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Project:
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Lian Li PC-60 Case Mod Project Part 3 |
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Author:
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Hi-TEK
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Date:
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July 18th, 2001
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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VU Meters have been around for quite sometime and come in all shapes and sizes. Hobbyists have been playing around with
the idea of adding in cool stereo effects in home based or professional built computer systems. My inspiration for adding
in a Stereo VU meter was based on the work completed by B-Sqaured
over on his own personal website. The following is a small sequence of events based on its construction by B-Squared.
We start off with the VU Meter Project kit from Web-Tronics.com.
This all inclusive kit provides you with all the necessary parts required to assemble your own personal VU Meter circuit.
Following the simple instructions and schematic you assemble the included components onto the PCB board
using a soldering gun. This kit also uses two LM3915 dot/bar display driver ICs to drive 2 rows of 10 LEDs (14 green and 6 red).
In order to drive sound for the leds it also requires wiring up an audio stereo input jack.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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With the unit almost assembled, we extend the left and right bar graph channels using ordinary 20 pin IDE cabling as well
as solder on the completed stereo audio jack. The entire circuit is encased in a black project box which was picked up at
a local Radio Shack. The VU Meter itself requires a power supply voltage of anywhere from 3 to 25 volts, but for our use
we will wire it to use the standard 12 volts. If you look outside the project box you will notice two bolts which can used
to attach an external switch (optional) but this VU Meter will be configured to make the circuit always on when the computer
is powered on.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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I decided the best placement for this VU Meter was at the bottom of the internal drive cage of my case. All I needed to do was move my hard
drive to the top of the drive cage which left enough room to fit the project box at the bottom. To mount the project box and keep it from moving
around I used some strong 3M VHB tape. One thing to notice about the left and right led channels is that the kit originally provides you with square
leds - these were replaced with round green and red 5mm leds.
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Error processing SSI file
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Error processing SSI file
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Error processing SSI file
Error processing SSI file
