why would you spend $20 or more on a cold cathode when for $10 you can have a mini floresent light. today when i was a at supertronics buying blue LEDs and a vellman kit i saw they had some of those thin FL tubes. they look like cold cathodes and they are 12 or 4 inches. come in red, blue, green, yellow, and ultravilot. its $4.95 for a tube and $4.95 for the power supply which operates on 12 volts. arent these mini fl lights cold cathodes? or mini fl tubes? either way i suggest before you get a cold cathode just go down to the parts store an see if they have these things. youll need a molex connector too.

if i remember correctly, flourecent tubes get damned hot. not a good thing in an area that you are trying to keep as cold as possible...

Exactly. And longevity. The advantages of CCs are good lighting without the heat, and they last a Loooooong time. But I agree with the statement, "screw cold cathodes", because they bore me. LOL

Com'on man, we need something to light up and show off our stuff

I got a flourescent light in my room to light it, and it get so damn hot, too hot to touch....not a smart idea to have in a computer.........

Fluoros are also quite fragile. I'm always replacing the bulb in my kitchen. For lighting alternatives, I'm looking for something that isn't a tube you stick inside with double-sided tape, and isn't a LED array. Glo-wire is intriguing, but it's only been used effectively a small percentage of the time. I use small 12V bulbs, and while they give off nice light in person, they don't burn out your retinas in digital pics. And they give off very little heat too.

But I'm hoping for something different to come along. I don't think I'm putting any lights inside my upcoming case; I'll have to wait and see. Not that it'll be lacking for lighting! There'll be plenty, but it's being done in an entirely different way. It's at that point where you look at it and can FINALLY start to picture what it'll look like, when complete--and I'm even impressing MYSELF! Hehe!

no im talking about these thin tubes the size of cold cathodes

I don't know if those come with the plastic tubing around them that I know my cold cathode has. I really like that, makes it quite difficult to break as well, along with the heat aspect too, you wouldn't want your video card turned to soup.

now that i think about it they probably are CCFL tubes. they werent hot but they were low priced but no protective platic tube

I have been searching rediculously hard trying to find a decent simplified 4" CC for my case and I can't find anything worth looking at, at they seem redicoulously overpriced. If you guys know where to look let me know it is pointless to spend $30 on that if I can make my own LED array with the same brightness. Thanks everyone.

"Geeze, If I still went to highschool think of how many girls I would have wrecked!..... But in a goodway." ;-)

-Pete

Check out some auto parts stores. Canadian Tire in Canada (duh!) has these 12V light rods that ricers and truckers would stick on their running boards/dashboards. I've seen them in amber, red and blue, ranging in length from about 3" to a foot or more. Since they're 12V (intended to run off a DC car battery), it should be child's play hooking one up in your computer. And they're quite cheap too.

Coel, I was looking at those but I could not determine how the light source was derived, weither it was incandesent, LED, glow rod..etc. They are cheap and available in Blue, Red, Orange and 3 different lengths (~2", 6", 12") that I could see.

yep street glow makes alot of car led and neon products and el wire. go to a ricer store (not the proformence import place the ricer place that sells shift knobs and stickers and air fresheners) and you will find a wide selection of LEDs and neons. i have 2 neon lights in my pc cuz my dad is cheap and didnt want to buy a ccfl. neons are about $10 too.

Quote: Originally posted by ViperZ Coel, I was looking at those but I could not determine how the light source was derived, weither it was incandesent, LED, glow rod..etc. They are cheap and available in Blue, Red, Orange and 3 different lengths (~2", 6", 12") that I could see.

I'm not quite sure, either. I think they're comprised of several 12V bulbs, as they don't have a consistent light like a neon or cathode does. But for a cheap lighting solution for the inside of a case, they'd work fine in a jiffy.

For some unique lighting, you could buy an electron gun at some surplus place, or rip one out of a tv, then point it at a clear plate with phosphors embedded, or painted on it.



Might blow up ur pc though...

NM that. You would need to run it at near vacuum pressure. And probably with argon.