# cpu power supply + leds ??



## smoke624 (Aug 18, 2010)

okay friends i am new to this using CPU power supplies to power stuff, i have reviewed the wiring diagrams for the power supply and well i have 5 of them in my attic i figure i should use them. I am looking at making some impressive LED's to light my Stirring witch prop from the cauldiron up. Does anyone have a link to a shopping list i need to pick up to build these leds, in order for them to work with the CPU power supply?


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

smoke624 said:


> okay friends i am new to this using CPU power supplies to power stuff, i have reviewed the wiring diagrams for the power supply and well i have 5 of them in my attic i figure i should use them. I am looking at making some impressive LED's to light my Stirring witch prop from the cauldiron up. Does anyone have a link to a shopping list i need to pick up to build these leds, in order for them to work with the CPU power supply?


First of all you need to decide which power leads/voltages you will be using to power your leds. Older style PC power supplies have basically 12 volt and 5 volt leads to choose from. Then use a handy led resistor calculator to figure out which resistor you need to get to limit the led current (so it doesn't burn out in a flash) like this one: 
http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator

If you are using the 12 volt leads, use a 470 ohm 1/4 watt resistor on each led and wire them in parallel.

If you are using the 5 volt leads, use a 150 ohm 1/4 watt resistor on each led and wire them in parallel.

In either case you will be able to run a ton of leds off a PC power supply...if you are only running a few leds, a PC power supply is kinda overkill.
A small 250 watt PC power supply can deliver 13 to 25 amps of DC power and in terms of leds, thats 650 to over 1200 leds!

Grab yourself some bright leds and resistors from (you pick) Ebay.....Allelectronics.com....goldmine-elec.com....Radio Shack.....Electronics123.com..... and start playing.


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## smoke624 (Aug 18, 2010)

Thank you for the help, I purchased my High bright led's from RS today, gonna place them at an angle around the top of my cauldiron, I.E. i have a wooden ring around the inside to hide them, and gonna point them up to illuminate the smoke and my stirring witch prop.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

We made them for our make and take all the info can be found in these threads. The second had the final form of the lights. We found that the self tapping screws strip and we replaced them with small bolts and wing nuts.

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20601&highlight=led+spot+lights

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=20809


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