USB room lights/cathodes?

Vegeta said:
Hi, I want to light up the back of my desk via a USB device, i've been looking around the web and the only thing I can seem to find is small USB lights - these would be ideal but i'm guessing their not powerful enough to provide sufficient light, is there any product out there that I can put into USB ports and get a lot of light out of to light up the back of my desk?
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I was in the same boat as you, but couldnt find anything USB that would do, plus i need all my usb slots. What i did was buy a pci molex plate that gives you 3 external molex sockets so that you can use a normal set of cathodes. I made an extension lead for the inside to connect the PSU to the PCI plate. I also rewired the cathode set so that it runs through a normal house light switch. Ill post some pics of it so that you know what i mean, i hope no one minds, ive resized them to 600 x 450.

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This is the molex PCI bracket

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As you can see you can just plug your cathode lights into the back of your pc, easy and cheap.

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The switch is installed in my desk for ease of use and i think it looks ok, i got a 3 switch version for if i want to use any more cathodes in future.

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This is the result, it lights the keyboard up perfectly at night and doesnt light the whole room up, im really pleased with the results.

EDIT there seems to be a problem with image shack, ill have another go later

Mark
 
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Wow a lot of effort there and looks really nice.

I would do that but I dont want to show more cables in my pc and having that as a PCI device would mean a lot of PSU lines going right through it (I have a side window on my case).
I guess those antec USB lights are the best ones for me.
 
Vegeta said:
Wow a lot of effort there and looks really nice.

I would do that but I dont want to show more cables in my pc and having that as a PCI device would mean a lot of PSU lines going right through it (I have a side window on my case).
I guess those antec USB lights are the best ones for me.
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Well theres just 1 wire that runs into the case and you can make it as long as you like to route it out of sight, the 12v line only has 2 wires to the molex so the extension cable is also 2 wires so when its sleeved its really thin. I also sleeved mine so it looks good as i also have a window on my case. You can buy cathodes that are run from a 12v power adapter or if your brave wire a normal set of cathodes up to a 12v power adapter.

Mark
 
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