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Custom LED strip question

wyseguy
Level 7
I have the Formula VIII board and am building a wall mount case with LED strips. The motherboard can only support 24 watts of LEDS. My question is, can I supply the 12V line of the LED strips from the main power supply instead of the 4 pin connection on the motherboard, but have the RGB lines of the strips going to the motherboard 4 pin connector with the intent of being able to power a longer strip of LED lights?

---- 12V ---- Power Supply 12 volt line
---- R ---- Motherboard
---- G ---- Motherboard
---- B ---- Motherboard

How many LEDS could the motherboard push in this configuration?
5,826 Views
7 REPLIES 7

Nate152
Moderator
Hi wyseguy

Welcome to the ROG forum.

The maximus viii formula supports 5050 led's with a 4 pin RGB connector, these led's do not have a 12v psu connector so I don't know how you'd go about doing this.

Another option would be to get a good fan controller such as the lamptron FC5-V3, it has 6 channels at 30 watts per channel for a total of up to 180 watts, you'll need fan splitter cables to connect alot of led's.

Dazmode has 12" led strips that are rated at 2.5 watts. 10 led strips would be 25 watts and 10 x 6 = 60 led strips you could run comfortably.

Fan controller - https://www.amazon.com/FC5-Channel-30W-LED-Controller/dp/B00DQSTP0O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=146911789...

12 lights per channel would be right at 30 watts so six 4 fan splitter cables - 6 of these or something similar -https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Splitter-Connector-Sleeved-Adapter/dp/B00DYQSZ68

Then 24 type 10s cables, 4 for each cable would allow you to connect 12 led strips to each fan splitter cable.

https://www.dazmode.com/store/search/?query=type+10s&records=16&x=13&y=15

Extensions if needed - https://www.dazmode.com/store/search/?query=darkside+connect+extension&records=16&x=15&y=17

Then finally the led strips (up to 72 of these) select cable option no need - https://www.dazmode.com/store/search/?query=darkside+connect+dimmable&records=16&x=19&y=16

I know you won't use 72 led strips but this shows it is possible. You could do a color for each channel and have RGB lighting, the only draw back is they won't have any effects, you'd only be able to dim them off.

At 14.99 each for a 12" LED strip that adds up to quite alot.

To your original question the maximus viii formula can power one led strip up to 6 feet long as long as it doesn't exceed 24 watts as you mentioned. No more than 6 feet long is recommended for maximum brightness.

With another fan controller you could double the amount of LED's, I hope you get a kick out of this. 😄

Raja
Level 13
Alternative is to use a Aqua Computer Farbwerk, which is what I use.

Nate152
Moderator
Hi Raja

That is cool !

I was searching for some kind of RGB expansion and this didn't come up. I see there are male and female headers, how many RGB strips can you connect to the Farbwerk so long as it doesn't go over 24 watts ?

Nevermind I see you can connect up to 4 RGB strips and it supports 24 watts for each header. 🙂

Nate152 wrote:
Hi Raja

That is cool !

I was searching for some kind of RGB expansion and this didn't come up. I see there are male and female headers, how many RGB strips can you connect to the Farbwerk so long as it doesn't go over 24 watts ?

Nevermind I see you can connect up to 4 RGB strips and it supports 24 watts for each header. 🙂


Yes, with 4 strips it is 24 Watts. You can go up to 30W per header if there are fewer strips. Where the Farbwerk shines is mapping of WMI software sensors to LED colors, so you can have LEDs react to GPU temps or utilization, for example. It does not offer the number of effects as the motherboard header does, but it does offer more colors and more control over fading effects.

Nate152
Moderator
Ahh ok,

Since it's not controlled by the motherboard does it have its own lighting program?

I see you're doing a vector desk build and I saw some lighting, is this what you're using? I also saw three big reservoirs, if you're doing the hard tube work you're quite talented it looks great ! 🙂

Nate152 wrote:
Ahh ok,

Since it's not controlled by the motherboard does it have its own lighting program?

I see you're doing a vector desk build and I saw some lighting, is this what you're using? I also saw three big reservoirs, if you're doing the hard tube work you're quite talented it looks great ! 🙂


Yes, there is a software program for control called Aquasuite. The interface is very good. There is also a Bluetooth version, which has a phone app. I prefer the software approach as I'm mapping WMI temp sensors into Aquasuite.

I used it for the desk build and bent the tubes. PETG is quite easy to bend, actually. I will move on to acrylic next, as it was my first attempt. Just needs some patience to get the complex bends done.

Nate152
Moderator
Yeah I bet, I never worked with hard tubing and I'm sure I'd need a box or two of it for practice. The Vector desk is one of the coolest things ever, it looks high tech and way better than your average pc case.

I'm looking forward to seeing it when you get it done.