ashumann12

I have an acer 5100 and want to put some blue led's in the speaker vents (kind of like a dell xps). Is this possible, if so what kind and how do they hook up? This is my first laptop and have never opened the case, other than to upgrade memory.

emosun

Laptop mods are pretty tricky. There not really made to come apart, only things like the memory and hdd's and cd drives are made to come out. And if this is a brand new laptop and your only computer, it would be pretty bad if you took it apart and couldnt get it back together. So be carefull.

I guess you could start by trying to see if you can get the case open to get under the speaker grills. Then if theres enouph room to place led's , see if you can find the 12v from the power supply and soder on new wire leads from the 12v to your speakers and attach some 12v leds at the end with the coresponding resisters they need. Or you could also use the 5v.

Probly the hardest part will be takeing the laptop apart. Laptops life times are shorter then pc's and are designed usually to be built only once. You may hafta use a flathead screwdriver to pry parts off or even hafta take the screen off. Thats why usually when people mod laptops they just change hdd's or cd drives or paint them. But i spose if you take your time and are real careful it could come apart ok , and the sodering and putting the leds in is pretty easy.

ashumann12

10-4 iuse this laptop in my truck (semi) and have blue led's accenting my interior, would like to meke it match

emosun

cool. well if you want to install them, youll hafta take the laptop apart till you get down to the speakers. the useing either the 5v or 12v on the computers power supply, run new wires to the speakers and attach the leds to the end useing the proper resisters for whichever voltage you choose.

also , explore other alternatives such as glow wire or neons, that way you wouldnt hafta take your computer apart.

TheMatt

Unfortunately its really hard to power something from the laptops internal power supply because the voltage regulator that divides the input voltage into the standard +3.3v, 5v, 12v, etc. is integrated into the motherboard. You would have to do some very precise soldering.

ashumann12

I'm not that good at soldering. I'll just get some more 12v leds and mount them in the truck where they shine on the keyboard

TheMatt

When you buy LEDs you need to take a look at the voltage and then the max rated amperage. You can't exceed the max amperage so you need to do Ohm's law to determine the correct size resistor to use.