Prefect's Pages.. Engineering.. Network Appliance Modifications .. IDE Activity LED

Network Appliance Modifications: IDE Activity LED

This provides the familiar IDE disk activity light that you find on desktop PCs. You need only a high-brightness LED (any color you like), a resistor of approximately 220 ohms, some wire-wrap or similar wire, and some heat shrink tubing. There are many possible ways to implement this mod. Here are a couple of ideas:

disconnect one of the stock LEDs and rewire it for this purpose. Note that the LEDs are _not_ configured correctly in the stock unit to let you simply lift one side of the LED and add in a jumper wire. You must pull +5V from somewhere else (pins 41 and 42 of the IDE connector are +5V, as is pin 14 of U1).
rearrange one of the stock LEDs a little bit such that you can place a second LED adjacent to it. arrange them such that both LEDs still shine into the light pipe. this will still allow the software-controlled stock LEDs to work while providing hard disk activity indiciation as well. pick a different color for the LED that you add for that weird bi-color effect. This is how the mod is implemented in the photos above.

pin 39 of IDE -------|<|---------/\/\/\/----- +5V (from pin 14 of U1)

                 (K) LED (A)     220 ohm

A = Anode of LED (usually the longer lead)
K = Cathode of LED (usually the shorter lead)

Note that the exact value of the resistor will vary depending on the type of LED that you use.

Table of Contents

Network Appliance Mods Home

2.5" IDE Cable

2.5" IDE Disk Mounting

Page last modified: