141 and counting

[Coffman34]

This is big, real big. Hokay, so, I go down to my local Radio Shack to look at some red LEDs for my xbox. I saw that for two it was like $3. I thought, I'm going to need a lot of LEDs and alot of cash. But then I went shopping online, found a place that I could get 1000 LEDs in bulk for $30. Of course, I went for it. I was trying to design something to use these leds on, and came up with an idea, after a recent attempt to install a DVD window, I ended up cutting out the whole X. Needless to say, it wasn't to pretty. So I spent $20 on a new case from Da Llamas. Got it in, installed the new dvd window, which looks sweet. I then decided that, hey, instead of cutting out the X, how about just outlining it with LEDs. So I started drilling. 141 holes later, I have all of the holes for the X outlinging cut out, and am in the process of installing them and holding them in place. Just wondering, if anyone has tried this many leds in a box and if so, what is the most you have seen. I will keep this thread up to date, and as soon as i'm done i'll post some pics.

Coffman34

 

[mircisthe]

I didnt even think 141 one was possible. It doesnt seem like the box can supply it with enough juice but i am probable wrong i have about 12 in mine.

 

[freakzilla3333]

At least 284 solder points and it will probably look like an airport runway.

 

[threeballspin]

Sounds cool. Def post some pics for us when you finish. Good luck.

 

[desolate_one]

lol yes, im liking the sound of this. ooo if it blows up, post a pic of the wreckage aswell. that would be nice to see!!

 

[threeballspin]

Haha. Think positively. But yeah, destruction is always fun too.

 

[Coffman34]

Yeah. I have sort of been wondering about the power usage also. But I figured that if you use 50 leds in parallel with a 5v power supply you won't need a resistor. So I just have to wire them up in sets of 50. I probably use the other 9 that I need to fill up to power some around the jewel and the top of the dvd window. It's defnitely a pain in the arse trying to wire them all up on parallel. I just put them about 10mm apart and fold over the led wires to overlap the next two leds. So far so good, haven't tried to turn in on yet though. And also, is the molex red wire 12v or 5v. What would the best place be to connect the leds power to.

Coffman34

 

[da_supa_fish]

wow that sounds really cool. definitly one of the best xbox mod idea's i've heard of. hope it works out well and you can post some pics soon.

 

[mircisthe]

red is 5V

 

[linuxn00b2004]

Sounds possible to me. And even if for whatever reason the power drain is too much, you can always remove all the LEDs and put two cold cathodes in, going down the middle of each leg of the "X." Light would still go through: just not of the LED type.

But, as I said, I think it'll work perfectly. It'll look really nifty: a lot of work, but still nifty! I give you props on such an undertaking!

- Greg

 

[kimosabe]

I didnt even think 141 one was possible. It doesnt seem like the box can supply it with enough juice but i am probable wrong i have about 12 in mine.

110-220 volts through whichever your Powersupply is MORE than enough to power event hat many leds at full brightness. The most I have seen is 80 something.

Good luck man, this will be quite interesting.

 

[Coffman34]

Thnx alot guyz, you have given me alot of help and support. I had mentioned this on a local gaming centers forums and everyone just sort of blew me off. Your right, it is a lot of work, but the end result will be well worth it. As far as the cathodes are concerned. They're not as cool as 141 leds. LOL.

Coffman34

 

[Coffman34]

Oh, and also, i'm not that much of a genius when it comes to electronics. But can someone please verify that if I have 50 LEDs connected to a 5v supply, that I do not need any resistors. I do not want to get all of these glued into place and then find out that my calculations were not correct and blow all of them.

Coffman34

 

[kimosabe]

It'd be smart to get a resistor on every 10 LED's just to be safe. Your XBOX will have the effect of a Microwaved marshmellow if you keep it like that too long.

 

[linuxn00b2004]

Yeah, to all my electrical knowledge, you should be just fine. 50 LEDs wired in parallel should be able to take 5v no problemo. Just make sure to get a second opinion, but I am 99% sure it'll be okay. In fact, they still might be underpowered... you might have to wire them up to 12 volts. There is a 12 volt circuit on the PSU you can tap into, correct?

- Greg

 

[Coffman34]

Yes, there is a 12v connection, its the yellow wire on the molex adapter. So, here's an update. I got 50 in place and all soldered together, fired up the box to test them out, only about 30 lit up, so i switched the point where the power feeds to the led chain, then only about 7 lit up, come to find out, i think it was a bad solder job, kinda hard to solder when there are three wires overlapping each other. I then tried to put 3 leds in a series on the 5v supply, not enough power, so i moved to 2 leds on 5v, this time to much power. And i must say, i love the new power cord from m$. If it wasn't for that, i would have fried my box about, say, 10 times. I'm going to crash for the night, and i'll work on it some more in the morning.

Coffman34

 

[HomeLess]

I remember reading a lighted jewel tut on xbox-scene that had a problem with the power source.

rickyief has brought to my attention that if you use too many high powered LED's then the circuit tends to draw a lot of current, so much so that the XBOX power supply cannot handle it. Side effects of this are "jerky, freezing bootup sequence" and/or "dashboard errors." After testing I suggest that if you have this problem then please swap your LED's for low voltage ones (preferably tri-colour) and to reduce the number of LED's connected to the circuit.

They ended up making a timer that wouldn't turn on the leds until after the boot sequence. I don't know if this is relevant, I'm just trying to be helpful.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/terrymcginnis/gb/

 

[Coffman34]

Thnx for posting that. The problem i was having was that a few led wires, when I overlapped them onto the next led, and went around a corner, they both connected. So it was shorting out the molex adapter, but as I said, the power supply stopped that.

Coffman34