New to Cold Cathode Lighting, please help

JonathanYoung

Senior member
Aug 15, 2003
379
0
71
Hello fellow forum members,

I've finally purchased my first CCFL and on the whole am quite happy with it. The only issue I have with it is that occasionally, the lamp dims and brightens again, sort of like a normal flourescent bulb that's about to die. I'm wondering if I was sent a defective lamp, or if interference from my computer could cause something like this. I've searched on Google, AnandTech forums, as well as the forums of other tech-sites, but nobody else mentions having this problem. I like leaving my light on constantly, and it is quite annoying when it dims and lights up again (almost like flashing). If anyone else has this problem or has heard of it, please give me some insight. I'm wondering if this is a common occurence with CCFLs. Thanks everyone!!

Jonathan

P.S. I forgot to mention that sometimes, just sometimes, the dimming and brightening will occur when I move the scroll wheel on my mouse. Weird!
 

Peter D

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2002
3,603
0
0
first off, welcome to Anandtech! :)

secondly, sounds like maybe a weak rail in your powersupply...?
 

mindwreck

Golden Member
May 25, 2003
1,585
1
81
welcome to anandtech :beer:

ur 12v rail is fluctuating. which means its not strong enough and u need a better powersupply!!
 

JonathanYoung

Senior member
Aug 15, 2003
379
0
71
Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your responses as well as the warm welcome! I've been a long time reader of AnandTech and am glad to finally become an active part of the user-community here.

After reading your responses, I would agree that it must be a power supply issue. Here are my specs:

350W Enermax PSU
16X CDRW Drive
48X CDRW Drive
100GB HDD
60GB HDD
1.44MB FDD
Athlon XP 2400+
Abit KR7A-133
4x256MB PC2100 DIMMS
GeForce4 Ti4400
SB Live! Value
3Com NIC
Generic 56K Modem
3 Case Fans
And now a CCFL!

So yes, definitely I have a lot of devices on this little 350W power supply and the 12V rail is definitely fluctuating. This afternoon, using MBM I noticed it would bounce from 12.22 to 12.16 and back. This very moment, it's bouncing from 12.16 and 12.10. So just to confirm, it doesn't matter that the 12V rail is actually above 12V, if it fluctuates then it means your PSU can't handle it? You guys definitely nailed this problem on the head. Thanks a lot!

Jonathan