CCFL's wired to 3 prong rocker switch, help please

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Operaghost

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 4, 2004
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I need some help wiring my CCFL's.

I have 2 sets of 2 cathodes.
I want to wire them to 3 prong rocker switch.
As I know next to nothing about electric circuits I need some advice on how to go about this.

Looking at the rocker switch I see that the top two prongs are labeled 12v DC and have a 1&2 marked next to them, the bottom prong is actually split into 2 prongs and is labeled LED, and has a +/- sign on each of the smaller prongs.

My question is, how do I wire the 2 sets of CCFL's to be switched on/off by the switch, and what wires do I run to the LED prongs?
 
For the cathodes, connect +12v to either #1 or #2 on the rocker switch, then wire #1 or #2 (whichever you did not use) to the +12v input of the inverter.

Is the bottom prong actually two prongs or is it a single prong with two connectors on it? To wire it up depends on the specific configuration of the switch. If it is two seperate prongs, take +5v in series with a 100-300 ohm resistor and connect it to one prong and connect 0v to the other. If that doesn't work, switch the polarity.
 
look at the "for Sale" thread in my seg. There I have almost 200 for sale and one of the pics is a diagram for what each leg does
 
Not to thread jack or anything but I have one of these switches that I want to wire up for a power button but I'm alittle unsure about hooking the LED to my motherboard (since the LED is labled 12v). The switch looks very much like the one described earlier) so is it okay to hook it up to my MB?
 
Stresstest, those look exactly like the one I have. So the terminal in your picture that is labeled "ground" is the one that I was talking about being split....it looks like it'd still get wired with one wire connector thing but it is different from the other 2 terminals.

I'm going to take some pictures when I get some batteries for my camera. Cause you guys are speakin greek to me.
 
I have the exact same problem.

I bought some of these:

http://store.yahoo.com/svcompucycle/rocksw-blu-24.html

And they come as three prong just like the ones STRESSTEST is selling, which creates a problem with my 2 wire cathodes it seems because 1 +12V red wire is needed to power the LED on the switch, 1 +12V red wire to power the cathodes and the 1 ground wire for the bottom, which in this case is the yellow one it seems.

So, how do you send +12V out to the inverter and send +12V in to the rocker on one wire?
 
Guys, you are making this way to hard on yourselves.

P1280510.JPG
switch_diagram.jpg


Now look, far right is 12 volts in. Middle is 12 volts out to item (fan, CCFL etc.) and far left is the ground, the brass colored one. That is hooked up to ground.

Now for use on a ccfl kit, you get a switch already, it is two prong. And all it does is break the existing 12volt line on your ccfl kit harnes. Those two spade connectors on it... that is the 12volt line. So, the one attached to the molex connector on the harness goes to the prong on the far right. The other spade plug that is attacked to the harness goes to the inverter in the kit, that goes on the middle prong of the switch.

The ground prong you have to make something and either ground it to the case like on a screw that holds the harddrive or cd roms in, or make it clean and set it on the ground wire going to the molex connector on the kit harness. If you do attack it to the harness, you need to make sure that you do not interupt that wires path from the interter to the molex connector. Otherwise it wont light up.

then of course, you don't need to hook up the 3rd prong at all, you can just use the two power prongs and the ccfl will work, but the LED wont light up.
 
Ok, what doesn't make sense to me is that the brass "ground" prong. It seems that when the +12V is plugged into the brass one, the LED on the switch lights up fine, but of course the CCFL don't light up. When I grounded it on a screw, the LEDs doesn't light up, but the CCFLs work fine.

So my question is where is the LED on the rocker getting it's current from? It seems the ground prong and either of the prongs will light it fine, so do I need to run another wire from whichever +12V I am not using?
 
the ground prong does just one thing. Allows for the LED to work. that's it, nothing else

Did you try hooking it as I said in my last post?
 
I think you should specify psu ground/black wire not necessarily "Molex ground". That could be interpreted as the ccfl molex gound, which won't work of course.

The only connection the ccfl inverter has to have with the switch is the red (+v) wire connected to the center prong.
 
Could you wire two inverters to a single switch? Of this type? If so could you explain how?
 
Operaghost said:
Could you wire two inverters to a single switch? Of this type? If so could you explain how?
Click to expand...

Yes, just run another wire from prong 2 to the 2nd inverter

These switches could be used to run roughly10 kits off, per switch
 
Thanks STress, you've been a huge help, so I should just terminate the 2 wires from each inverter together to go on the 12v out terminal? I wish I had taken electronics in highschool now. I'm too broke to take some courses these days. Thanks again
 
The one wire from each inverter (red) +12 volts should go to the 2nd terminal on the switch.
 
I just have one more question regarding this, now that I'm actually wiring it all up.

There is a black wire coming from each inverter, going to the molex connector. What is this for? Do I need to chain the 2 molex connectors together or should I have just one of them connected to the PSU?

I'll try to diagram it roughly here:

CCFL Wiring.bmp


Ok, so to explain a couple things. The yellow wire is the same wire as the red one that is leading from the other inverter to the 12v In on the switch. For some reason this kit came with a yellow/red wire on its default switch instead of red/red.
I'd assume I should just wrap some electrical tape on the end of that?

Also, in the diagram you see the molex from the first inverter connected to a molex from the PSU.
Is this all that needs to be connected as far as the molex connectors? Or do I need to connect the molex from the first inverter to the second one as well?

Oh yeah one last thing, below is a picture of the "ground" terminal if viewing the switch from the bottom, as you can see this terminal is split into two prongs, would that change anything as far as your wiring instructions above? Just use a ground wire and an O ring terminal and screw it to the chasis somewhere?

switch bottom view.bmp
 
On the same subject, I wired up one set of dual ccfl's like this, with the same exact switch. It works fine, but if I switch the light on/off more than 2-3 times, the WHOLE SYSTEM shuts down. Everything. Only thing that stays on is the power LED on the mobo. I have tried several different switches, including several high-test ones from my dads electrical supplies. This leaves me believing that I have a faulty inverter that can't handle the surge that comes with switching them on/off? Anyone have any idea? I am confident in my wiring of the switch, as I've done this several times before, but never had this problem.


*If I set the switch before powering on, like set it to ON, it works fine until I try to turn the ccfl's off, on, back off etc. It will turn the whole system off after several or even one flick. On the same note, I can start the system with the switch to OFF, and it will be fine until I play with the switch.
 
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