Project: XPS Ground Effects

[rendermandan]

Hi Everyone, Its been a while since my last mod. I've been pretty busy with work, my son, and Summer activities, so I haven't had much time to do any modding worth mentioning. So for my birthday, I got myself a nice, new shiny XPS Laptop to play with. I got the XPS 1530, you can read about it and see some pics on this post; http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...ad.php?t=15286

So, now that I've got it, I realized how I really would have liked to have some of the lighting effects like the 1730 has. I really didn't have $3000 to spend on one, so I figured I'd add some lights to my 1530.


After talking with a few friends to help me out with some electronics, here is what I plan on doing. I'm not really ready to crack this baby open and void the warranty, Its just too new for that... So what I'm going to do is add the lights to the outside. They will be mounted inside a simple square box that will fit on the underside of the laptop and shine out to the sides and front similar to undercar neon lighting that those ricer cars have.

Here are a few images of what I'm referrring to.

This shot shows the black box that I will build to house all the electronics and be mounted to the bottom of the laptop. It will be pretty thin, but the extended battery that my laptop has, raises it up just enough to make it work.

The light should escape out the sides and front and create a nice glowing effect around the base of the laptop.

You can kind of see how much space I have from this side view.

The power for this will come via a usb cable that I can plug into the side of the laptop with hopefully as low a profile as possible.

Now for the really cool part, Eveyone knows how much I like the color blue, but here is the most difficult part, It won't just be blue, or even red, or green, It will be any color you want. Yep, I bought some RBG 3 color LEDS for this, so it will make any color you want. I've enlisted the help of a friend, custom_electronics_man, who is actually a co-worker of mine who does some excellent work with electronics to help me build the electronics to control the leds.

I'd like to add some lighting effects like strobing, color changing or pulsating etc. but we'll see.

I also am enlisting some programming skills of another friend that will help me write a windows interface for this too. I should be able to select a color from a color wheel and have it change the color of the leds.


So far, I've ordered 10 RBG Color LEDS, some electroncis, a USB to serial converter chip and some other odds and ends.

the bad news is I just found out I have to go out of town this Saturday for work and won't be back for at least a week and a half.

So stay tuned, this should look pretty cool, I think...

[Eclecticos]

Sounds like an excellent idea.
Especially with software controlled lighting.

[Luke122]

Very cool idea!

[The boy 4rm oz]

YAY another mod from Dan. Nice idea mate, EL wire would probably do the trick.

[Tech-Daddy]

LED controllers always make me perk up!
Sounds fun and I look forward to seeing your progress when you get back!

-=TD

[rendermandan]

Hey guys, I got back from my trip to Philly yesterday. We worked our butts off so we could get done early and head up to New York for a day. that was a lot of fun! -then on the way back, we stopped in Sandusky OH, at Cedar Point. The roller coaster capital of the US. We managed to get in 10 of the 17 roller coasters in less than 5 hours there. It was a lot of fun too, except on the 9th coaster, I lost my glasses. So I had to get another pair today, set me back $385 OUCH!.

I wasn't even wearing them, I put them in my pocket for the previous 8 coasters with no problems, Not sure how they worked their way out on this ride, but it happend, and I have no idea where or when.

I'm pretty sure my electronics came in to the office while I was out of town.
I should be able to snap a few pics tomorrow.

[The boy 4rm oz]

Sucks about the glasses. At least you had fun lol.

[rendermandan]

Well, I was right, my electronics did come in. Here is a pic.

I ordered a usb to serial adapter, some small gauge wire, small heat shrink, some resistors, 10 RBG LED's and a IC chip.

I still have to get the prototyping board and some other odds and ends.

[Acey]

Ah he's back... servos please... lol

[rendermandan]

Ah he's back... servos please... lol

Sorry, the only thing moving in this project will be the lighting effects. like Strobing, pulsating, flashing etc.

-But that does not mean I'm not working on another idea for this comming winter.....