LED TV Light Mod

This is an instructable to show how to put LED background lights behind you TV or computer monitor. I am using bright blue LEDs behind my Samsung 32" TV. The coolest part about this mod is that you will not need any batteries or a switch. The LEDs will turn on and off with the TV.

The only catch is that your TV must have a USB port of some kind on it. Samsung TV's have a USB port to plug in flash drives for viewing pictures or listening to music. Most other brands have something similar.

Step 1: What You Will Need

10 blue LEDs
25ohm 1 Watt Resistor
A spare USB Cable
Hook up wire
PCB board
Heat Shrink Tubing
Solder
Soldering Iron
Torch or Lighter
Double Sided Foam Tape
Wire cutters
Access to a Ban Saw or Dremel - Eye Goggles too!

I get my LEDs form here:
http://www.ledshoppe.com/led5mm.htm

Step 2: Solder Your LEDS

Depending on your TV or monitor's size and space available you may want to arrange them in your own way. I am choosing to have two rows or 5 LEDs for the top and bottom of my TV. But you can also do 1 row of 10 LEDs.

Solder them all in parallel. All the Positive connections (longer lead) are soldered to together and all Negative connections (shorter lead) are soldered together.

Be careful not to short out your connections.

Step 3: Solder on the Hook Up Wire

Solder your positive lead and negaitve leads from your hook up cable to your LEDs.

Put some Heat Shrink wrap on the wire before you solder it in place. Depending on how thick your LED bars will be when you cut them out will determine what size heat shrink you will need. I'm using 1/4in.

Cut them out carefully with a ban saw or Dremel. Wear Eye Protection!!!

Slide the Heat Shrink tubing over the ends and heat them with your torch to secure them in place.

Step 4: Prepair the USB Cable

Grab your cable and cut it to about 8 inches.

There are four wires coming out of the cable and a ground coax. The only two we are going to need is the red and black wires. Cover the green and white wires with heat shrink so they don't short.

RED is Positive
BLACK is Negative

Connect the 25 ohm resistor to the positive red wire and then connect the other side to the positive of your LED's. The resistor should be in series with your LEDs.

Note in the picture I didn't have a 1 watt 25 ohm resistor so I made one out of 4 1/4 watt 100ohm resistors in parallel.

Cover everything with 1/4 in heat shrink.

Step 5: Test for Shorts

Since this is going to be plugged into a USB port you want to make sure everything is working. You do not want to short out your USB device because it could damage your TV or computer!

To test for shorts connect 2 AA (3v) to the PCB (bypass the resistor) to see if they light okay. If they don't light check your connections for shorts. If just one or more does not light make sure the polarity is correct. If everything seem good, you're done.

Step 6: Mount Them to Your TV

Using double sided tape you can mount them to the back of your TV or Monitor. Plug in the USB port on your TV or Computer and turn it on.

They should turn on and off with the device.

Congratz your TV is killer now!

Comments

[tehsuxs]

Are there any USB powered LED strips that will change brightness along with the picture?

Looking for a simplified version of this.

[tombullock92]

What do you mean by "hook up wire"?

[RKM3]

"Velcro"

[tombullock92]

Hilarious

[m0h]

Done today, worked great. I just have to activate the whole thing using the "wiselink" botton , but it works perfectly.

[lil_timmy1990]

Is this supposed to add some "depth" to the picture or give you better viewing pleasure? I have the same tv and am interested in doing this.

[ninjikiran]

This mod just looks cool as author said BUT a true bias light(color temperature controlled bulb) will offer less eye strain and improve your how eyes perceive contrast(nothing changes on the screen but how are eyes process information is funny).

Basically black will look more black with a bias light than it will in a fully dark room.  You can tell as it will appear as if the bezel of your monitor/tv blends in with a black background.

I use an Idealume for my bias light which isn't as cool but provides a few benefits.  Especially if you have white wall.  

[electronicevilgenius]

No it doesn't really do anything to the picture. It just looks cool. LOL. The pictures and the video don't really show how bright the LEDs really are. The effect looks a lot better in person.

[swilliams9]

Pretty Cool.

[Berserk87]

cool. very simple instructable, but gives a really nice effect.