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Sunbeam Lightbus

D

DudeItsMe

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
15,720
Well I was going to PM SarverSystems about this, since I saw he bought one, but PM's are down
tongue.gif


On that note, someone was complaining that they couldn't send PM's... but if you can't access your inbox... what's the point of sending one to someone?

Anyways, I recently bought a Sunbeam Lightbus with dual Ultra blue CCFL's. It has five inputs for lights/fans, but all I have inside is two lights and four (case) fans... and honestly I'm not too concerned about controlling fan speed.

So I'm looking for extra lighting... I would like something to be used with the HDD usage feature, but I don't want some super bright LED flashing at me constantly. I'd much rather have something that looks cool, but isn't too bright. Does anyone have any ideas?

Also, I was thinking green or red, so it'd stand out from the blue. Case is black, CCFL's are blue, other than that no real colors.
 
Use red, they are a softer light which spreads more over shorter distances and is less distracting, that's why military uses it.
 
You could put a small CCFL or some LEDs on the bottom of your case. What case do u have, maybe a few pics might help us come up w/ some ideas.

I bought a lightbus as well, but not exactly sure how I want to use it yet in my CM Stacker. I might put some LEDs or CCFLs behind the bay covers and use the HDD light effect. I'm not really sure yet. Maybe put some LEDs in the res that I am going to build. There are a lot of possibilities.
 
I have this case:

Lian Li PC-65B

Didn't post the case or take pics because,. well, it's not that unique. I already said I was getting two CCFL's, and a third would probably be killing it, especially with two different colors, especially using the HDD activity feature on the lightbus (makes it flash when the drive reads). The red LED sounds like it's going to be the way to go, I just have to find one that's not too bright, not too dark, and hopefully easy to install
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Of course in the future, the lightbus is going to be going in a Praetorian 730 which should be white exterior, red interior, and blue lighting. I guess red would probably still work in there, but maybe I should go for green to mix it up a bit... hmm...
 
The lightbus should handle multiple CCFLs as long as their inverters are on seperate channels. From what Sunbeams site says, each channel's output voltage is 0V - 12V. I have two 12" UV CCFLs on one channel and going to put 2 4" UV CCFLs on a different channel and maybe get two 12" Blue CCFLs on the third channel. That will leave me w/ one channel for LEDs if needed.

If you do use LEDs and they are too bright when their channel is at full, then you could always add a resistor between the lightbus and the LEDs. Of course the amount the LEDs dim will be determined by the amount of resistance of the resistor you use.

Another idea could be to put a few LEDS on the back of the front panel beside the air intakes at the bottom. The glow would show through the front. If their light does get into the case then you could always make a cover around the LEDs to block the light from entering into the case and just shine out the front. Maybe even block the light from shining out the top of the front panel as well.
 
Good suggestions, though power wasn't my concern...

I just realized this isn't going to fit in a Praetorian 730 (most likely).... oops!
 
.......

I was listening to some music with the CCFL in sound activation mode. Now it won't stop. I stopped the music, and unplugged the sound adctivation cord, but somehow it's flashing to some mystery beat? Anyone have any idea what the hell is going on?
 
Did I hear my name?

I am not sure exactly what your question is. Can you break it down Barney-style for me?
 
Well the question in the orignal post is void. I figured that all out I think.

The question I have now is this.... I had my CCFL's on sound activatioin mode via my Lightbus last night while rewiring the computer. I unplugged the Y cable from my audio cables but noticed the CCFL's were still flashing as if they still have some sort of sound activation music. I turned off the music, turned off the speakers, and they kept flashing. AFAIK there was no sound at all, and even if there was, there's no way it would have got to the CCFL's. So why were they still flashing?

They still do it now...
 
*Grumble* This is the most retarded problem I've ever heard of. A sound activated CCFL that works to a mystery sound.

You have your CCFL's running through the inverter then the Lightbus, right? That's the setup I have, but I'm 98% sure they aren't sound activated wtihout the Lightbus. Besides, if they were, they'd be working to my fans which are a steady sound...

What part of the audio cable do you suggest I plug it into? I have 7.1 sound so the cable has three plugs... I had it plugged into the black but decided to experiement and plugged it into the orange... never tried the green. Did I unknowingly do something to break them?
 
Uh, why on Earth would you run the high-voltage wire from the invertor into the lightbus?

The instructions clearly state to run the 12VDC line from the invertor to the lightbus.

Maybe I just misread you? Can you show some pics?
 
I could.... but I'll try explaining first
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I have the http://xoxide.com/ultra-blue-dual-cc.html kit. Both cathodes are plugged into the inverter, and one plug is running from the inverter to slot one on the Lightbus. Lightbus is plugged into the PSU of course and I have the Y-audio cable hooked up to the lightbus though not hooked up to anything on the other end (cause it was sucking...)
 
OK, I gotcha. You have it hooked up correctly.

Do you have the audio cable completely unplugged from the lightbus or is it still plugged in? If it is still plugges into the lightbus, what is it plugged into on the other end? If the end of the cable is just laying there, maybe it is picking up electrical noise from the case ground or something?

For example, when I unplug my Creative speakers, and touch the plug, I get a very loud buzz sound.
 
Yeah I haven't unplugged it from the Lightbus itself, but I just thought of that an hour or so ago! D'oh! Will try it and report back.

What Creative speakers by the way
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EDIT: Amazing, it's unplugged and the lights go on to the mystery beat.
 
Have you tried unplugging all the components involved from each other and then waiting a few minutes and then plugging them back in? Of course unplug the PSU first before you unplug anything else.

Have you tried plugging the CCFLs into a different channel on the lightbus? If a different channel doesn't work, try hooking the CCFLs to the PSU and see if it might be the inverter.
 
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