LED Mods:
 

Hey guys. I am in the process of moding a cosmos s case, and i want to add some uniq LED or some sort of lighting. but one of the places i want to do this, is small, and tight (yeh yeh, giggles all around) The grills on the back of the case(will supply pics) I want to add red LED's or lighting that shines down to the buttom of the case behind them. I already have them apart, but don't have the knowladge to do what i want with them

So in short. What can i use to get the affect i desire?

I don't know how to angle led's for directional lighting, but you could do a mod to incorporate cold cathodes. You could dremel out 5" sections behind that grille and mount short cold cathodes behind the dremeled holes. I believe ncix sells 5" cathodes. Make sure not to dremel out the holes that the retaining tabs fit into.
Cold cathodes have solid square ends and if you're careful you can round them off with your dremel to make mounting easier on contoured surfaces.
You could dremel out two 5" sections with a few inches in between each section. That would look pretty cool as the grille would hide any dremelling imperfections once it's refastened.

You'd probably want to use something like this

Digi-Key - 404-1069-1-ND (Manufacturer - BR1113F-TR)

or this

Kingbright USA, an opto-electronic LED manufacturer products include all type of LED LAMPS , SMT LED, SMD LED, LED DISPLAYS optoelectronic components

which digikey doesn't seem to carry.

I actually like that idea,didn't think of something like that. So, like.. a 5" dremmeld strip? maybie a 1/4" wide?

@Dr_BenD_over: Ok. but how would I mount those? I'm not too bad with a soldering iron, but how or where do I get the board for those LED's?

Just solder the wires right to them. The SMT part would be tricky, but the leaded part should be no more difficult that soldering 2 wires together.

Sure. 1/4" sounds good. If you think that it's not enough after a test run with lights installed, you can always make the strips a little wider. Your dremel is your friend!

Found a link for cathodes
Cold Cathodes, Lighting - Cold Cathode Lights for your PC from CrazyPC

I think i may just go with the cathodes. will ponder over it a little more. thanks guys.

The vast majority of red CCFL's I've seen, are rather PINK looking. Make sure you research the ones you get.

Pink? well that wont do, will look into that when i decide.

Old thread is old... But i have a question. I want to go with the cold cathodes, But I'm not paying over $35 for 2 of them.... is there any Canadian sites, that accept PP, that sell them? I have looked, but to no avail.