So I’m repurposing an old laptop motherboard to use as a HDD music player. It’s all very janky but it works. Eventually I’m going to build a custom case so I can have it on display with my stereo system without being embarrassed. But I’m down to the small annoyances now:
The board has two LEDs soldered on, one is a steady green to show the system is on and running. The other blinks orange to say the board is running on direct power from a wall socket (because I removed the battery).
Would it work to just desolder and yank them off? There’s no circuit that’ll bork the system if they’re removed, right?
If possible, I’d like to draw a wire from where the green (“power on”) LED is currently placed, to have a front panel light when I make the box for it. Any tips on that?
Thanks in advance!
Why not just let the case hide them, and for now toss electrical tape over them?
I would go this route. If you can just block the light without modification, that’s the superior choice. Anytime you put iron to board, you risk damage. Plus, you have to figure out if you have to have something in circuit plus specc’ing it properly for both LEDs. Better to just loosely cover with electrical tape or something.
Anytime you put iron to board, you risk damage.
That is true, of course. I mostly have experience with older through-hole boards, so the risk is significantly higher in my case.
Yeah, the case might cover them up, until I have to make holes for ventilation… But I mainly held out hope that I might lead one cable out for the (still nonexistent) front.
Sounds like a cosmetic cover job will be the easiest fix, though.
Would it work to just desolder and yank them off? There’s no circuit that’ll bork the system if they’re removed, right?
Without understanding the rest of the circuit, the safest choice would be to install a diode with similar voltage drop.
If possible, I’d like to draw a wire from where the green (“power on”) LED is currently placed, to have a front panel light when I make the box for it. Any tips on that?
If you’re going to be using a different LED, take multimeter measurements (circuit voltage and diode voltage drop) in order to source an appropriate component. Other than that, you’re just using wire to make an extension of the circuit which should be intuitive enough.
You’d need to sub in a diode. Theres only about a million and a half different ones so youll need to figure out the size, breakdown, drop, uh, power handling, something else probably then desolder the one on there and solder in your new one.
A lot of stuff just uses light pipes to bring diodes to some nebulous “front” because it’s easier.
