Introduction

All of you probably have loved LEDs at one time or another. Let's face it: LEDs can add that final touch to a case, projecting a bright light that tells you your beloved baby is operating; and LEDs have made headway in making fans look nicer. As little and as trivial as they are, LEDs can make that little difference that ends up meaning a lot. So, today we'll be having a quick look at a Colour Changing LED from AMK Computers.

Specifications

This is a 5mm LED (standard size) that will easily replace most case LEDs, though some use 3mm LEDs. It's meant to replace one of your existing LEDs, specifically, the Power LED, but can be used for other purposes should you wish. I could not find any other specifications for it, such as current draw or operating voltage, but the LED is already wired for a 5v input, with a resistor already soldered into place.

The LED came wrapped nicely in a bubble-package, adequate enough for something like this, and the curled up cable is about 50cm (~20") from the 4-pin molex plug to the LED. As you can see, the LED can draw power from either the 4-pin PSU plug or a connector designed to attach to the Power LED output on your motherboard. Most motherboards, AFAIK, output 5v on this power LED header, and this would seem to be confirmed by the fact that PSU 5v line (red) is used in the 4-pin molex connector.

LED cable is about 50cm long.

Can receive power from the mobo or PSU plug.

Draws power from the 5v line.

A resistor is already soldered to the positive lead of the LED, readying it for 5v input. This means that the LED was meant to draw current at less than 5v, probably around 2-3v. By now, you're probably wondering how this LED can output different colours, and so was I. It turns out that there are three "elements" within the space of this regular-sized LED. One outputs a red colour, the others green and blue, respectively. Thus, through the effect of additive colour on the cones of our retinas, these different elements can combine their light to give a wide range of colours.

Resistor already in place...

... on the positive lead.

Three elements - Red, Green and Blue.

Below, you'll see each of the primary elements illuminated on their own. When the LED is turned on, it initially glows pure red, and then the red element gradually fades out and then the green element fades in to high intensity. This automatically happens as soon as the LED is powered up, and this process or cycle cannot be controlled. This process repeats itself between each colour change, and takes several seconds. After blue, the colours begin to combine - first you have Red+Green, which gives an orangey colour, then Green+Blue, which gives a colour similar to turquoise, then Red+Blue, which gives a Purple/Pink colour, and finally, all elements illuminate simultaneously, giving you a white colour, if you look at the LED from the right angle.

Red.

Green.

Blue.

Which brings me to my next point. Because the elements are offset, their colours tend to diverge from one another, so sometimes the combined colours don't look like one homogenous hue, and instead you end up seeing the two separate colours. The effect isn't that noticeable, but is more pronounced when you look at the colours the LED projects onto a surface. If you look at Video #2, you'll see what I mean.

Video #1 - cycling through the colours.

Video #2 - viewing the colours projected on to a surface.

The colours cycle through in this order: Red, Green, Blue, Orangey, Turquoise, Pinkish, White. In a perfect additive sense, Orange, Turquoise and Pink should be Yellow, Cyan and Magenta, respectively, but the initial primary colours of Red, Green and Blue are not pure colours. As mentioned before, the intensity of each colour fades away and then the next colour's intensity fades in.

Conclusion

The LED would be a nice replacement for a Power LED, to add just a little something that would turn heads. All of the colours are very bright, enough so that you don't want to be looking directly into them. This makes the LED stand out from the rest - and it's a standard size LED, so you shouldn't have trouble mounting it. Additionally, you don't have to use it as a replacement for your case's power LED; with the 4-pin molex plug you can use it inside your case, for a small spot-like interior lighting job, and the rotating colours will compliment any mods you may wish to show off. The length of the cable, at half a meter, is also something that'll enable the LED to be used in almost any place within your case. But the colour combination of the LED isn't perfect - and the price is a little high at $10 CDN. But with untailed single colour LEDs sometimes costing $5 CDN, the price isn't too bad.

Pros

• Novel LED - many colours can be displayed
• Can be powered off the motherboard as a Power LED replacement or directly from your PSU
• Fairly long cable
• Would work nice as an interior case light

Cons

• A little pricey

Thanks goes out to AMK Computers for providing this LED for review! Thanks guys!

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