Pin Positioning

[kaiweiler]

Hey guys (and possibly but probably not girls)
I want to know if reversing pin positioning on a 3-pin power LED connector can have any negative effects.
I did this by accident the other day (put the connector on backwards 3-2-1 instead of 1-2-3) and the power LED changed from a brutally bright blue to a nice orange and instead of being on all the time now it is only on during memory read/write. I have run it for a few days with no negative effects.
Want to know if this could be unhealthy long term...
thanks

See attachments for pics

[wrongun92]

I am taking a guess here. Since its a diode (led), it probably has a positive and a negative side. Cathode and Anode. And diodes are biased such that they allow current to flow in one direction and not in the other.

Now I dont know whether its going to have a dramatic effect. I think at most your led will burn out

But dont take my word for it


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Actually, now that I think about it, it has three leads so that means it could be made up of a mosfet. It thats the case, then reversing the sides wont matter as its symmetrical. But if its a BJT, then it will matter.

Sorry I dont know if this helped at all

[lynx]

First of all, you won't do any damage. As long as the reverse voltage isn't too high it is current which damages LEDs. Since the voltage comes from the mobo it is not going to be high enough to cause failure, and it must be current limited anyway otherwise normal use would damage the LED.

It is quite common these days to find 2 leg 2 colour LEDs, each leg being connected to an anode of one colour and the cathode of the other. The colour obtained depends on the polarity applied.

If you apply the same principle to 3 leg LEDs you could theoretically get 6 anode/cathode pairs giving 6 different individual colours, and 6 combined colours. In practice I've only ever seen 3 anode/cathode pairs, giving 3 individual colours and a single combined colour.

Without knowing which of the legs is connected to an anode and which to a cathode it is impossible to say what colours you will get, but it is possible that one combination will never light up and that could cause confusion, so it is probably best to put is back as it should be.

[wrongun92]

Thanks lynx, That's probably a better explanation

[optimus_prime]

i never heard of power pins that light led on memory read/write. maybe you connected led to ide pins? or more likely the red ide light is shining through the case when power led is turned off giving out that orangeish colour.

that said, you connect red led wire to voltage pin (labeled 1), try leaving it off to see if you like it better

[kaiweiler]

i never heard of power pins that light led on memory read/write. maybe you connected led to ide pins? or more likely the red ide light is shining through the case when power led is turned off giving out that orangeish colour.

that said, you connect red led wire to voltage pin (labeled 1), try leaving it off to see if you like it better

It is on the right 3 pins. Just backwards.
It is either memory read/write or CPU usage. Either way, I like it better and I'm going to leave it as is. If it burns out faster, so be it.

[grimms]

I would still put it on the correct pins just show you don't have any other problems with other components due to voltage. You may be safe but i would play it safe and just put it in the correct way. But hey if you like it the way it is thats all that really matters.

[kaiweiler]

I would still put it on the correct pins just show you don't have any other problems with other components due to voltage. You may be safe but i would play it safe and just put it in the correct way. But hey if you like it the way it is thats all that really matters.

No other real problems that I can see, I ran it for over 12 hours with two instances of Prime95 (one on each core) and it's rock solid.

[optimus_prime]

It is on the right 3 pins. Just backwards.
It is either memory read/write or CPU usage. Either way, I like it better and I'm going to leave it as is. If it burns out faster, so be it.

can you tell what motherboard do you have?

[kaiweiler]

Sure, it's a Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=2554
Why?