UV Setup Advice

[Phyltre]

I don't have much experience with setting up case lighting, especially UV lighting, but that's what I'm planning for my next build. I generally keep things relatively nondescript, but this time I'd like to learn about case lighting firsthand. I'd really appreciate a few pointers:

1. What's the best/brightest UV light source, and who is your favorite provider of them?
2. What is the best way to force UV reactivity--a brush-on, a spray, sleeving...?
3. Would it be possible to attach all lights in the case to a single switch (without having to wire my own circuits?) And if so could you make product-specific recommendations of a control that would work with a particular light's connector type?

I'll have plenty of room in the case, it's a Thermaltake Armor +. There will be a large GTX260 in the case as well as a Thermalright TRUE cooler. The fans will be all-black non-lit ones. The "point" of the design is to have a case that looks perfectly meh until you hit the switch and the whole thing lights up.

 

[dystopic]

1. a pair of 4" CCFLs is probably your best bet. the light output from large CCFLs is less intense. as for "provider" do you mean a location to purchase or a manufacturer? AC ryan generally makes good stuff, and i like performance PCs for that sort of thing.

2. i'm not sure what you mean by "force UV reactivity", but i can say that there are many UV-reactive products available. many DFI motherboards have UV-reactive slots. there are fans, sleeving, 18g wire, data cables, power connectors, watercooling tubing and dye for the water as well. these tend to be available in at least a few basic colors (red, green and blue). though IMO blue is the only colors that looks consistently good; with other colors, it seems to vary a good deal by manufacturer and the type of plastic they use. green tends to be more of a cyan, and red tends to be a pink/orange. clear, UV-reactive paint is also available, though the UV-reactive chemicals in those can degrade in direct sunlight so painting could be... interesting, to say the least. though the clear/UV paint is probably the only thing that'd look "meh" until you flipped your switch - unless you specifically only meant lighting.

3. most case lights (all that i've ever seen) connect using a standard 4-pin peripherial device ("molex") connectors. i just did a quick search on PPCs and found pre-wired switches mounted to PCI brakets:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...th=376&zenid=ded1b0771500d065c4bbbe75d4461240

might not be the easiest thing in the world to hide the wires, but per your reqest i don't think it'd involve any soldering or such.

be sure to post a pic when you're done

 

[Arcygenical]

Honestly, IMO, I would pick up a small 12" handheld tube such as this one:

And since it uses 8 1.5v batteries, it runs off 12v. This is around 8 watt's of UV light, or roughly 4 12" UV ccfl's... It also produces almost no heat (something not true of CCFL's).

This would require a tiny bit of soldering (mainly re-locating the switch and the battery contacts) but allows for an incredible amount of UV light, controlled by a single switch.

Hell, you could even use a smoked acrylic window, as this is a powerful enough UV source that most reactive items would glow brightly enough that you would see right through the smoked window - the epitome of what you want.

As for reactivity... Get UV reactive fans (and cut out their own UV LED's so they only glow when your main tube is on) and sleeving. The paints don't do shit.

 

[dystopic]

lol you don't fuck around arcy

 

[Arcygenical]

lol you don't fuck around arcy

You know it