The Ultimate Tutorial on LED Transformation for Super Brilliant Chassis

We often see the brilliant lighting effects in some foreign chassis renovations, which makes people envious. How is such an effect achieved? How can we DIY such lighting effects with simple and effective methods? This article will explain how to implement the "lighting project" for the chassis from these aspects.

It is very pleasant to create a brilliant chassis lighting effect. In the quiet night, the computer accompanying you emits a faint glow, and the tranquility and serenity are not enough to express in words. How to create a brilliant chassis lighting effect? ​​Here, we divide it into four parts for narration.

1. The source of brilliance - the colorful life of LED . In the lighting renovation of the chassis we have seen, the colorful lighting effects are all achieved by LED. Mastering the relevant knowledge of LED is the premise for our DIY renovation. Knowing the truth and the reason is very necessary for our DIY renovation. Here we will conduct an in-depth analysis of LED. 1. What is LED and what characteristics does LED have.

LED is a light emitting diode. The basic structure is an electroluminescent semiconductor module encapsulated in epoxy resin, with pins used as positive and negative electrodes and supporting functions. So what are the characteristics of LED? The characteristics of LED include: small size. Low power consumption. Low voltage. Fast response. High efficiency. Multiple colors. No radiation. Long life.

In addition to the common red, green, blue, and white color differences of LED, we often come into contact with two other types of light-emitting diodes in our chassis lighting renovation: LD and UV LED. LD (Laser Diode) semiconductor laser diode emits laser, and UV (Ultraviolet Rays) is ultraviolet light.

At present, high-end computer accessories on the market are innovative and distinctive in both performance and appearance. These products almost all adopt LED luminous design solutions.

1. The source of power - the charming charm of power supply.

At present, in addition to paying attention to multiple national and international certifications, the design of power supply is to pursue high power and high efficiency. At the same time, high-end power supplies will highlight their own personality, such as independent voltage regulation, zero noise design of full passive heat dissipation, etc. The most commonly used design for most high-end power supplies is the luminous power supply design.

This type of power supply uses a 12cm light-emitting fan, which reduces the speed while ensuring the air volume, thereby reducing noise. At the same time, the use of the light-emitting fan also beautifies the power supply. As shown below

Some high-end power supplies not only use luminous fans, but also use luminous acrylic panels (LED + acrylic panels), which can produce very gorgeous effects. When we turn on this power supply, we can see the luminous parts.

It uses LED + acrylic board to emit light, and is equipped with an LED light-emitting fan to create a gorgeous lighting effect.

There are also high-end power supplies, which are not limited to these innovations. The power supply luminescence is applied to the extreme, and the power cord also adds UV fluorescent effect. In addition, the power supply shell and LED color have also been changed.

2. The creator of beautiful colors - the graphics card itself also glows.

Today, when graphics cards are becoming more and more homogeneous, the use of colored LEDs to express individuality is particularly prominent. At the same time, there are also heat dissipation and lighting devices designed specifically for graphics cards. While dissipating heat for graphics cards or PCI devices, it also enhances the brilliance of the chassis, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

3. The messenger of brilliance and coolness - LED fans.

From the previous pictures, we can see that the combination of LED and fan is widely used. LED fan has become a representative of combining function and beauty.

Fan cover, luminous acrylic tube and luminous chassis products:

A variety of fan covers also add infinite charm to the chassis.

In addition, acrylic tubes that use LED lighting are also widely used in chassis decoration.

In addition to these chassis decorations, the current high-end chassis, in addition to reasonable structure and excellent panels, have already been designed to emit light. Some manufacturers have even launched fully transparent UV chassis. These excellent and novel designs have pushed PC into a colorful and splendid world. These excellent designs inspire our DIY inspiration.

Combining the products introduced above, let's analyze step by step how to "decorate" the chassis from scratch and do a good job of lighting the chassis.

1. DIY LED light board.

The first thing is the choice of materials. It is recommended to choose 3.3V LED. The luminous LED fans we have seen are all made of 4 3.3V LEDs connected in series and divided. It is convenient to design circuits and easy to buy. (It is available in all electronic markets, generally 0.5-1 yuan each). Test board, small PCB, 1-2 yuan each. Hot melt glue stick for fixing, 0.5 yuan each. The voltage divider resistor is 680 ohms, 2 yuan for 100, which is enough. If the 3.3V LED uses 12V DC, we connect a 680 ohm resistor in series to divide the voltage, so that the voltage obtained by the LED is generally 3V, which is more suitable. Let's introduce in detail how to DIY LED light-emitting board.

First, we can determine the appropriate installation size according to the space in our chassis, and cut the test board into a shape of appropriate size with a wire saw. After cutting, use a small file to gently polish the edge of the PCB to remove burrs. In order to highlight the effect of the light, we use white self-spray paint (8-10 yuan) in multiple times and spray several sides evenly. For the sake of beauty, the wires are also tinned here (we have a detailed introduction below). Then there is the LED plug board. In this way, the positive and negative poles are inserted into two circuits respectively, which is convenient for us to route the wires.

In the figure, two circuits are designed. In the parallel circuit above, two LEDs are connected in parallel first, and then the common positive and negative poles are connected to the bus respectively. Here we did not use a 680 ohm resistor for voltage division, so 3.3V should be used directly for power supply. If two LEDs are connected in parallel, a 680 ohm resistor is connected in series, and then connected to the bus. In this way, 12V power supply can be used. The following is a series circuit, which uses 4 LEDs to connect the positive and negative poles in series first, and then connect them in parallel to the total 12 power supply circuit. In this way, the voltage of 4 LEDs is divided, each at 3V, which meets the voltage range of 3.3V LED. The circuit is simple and the effect is also very good. The luminous LED fan we have seen uses this circuit. Then it is welding the leads. In order to prevent the thin wires from breaking, we use hot melt glue to fix them here. The effect is very good. Two hard sponges are also glued with hot melt glue. Then apply the hot melt glue stick on the other end of the hard sponge, and immediately install it in the clean position inside the chassis. After 1 minute, the hot melt glue cools down and firmly fixes the circuit board to the inner wall of the chassis. It is very simple to use. After it is done, as shown in the figure below, the left side is the LED circuit design of the parallel circuit, and the right side is the LED circuit design of the series circuit.

LED lighting scheme for graphics card:

How to design the graphics card to light up? Here we try to give an example. Now there are many graphics card design schemes that use large heat sinks and external fans. The use of large fans reduces the speed and noise while ensuring the heat dissipation capacity. We can use transparent fans for luminous transformation, or we can use ready-made luminous fans. However, we generally use 5V voltage to give 8CM fans with a rated voltage of 12V, which is enough for the cooling scheme of graphics cards with large heat sinks. However, the current luminous fans all use 4 LEDs in series and a voltage division of 12V. If 5V power is used, the LED will not light up. Here we have two solutions. One is to change the circuit to two in series and then in parallel, so that the voltage division of each LED is 2.5V, which basically meets the luminous requirements. We can also power the fan motor and LED separately. In this way, the fan motor uses 5V voltage, which reduces noise and prolongs the service life. The LED still has four LEDs in series and a voltage division, and uses 12V power supply to work normally.

Open the label of a light-emitting fan, we can clearly see that the LED circuit and the fan share the same 12V power supply. Solder the LED wire, then connect a separate lead and use 12V power supply.

PCI card lighting solution.

How do we make the light-emitting modification for PCI cards that do not use fans for cooling? Here we take the sound card as an example to explain this problem. First, connect four LEDs in series, then tin them and solder them together. Then use a utility knife to cut one end of the plastic tube in half. Put the soldered LED in to act as an insulator. Then connect them in parallel and connect a 12V plug. Finally, use tape or other glue to fix them to the edge of the shielding plate we made for the sound card.

3. Making LED light sticks.

The LED light sticks sold on the market are very beautiful and cost about 100 yuan. In fact, we can also try to DIY. First, we should choose acrylic sticks. There are many specifications of acrylic sticks for us to choose from. They are generally sold at lamps and decorative materials. The lengths and prices vary, and they are very cheap.

There are many types of acrylic rods for us to choose from, such as bubble rods containing bubbles, which are used by most LED luminous acrylic rods sold on the market. The following is to make an LED luminous circular plate.

As shown in the figure, we use the method of making LED circuits introduced above to make a PCB circuit of the size of the cross-section of the acrylic rod. Then use glass glue to glue an acrylic tube at both ends of the acrylic rod. Put the two circular PCB circuits in and glue them with thermal glue. So we recommend using hot melt glue to fix it. A small amount of hot melt glue can achieve a fixed strength, and it can also be easily removed. Glass glue is not easy to disassemble, which is not conducive to maintenance.

4. Production and polishing of LED light-emitting fans.

Our common LED light-emitting fans are relatively expensive. We can use ordinary fans and add LEDs to achieve the same effect. The method is also very simple. Use an electric drill to hollow out the four corners, then bury the LED, connect the circuit in series, and connect 12V DC. There are many such products, we can refer to them, so I won’t go into details. Let’s look at the polishing of ordinary fans.

Disassembly of the fan: We open and remove the label on the fan, and then remove the sealing rubber pad. In this way, we can see the bearing inside. There is a white plastic snap ring on the outermost side of the bearing, which serves to fix the fan blades. Some fans use metal snap rings. We can pry the snap ring slightly to remove the fan. In this way, we can use a small file to gently grind off the sharp parts and burrs on the fan blades. This avoids the sharp wind-cutting sound generated when the fan rotates at high speed. It should be noted that the grinding amplitude should not be too large, because the design of the fan blades is strictly aerodynamically calculated. If the amplitude of our action grinding is too large, it may affect the wind pressure and wind-cutting noise. This is not good. In addition, the fan blades can be painted. When spraying paint, the bearings should be covered to avoid paint pollution to the bearings. We can also spray different colors of paint on the fan blades and brackets to achieve a colorful effect.

5. Light-emitting treatment of the power supply and grinding of the power cord. Regarding the light-emitting of the power supply, it is very simple. Use an LED light-emitting fan or install a few

LED lights in it . It will not be repeated. So we mainly transform the power cord into a luminous one. First, we choose a tin mesh to beautify the appearance and have a good electromagnetic shielding effect. A few yuan per meter. Heat shrink tubing, with diameters of 6cm, 8cm, etc. 1.5-2 yuan per meter. Plastic tube with fluorescent powder , a few yuan per meter. We can make a pin pusher by ourselves. Use a small file to file the tip of a pair of tweezers thinly. It is very easy to use, and the effect is better than the pin remover that costs hundreds of yuan, and it is very cheap.

For the large four-port power supply, you can directly use a pin remover. For the fan plug, it is even simpler. You can use a needle or other small tools to press the white card of the plug and gently pull it out to remove the wire. After tinning, you can insert it again.

The luminous effect after DIY is completed.

Generally speaking, the transparent transformation of the chassis will spare no effort to show the lighting effects inside the chassis. Generally speaking, transparent side panels or even fully transparent acrylic chassis will be used. In this way, the problem of electromagnetic radiation is directly in front of us. So what effect does electromagnetic radiation have on our human body?

1. The impact of electromagnetic radiation on human health.

The impact of electromagnetic radiation on the human body mainly includes the following aspects: Thermal effect: 70% of the human body is water. After being radiated by electromagnetic waves, water molecules will undergo violent thermal motion, causing body temperature to rise, thereby affecting the normal functioning of organs. Non-thermal effect: There are weak electromagnetic fields in organs and tissues in the human body, and they are stable and orderly. If interfered by strong external electromagnetic fields, the balance of weak electromagnetic fields in the human body will be destroyed. Cumulative effect: When the damage of electromagnetic radiation to the human body accumulates to a certain extent, it will lead to a decrease in immunity, cause lesions, and induce serious diseases.

2. The source of electromagnetic radiation in PC systems.

There are two main types of PC electromagnetic radiation: electromagnetic interference (EMI, EL ectromagnetie interference) and radio frequency interference (RFI, radiofrequency interference). Electromagnetic interference refers to the induced electromagnetic field caused by high-energy electrical disturbances, which mostly affects the communication and other aspects of the PC. Radio frequency interference interferes with the working circuit of the PC by emitting radio frequency electromagnetic radiation.

The sources of interference in the PC are as follows: electromagnetic radiation caused by high-frequency components in the PC, which is the source of electromagnetic radiation; electromagnetic radiation interference caused by other components of the PC.

Shielding of wires: In order to reduce the interference of signals by electromagnetic radiation and ensure that the signal is transmitted well through the wires, we need to effectively shield the wires.

We can achieve the purpose of eliminating radio frequency interference by adding a shielding layer to the wire. As shown in the picture above, it is a handmade audio wire with a shielding layer. The production method is very simple: here we take the common oxygen-free copper wire as an example, and insert the prepared wire into the tin shielding net. During the insertion process, be careful not to use too much force to avoid damaging the structure of the shielding net. After all the oxygen-free copper wires are inserted into the shielding net, tighten the tin net so that the tin net is close to the wire. At this time, it should be noted that the length of the tin net must be longer than the length of the wire, which is conducive to our next steps. Then pinch the tin nets that grow out of the two ends together to make a point, and then insert it into a transparent and soft plastic tube. The inner diameter of the plastic tube should be slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the wire, so that the plastic tube and the wire passing through the tin net can be tightly combined. Then it is very critical and very clever to wear the plastic tube. Because the tube and the wire are too tightly combined, the slightly longer wire will increase the friction due to the increase in pressure after being inserted for a while. So we can't continue to insert the wire with tin net into the plastic tube. Here we use a simple method: pinch the head of the inserted wire with your left hand. Then use your right hand to follow the wire and push the plastic tube hard. The plastic tube is deformed and extended by force. At this time, pinch the deformed and extended part of the plastic tube with your right hand, and then release your left hand. In this way, the tension generated by the deformation of the plastic tube is used repeatedly, and the wire is easily put into the plastic tube.

Finally, cut off the part of the shielding net that is longer than the oxygen-free copper wire, add a heat shrink film at both ends, and lightly bake it with fire. The wire is very tight, the tin net is fixed very well inside the wire, the appearance is beautiful and the shielding effect is first-class.

The overall electromagnetic shielding of the chassis:

The joints of the chassis and the expansion holes of the PCI device are designed with springs with good contact. The basic idea of ​​this design is to allow the chassis to form a shielding layer that has an attenuation effect on electromagnetic radiation. By installing springs at the joints of the chassis, there is at least one contact point every 5 cm, thus forming a Faraday shield. It can effectively prevent the leakage of electromagnetic radiation in the chassis. For old-fashioned chassis, we can scrape off the paint at the junction of the chassis side cover and the chassis body. Every 5 cm, apply a 1 cm square rectangle with conductive glue. In the process of applying conductive glue, make sure the surface is even. At the same time, you can repeat the application several times for better contact and better shielding performance. Be careful not to let the conductive glue fall on the board to avoid causing a short circuit.

In addition, you can also use metal foil (similar to the tin foil in cigarettes, with glue on one side for sticking), and stick a piece every 5 cm. In this way, we simply increase the contact points to keep the integrity of the chassis shield as much as possible and enhance the shielding effect.

For chassis with shielding points, gently polish the shielding points with sandpaper to remove the oxidized parts. Oxides not only greatly reduce the metal conductivity of the chassis and affect the shielding effect, but also the oxidized parts act as nonlinear diodes, forming signal intermodulation and generating new interference signals.

For chassis with transparent side panels, we need to pay special attention. Chassis with transparent side panels on the market cannot shield RFI and EMI. Transparent products with shielding functions are extremely expensive. So don't imagine that transparent cases can also effectively shield. A large amount of electromagnetic radiation harmful to the human body can be emitted without any shielding in the transparent side panel case. This requires us to pay special attention.

When we use acrylic transparent side panels, we also use mesh metal shielding covers. Although the degree of perspective is slightly reduced, it is very beneficial for electromagnetic shielding. This is also the most economical and effective way to increase transparency without reducing electromagnetic shielding ability. The door of our microwave oven adopts this design. At present, high-end chassis have also tended to adopt this design.

Inspection of electromagnetic shielding effect:

We can use medium and short wave radios to simply and effectively judge the intensity of electromagnetic radiation interference and accurately locate the interference source. Turn on the medium and short wave radio (which has a magnetic rod antenna inside), move it around the device to be measured, and gradually adjust the orientation of the radio. When the interference noise in the radio is the strongest, its position is the location of the main radiation interference source. If the noise is still not heard after moving the radio for many times, it means that the radio is not tuned to the frequency where the radiation interference can be heard, and the receiving frequency of the radio is readjusted. In this way, we combine the several interference sources analyzed above and fine-tune the radio near the possible interference source device until the interference noise is heard. When the interference noise is the largest, we approximately think that this is the actual interference level of the device. Through this simple measurement method, we can know the nature of electromagnetic radiation interference and the frequency range in which it is mainly concentrated.

I hope everyone can open their minds and use their own wisdom to inspire the charming brilliance of chassis MOD.