How do you extend the CCFL leads?

[InTheFlow]

Has anyone done this before? I've been trying different ways of doing it and have not had a lot of luck.

The best I can get is for the bulb to light up half-way.

Please note: I'm talking about extending the wires that run from the bulb to the inverter. Not the power wires that go to the inverter.

Any ideas?

[NicePants42]

Not sure why I'm posting this, but can't you just cut the wires, solder in some more wire, and then cover with electrical tape or shrinkwrap?

[crodan85]

Not sure why I'm posting this, but can't you just cut the wires, solder in some more wire, and then cover with electrical tape or shrinkwrap?

No No No I wouldnt dare as the voltage going through the wires is in the hundreds of volts and uses silicone cable. If you are serious about replacing the cable make sure you get the correct stuff.

[Sparky]

not sure if you can extend them really. That voltage in there is very very high, my brother's CCFL wire insulation got torn slightly so we used electrical tape on it.
About a week later the thing caught on fire in his case while the computer was running

[n-sanity]

Jeeezus, people, ur not thinking the right way!

Extend the power wires to the inverter, and move the whole inverter/lead assembly further that way!

[qdemn7]

Jeez, all you have to do is buy these. They work great.

[InTheFlow]

Jeez, all you have to do is buy these. They work great.

They do work great if you use only one of them. More than that and the voltages are way too low for a bright light.

No No No I wouldnt dare as the voltage going through the wires is in the hundreds of volts and uses silicone cable. If you are serious about replacing the cable make sure you get the correct stuff.

I did extensive testing on this with 2000 volt rated cable. You can increase the length but not by much over a foot or so. If you seperate the two wires from one another, you can go even further but it becomes inpractical when you go to run the wires through the case. When the wires are together they interfear with one another's voltage and it kills the brightness of the light.

That voltage in there is very very high, my brother's CCFL wire insulation got torn slightly so we used electrical tape on it.
About a week later the thing caught on fire in his case while the computer was running

I believe it. During all my experiments I accidently started an arc of juice between the two contacts in the inverter. It melted that part of it.

Jeeezus, people, ur not thinking the right way!

Extend the power wires to the inverter, and move the whole inverter/lead assembly further that way!

I respectfully disagree n-sanity. It's not about thinking the 'right' or 'wrong' way. There was a reason that I was attempting to do it the way I was. I had already wired the switch box bay to work that way and didn't want to have to re-wire everything.

However, I did wind up doing what you recommended. It worked great. I was able to easily hide the inverters and the small amount I needed to extend the high voltage cables did not cause any lack of brightness issues.

Throughout this experiment I learned that the AMPs will pretty much be stable no matter what the length of wire is. (Up to five feet anyway, that is the max length I tested.) The voltage is what goes south quickly.

If anyone is attemping to do this for any length over a one foot extension, save yourself a lot of hassle and just extend the power wires to the inverter. I tried many many ideas including using grounded shielded cable and ultimatly nothing worked. When extending the power wires to the inverter, make sure you keep the polarity correct or you will kill the inverter. (exp: positive to positive and negative to negative.) Of course, if you are extending the wires between the light and the inverter, polarity is a non-issue due to it being AC.

I believe I took a bunch of pictures of this whole process but haven't updated my Rig pics yet. When I do I'll probably put some on there.

EDIT: Many additions.

[speed bump]

Bigger inverter=better cleaner power=longer cable runs with fewer problems.

[InTheFlow]

Bigger inverter=better cleaner power=longer cable runs with fewer problems.

Very true speed bump but I never found bigger inverters. I think FrozenCPU had some but when I inquired about what the voltage ratings were, they did not reply. I doubt that those particular modules would have made a lot of difference though. Especially after seeing what how high the volts needed to be to have full brightness.

I think it would need to be a rather substantial increase in voltage to make it work. Then, there is always the question of what is all that extra voltage doing to the other computer components as the 'excess' leaks out of the wires? Could it mess with a hard drive's data perhaps? Interfere with sound or video signals? I don't know for sure but after all the experimenting I did; I'd still go for running longer power lines over extending the actual light leads.