Printer Scanner Light -RED GREEN BLUE

First off get yourself a broken new-ish printer with a scanner. If  it is not new you will get a white florescent tube which are cool and useful but we want the led scanners.

-grab some screw drivers/ tools that will get you into the scanner  

Step 1:

open the scanner, there are many useful things in here, a stepper motor, glass, and the scanner light.

Step 2:

Locate the light, take it apart untill you access the contacts be careful not to break it

Step 3:

Here is the tricky part.
You have to locate the pins that control the LEDS-
- Typically there will be a positive lead and three leads that control RED, GREEN, and BLUE. The positive terminal is usually on one of the ends, followed by the other 3 (negative) inputes for color.

solder on wires

Step 4:

Have fun! you can mix colors and pulse width modulate them to dim/mix them .

The red seems to draw a different current/ voltage than the green and the blue, iv fried the red at 6v- 0.3 amp

Comments

[thailon]

Hope this helps someone. I used one from CanonPixma MG3650 Scanner and it works like shown on attached picture. It is labeled as 7H6-0520. I have tested with 5V.

[JonathanL91]

awesome share, i have 4 of these bad boy laying around i have been taking a bunch of discarded printer apart and was wondering how i could use this component. I was also under the impression that there are sensors imbeeded in these modules as well any tips on how to utilize them

[sdebdabi]

Hello, I used one of the scanner light with 1-2-3-4-5 and 6 volts but it doesn't work .

where is the problem ?

[ironsmiter]

Just stripped a hp scanner/printer for parts and recycle. Wouldn't you know it... led light!
For others trying this... MY pins are 1 -7 nul, 8-power+, 9-blue, 10-green, 11-blue, 12-null.
All three colors lit up being powered by a cr2032 coin cell battery @3 volts. Red was full brightness, blue and green about half that intensity(visually, not lumens). Further probing shows good light output from usb(5volt@100mA) on green and blue. Overdrives red, so prepare for stepdown voltage, or early failure.
Good part of testing with coin cells is the internal resistance prevents them from overdriving ANY led (like an led throwie). At least any led I have ever met.

Thanks to arkfusion for doing the legwork.

[DrMaker]

Hi! i was following your tutorial, but i can't get anything from it...

i have the scanner light that you can see in the picture below, and i 'm trying to make it work, but i get nothing from it... would you help me? thanks!

[arkfusion]

hey herone! sorry for the delay, try this, It should work! dont forget to use low voltage (3v-6v) so you dont fry it

[DrMaker]

Thanks! I'll try.

Don't worry about that.

i was using 5V from Arduino Vcc, so it's was a stable voltage, and a 330Ω resistor, so I'm getting 15.15 mA, so i think it won't be high enough to fry it.

i'll try it later when i go back home.

[Randumb83]

I'm kind of new to electronics an was wondering if the colors would change by theirselves or do you need to connect it to something else.

[arkfusion]

There are 3 negative pins, each pin corresponds to its own color

hope that helps!

-ark

[liurunze]

Is it harmful to eyes?

[arkfusion]

nope! all the wavelengths are fine

[dkrall]

well if you can't figure out how to use email then I don't feel comfortable sending you the part, you'll shoot your eye out. lol.

[TheRealRocketBurns]

My email server rejects it. it says data is corrupt or something.

[liurunze]

-_-///

[dkrall]

I have any parts from a HP CN504A Photosmart C310a Wireless all in one Inkjet Printer. message me. you can have them for free just cover the shipping costs. [e-mail].

[TheRealRocketBurns]

Your email doesn't work on my computer, but I want the parts.

[Randumb83]

Never mind I figures it out.

[fred27]

Never drive LEDs without a current limiting resistor. As you find out, it's very easy to blow them.

[GenAap]

Awesome, just in time too. My printer just died and I finished taking it apart about a week ago.

[AwesomeUsernameHere]

This is really great, it would be awesome for mood lighting or visual effects!
Red LEDs usually light at a lower voltage (or current) than other colors, and as you've seen, connecting them to a power source without a resistor can make them stop shining... Nice 'ible though!