How to change LED for the power button on NZXT Phantom 410
- Thread starter ZeShamuel
- Start date
Solution
ubermick
Honorable
- Jan 17, 2013
- 9
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- 10,520
No probs Shamuel - I just did this exact thing to my case, since I had a red scheme going and didn't want a bright blue power light. Apologies in advance if any of the following sounds a bit condescending - no idea how old you are or what your experience is with wiring, so just going to assume you're young and starting out!
Before taking on any project like this, make sure you're comfortable handling the tools involved. If you're not handy with a soldering iron, or your parents don't want you messing with one, ask for help for someone who can do it. It's a really easy job, but only if you know what you're doing!
So a couple of things you'll need:
■ Soldering iron and solder
■ Wire strippers
■ Heat shrink tubing (1/16" - you just need an inch or so)
■ The LED of your choice - you'll need a 3mm ultrabright LED - the brighter the better. The red one I just installed on mine is 7,000mcd, and it's just about bright enough. If you can find 10,000 or more, go for that. I got mine from Lighthouse LEDs, this one will do nicely. Get a few in case you mess one up, they're cheap enough.
■ X-Acto knife
Power down and unplug computer. NEVER do any work on your PC while it's on!!!!
Remove the front panel and the top panel from your case. You'll see the led poking out of the hole in the little plastic box that the switch assembly is in. You'll also notice that it's held in there with a ton of silicone sealant. So your first job is to CAREFULLY use the X-Acto knife to trim away that silicone that's in the way. You want to really take your time, you don't want to cut into the black plastic that the led is mounted in. Once that's done, you'll be able to wiggle the blue led free of it's mount, so it'll just hang there attached to the two wires. Spend a little time carefully cleaning up any silicone that's still on there with your knife.
Using your wire strippers, snip off the old LED, and use the X-Acto knife to remove any of the old heat shrink that's still attached. Then strip off about a quarter inch of wire to attach to your new LED.
Since the original LED is clipped short, and the wires are both black, there's no way of knowing the polarity of the wires without testing it first. Wrap one of the wires around one of the LED's legs, and the other wire around the other leg, and power up your machine. If your LED lights up, well done - you guessed right! If it doesn't light up, wait until you finish booting, then shut the rig down FULLY before switching the wires, and try it again.
BEAR IN MIND - the LED on this case needs to be powerful enough to illuminate the length of semi-transparent plastic that's on the front panel, so make sure you get one as powerful as you can. I went through four different orders before I got one that worked for me (I used red though, which is one of the naturally dim ones). As mentioned above, you need a 3mm LED rated at LEAST 5,000mcd, ideally 10,000. Note the size, do NOT get a 5mm.
Okay, so you know your polarity now. Power the machine back down, and grab your wire strippers. Disconnect ONE of the wires from the LED, and snip the LED leg to about a half inch. Now snip a half inch piece of heat shrink off, slide it over the bare wire, and fire up the soldering iron! Wrap the wire around the shortened leg, solder it on there, slide the heat shrink over the joint, and holding the tip of the soldering iron about an inch below it, melt the shrink the tubing to protect the joint.
Repeat the process for the second wire, bend the LED legs carefully to a 90 degree angle, and slide the LED back into the mounting hole. Boot up the computer again, and your shiny new green LED should fire up! If not, check your connections to make sure the LED legs aren't touching, causing it to short.
You can use either a piece of tape to secure it, or if you have some handy, clear silicone.
Enjoy!
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