Let's get started. First thing you'll need is your optical drive. I chose to use this BenQ DVD Writer. I'll be modding three blue LEDs into it:

The first thing you need to do is open it up. Please note, this will void the warranty of your drive, so if you kill it, it's on you. It's not likely that you'll kill your drive though, this mod is just too easy to mess up. Anyway, my drive opened up:

The next thing we need to do is source power for the LEDs. We need 12V for them. Sourcing power for them is easy though, no big task. Plug the power connector from a PSU into the drive (NOT ON). You should see something like this:

The four wires in the plug are powered like this:

Yellow - 12V

Black - Ground

Black - Ground

Red - 5V

We need the 12V and a Ground. So, first thing we do now is get some wire:

Solder the end of one of the wires onto the point on the circuit board of the drive that corresponds with the 12V wire on the power connector. Do the same with the ground wire. If you dont understand, these two images will explain everything:

What you can do now is test the power to make sure it's working. Grab a multimeter and do a measurement:

Prefect. It will never be exactly 12V.

Okay, the next step is to find a way to get the two wires we just soldered to the power pins to the inside of the drive at the back. This will most likely result in having to drill some holes in the side structure of the drive. Don't worry, this wont affect the drive's performance or stability at all. This is how i routed the wires on my drive:

As you can see, i had to drill quite a few holes to get my wires where i wanted them to be. Now it was time to make the resistors, as i want them to reside here in the side of the drive, out of the way. Here are the resistors and the LEDs:

The resistors will be connected before the LEDs. We need two resistors in parallel first, and then the last one in series with the two that are in parallel. Here's a diagram to help explain:

And here i have mine soldered:

Connect them to the 12V wire that you soldered earlier:

Alternatively, you can use a single 1.5K resistor before the three LEDs, and then leave out the three 1K resistors. That method will also do the trick.

Once that's done, you just need to heatshrink it closed to protect it nd avoid any short circuits:

Once you've done that, you can put together your LEDs. These will be put together in series. Once you've soldered them together, you can connect the wire that comes from the resistors to the one end of the line of LEDs, and then connect the other end to the wire that's connected to the ground point you soldered earlier. You should end up with something like this, and you can test it too!

If the LEDs power up, your mod is almost done! If not, you have made a boo-boo somewhere. Go back and check. Now you need some silicone:

Just glue the LEDs into the back of the drive, like so:

I suggest you leave the glue to dry for 24 hours.

Now your drive is pretty much finished!  Power it up again if you want:

Now just close your drive up, and you should have a similar result to this:

That's it, i hope your mod was a success! Please feel free to contact me should you need any assistance.

Happy Modding!

Ettienne