Front Panel LEDs

[Ozaron]

Hi All,

Not so much of a headache but a "please inform me" topic here. After a year of use I decided that I was sick and tired of the colour scheme for my In Win 707 ATX. I got the black and red version on the cheap when I was pulling parts together last year and it's served me very well, just want to change the colours before I irrationally begin to hate it.

To this end I checked out the LEDs for the power and HDD usage on front panel circuit. Got some pics here, first is blurry (sorry). First, Circuitry in question, sitting on the front panel itself:

Now the two LEDs I wish to change (power first, then HDD):



I got the entire thing taken down to a local computer repairsy type place in town and the guy there said replacing them could not be done at all. I'm not even slightly an electrical engineer but that seems absurd and I wanted to ask if any of you knew how I'd go about swapping out the old LEDs and replacing them with new ones. (Where could I get some replacements, know for sure they would work, etc).
If all goes well I'm considering getting some of the case painted afterwards.
Thanks in advance.

[peterb]

Power one is easy, you can get an LED from Maplin and just cut the leads to the old one and solder the new one in its place. (I say easy if you have the right tools - soldering iron, bit of sleeving etc and remember that LEDs are polarity sensitive.

Hard drive a little trickier, depending on whether the LED is a push fit in the housing or is part of the housing. If the first, unsolder the old one and replace it with a new one of the same size. If its an integral unit, you need to get the same one from somewhere like RS components or Farnell.

There are a couple of potential gotchas - LEds need to be fed from a constant current source - that may be achieved by an external resistor or it may be built into the LED itself. Usually it is a resistor on the motherboard or the circuit board. It is s difficult to tell from the photos, but it looks as if the connections from that front panel board just go back to standard headers, so the current limiting will be on whatever motherboard you use.

None of it is difficult if you have the right tools and a bit of skill.

[Bagnaj97]

By the looks of things they're 5mm LEDs. Quick ebay search should find what you're after, or a trip to Maplin.

There's a much smaller selection of the PCB mounted right angle type though, so you may be better off having both on flying leads and then finding some other way of holding them in position (glue gun?). It should be a simple job for someone with a soldering iron to replace these LEDs.

[Ozaron]

Cheers, exactly what I needed to know (and speedy too!). You're right, both LEDs have standard headers, the power one actually has both 2-pin and 3-pin header to choose from. I think I can find the replacements at Thorns DIY (which according to Google has a reputation preceeding it in our region??? (and, if not, got some Maplins to visit)) but I may need a smaller soldering iron to work with, only one available in the house is quite chunky. I'll report back later on.

[DanceswithUnix]

For the right angled one you could probably bend the legs on a normal LED very carefully.

[GoNz0]

I expect the right angled ones just a bog standard sat in a housing, tbh I have never considered being careful bending LED legs as it's part and parcel of me holding one on a board prior to soldering.

I think in the past it was cheap 5v LED's no onboard resistors or drivers.

[Ozaron]

Got the two lights replaced yesterday after a quick visit to Maplin. Happy to report neither of them blew up, had to resort to insulating tape to wrap up the wiring for power LED (doesn't really look as professional anymore) but luckily nobody is ever likely to see that. Thanks for the help, again.