CD-ROM LED Mod Guide
Review by Joey Keith on 09.01.2002
Want to add that little bit of extra coolness to your modded case? Why not replace that dull LED in the front of your CD-ROM with an ultra-bright LED and make your friends stare in awe when you spin a CD. Ultra-bright LED's are the latest craze in the computer mod world and can spice up any case or component that might use them. Some manufacturers are starting to put them in as stock LED's now. The difference between the "normal" LED and the ultra-bright LED is easy to spot. A "normal" LED emits just enough light to make the LED itself glow, where an ultra-bright LED can light up the wall on the other side of the room 20 feet away!! Now that is bright!! Most ultra-bright LED's come in red, green, white (which looks more like very light blue), and blue (the most popular).
The mod is easier than you think, but will require some soldering skills and the braveness to take apart your CD-ROM.
***Warning opening your CD-ROM voids your warranty!! Messing with electronics can be hazardous to your electronics and dangerous to your person! In no way is TechwareLabs.com responsible for any personal or property damages. Attempt this modification AT YOUR OWN RISK!!***
Some terms used in this article are going to be:
- LED = Light Emitting Diode
- PCB = Printed Circuit Board
Tools required:
- Soldering Iron and other soldering materials
- Screwdriver to take apart your CD-ROM
- Paper clip
Materials needed:
- 1 Ultra-bright LED
First you need to remove your CD-ROM from the computer. Take a paper clip and push the manual release for the bay door to open.
Once you have the bay door open remove the plastic front cover mounted on the bay. It should just slide upwards.
Now the small front cover is off you need to remove the other plastic cover. The cover is held in by clips around the edges of the CD-ROM.
Remove screws (if any) from the bottom of the metal cover on the drive and remove the cover.
Now you should have a clear shot of the LED and how it is attached to the PCB board.
This CD-ROM has a small black plastic holder made for the LED to sit into which makes it easy to work with.
Now comes the soldering part. Take your soldering iron and heat the solder around the joints of the LED connection. Once it is hot enough use a solder extractor to remove the solder from the connection. The LED should fall off the PCB board.
Remove the LED from the black plastic holder and insert your new ultra-bright LED into the holder.
Now for the tricky part!
Do not cut the leads off the LED just yet. You will want to solder the LED into place, then cut the leads off. If you noticed, one of the leads on the LED is longer than the other lead. That is because an LED is made to work on DC voltage which is positive and negative. The longer lead on the LED is the positive side and the shorter lead is the negative side. The tricky part about changing your LED on the PCB is you might not be able to tell which hole on the board is for the positive lead and which is for the negative.
The best way to determine which side is positive is to use a small 3 volt watch battery on the old LED you removed. See which side is positive and negative, and solder your new LED in to match. You cannot hurt the LED by running the wrong polarity (backwards) into it. It will simply just not work. If this happens, remove the LED and solder it back on the opposite way.
Once it is soldered into place put all the covers back on and check out your work!
Now that thing is bright!!
Just wait until the next LAN party when you can impress all your friends and make the guy sitting on the other side of your computer really mad because he cannot see from the glare of your CD-ROM LED!!!!!
Have fun and most importantly be careful.