Cathode question

[hogan]

I have 6 Cathode tubes in my case and they are in groups of 2, and these 3 groups of 2 each have their own switchand power converter thingy. The problem I have is when I turn off any of the lights it freezes my comp. I have reinstaled windows gotten a new powersuply, but that still hasent stoped the freezing.
Any ideas why this is happening?






This is my first post but have ben admiring all the mod for months.

[crenn]

My first question is why so many tubes? The max I've seen in a case is 2.
There could be a couple of reasons that your computer is freezing.
1. You PSU get's a sudden 'avalibility' of power
2. You have too much usage and you need a PSU with a higher wattage.

Also, pic of said case would help.

[hogan]

i dont have a camra at the moment to ill try and get some pics
hopefully by the 28

[hogan]

http://www.soulontrial.com/_mgxroot/page_10645.html
link to a pick not good with this whole hosting thing
not sure if i did the image hosting thing right
the link describes the lighting situation and has pics plz i need help thanks

[crenn]

Ok...... use a PSU calculator to estimate your power requirements. What PSU do you have in that?

[hogan]

whats a psu calculator?
i have a aspire atx-as550w-bk
chameleon
http://aspireusa.net/product.php?pid=24&xcSID=5eddf9c65b6c59ec8854c6d9f5f64366

[hogan]

i googled psu caluculator and it said i needed 353 watt ps and i have a 550watt power supply

[digital_exhaust]

I've seen this happen with inexpensive lighting. I think the problem is, as Crenn said, a voltage spike.

[crenn]

Where did I say it might be a voltage spike? ;)

As I don't do case modding myself (yet) I can't say much about inexpensive lighting cause problems.

But I do know some PSUs need more than a certain load for the PSU to work correctly.... it's rarely happens..... but it does happen...

[digital_exhaust]

Ummm... sorry, "availability of power.." assumed that was what you were saying.

[hogan]

that makes since when i read that but i though i would try a couple of things before buying new lights.
1st i unpluged the ps and took off all wires from the mobom hard drves, lights, and etc.
Then waited an hour and plugged all the system stuff and leaving off all of the lights
I reserved wire directly from the ps to dedicate it to power the lights


and then i plugged it all in and it worked and i turned off the lights and it didnt freeze. YAY

so i think the probem might be that i had too much power going thru to little of wires.
thanks for all ur time

[crenn]

That's another thing that could cause it..... drawing too much power from one line.....

[AceX]

I think that the issue is a combination of things, one being the sudden voltage spike, another being that you are drawing everything from one line. I'm surprised that the single line could cupply all the power for those. I'm one to talk though... I'm going to be running 3 LED fans, 2 CCFL's, a HDD, a video card, and probably a floppy drive all off of one line... I'll be running my water cooling system and optical drive off of another line.

[Xato]

You should try throwing a peltier element into that mix =P

[hogan]

i know im a nub but what is a peltier element?

Also i was wondering what u guys use as switches?
because i have 3 different switches and none of them are very attractive.

once again thanks for your time

[aK____]

you could always use 2 power supplys in your computer, one for your computer necessities (hdds, dvd drives..) and one for visual entertainment, (neons, leds). im using a 350w psu in my room to power my subs through a car amp, and it also powers all my neons.

[tybrenis]

I run 4 cathodes in my case, I just soldered the leads from the one switch to the leads on the other switch, worked fine.

Using a peltier is a method of cooling your computer, when electricity is supplied through them, one side gets extremely hot while the other one gets extremely cold.

[Guttenaffe]

It is the field collapse from the transformer within the inverter of your CCFL which is causing a back spike down your power rails.

Few options:
1) get a better inverter
2) remove the CCFL
3) get a better PSU that has isolation and protection
4) Insert a high enough watt germanium diode on the ground of the inverter (will only lose .3 to .4 volts compared to .7 loss of cheeper silicon diodes)

[The boy 4rm oz]

cum om i recon u just have 2 many lights. Who needs 6 neons unless u got a fridge that ur comp is in. R u blind or sumthn that u need so many neons?

[Omega]

a "Peltier Element" is how he's referring to a system that has one hot side, and one cold side. you put the cold side on a component, and let the hot side vent somewhere, but not in the airstream (unless you want hot air in your components.


Anywho, i've got a pretty long draw line, too. 3 80mm fans, Dual CCFL's, GPU, and a hard drive. my second hard drive powers a 120mm fan and itself, but my opticals are each on thier own tap.


cum om i recon u just have 2 many lights. Who needs 6 neons unless u got a fridge that ur comp is in. R u blind or sumthn that u need so many neons?


1st. learn english. this (http://www.dictionary.com) is a GREAT place to start.
2nd. the amounts of lights doesn't really matter, i could have one dual cathode kit for each of my taps (which is like 8 or 9) and it would be fine.

Translation of his post:

"Come on. I reckon you just have too many lights. Who needs 6 CCFL's? Unless you have your computer in a fridge. Are you blind or something? Why do you need so many CCFL's?"

=p

[The boy 4rm oz]

Smartass lol I wrote that at like 3am.

[Omega]

Smartass lol I wrote that at like 3am.


Time shouldn't matter, I type the same wether it's 3 AM or noon. =/

[DaveW]

@ Omega: Thanks for the laugh. Oh, how I hate nonsense posts. :)

-Dave

[Omega]

@ Omega: Thanks for the laugh. Oh, how I hate nonsense posts. :)

-Dave


You're welcome. And I am so glad my smartass/asshole-ness about spelling and the like can be used for comical relief. =]