Introduction: Simple Desktop Lighting That Is Controlled by Your PC

Have a nice looking ambient light that turns on whenever your computer is on.

Step 1: Concept and Idea

I had some LED strip that I bought and I love the illumination effect that it gives off so I decided to put a strip by my computer and have it turn on when the computer is on by using a molex connector from my computers power supply and turn off when the computer is off. you could add a switch if you want more function to the LED's to change color or on and off. This instructable is versatile for all projects and resources you have.

Step 2: Plan Out Where You Want Your Lights

if your using your light strip to add some light to your desktop you could put it under your monitor or like me I had a little table above that i used. If you just want the lighting as effect for when you turn your computer on you could put it behind the top of your desk or monitor or computer wherever you put it just make sure you have enough wire to reach the strips.

Step 3: Start Soldering

Next thing I did was cut the length of LED's and solder the wires to the leads of the strips and the color i wanted (green) i also added a female connector to the end of the wired so I could disconnect it from the wire of the molex connector to the male connector. this also helps the wiring through the case (it goes. led strip -> wire -> connector(female) to connector(male) -> wire -> molex connector) The molex connector was from an old case fan that broke but you don't necessarily need it, although it is very nice to have.

When you are soldering the wires from the LED strip are your +12v common and -r -g -b (note that the colors are negative) you plug that into the molex connector because it has an output of +12v use your multimeter to check which wire in the molex connector is +12v. The black is your ground and for me the ground was the 2 middle wires. The +12v wire for me was orange/yellow wire and the red wire was +5v? (didn't measure it, didn't care) all you need is the +12v and ground.

DO NOT GUESS AND CHECK YOU COULD BLOW YOUR LED's OR EVEN WORSE FRY YOUR COMPUTER

Step 4: Putting It All Together

After soldering I hooked the LED's to the desk using some brackets and sticky side of the LED strip and i then plugged it all in to the computer molex connector. You could easily add a switch by the LED's or even on your computer case. And thats all! have fun and let me know what you did to make yours unique :D

NOTE: (I am not responsible for any hardware damage to your computer, do this at your own risk. But its not very risky/dangerous.)

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