Cold Cathode Inverter setup

[FynexFox]

I want to get some Cold cathodes, and I want to mount an On/Off switch in the 3.5 bay, but then the cathodes are confined to that case - I didn't want that, so i had the idea to gut an old floppy drive, bondo over the faceplate, and paint it black, and in the metal housing would be the inverter an wires, and on the abck would be the molex input and the 2 inverted power outputs. As usual it worked out in my mind but as I began to go I realized it wasn't ganna work. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make this, I already considered using the bay faceplate against a project box, but then once again that inverter and all is confined to that one case.

[Omega]

...

Run wires from wherever the inverter is now to the switches. Simple.

[FynexFox]

I know, but I thought itd be cool to have it all in a housing I culd put in different computers and such, since Ill prolly be chaing the case eventually.

[dgrmkrp]

you got a very good idea there and one just popped in my mind.. must explore it.. BTW, i played around with an inverter when i placed the CCFL in my keyboard and i found a valuable thing... keep your inverter as close as possible wire-length-wise to the CCFLs. why? i wanted a clean look and i kept the inverter in the case and ran 2 low-impedance (i knew wires would drain some juice..) wires along the keyboard cable.. but to my surprise, the CCFLs would barelly light up.. conclusion: make the wires too long and you loose the required voltage for the CCFLs to ignite and sustain themselves.. don't know if this is useful, but just don't want anyone else doing this mistake and then checking for bad connections (happened with old sunbeam kit and new out of the box dual tube ac ryan kit.. so..)

[FynexFox]

Ah, thanks for the heads up. Yeah - I hope I can get my idea underway, itd be 2 rocker switches, 2 rheostats, an inverter, a molex power in, and 2 inverted power outs all in one CD-ROM drive like package, itd have a clean look inside, and could switch from case to case easily, if anyone ahs anymore ideas or ahs done it please let me know.

[tybrenis]

That's a great idea, keep us updated if you do it. Pics!

[modding.fan]

I'm at work, and may be confused on what you're looking for...it happens to me a lot...but...maybe this little dohickey (I love that word) will help you on your way:
https://www.streetglow.com/cgi-local...age=pcneon.htm

Hope it helped
Cheers
-MF

[CanaBalistic]

I dont see why you havent done it yet. Put the stuff in an old floppy and you should be good to go right? Whats the hangup?

A sugjestion would be to put connectors on the back of the floppy so you can unplug the floppy inverter or the cathodes.

I bought a dual cathode kit and the inverter has connectors for 4 cathodes so it can be up graded easily. Maybe there would be a way to hook up 2 connectors to the same cathode so you can run the wires longer. Just a thought.

[FynexFox]

Well see that was my idea, but once I gutted the floppy drive, I learned that the top and bottom of the thing are held together by the middle.

Well, I have somehow found an old CD-drvie housing, and the faceplate, so I am going to use that, itll work perfectly. I guess Ill tell you guys what Ima be doing.

When school gets out(this wednesday) Ill go get some bondo, bondo up the front of the faceplate, sand it flat, paint it black, cut the holes for the rockers and rheostats, mount the inverter and get all the wiring done. I dont have a digital camera so ill try an get pictures for you guys somehow(brothers cell phone?). Im pretty noob at modding so please bare with me while I get my thoughs and all together. Thanks everyone.

[Scotty]

Sounds great, would it be possible to just shove the invertors in the drive instead of rewiring it all.