Purple or UV cold cathode?

[Inappropriate4AT]

I bought two cathodes from SVC that are supposedly purple. After turning em on my first impression was I was sent white cathodes, then I thought they could be purple and just look more white. After doin some Googling, I've seen a few ppl say their purple cathodes look more white, and UV cathodes look more purple than the purple ones do lol...

I've got some Cooler Master LED fans, and they have an actual purple glow to em, much darker than the cathodes. Maybe the Cooler Master cathodes are closer to the color of their fans, I dunno, but the tubes I have sure as hell aren't. If I want something more like the fans, should I pick up a UV kit?

Are UV cathodes like actual blacklights, that'll make whites really stand out n ppls eyes look all yellow n sh1t? I don't want a damn skating rink in my case, I just want purple lights.

 

[charlietee]

I prefer UV blacklights...I find that by using UV reactive cables, sleeving and power supply connectors has a much more appealing look versus colored cold cathode lighting.

But from the sound of it you would probably like straight up lighting.

If you do not want something like this...this... or this.

Then cold cathodes are what you are looking for.

 

[shock311]

try this

 

[charlietee]

Thanks shock311

Should be able to remember how to link to my friends ftp site who host pictures for me.

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

Yeah I'm really not into the whole glowing cables and PCI brackets thing. I want a similar glow to what the LED fans provide throughout the whole case, something only cathodes would be powerful enough to do.

The lamps I have completely drown out the fans when they're turned on, and make em look like white LED fans. I still don't even know if I have actual white or purple lamps, just assuming they're a ridiculously light-easter-egg-purple based on what I've read from Google searches.

Would UV kits provide any sort of actual lighting, or do they just make things glow. I've heard they have a purple look to em, anybody own a kit and care to comment?

 

[charlietee]

The pictures that I linked you to are UV black lights...And yes they do look purple if you are looking at the bulbs themselves.

They really do not offer a bunch of light without UV reactive stuff...As you can see every wire, cable, fan even unused memory and pci slots are UV reactive.

Cold cathodes will just emit a colored light and will not really make anything in your case jump out at you...In your case they should just provide purple colored light inside the case.

After trying both I have found the UV black light my preferred method...Cold cathode lights just did not seem to give me the effect I was looking for.

I tried the UV lighted fans and they just did not offer much for lighting cables, sleeving and all that business...Tried the lighted color fans and really did not get much effect with them either.

After trying multiple cold cathode lights and fan combinations I found that the only solution for what I wanted were UV black lights.

 

[Zap]

I think the problem may be the wavelength of your chosen color. Colors such as green look much brighter because our eyes are more attuned to the wavelength, or some such mumbo jumbo.

 

[Emultra]

What do you want a light show in your chassi for anyway?

Look at the monitor instead, that's where the real action is.

 

[LukeMan]

Originally posted by: charlietee
I prefer UV blacklights...I find that by using UV reactive cables, sleeving and power supply connectors has a much more appealing look versus colored cold cathode lighting.

But from the sound of it you would probably like straight up lighting.

If you do not want something like this...this... or this.

Then cold cathodes are what you are looking for.

I really like the uv look of your case. I have the same case and bought an Aspire 520 Watt PSU with UV reactive cords. I have 2 black lights and 3 blue uv reactive fans. Hopefully my case will look sort of like that after I get everything installed and buy a few more uv reactive cords(ide and sata)

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: Inappropriate4AT
Would UV kits provide any sort of actual lighting, or do they just make things glow. I've heard they have a purple look to em, anybody own a kit and care to comment?

They do have a pale purple look. Pale enough that they don't add much to lighting, unless you have UV sensitive components.
you HIDE the UV light source usually. Whatever cathode you put in you hide them inside corners of the case. They aren't good for your eyes, nor your skins
Their uses is to illuminate UV reactive cables, fans, etc.

 

[scheibler4]

Sounds to me like you should sell what you've got and do some research to find some dark purple cathodes. As for Charlie....your black uv light looks blue to me or is that a blue cathode on the right side of your case?

 

[LED]

Here's some shots off UV Lights...they are Purplish:

Daylight

Night with dust on Camera Lens

The top of the caps on the Mobo and RAM have UV paint on them which ios white looking in the Day

 

[imported_rod]

I have a couple of UV Cathodes, and they look fairly dull (cant even tell if they're switched on in day-light) but I love the glowing components inside my case. You can get purple (non-UV) cathodes. If you lived in australia, i could give you a couple of links of where to buy them from.

RoD

 

[LT4CAMSS]

Charlietee - Those different colored tubes look like those tubes people swim with at pools. I didn't even know they had those kinds of colors.

LED - Nice case. Very creative.

 

[makmak]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX
you HIDE the UV light source usually. Whatever cathode you put in you hide them inside corners of the case. They aren't good for your eyes, nor your skins

Are u serious? am i going to get eye cancer or skin cancer? Can someone help calm me down pls!? Need some confirmation that my UV cold cathodes are safe to continue to use... :S

 

[imported_rod]

They're perfectly safe. If they were more powerful, and gave out higher frequency UV lights, they might create a problem, but unless you have all the walls in your house covered with them, you'll be fine. They give out a very narrow specta of UV light (the type that makes stuff glow) but not all the other wavelengths of UV light (like the types that give you cancer).

RoD

BtW: That's just my understanding of it. Im not a doctor. If you do die from the little lights inside your computer it IS NOT my fault.

 

[makmak]

Originally posted by: rod
BtW: That's just my understanding of it. Im not a doctor. If you do die from the little lights inside your computer it IS NOT my fault.

hahahah... thanks mate!! I'll just come back and haunt u! lol... joking.
I might just continue using then

 

[LED]

Originally posted by: makmak

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX
you HIDE the UV light source usually. Whatever cathode you put in you hide them inside corners of the case. They aren't good for your eyes, nor your skins

Are u serious? am i going to get eye cancer or skin cancer? Can someone help calm me down pls!? Need some confirmation that my UV cold cathodes are safe to continue to use... :S

Yep Dr. rod is correct IMO as I'm from the Hippy days have seen and looked directly into Blacklights and Case Modes with UV's showing over the years and can still finger punch and look @ my keyboard

...Thanks LT4CAMSS and here are a couple other Cases done with UV lights that look purplish to me (unless the Cancer has made me color blind too)

Yellow Case


Green Case

 

[theMan]

how about one of those meteor light things. its a tube with like, 12 led's in it, and it can flash, and do all sorts of patterns, or just light up. if you want something that lights up like led fans, that would probably be good.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX

Originally posted by: Inappropriate4AT
Would UV kits provide any sort of actual lighting, or do they just make things glow. I've heard they have a purple look to em, anybody own a kit and care to comment?

They do have a pale purple look. Pale enough that they don't add much to lighting, unless you have UV sensitive components.
you HIDE the UV light source usually. Whatever cathode you put in you hide them inside corners of the case. They aren't good for your eyes, nor your skins
Their uses is to illuminate UV reactive cables, fans, etc.

Doesn't UV radiation cause decay of materials, such as bombarding the interior components of your computer with steady UV energy? I would think this MIGHT be an issue eventually if the UV sources were strong enough...

 

[strend]

Too funny. I did the exact same thing as the TC, Cooler Master Purple LED fans, SVC Purple CCs for my wifes PC. I ended up using a dark purple nail polish on the CC, result was pretty good. Sorry I don't have pics to share but I just replaced all the purple with red in her box. The purple lighing looked OK in a dark room, but didn't put out enough light any other time.

That and it's a pain in the ass finding good purple wallpapers......