I just started learning to solder this week and am both anxious and cautious in doing so. My first project was to extend my CCFL inverter leads about a foot or so. I suceeded in extended them and the cathode still lights fine.
But my question is, the original leads have many more silver wires than the copper wiring I am splicing in, is the extra wires just for redundance or do they serve some other purpose?

Hey man, I don't know the exact answer to that question, I wouldn't mix diff metals just to be safe but as a word of advice extending your ccfls will make them dimmer. You can however extend the 4 powercables on a 4 pin molex to just about any length without loss from what I hear. Hopefully that will help.
Oh yeah, I think most of the cables coming out of a psu are copper inside.

Quote: Originally Posted by Gzim I just started learning to solder this week and am both anxious and cautious in doing so. My first project was to extend my CCFL inverter leads about a foot or so. I suceeded in extended them and the cathode still lights fine. But my question is, the original leads have many more silver wires than the copper wiring I am splicing in, is the extra wires just for redundance or do they serve some other purpose?

It could be some sort of EM insulation.

I agree that mixing those wires with the copper is a bad idea.

Isnt there gas inside those tubes?

Just buy a longer CCL tube....

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Isnt there gas inside those tubes? Just buy a longer CCL tube....

I don't even know how to respond to that comment. I'm extending the wires that come from the CCFL to the inverter, not touching the CCFL in anyway.

I'm having alot of luck extending the wires, a testiment to Coolermaster's inverters I guess...I'm likely going to have to extend the lines atleast another 6 inches or more on top of the 8 inches I already have. I'm not seeing any decreasing in the brightness of the light, so I guess I'll continue to expand til I do.

ohhh Im sorry..I thought you said you were extending the leads (inside the CCL). lol Sorry!

Anyway, just extend the leads on the molex side of the inverter. I think the CCL leads are teflon or some high voltage wire (reduces the corona effect)

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Anyway, just extend the leads on the molex side of the inverter. I think the CCL leads are teflon or some high voltage wire (reduces the corona effect)

Sorry, I should have made this clearer, I can only extend on the inverter CCFL side as there is quite the wire running distance between the intended CCFL placement and the best place for the inverter to be hidden.

Anyways, as a project update, I rewire the extension, getting rid of the copper wire entirely and replacing it with about a 12' to 16' wire from a USB cable (not the whole thing, I split it up and used the black wire as it hid the best).

Note to self and anyone else who may do something like this, CCFL usually use the same colored wires for everything, so you should do everything (cut, strip, and splice) for one wire at a time at the risk of mixing halfs of the wire up...

Back to the update, I extended it all that distance and tested it out next to it's stock sibiling from the same inverter, and brightness was NOT an issue, if there was a difference, it could not be seen easily.

After installing the modded light, I faced a problem already plagueing my unmodded untouched UV CCFL from Ultra (these are from CM) Major portions of the bulb won't light! Does anyone know what may cause this? The UV's are nearly dead and my modded blue (the CM ones are blue) is missing half it's length in light, this doesn't seem like something that would be caused by the wire extending as my UV's are completely untouched, and the modded one worked fine before installation....

Anyways after I finish this post I'll uninstall the modded one and see if that helps, but i'm calling Ultra support and seeing what they say about UVs...

Sometimes you just get defective products. I've had at least one set of defective UV ccfl's before; they worked for a couple months but then faded quickly.

On a separate note, I extended the leads of some brand new, working CCFL's by about 6 inches, and experienced the same problem you mentioned ("missing half its length in light"). Half the tube was dimly lit up, and the other half was unlit. These tubes don't dim entirely linearly like a traditional bulb; when they get to a certain point, less and less of the tube lights up. In my case, the lights worked fine again after taking the extensions out. Oh well, extending cathode wires doesn't usually work, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

I just retaped up all the solder points and it seems that they are very subject to interference, and the EMI shielding left from the USB cable I stole for the black wires actually makes it worse! It disrupts reception on my TV 5 feet away! The cathode lights up well uninstalled, albeit a bit dimmer but all of the tube does light, just not when its installed....

I'll just go crazy on insulating the solder points I guess....

When you solder, proper technique is critical. Make sure you are heating the connection and not the solder itself. Heat the connection while touching it with the solder until you get a wicking action and the solder is sucked up by the connection. Then pull the solder away, wait about a second and then remove the iron. All of your joints should be shiny. If they look dull then it's a cold joint. What wattage iron are you using? 30 watts is a good general purpose type iron. 45 for very heavy wires and 15 for delicate work. If the old wires have many more conductors than the new stuff then they are rated for higher amperage. You shouldn't really use thinner wire, thick would be okay though. Inverters can operate at VERY high voltages, make sure whatever kind of tape you use has a sufficient dialectric rating. Cold joints can foul up anything.

I read (only after buying my soldering iron) that you should use 30 watt one, i bought both a 15watt and the coldheat soldering iron (which I both hear great and terrible things about) I believe I used the cold heat for these joints...I'm visiting my electronics guru friend who will redo this if I need...

The ColdHeat isn't BAD, just be real careful with the tips, they chip very easily. I prefer regular irons.

no its dc voltage you can only go so far but still i don't think you will have to go 2000 ft or so but no worry don't extend the ccfl high voltage said for the fact its 500volts and plus your need some good wire for it

Quote: Originally Posted by Gzim I read (only after buying my soldering iron) that you should use 30 watt one, i bought both a 15watt and the coldheat soldering iron (which I both hear great and terrible things about) I believe I used the cold heat for these joints...I'm visiting my electronics guru friend who will redo this if I need...

30W is fine. You wont kill anything unless you leave it there for a minute or so. Most components these days can withstand a temp in the high 250'c for 5 seconds.

Quote: Originally Posted by fhsfiremanco1 no its dc voltage you can only go so far but still i don't think you will have to go 2000 ft or so but no worry don't extend the ccfl high voltage said for the fact its 500volts and plus your need some good wire for it

Yea at most 6 inches or so before oscillations begin to occur (thats if your using sensitve electronics..) Ac should be fine, should AC (which is in your electrical system) travels millions of miles.

AC is not anymore powerful than DC. You can have 10v DC and 10V AC and it wouldnt matter.

You need an AC signal in order for it to be multipled. Inverters take the DC current and convert it into AC (square wave or sine wave in this case) At the end of the inverter there is a small voltage multiplier however, that multiplies that AC signal x2. Voltage multipliers also convert a AC signal into DC.

i know i was thinking about that to day but it doesnt make it into ac its still dc just higher volts