together that its really easy to spash solder on something else when its not suposted to go their. So my advice to u is to pay the extra 10-15 bucks to have the company solder it before they send it to u. I wish i did now...... Hope this helped, David
Thanks! I will be going with the pre-assembled one! Could you provide more info on it? Like how you go about hooking it up to a PC? Or if you need anything else to get it working with a PC? ..i.e...cables? etc? Thanks a million! DDK
I think that you just hook it either between the speakers and the pc or hook both to the PC via a splitter. I'll look at it again, though, just to make sure
As a side note, I don't know if the kit comes with a audio header/jack, please correct me if I'm wrong. You may have to purchace a mini-splitter, and hack one end of it up
Ok I'm looking now, thanks.. are those 3mm LEds? I'm hitting Ratshack tomorrow, maybe pick up some blue ones... DDK Ill probably have alot of questions down the road...
ahh.. ok, my bad. I don't know if it'd be worth the trouble of changing the leds, besides it will add a little color...lol I looked on radioshacks site and they have a blue led rated at 300MCD, wouldn't I have to use 8mcd/2mCd like in the kit? DDK
It would be quite a lot brighter than the LEDs included in the kit, but it should be fine. The thing you want to match are the current/voltage ratings. I don't know what the ratings for the LEDs in the kit are, but I think they are velleman LEDs, so just do a part number search, and look at the datasheets (if they have them). If you have a 5v LED, and run it at 3v, it will be dimmer, but still lit. That may be the effect you're looking for. If you read Mashie's article, he used a pair of similar kits for his raido case. Although the kits have been discontinued (if memory serves), you may gain some insight on the kits by reading his article. I actualy like UV meters alot, and have been thinking about buying/building one, but we'll see
Brighter is ok, they will be placed behind dark plexi. I don't know, someone would have to walk me thru it, I know NOTHING about electronics, I'm afraid of frying something..but I'd like to give it a shot! DDK
Just desolder the old LEDs, look at the PDF on the velleman website to figure out which side the long LED pins go into, and use that.
I picked up two mini push on/push off switches today and see they have THREE places for wires.. why?? lolol Take care DDK
Oh, and I don't forsee any problems with extending the LEDs, so long as you wire it all right /me slaps self for not catching that in the first place
That is incorrect. If you have an LED with a higher forward voltage than you are running it at then it will not light.
Stevey, you're the one who's wrong. There's two different forward voltages to worry about when dealing with diodes: maximum forward voltage and forward breakover voltage. The max is usually what is documented and what LEDs are run at, but the forward breakover voltage is where the diode, under a forward bias, will start to conduct. Between the forward breakover voltage and the reverse avalanche voltage (where the diode will conduct when in reverse bias), the diode will not conduct.
It's all greek to me man, but thanks. I'm thinking I won't be changing the LEDs unless it's going to be pretty painless. I'll wait until it gets here and look it over and decide then..... DDK
