High power LED's and a computer Power Supply?

Question

Is it possible to dynamically power a multitude of approximately 1W LED lights via a computer/computer power supply. Ideally I would like to be able to control these LED's via a USB interface or something of a similar nature.

I know little about electrical engineering but I understand that a computer power supply can output very high wattage and I'm curious of how to most effectively utilize this to control the light via a common programmable perpetual interface and power the lights?

Answer 1

A USB port can only supply 5V at 500mA, which will not likely power more than two 1 watt LEDs (plus a resistor for current control.) It is hard to say without the datasheet for your LED.

This Question may answer part of your question however I saw no discussion of current limiting.

Also there are numerous tutorials on converting a ATX power supply to a bench top power supply and that may be the way to go depending on what you are trying to do. Just One Example He also discusses how to connect LEDs with current limiting resistors.

No matter what you choose for power, at some point you will need current limiting (resistor) to prevent your LEDs from attempting to pull too much current which leads to magic smoke.

Frankly, I would suggest a constant current LED driver, many can be found on eBay.

Answer 2

Just get an arduino micro controller, then you can programm them to do what you want. Also, if the wattage isn't enough, consider a MOSFET power transistor to amplify the signal with an outside power source