Does anyone have this kind of CCFL (is it even Cold Cathode?)

[SolidxSnake]

Heres pics of mine (cause my raidmax won't handle this neon with my delta and everything else, the fortron is outta commission):

http://community.webshots.com/photo/329003831/353259802BzXQMp
http://community.webshots.com/photo/353259892/353259892YEizIF
http://community.webshots.com/photo/353259978/353259978jfVDaz
http://community.webshots.com/photo/353260076/353260076VKzcFW

Mine is an orangey-red, regardless of the pictures (the PSU fan is a deep, dark, blood red, looks GREAT irl).

I've never seen anyone with this kind of neon. Does anyone know what brand or kind it is? The big foot has an inverter, and a switch (On/Sound Activate) and a knob for the sound activation sensitivity (turn it down to turn off). It is a great cathode, just a large footprint.

[DeViL_909]

That looks like a cathode for a car. You can pick things like that up at autozone or even walmart. They are made to plug into a cigarette lighter outlet. You can tell because it is thicker and more bulky. Still usable in a comp case though.

[SolidxSnake]

That looks like a cathode for a car. You can pick things like that up at autozone or even walmart. They are made to plug into a cigarette lighter outlet. You can tell because it is thicker and more bulky. Still usable in a comp case though.


Yeah, I got it straight from IBuypower... It has a wire running down the tube, btw.

[KillerTarget]

I won one of those a year or two ago from a 200 man LAN and it worked perfectly for me. At least it looks like the one i won. same color and bodystyle. I think PCsomethingorother.com sells them.

[Slayer2003]

That is a neon tube.

[Susquehannock]

That is a neon tube.

doubtful :p

[Slayer2003]

doubtful :p

Hm. let's compare.

CCFL:
Does not have an enclosed inverter, meaning the inverter is detachable. CCFL lighting is alot more fragile than neon.
http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/xoxide/logisys-blue-uv-twin-cc-3.jpg


12v neon tube:
Inverter is self contained, unless 6" and under, and usually has a small fuse. can vary from 5-15 amp. The protective tubing is also usually alot thicker in general-sized neon tubes, making them mountable in more extreme enviroments and conditions.

http://www.dansdata.com/images/neon/kit320.jpg




I installed car audio components for a year as a summer job. I know the difference. ;)

[SolidxSnake]

oh yeah, thanks IBuyPower... I ordered a CCFL, and they sent me a neon...

=/

Well, I like it, but now I want a dual CCFL kit...

gotta fix my PSU and get a new vid card first though =/

[Susquehannock]

I installed car audio components for a year as a summer job. I know the difference. ;)

cool man, no need to post the pictures, I got ya. :cool:

Looks like a wire running the length of the tube in the first image, that's
what got me. Just like many CCFL's.
The car neons I've seen had larger separate inverters.

[SolidxSnake]

cool man, no need to post the pictures, I got ya. :cool:

Looks like a wire running the length of the tube in the first image, that's
what got me. Just like many CCFL's.
The car neons I've seen had larger separate inverters.


yup, theres a wire runnin down the tube in the first pic

[Slayer2003]

cool man, no need to post the pictures, I got ya. :cool:

Looks like a wire running the length of the tube in the first image, that's
what got me. Just like many CCFL's.
The car neons I've seen had larger separate inverters.

just used em to show what i meant by the inverters. Most undercar setups, have the relocatable inverters.

Pretty much though, they are basically the same thing. Both use some form of gas, and an inverter to give light. Iunno, after that, it gets to technical. :p

[Susquehannock]

just used em to show what i meant by the inverters. Most undercar setups, have the relocatable inverters.

Pretty much though, they are basically the same thing. Both use some form of gas, and an inverter to give light. Iunno, after that, it gets to technical. :p

That's it. The car neons I've seen were bigger and the inverter was connected
to each end.
Yeah, we don't want to get too technical. Who really cares that a fluorescent gives
light from the inside phosphor coating where in a "neon" tube it comes from the
excited gas atoms themselves? We just need 'em to look good. ;)

[sheldron]

well, one difference that we would care about is that "red" ccfl's tend to be more orange/pink in color, where-as "red" neons actualy can put out a nice deep red color. (personaly tested several neons and ccfl's for my current mod)

[Susquehannock]

Good point ^_^.
Neon gas is better at the red end of the spectrum than fluorescents.

[ghettocomp]

Ive got a couple of those in Blue, but one exploded recently after I smelled Ozone for an hour or so.
There are a lot of cool lights & Kits for cars like that which could be modded for a computer. some of them could make fairly neat case lighting.

[Ciffer]

wouldn't take much moding, just attach a molex, 12v is 12v even when it is really around 14v (alternator voltage)

[SolidxSnake]

well, one difference that we would care about is that "red" ccfl's tend to be more orange/pink in color, where-as "red" neons actualy can put out a nice deep red color. (personaly tested several neons and ccfl's for my current mod)


This neon is orangey, not red. I don't even wanna see a red CCFL now =/

[Susquehannock]

Yep, neon gas glows orangy-red. CCFL are even worse since they often rely
on colored pigment, and/or a colored tube itself for the hue.
A better gas for red would be helium but those can be expensive.
It's worth mentioning that "neon" is often misused - a generic term if you will.

That end of the sprectum is hard to produce with these kinds of lights.
Incandescents are better but most of the power is wasted producing heat.

[reaper42004]

I bought a flourescant light from spencers designed for a car, installed it, and it killed my psu within 2 weeks

[Ardneh42]

Yep, neon gas glows orangy-red. CCFL are even worse since they often rely
on colored pigment, and/or a colored tube itself for the hue.
A better gas for red would be helium but those can be expensive.
It's worth mentioning that "neon" is often misused - a generic term if you will.

That end of the sprectum is hard to produce with these kinds of lights.
Incandescents are better but most of the power is wasted producing heat.

If you see older neon tubes you can find true red, but they stopped making true red neon tubes years upon years ago because they had to have a large percentage of gold by weight in the glass of the neon, so they got insanely expensive to produce.

[SolidxSnake]

Yep, neon gas glows orangy-red. CCFL are even worse since they often rely
on colored pigment, and/or a colored tube itself for the hue.
A better gas for red would be helium but those can be expensive.
It's worth mentioning that "neon" is often misused - a generic term if you will.

That end of the sprectum is hard to produce with these kinds of lights.
Incandescents are better but most of the power is wasted producing heat.


It's cool if you paint the casing candy red, but as long as its true red.