CCFL Question

[AMD Killa]

Hi guys. I want to put some CCFL's on the back of my 19 inch flatpanel to backlight it on the wall that it is mounted to. The inverter has a normal Molex power connector on it. I'm hoping to run it as a seperate device, rather than off the power supply in my PC. Would cutting the adapter end off a 12v DC mains adapter and fixing it to the cathode inverter power cable work?

I'm sure I have a spare 12v DC mains adapter lying around somewhere. Not sure how much current 2 CCFL's and one inverter will pull, but i doubt it's anything over what a 12v DC mains adapter could provide.

Only worrk after confirming it will work would be the matter of polarity. Im guessing hooking up the positive to the yellow and the negative/ground to the black?

[blueonblack]

Can you clarify "DC mains adapter"? You mean a wall wart? Box that plugs into the AC plug on the wall and converts it to 12v DC?

[AMD Killa]

Can you clarify "DC mains adapter"? You mean a wall wart? Box that plugs into the AC plug on the wall and converts it to 12v DC?

Yea I've got one or two lying around in a box somewhere that are for random devices, no idea what devices though. One of the ones I found says 500mA on it. I havent a clue if its enough to power the cathodes. As I mentioned earlier, it's a dual cathode kit with one shared inverter

[blueonblack]

I honestly don't know what those draw to be honest, but it should be easy enough to try it and see. I used one of those to power a plasma ball in my last build, but I was able to find out how many amps it needed. The amperage may be stamped on the inverter somewhere in size .000000001 pica font.

[AMD Killa]

Unfortunatly, there is nothing on the inverter at all. I guess I could somehow power it through my PC and use a multimeter to get a reading, but the only way to do that would to have bare cables at points, which I dont even want to test in my PC really (I guess I could hijack my brothers PC to test it in :D). Only other method is to try and find a specifications sheet or use similar ones as an educated guess.

Apparently when it comes to polarity, it doesnt matter as it supposedly works both ways. Now I know normal bulbs are capable of this, but no idea if the inverter requires a particular direction.

Any ideas?

[AMD Killa]

Just done some calculations based on some similar cathodes being 3Watts, which means they will draw 250mA, and with the 500mA 12v Transformer thingy I have, it should be plenty to run it.

Still a little concerned about the polarity, but I'll just connect the positive from the transformer to the yellow Molex cable, and the other to the black ground Molex cable. Am I right in thinking this is correct?

[blueonblack]

Yes, black is ground.

No idea on whether polarity is a factor, sorry.

[SXRguyinMA]

yellow is 12v + and black is ground. hook the positive from the 12v adapter to the yellow and the negative to black. if it ran on AC polirty wouldnt matter. because its DC however it does :D

[AMD Killa]

Well I tried wiring it up, even used an RCCB for safety, and nothing. No light, no bang, no smoke, nothing :S I think the inverter is fooked :S

Shame, it would have looked awesome to have blue backlighting on my media center screen :D