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Molex Lights

I saw this nice little mod in couple of forums and decided to try it myself. The mod isn't that hard to do if you have right tools but can get pretty tricky because there isn't that much space to work with. I'll walk you through the steps needed to do this.

No lights

This is the way the stock molex connectors coming from the Antec's TruePower 480 power supply look like. Nothing special there. Let's see what we can do about it.

Part list

Before you start you have to get some leds. I used blue leds with rating 3.5 volts and 20mA. Brightness is somewhere around 2000-3000 mcd. Resistor that is connected in series with the led is 100 ohms. This was the closest match that I could find from my toolbox. Needle is used to take the molex connectors apart.

You should look for 5 volt leds. With them you don't need to use a resistor and it makes the installation easier and faster to do.

Leds

It is best to use 3 mm leds in this mod. I only had 5 mm leds so I had to mod them a bit. Led on the left is filed so it can be fitted inside the molex connector. With 3mm led this step may not be needed.

Pins

Pins are kept in place with two claws. Bend them so that the pin is free to slide away from the connector. Just look inside the connector from the front side and you will see where to bend the claws.

Modified molex

There are three "wall" separating the pins from each other. Remove one of these walls either between 5 volt pin and the ground or between the two ground pins. I will be powering the led from the 5 volt line so these both choices work for me but if you are planning on using 12 volt line just remove the wall between 12 volt pin and the ground. To do the job faster I used Dremel with routing head. You can use side cutters or knife etc. Even if you place the led between those ground pins, you have to remember to get the power for the led from the five or 12 volt pin.

Soldered (Sorry for the picture quality)

Ready to be fitted back inside the molex connector. Just bend those claws back a bit and slide the pins back in. You may hear a little click when the claws goes past the base of the connector and lock in place. After that I added some hot glue between the pins that are holding the led in place just to make it more secure.

Finished mod

With side panel on

Close up (upper molex with led between ground pins, bottom molex between 5V and ground)

A quite fast mod and not that hard to do either. You can change the way this mod looks by selecting different color leds or by adding several leds with different colors inside one connector and then select the color of the molexes with switches. A nice little mod that might get pretty popular and perhaps the power supply manufacturers might see some potential in this mod too. :) Happy modding!

Questions, comments?

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