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View Full Version : Possible to have a motor turn to hdd activity?


LostBoyNZ
07-27-2008, 11:53 PM
I was wondering if it's possible to have a small motor turn something small and light when ever the hard drive is active? To wire it up instead of a HDD activity light?

Thanks for reading!
rendermandan
07-28-2008, 12:02 AM
Sure. all you would need is a motor of some type such as a servo or just a regular motor and then an interface that would read the hard drive activity, such as the led light output on your motherboard. You might want to give custom_electronics_man a PM and see if he could build you an interface.
LostBoyNZ
07-28-2008, 12:54 AM
Excellent! Thanks :) I'll give him a PM now.
Luke122
08-26-2008, 09:38 PM
?
crazybillybob
08-26-2008, 11:55 PM
Over at Bit-tech.net Dave Williams Has a nice HDD Activity Meter (http://www.bit-tech.net/modding/2002/06/23/hdd_activity_meter/1) This Circuit Lights up a 10 LED bar graph (or Group of 10 LEDS), the more activity the more lights are lite.
With a little adjustment you could use this Circuit to drive the motor. See IC2 the LM3914 takes a voltage level and converts it to a number of lights. IC1a and IC1b Creates an output voltage that varies with the Hdd Activity. So if you remove IC2 and put the motor in it's place the motor should turn faster with more HDD activity. The Only down side is that for some motors you'll need to create a driver circuit for it because they will require more current then the op-amp can safely source.
This circuit would work well for anyone looking to have analog Gauges on their case and have them work.

This solution isn't as flashy as having a custom Micro-controller programed for you but it will work just as well.

I hope this helps!
CrazyBillyBob
crenn
08-27-2008, 07:42 PM
3 words for you.

Pulse Width Modulation.
widefault
08-27-2008, 09:29 PM
Could use an opto-isolator, too. Activity goes to one side and it acts to switch the motor on and off on the other. Motor runs off a separate power supply. Hell, you can do it with a relay as well, but the opto-isolator is smaller.
Ichbin
09-02-2008, 11:28 AM
Im curious what kind of application this could be used in....

*Ponders*

STEAMPUNK!!!!
widefault
09-04-2008, 08:55 PM
One of the ideas I had but never tried was using an optoisolator to switch a cooling fan on with drive activity. I should still give this a try, could be useful for an HTPC or any "quiet" system.

Hmm, combine the 10 LED circuit with optoisolators on each one and you could have a massive amount of things bouncing and moving on a case as activity increases.