Question on UV Cathodes.

[WannaBNerd]

i was looking to buy 2 12inch UV cathodes off of CoolerGuys.com, and i was wondering..if they would just light up my case purple..and what does this mean..."Supply voltage: 620v" ??

[millhouse]

some parts of the case will show up purple due to the reflection... but im not sure if it will light the whole case purple. My guess is it wont.

[WannaBNerd]

well, for the fact that im using an all aluminum lian li case..will prolly reflect alot = (..just hope it wont b to bad...any thoughts on what "Supply voltage: 620v " means?...says that about the cathodes

[TheGreySpectre]

It means it takes 620 volts to power the cathode, thats why cathodes need inverters and why you shoulnt mess around with them while there on

Reflection wise a UV cathode is a Cathode blacklight, I know as I have 5 of them in my case

[WannaBNerd]

damn, y the hell do u have 5?!...how big is ur case...and if i order a 12inch cathode *2..kit that come with rocker and everything..that come with its own inverter?? cuz my psu is only 500..

[TheGreySpectre]

I ordered 4, one was broken, I told SVC that one was broken and instead of sending me a new cathode like I thought they were going to they sent me another kit of 2 lights and an inverter. So now I have 3 inverters and 5 tubes, in a chieftec Dragon midtower

and BTW my PSU is only 400W

[Flip-Mode]

cuz my psu is only 500..

In fact your PSU is only 12V. Computer parts work tipicaly on 12V.
Lets get something clear, V stand for Volts. You PSU is 500W, W stands for Watts.
Volts and Watts are totaly different things, Watts is measured by multiplying Volts with the consumption that is measured in Ampers..... oh I'm carrying away....
Anyhow, I don't know exactly how Inverters work but they are used in cars as well (which also work from a 12V battery) for fridges for example.

I never noticed CCFL used such high current.
Hope I cleared something up here.

[TheGreySpectre]

yeah watts is energy over a period of time, I cant remember what excatly volts are but essentailly they measure how much electricity wants to get from one place to another

[lilxvietxboi]

Volts measure the speed of the current(electron movement, well in the opposite direction). _I THINK_

[SolidxSnake]

Volts measure the speed of the current(electron movement, well in the opposite direction). _I THINK_


isn't that amperage (amps)??

[WannaBNerd]

meh, ya i got the watts and volts mixed up...but still..last question..would a kit of dual 12 inch cathodes..alrdy come with a inverter or do i have to purchase that sum where else??

[Captain Slug]

Watts = Volts x Amps

Dual kits usually come with a dual inverter. And it's called an inverter because it's conerting 12v+ DC into AC current to power the cathodes (which can be anywhere from 600vac to 5,000 vac)

[illskills719]

do u have side panel windows so u can see ur cathode lights? i dont get it where exactly would u put these lights/?

[WannaBNerd]

my case has 1 side panel window yes..i plan to put 1 on the bottom of the case facing up and 1 sum where on the top..dont know their xact size so not sure till i buy em

[whitebloodcell]

Is there a particular brand considered the best for UV Cold Cathodes. Those who have them, do you prefer UV Cathodes over plain jane ones that just light up the case. Does the blacklight from UV give any illumination?

[Flip-Mode]

my case has 1 side panel window yes..i plan to put 1 on the bottom of the case facing up and 1 sum where on the top..dont know their xact size so not sure till i buy em

They are 12 inch each.....you said so yourself........

[Susquehannock]

Yep, that typical. High voltage at low amperage. Most 12" CCFL are around 5.0 mAv
if I remember correctly.

Far as good brands, just be sure to get CCFL with higher brightness ratings.
28k-30k is good. Watch out as some are only 18k.

"Black Lights" will give the area a soft purplish glow. And anything UV reactive
will glow brightly.

Far as placement ... my preference was to hide all four the 12" CCFL behind the side
panel rails in a square config. That way they light only the system and not
the outside area. Can't even see the tubes once the panel in on.

http://server2.uploadit.org/files/Susquehannock-newv2.jpg

You can make better use of the colors by compartmentalizing them. Look at how
my bottom PCI card blocks the yellow light from above areas for instance.
Mixing the colors together only serves to create a white wash effect.

[whitebloodcell]

UV Stuff looks damn cool!

[WannaBNerd]

whitebloodcell..dont ask questions that i'm asking on my thread plz..make ur own..and ya Susquehannock that looks nice..ya the 1s i was looking at say they are 30,000 so that shoul b good..and where did u get urs from Susquehannock??

[Susquehannock]

Got mine from SVC.com - http://www.svc.com/v12inch2ccflblack.html

Glad you like the look. Looks better in person.
Had to play some games with my digi-cam's white balance settings to avoid the usual
blue wash effect seen with most UV images.

[honhon]

i have 2 blue cathodes in my computer, i cant sleep with them on, but thats why they have a switch, i will be soon replacing them with maybe either 4 6inch cathodes or 4 12-inch cathodes, probably go with 4 -6inch cathodes because they will be easier to place in my case.

[WannaBNerd]

thnx there Susquehannock, and..how many cathodes u got in ur case?? looks like 4 in the pic..that all of em? and where did u mount ur rockers?

[honhon]

i think its 4, after looking at the different reflections.

[WannaBNerd]

ya looks 3-4 to me..howmany u got in there Susquehannock?

[Susquehannock]

Four 12" tubes .... says "all four" in my post. :D
Have both dual sets connected to one switch, which was also included. Also, I
had to extend the input wires so I could more easily move the inveters where needed.

Just a quick note .......
Be mindful that the inverter is set for a certain resistance and changing the wire
between that & the light tubes can cause problems.

BTW, my rig looks a little different now with the 6800 gfx card. Still too new for UV paint. ;)

[WannaBNerd]

k lol, didnt see that "all four" in there..my bad ^.^..and ya that looks rly nice there..lian li sells a cover for a 3.5inch deck that has 2 holes to mount 2 rockers so i was gonna do that..and it would match my lian li case perfectly ^.^