Hello everybody. This is my first post and I would like to say hi to everybody. I've been around browsing the forums for a while but now I wanted to ask for an advice about a small mod I'm planning. I have a pair of red CCFL lights, these to be exact http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811994003 their specification is Tube diameter: 3.0mm Input voltage of inverter: 12v Output voltage of inverter: 680v Current draw: 5.0mAv Brightness: 28,000~30,000 cd/m Lifetime: 30,000 hours the idea is that, I would like to connect those lights to the pc in such a way that will enable my system to control the light intensity, to put more or less power based on the temperature the system is at. If i'm gaming or doing intensive work, I would like the lights to be on full power because the system is hot. if i'm not doing much, system is idle, lights could be off or very dim. my motherboard is Asus M4A78-E. any advice if such thing is actually possible is greatly appreciated. thanks!
You could hook up a temperature controlled PWM output fan controller, something around 10w should be plenty for two of those CCFL's. I haven't actually done this, but it should work pretty well... maybe someone on the forum has done this before, and can recommend a specific controller? If you found a controller which allows you to adjust the relationship between PWM output and temperature, then you can tune it to drive the CCFL's exactly as you want them, otherwise you'd have to search for a kit or build custom PWM controller circuit.
Word of warning my man. Dont waste your money. Cathodes need a set level of power provided by the inverter box. Any fluctuation in this power will cause them to pulse and flicker... Have you ever put an energy saving lightbulb on a dimmer switch? If you have thats the easiest way to see what I mean. LEDs are much more receptive to changes in voltage and will alter their light output accordingly without giving you strobe headache.
hmm, right. I forgot that ccfls are constantly blinking. oh well, so you say I could achieve the goal with a couple of leds? I will try to get a couple small leds or try to extract them from my fans because I hate them in fans. would love them in the case lighting up strategic elements. anyway, thanks guys. I have no skills to build a circuit myself. I'm more into designs and projects not into electronic stuff.
Scratch what I said velocityx and thanks for pointing that out jeckulz Ok, plan B: LED's Any temperature controlled pwm output fan controller should supply many leds without issue, and again, if you can find a controller with an adjustment to tune the pwm output:temperature, then you can adjust the lighting the way you want it. There should be plenty of pre-wired leds for pc's available, and temperature pwm controllers to suit... maybe someone will recommend some for you?
You might find that if you use a fan controller with low enough PWM frequency (maybe 100Hz) mvagusta's original idea will work.
yea, somehow I feel it's safer to plug these babies into a fan controller then mobo itself. less issues if something goes wrong hopefully.
Get some 12v LEDs in a car shop. (halfords for example) and wire them to a fan connector and plug them in. Most fans run happily between 7 and12v so as the voltage increases to make the fans spin up the lighting should increase..Job done The added bonus is that LEDs have a low power draw so 4 or more on one header should be fine.
Just looking back at this, it's some thing I might ry myself just to see what sort of effect if goves off. More to the point with the correct resisters fitted to a series of lights it could almost work like a temp gauge.
the PWM signal from a mobo fan header is a very low amp signal. youll need a set of power FETs or a fan controller to amplify the signal even to drive LEDs. after you do that, this will work fine though. my fans are driven by the mobo header through 2 power FETs. they are LED fans, so the LEDs brighten and dim with the fan speed.
