The best make of UV cathodes?

Messiah Khan

Messiah Khan

Messiah Khan

Soldato
Joined
1 Sep 2005
Posts
10,001
Location
Scottish Highlands
Since everyone is mentioning cathodes these days, can anyone suggest to me the best make of UV cathodes? With best, I mean kick out the most amount of UV and as little vivible light as possible. I think im probably going to need 2-4 of them in total as im lighting a v2000, including the bottom compartment as that will be having a window as well.
 
Just got some Akasa UV cathodes (2 x 12"). I should think 4 of these would be fine (two in each compartment). Two of these cover my whole case and I’m very impressed.
 
I've seen a lot of pictures where people have had cathodes where the inverters have caught fire in their computers and nearly taken everything with them - but then a lot of people have cathodes so it's probably just one in a million...

example

fini
 
I'm using AC Ryan's Overboost UV cathodes, they claim that you can use just one of these to get same effect as 2 normal UV cathodes. It's worth spending a bit extra on good cathodes, the more expensive ones give more UV, last longer and the inverters are inaudible. I've read many people complaining that the inverters in cheap cathodes can be very noisy and there is increased risk of them blowing your pc.
 
I will never use inverters in my case again after a AC ryan inverter on their illuminated SATA cable melted, wiping my bios chip of all things!!!

Had to order a new chip before the board would post.


Inverters are just cheap nasty things made in china to poor standards. LED's are a far safer option if you value your system


Cheers
 
i bought cheap uv ones from a competitor and they barely lit up the case. I ordered some akasa ones and it made a huge difference! :) I think they were pretty effective i don't think that a more expensive one would do a better job.

:)
 
Same here with not using cathodes!

Firstly.

I cannot get one stick to last full brightness for more than 3 months!
3 of them I had have dimmed on one side within 3 months.

And more importantly

Almost the same thing happened to me with that link shown above.

I had just put my brand new Tagan in.
Smelt a funny smell coming from one of the fans but couldn't see anything.

It was only next time I went to check my cables that I see that my cathode tube had melted on the underside of the top of my case, ready to fall off, and the inverter box had smouldered leaving a nasty black stain on my drive cage!
 
Ive had an AC Ryan white cathode under my monitor shelf for ages now with no problems at all. I think like Yewen says so many people have them that you are going to get the odd horror story. The inverter i got with both my Ac Ryan set and a cheapo set is dead silent i.e make no sound what so ever.

The cheap set is in my case and is pretty crappy tbh, it was like £2 for 2 x 6" cathodes so its to be expected. The AC Ryan set is really good, very bright, in fact ive only used a single cathode and it lights the whole of my desk area up.
 
img0498rp5.jpg


This is a pic of my desk with the AC Ryan cathode under the shelf, its pretty bright but not too bright that its overpowering. I think 1 set will be enough for a big case, 4 cathodes might be a bit too bright.
 
Been using cheap CC's for years now and I've NEVER had a problem with them. Cheap PSU's or overamped rails are the more likely cause of inverters going pop imo.

Here's my rig with 2 Sharkoon UV's.

UVpics002.jpg
 
I had 2 cheap sets of UV lights go pop. No damage to my system. The most that has happened, was the UV tubes warping and a capacitor going pop in an inverter and burning the plastic case it was in. I have never had that happen with Akasa or AC Ryan.
 
I have a set of cheap UV cathodes that I got off ebay for £5 for 2 12". The inverter is quiet, they give off enough UV light to react with my case fans and UV cathodes shouldn't give off ANY visible light, unless you mean the fact that you can see the tubes glow purple but EVERY UV light will do that :)
 
So its pretty much down to Akasa and AC Ryan then. The exploding stories has scared me a bit. Might have to wrap the inverters in flame proof cloth or something, lol.
 
After reading these posts,I have decided to take mine out.Even a slight risk is too much of a risk imo.I have just bought 2 Akasa Blue Led Fans for my Case.That'll do me for lighting.If I add any more it will be Led's.
 
I think I will be doing the same when I get my PC 7, I dont want pink cathodes, so I think I'll get red led fans for everywhere and red leds where I can put them, Maybe try and mod some led feet into it aswell somehow
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom