PC Lighting

2008-06-01 17:45:47

#1

Flaming_Maniac: prince of insufficient light; +2,490|6977|67.222.138.85

I'm most likely going to get a window for my case and then light said case red. I'm not exactly sure how to go about doing this, all along I was thinking cold cathodes are plentiful and it would be easy to pick out a good one, but now that I'm looking at reviews it looks like this particular color is actually a little hard to get a hold of. Does anyone have experience with or have any ideas of lighting to use? I'm seeing some LED strips on FrozenCPU, but I don't know how good those would actually look...

The color is not negotiable, I already have some red fans and other red things in my case.

2008-06-01 17:53:53

#2

CommieChipmunk: Member; +488|6840|Portland, OR, USA

https://www.partysupplies123.com/images/Produkte/WG6RBK.jpg

It may not necessarily be cost effective, but you can't get much more bad ass than glow sticks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6800888027

Last edited by CommieChipmunk (2008-06-01 17:55:18)

2008-06-01 18:08:07

#3

CrazeD: Member; +368|6943|Maine

Yes, it's hard to find true red CCFL's, they're usually light red/pinkish.

If you want a real deep, true red color you'll probably need to go with LED's. All you'll need to do is get like 50-60 of them, then get a few feet of clear plastic tubing, cut to size, and fill the tubes with as many LED's as you want. Then use some sandpaper to diffuse the clear tubes, so the light spreads out and isn't focused. Should work fine.

2008-06-01 18:11:07

#4

Brasso: member; +1,549|6900

CrazeD wrote:
Yes, it's hard to find true red CCFL's, they're usually light red/pinkish.

If you want a real deep, true red color you'll probably need to go with LED's. All you'll need to do is get like 50-60 of them, then get a few feet of clear plastic tubing, cut to size, and fill the tubes with as many LED's as you want. Then use some sandpaper to diffuse the clear tubes, so the light spreads out and isn't focused. Should work fine.

jesus, that's a lot of work. good thing my case is blue.

red is so...angry anyway, Flaming Maniac!

Last edited by haffeysucks (2008-06-01 18:26:35)

"people in ny have a general idea of how to drive. one of the pedals goes forward the other one prevents you from dying"

2008-06-01 18:20:09

#5

Flaming_Maniac: prince of insufficient light; +2,490|6977|67.222.138.85

CommieChipmunk wrote:
http://www.partysupplies123.com/images/ … WG6RBK.jpg

It may not necessarily be cost effective, but you can't get much more bad ass than glow sticks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … 6800888027

I was looking for something a little more...permanent.

Yeah that's the one I found (pretty much the only one), but the reviews say it leans a lot more towards orange than red.

CrazeD wrote:
Yes, it's hard to find true red CCFL's, they're usually light red/pinkish.

If you want a real deep, true red color you'll probably need to go with LED's. All you'll need to do is get like 50-60 of them, then get a few feet of clear plastic tubing, cut to size, and fill the tubes with as many LED's as you want. Then use some sandpaper to diffuse the clear tubes, so the light spreads out and isn't focused. Should work fine.

How do you wire the LED's together inside the tube though?

I was thinking of making my own strip, good idea with the sandpaper. The biggest problem I was having with these strips is I want a uniform glow.

haffey, come on, Flaming Maniac remember?

2008-06-01 18:22:56

#6

GodFather: Blademaster's bottom bitch; +387|6490|Phoenix, AZ

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a … ight%2bRed

edit > http://coolerguys.com/caselighting.html#top

http://coolerguys.com/840556051732.html

http://coolerguys.com/840556011057.html

http://coolerguys.com/840556051695.html

http://coolerguys.com/840556051664.html

http://coolerguys.com/840556051626.html

/thread

Last edited by GodFather (2008-06-01 18:25:47)

2008-06-02 02:39:12

#7

CrazeD: Member; +368|6943|Maine

Don't get the liquid neon crap, it's not bright at all. Looks cool though.

To wire the LED's, just take a bunch of LED's and wire them in series. Put a resistor on the positive lead (the exact oHm depends on your LED's, you can find calculators/guides on the net). Then heatshrink all the connections, and stuff it in a tube. Pretty simple.

Remember that buying LED's in bulk is usually pretty cheap. You can probably get 100 or so LED's for 20$, look around online.

2008-06-02 02:45:07

#8

kylef: Gone; +1,352|6763|N. Ireland

cREE devotion, eh? Would love to see some pictures of the finished thing.

2008-06-02 04:23:43

#9

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6837|NYC / Hamburg

how about red UV paint and a couple of UV cold cathodes?

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2008-06-02 05:55:02

#10

Flaming_Maniac: prince of insufficient light; +2,490|6977|67.222.138.85

CrazeD wrote:
Don't get the liquid neon crap, it's not bright at all. Looks cool though.

To wire the LED's, just take a bunch of LED's and wire them in series. Put a resistor on the positive lead (the exact oHm depends on your LED's, you can find calculators/guides on the net). Then heatshrink all the connections, and stuff it in a tube. Pretty simple.

Remember that buying LED's in bulk is usually pretty cheap. You can probably get 100 or so LED's for 20$, look around online.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1778/ … 1649#blank

I haven't really looked around yet, but fifty cents an LED isn't really conducive to buying 100 of them.

kylef wrote:
cREE devotion, eh? Would love to see some pictures of the finished thing.

Actually the guy that originally said he would cut my side panel with a water jet flaked on me, so now I'm just going to make the side panel and lighting, and then I can attempt to cut my old side panel myself. It might not go well, but meh I'm not really missing anything.

As a side note I'm probably also going to attempt to make my G15 red, if anyone has experience with that.

max wrote:
how about red UV paint and a couple of UV cold cathodes?

How red is it?

2008-06-02 06:16:29

#11

Defiance: Member; +438|6941

http://www.casemodgod.com/ccfl_inverter_rant.htm
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=385296

Don't touch CCFL's. I mean that figuratively, but if you ever come across someone else using them try to avoid literally touching the inverter. It's really freakin' hot. Go with LED's for case lighting.

As far as making for G15 red... you've got a look of work in front of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGWpGbiB … re=related

It's possible, but it wouldn't be easy or smooth (or conducive to a functioning keyboard) unless you've done major small scale mods before.

2008-06-02 06:24:54

#12

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6837|NYC / Hamburg

Flaming_Maniac wrote:
max wrote:
how about red UV paint and a couple of UV cold cathodes?
How red is it?

I've never worked with red UV but I think it's a slightly orange tan.

like #FF3333 on here I would think

UV paint isn't all that expensive. I suppose you could just get a can, paint an old can in that color and see if you like it

Last edited by max (2008-06-02 06:25:40)

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2008-06-02 06:44:36

#13

OrangeHound: Busy doing highfalutin adminy stuff ...; +1,335|6919|Washington DC

The easy course is just to get a string of red Christmas Tree lights .... cheap and easy ... and, if you want, they can blink.

https://www.allholidaytreasures.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/MiniLightsRed%20copy.jpg

2008-06-02 06:45:31

#14

Surgeons: U shud proabbly f off u fat prik; +3,097|6760|Gogledd Cymru

OrangeHound wrote:
The easy course is just to get a string of red Christmas Tree lights .... cheap and easy.

http://69.90.174.251/photos/display_pic … 7999,2.jpg

That's probably the best idea so far.

2008-06-02 10:24:30

#15

CaptainSpaulding71: Member; +119|6627|CA, USA

Check this out...

http://www.dragonmodz.net/product_info. … ucts_id=96

it's a light tube with 40 LEDs in it (RGB) so you can do many colors and patterns. i know you were into red but check it out anyway - there's a video of it in action.

definitely go with LEDs - they last longer and generate less heat. if you are just into running them in an on/off config, it should be easy enough to wire up. if you want patterns, then you need a sequencer. i was looking into this myself but found the sequencers are kind of expensive. i think the above thing from dragonmodz is only 30 bucks - you really can't beat it.

i have some Electroluminescent wired SATA cables. perhaps the EL strips might be better light source than wire but i still don't think they'd be as bright as a bank of LEDs. EL wire needs an inverter and the wire itself is very cool temp. you can mold the wire to whatever shape you want to routing it around a window is a piece of cake. they also have sequencer-type inverters in case you want patterns, etc. the inverters are sized according to length of cable you want to run. if you run different length, you burn out inverter - just beware.

if you are after a 'red' feel for your lighting, try red acrylic window as another alternative.

Last edited by CaptainSpaulding71 (2008-06-02 10:30:08)

2008-06-02 10:34:27

#16

CrazeD: Member; +368|6943|Maine

OrangeHound wrote:
The easy course is just to get a string of red Christmas Tree lights .... cheap and easy ... and, if you want, they can blink.

http://www.allholidaytreasures.com/Merc … 20copy.jpg

FM, if you look around you can find them for $.10 - $.15 per LED. Just gotta find the right place.

2008-06-02 10:55:27

#17

Dauntless: Admin; +2,249|7012|London

Defiance wrote:
As far as making for G15 red... you've got a look of work in front of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGWpGbiB … re=related

It's possible, but it wouldn't be easy or smooth (or conducive to a functioning keyboard) unless you've done major small scale mods before.

That looks awsm, I might try that myself.

2008-06-02 11:52:25

#18

Flaming_Maniac: prince of insufficient light; +2,490|6977|67.222.138.85

I'm probably going to go with either a series of LEDs that I wire together myself, or the Christmas lighting. The biggest problem with the Christmas lighting is how red the reds are and availability in June.

As for the G15 I'm not planning on anything fancy, I just want to yank all the blue LEDs and replace them with red ones. Luckily I even have a broken one that my nub friend killed by spilling water on it that is already ripped apart, so I can get an idea of how hard/risky it will be.

Thanks all, pics when I finish.

2008-06-02 11:53:51

#19

killer21: Because f*ck you that's why.; +400|6861|Reisterstown, MD

Flaming_Maniac wrote:
Thanks all, pics when I finish.

Was just going to say that.

2008-06-02 11:56:34

#20

Brasso: member; +1,549|6900

good gosh, now i want to replace my saitek eclipse blue lights with white. but after a quick google search, it looks hard...

good luck Flaming Maniac!

"people in ny have a general idea of how to drive. one of the pedals goes forward the other one prevents you from dying"

2008-06-02 12:40:47

#21

CrazeD: Member; +368|6943|Maine

Careful before you dig into that G15. I know my Saitek Eclipse uses surface LED's for the backlight. I'd imagine the G15 is the same, but maybe not.

Surface LED:

https://www.ledwarninglight.com/prodimages/157surface.jpg

BF2S Forums PC Lighting

CrazeD wrote:

CommieChipmunk wrote:

CrazeD wrote:

CrazeD wrote:

kylef wrote:

max wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

max wrote:

OrangeHound wrote:

OrangeHound wrote:

Defiance wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

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