Case mods with CCFL’s

Posted on January 6, 2010 | Category: Gadgets, Hardware, Images, Informational, Networking, Server

This post is somewhat of a short part 2 to this post about the benefits of adding extra fans to your server: http://rbucky.com/blog/adding-hard-drive-fans-is-worth-the-money/.

The last couple of days I have been going fan crazy. I have added three (3), yes 3 fans to my server over the last couple. I was determined to decrease my hard drive (hdd) temperatures. After the first round, I was able to decrease my RAID1 array down to 23C and 24C. Now that my wife increased our ambient temperature (she turned up the heater), I am up to 25C.

I ended up adding another 90mm fan to the rear to cool my other hdd (WD 500GB for storage), which cooled it down to where the RAID1 array was at. This WD 500GB drive always seems to run about 3-5C hotter than the RAID array. Anyways, now that I added the extra 90mm fan, it is right down to where I want it.

Now that I have fans out the ass, I decided to go for the glowing blue theme as my power button and other 120mm fan also has the blue LED’s. I purchased a Logisys Cold Cathode Light (CCFL). It has 2 tubes in it that are around 10-12 inches long. One of the connections on the inverter was not soldered correctly, so I had to complete some minor soldering work to get it where it should be. The wires are a bit short for the tubes, so I was left with placing them on the bottom of the case. They are bright little bastards. There is a switch that mounts in a card slot on the back of your tower, so that you can thrun them off or on depending on who you want to show off to.

My only concern with this is the heat generated by the bulbs. CCFL’s do not operate cold as their name implies. For now, they are for show. I have some cable management to attend to. But for now, why don’t you take a look at them in my server.