Multiple LEDs to a single PC power supply

Am I right to assume that you want these LEDs to illuminate the different parts of a computer, with a transparent side panel?

It depends on how you want to support the LEDs.

A common construction method is stripboard (also called veroboard) - Google it, and you'll see what it looks like. LEDs and their current-limiting resistors are soldered through the holes and onto the tracks, and the board can be mounted with screws or whatever you want. You do need to insulate the tracks so they can't touch on anything else metallic.

Another approach would be to use heat-shrink insulation and thin twin insulated wire, and build up individual modular LEDs that can be mounted independently. You could put a two-pin Berg strip connector (like a jumper shunt, but with separate connections to the two halves) on each LED, then make a "distribution board" using stripboard and jumper pin strips, to power the LEDs. Similar to how front panel LEDs connect to a PC motherboard.

The simplest way to connect the LEDs would be to have a separate current limiting resistor for each one; that way, each one can be independently plugged into a 12V supply. You could save a bit of power by connecting the LEDs in series strings. Make sure you understand how to calculate the resistor values. There used to be a good article on this site for that, but it seems to have disappeared. There is a web-based current limiting resistor calculator available; Google it.

If you can tell us more about your application, we may be able to make more specific suggestions.

 

LOL! Those "connector strips" aren't connector strips. That's the way the little terminal inserts are shipped - all attached along a metal strip. You're supposed to cut them off individually when you insert them into the plastic connector shell.

What you've done is alright of course, provided that you insulate them properly. You could just as well have twisted all the wires together though.

You could do a more compact and tidy job using stripboard and dual Berg connectors (these are also called Molex connectors, but Molex make a lot of different types of connectors, including the old-style hard drive power connectors, so I called them Berg connectors to avoid confusion). There are many other options as well, such as insulation displacement type connectors where you just push the wire in between two bits of metal and they cut through the insulation. A similar method used to be used for telephone wiring; they were called "hedgehogs" I think.

Anyway, if you're happy with what you've done, that's what matters

 

No, that's a different kind of Berg connector. I guess Berg make a lot of different types too

What I'm suggesting is a dual row of pins, of the type that's used on PC motherboards for the connections to the front panel components (LEDs, pushbuttons, speaker etc). These are more generally called "0.1-inch pin strips". They have a 0.1 inch pitch and stand about 10 mm high. You can get the pin headers in single and dual strips. They're also used for option selection jumpers on motherboards (at least, up until about ten years ago).

It seems that Molex call these parts "C-Grid" or "C-Grid III". These are available in various lengths. There's a 16-pin one (two rows of 8 pins) at http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0901310126/WM8124-ND/760838

Instead of putting a "jumper shunt" on two adjacent pins, you put a two-pin socket onto each pair of pins. The socket has two little metal spring contacts in it, and you connect the LED wires to those.

Then you get a long thin piece of stripboard, and solder the pin strip long-ways, so all the pins along each side are connected together in a long line.

While searching I also found this: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12825865 I'm not sure whether it's suitable or not; you'll need to confirm.