Using cathodes as multi purpose lights

DarkShadow · 5 Mar 2006 at 00:54

As thread title, i'm wanting to hook up dual cathodes that I have lying around, to my 1:8 nitro truck, how would one go about powering these up?

I'm also wanting to use them behind my desk area, bar using a PSU what other methods are available?

Thanks

WJA96 · 5 Mar 2006 at 08:49

You only need a 12V supply so a car battery or a 12V wall-wart will do fine for behind the desk. For the R/C car, I would recommend the relevant number of batteries in series to give 12V eg. 1.2v x 10, 3v x 4 etc.

gib786 · 5 Mar 2006 at 18:49

any idea how you could go about wiring some cathodes up to a footwell of a car so they come on when the door is opened?

BigBoy · 5 Mar 2006 at 19:31

^that one is easy as a cars lighting system is DC 12v anyway.

As for the OP you can buy tranformers 240v ac > 12v dc in most shops they only cost a fiver or so, Then all you need to do is split the wires and hook them up to a switch and have the switch hooked up to the Invertor (sp?) for the cathods and jobs done.

As for your RC car i wouldnt have a clue..

WJA96 · 6 Mar 2006 at 07:34

gib786 said:
any idea how you could go about wiring some cathodes up to a footwell of a car so they come on when the door is opened?

You need to find the fuse for this in your car's fusebox (usually marked interior lamp or sometimes puddle lamp) and take a 12v line off and hook that up to your Cathodes.

A decent car stereo dealer would do this for you for a few pounds.

Steves_pc · 6 Mar 2006 at 14:13

Going by the abuse most ic trucks get (well mine did

) i doubt the cathodes would last for the amount of time it takes to fit them plus fitting the batterys somewhere safe, LED's would be the way to go, lower voltage less fragile etc.

Mark A · 7 Mar 2006 at 05:06

You can get the 12v power supply plug things from egay for a fiver, I'm not sure if unregulated will do so id get regulated to be on the safe side. Plus i think your better off getting the highest amp one you can get as ive seen really cheap ones but there like 300MA which might not be enough. Any one know what ampage is required?. Im planning on doing the same thing as i cant see my keyboard when the "big light"

is off, so ill install a couple of cathodes under my monitor. i was going to make an extra long molex wire and sleeve it, then install a female molex in a pci plate to plug it into and run that to a molex from the psu.

Mark

gib786 · 7 Mar 2006 at 09:06

Mark A said:
You can get the 12v power supply plug things from egay for a fiver, I'm not sure if unregulated will do so id get regulated to be on the safe side. Plus i think your better off getting the highest amp one you can get as ive seen really cheap ones but there like 300MA which might not be enough. Any one know what ampage is required?. Im planning on doing the same thing as i cant see my keyboard when the "big light" is off, so ill install a couple of cathodes under my monitor. i was going to make an extra long molex wire and sleeve it, then install a female molex in a pci plate to plug it into and run that to a molex from the psu.

Mark

instead of doing that look for the antec usb lights, ive got 2 under my monitor and they work a treat

Mark A · 7 Mar 2006 at 21:13

I might look into that acctually but then again USB's are like gold dust on my pc.

Mark

Mark A · 19 Mar 2006 at 01:51

I decided to carry out the idea i had and it has worked a treat, i am now going to install a cheap white cold cathode set into my desk under a shelf my moniter is on so that it lights my keyboard up. I can use a cheap se of pc cathodes that will cost £3.50 now instead of a single cold cathode from FOCUS that costs £16 and doesnt even have a switch to turn it on and off.

Mark

BigBoy · 19 Mar 2006 at 07:59

looking good mate the molex plugs look good too. make sure you post some pics of the setup with the lights on.