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Fan LED Mod

M

MKmods

Case Mod Guru
Joined
Feb 26, 2008
Messages
5,697 (0.91/day)
Location
Nevada
System Specs
System Name Crossflow III
Processor AMD 965 (4.04Ghz)
Motherboard Asus Crosshair III
Cooling Air
Memory 4 gigs Mushkin 7-7-7-20@1T
Video Card(s) single 9800GT
Storage Raptor 150's in Raid0
Display(s) LG Flatron 24"
Case Custom
Audio Device(s) AuzenTech X-Raider W/OP637
Power Supply Custom modded Corsair 750HX
Software Win 7 64/Solaris Utility
Benchmark Scores 3DMark06--21963 so far
Recently Greasemonkey sent me a couple fans and asked if I would mod them to be red instead of blue. I sent one back to him already but I figured you may want to see what it takes to do it so I will show the second one here

Here is a shot of the front of it (before modding begins)
007-5.jpg



Useful LED info

Different color LEDs run at different voltages

Link for LED info
http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html

Metku.net guide(thanks)
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/ledcalc/index_eng
 
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Might wanna post the pics Mark :p
 
Dont forget im old (and feeble)

this is the fan removed from the mount(backside)
004-11.jpg
 
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Nice looking forward to seeing it done, always better to see someone else do this even if you know how to do it yourself : ]
 
At first I just wanted to switch the SMD led for a blue one
http://www.lc-led.com/View/itemNumber/124

But I found that the blue ones ran at 3V and the red ones ran at 2V. 1Volt dosent seem like a lot but its enough to burn out the LED within a second. So I had to mount a different LED, and It had to put out enough light to be seen as well.

I picked up quite a selection to play with
001-11.jpg

On the first one I went with a pair of 5mm red 12V LEDs(have resistors built in each LED)

For those that havent seen SMD (surface mount device) LEDs they are VERY small
Ledmagnified.png
 
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I was going to change my Zalman cooler from bue to orange leds, but then I discovered SMD leds are a pain in the a** to deal with. So I decided to mod the leds of my A.C Ryan's from uv to orange leds. It was my first attempt with a soldering gun. I used 5mm capsules and I'm glad the resistor's were already built into the board. ;)
fan.jpg

CIMG5497.jpg
 
WOW. Who would go out of their way to get a fan's LED color changed as opposed to just getting a new fan with that color? That guy must REALLY like these fans!
 
DirectorC said:
WOW. Who would go out of their way to get a fan's LED color changed as opposed to just getting a new fan with that color? That guy must REALLY like these fans!
Click to expand...

That would be me:D,I wanted them changed from blue to the red so it would fit the all red light theme of my case.And if it was as easy as changing fans i would have been all over it.But the fact that these fans are a special fit for the Nirvana cooler,normal fans are not an option.So i sent them to the MASTER of MODDING.
THANKS again MK.:toast:
 
Ur welcome GM
It was a fun experience for me. I usually build cases just to be efficient and not so much bling.

So I wanted to mess around with LEDs for a change.

And thanks t77 for that. This thread can show how to mod all types of fan LEDs
 
GREASEMONKEY said:
That would be me:D,I wanted them changed from blue to the red so it would fit the all red light theme of my case.And if it was as easy as changing fans i would have been all over it.But the fact that these fans are a special fit for the Nirvana cooler,normal fans are not an option.So i sent them to the MASTER of MODDING.
THANKS again MK.:toast:
Click to expand...

Now I get it. In that case this rocks. I wanna see the end result!
 
Here is a closer shot of the LEDs

3mm,5mm, rect and a pack of SMD LEDs
005-3.jpg

those suckers are tiny

To remove the fan blads from the motor assembly its usually pretty easy

First remove the sticker
Picture035-2.jpg


Remove the cap
Picture036-1.jpg


Than remove the small plastic clip and voila
Picture037.jpg


But these fans are weird and the center has to be drilled out
004-10.jpg

be really careful not to destroy the motor assembly if you drill out the center. Also there is no plastic clip, instead the drive axle end is mushroomed and needs to be removed with a Dremel

I think I will do something different to this one and complete remove the plastic back plate (glued to the motor) and make a new one.
 
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DirectorC said:
WOW. Who would go out of their way to get a fan's LED color changed as opposed to just getting a new fan with that color? That guy must REALLY like these fans!
Click to expand...

That would be me as well:D It seems orange led case fans don't exist, so I had to make own. Itls the same reason why GM is doing it.;)
 
I forget who but I modded a fan a while ago orange for someone here at TPU...

Ok Im doing this different, I carefully removed the rear mount
007-6.jpg


Here it cleaned up a bit
008-3.jpg


Now I can get to the circuit board, notice the LEDs and resistors
FanCloseup.png
 
Im thinking the basic process should be very similar
 
DirectorC said:
WOW. Who would go out of their way to get a fan's LED color changed as opposed to just getting a new fan with that color? That guy must REALLY like these fans!
Click to expand...


A pack of 100 leds costs 10 quid or so :laugh:

a single decent fan can cost that much sometimes.

Its cheaper :D

people are cheap!

:laugh:
 
Thanks MK! Now, I just need your PCI E power mod.. :roll:
 
DirectorC said:
WOW. Who would go out of their way to get a fan's LED color changed as opposed to just getting a new fan with that color? That guy must REALLY like these fans!
Click to expand...

pantherx12 said:
A pack of 100 leds costs 10 quid or so :laugh:

a single decent fan can cost that much sometimes.

Its cheaper :D

people are cheap!

:laugh:
Click to expand...

As I was growing up we didnt have so many options. There was no internet/PCs, and we had to make due with what we had so we learned to tinker. I was blessed to have a grandfather that showed me many things (even straightening/re-using old nails, lol)

As a teenager I built cars, my favorite thing was big engines in small cars(big block chevy in a VW bug, small block Chevy in a Triumph spitfire etc..) The laws were such that it was possible then. Than in the 80's the laws changed making it not worth all the hassle...

So bla bla bla now its comps...

Honestly the cost is in no way worth it to switch LEDs, this mod could cost a few hundred dollars(mostly labor) Im doing it because I LOVE this stuff (and as a favor to Greasemonkey) and I thought I would show it to all of you so if you wanted to mess with it you could. Another reason for these threads is I enjoy your input, its amazing how many good ideas all of you have come up with.

So get modding, its not rocket science:rockout:

Cold Storm said:
Thanks MK! Now, I just need your PCI E power mod.. :roll:
Click to expand...
Im just finishing up stuff so whenever ur ready. I picked up one of these so I can try to make a 1U PS (cross ur fingers)
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=112802
 
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Wow I've been undercharging for my services, I once changed some leds for someone to make me a dinner lol
 
Careful mentioning that, lol...You will have a bunch of people expecting you mod for food..

Ok on the first fan I modded I used 5mm 12V leds that I just wired into the fans 12V input. I wanted to try something different for this one so here is a close up of me removing the resistor and blue led

Here is where the LED goes
002-9.jpg


And here is me removing the resistor
001-13.jpg


Here is a shot of the red LED mounted and the 330 Ohm resistor mounted.
003-9.jpg

I could have ordered a surface mount resistor but it would take more time and $ so I just used one I had laying around.

Thanks again t77snapshot for this camera it kicks ass..
 
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I sent this off to GM and forgot to post the finish picts..

Here is the back modded and running
004-12.jpg


And here it is mounted on its bracket
001-14.jpg


It turned out cool, I cant believe how many coolers I had that had LEDs that I didnt like. I wish I had done this sooner.

Thank you very much Greasemonkey for bearing with me on this and I hope you enjoy the new fan..
 
I look very forward to recieving and seeing,Looks like it turned out supurb.:D
Thanks again for your very valuable time MK.:respect:
 
LOL, valuable time? (I am so unorganized its hard to imagine ever being able to put a price on it)

This was probably more fun for me than you, I really learned a lot about LEDs.
 
MKmods said:
Recently Greasemonkey sent me a couple fans and asked if I would mod them to be red instead of blue. I sent one back to him already but I figured you may want to see what it takes to do it so I will show the second one here

Here is a shot of the front of it (before modding begins)
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo142/Partspicts/007-5.jpg


Useful LED info

Link for LED info
http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html

Metku.net guide(thanks)
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/ledcalc/index_eng
Click to expand...

Is that a Zalman fan ?. I did the same thing to one for a member on here some time ago although it was a pain to take apart the fan on the ones i had although was still possible :).
 
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