Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Time for a replacement or addition to home-lighting? As normal incandescents and compact fluorescents create rather uninteresting color tones , this guide has been created to create a unique and vivid method of lighting up your living areas.
Cold Cathodes, or Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lights (CCFLs) are very similar to a normal fluorescent tube used in lighting many offices and signs. These are different in that they do not require a large, high-voltage ballast, but they rather run "cold", with small inverters that amplify voltage to activate a paint coating inside of the tube. CCFLs are simple, cheap, and incredibly bright for their size. They have a tendency to make the air around them glow, which can be very beautiful and even entrancing.
This is perhaps the simplest instructable I have yet made. Parts are minimal, and putting everything together doesn't venture into complex wiring. For all the parts needed to complete three bars, I paid about $80. Using PVC parts, acrylic tubes, CCFLs, and a laptop power supply, we can create some superb lights.
Cold Cathodes, or Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lights (CCFLs) are very similar to a normal fluorescent tube used in lighting many offices and signs. These are different in that they do not require a large, high-voltage ballast, but they rather run "cold", with small inverters that amplify voltage to activate a paint coating inside of the tube. CCFLs are simple, cheap, and incredibly bright for their size. They have a tendency to make the air around them glow, which can be very beautiful and even entrancing.
This is perhaps the simplest instructable I have yet made. Parts are minimal, and putting everything together doesn't venture into complex wiring. For all the parts needed to complete three bars, I paid about $80. Using PVC parts, acrylic tubes, CCFLs, and a laptop power supply, we can create some superb lights.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Supplies
Soldering Iron ($10)
A cheapy 15W iron from Radioshack.
0.022" Silver Rosin Core Solder ($4)
Becomes molten metal to make electrical connections. Silver helps it heat more easily and flow better, while rosin flux cleans your joints.
Heat-Shrink Tubing ($5-15)
A fair amount of heat-shrinking will be needed in shortening the CCFL wires. eBay has a ton of it for dirt cheap.
Hot-Glue Gun and Glue-Sticks ($5-20)
These will attach the caps to the acrylic pipe, as well as the 9v connectors.
9v Snap Connector ($1.50 each)
Connector available at Radioshack, intended for 9v batteries, we will use them as our "plug".
Electrical Tape ($4)
This tape goes on the underside of the exposed inverter, it prevents electrical shorts.
20 Gauge Speaker Wire - 25 feet ($3-10)
This will provide our extended power wires.
Laptop Power Supplies (~$13 each): They are cheap, regulated (which is normally very expensive), almost always provide 12v+, and are compact. It doesn't matter what brand you buy, we are cutting off the connector for raw wire. Be aware that on eBay some prices are very high, since laptop users whose power brick broke are desperate for a very specific model that matches their computer, it's o.k. to get off-label. Your voltage can be anywhere from 12v->16v. The inverters can take a range of power, pretty much anything under 16v and higher than 10v is acceptable. As far as the power supply rating, 60 Watts is pretty common, and should be plenty for four tubes (I have been running twelve CCFLs inside three tubes from a 64W for a couple months, though it gets very hot). The average single 12 inch CCFL pushes 12v DC @ 400mAh, or around 4.8 Watts per CCFL. To calculate Wattage, simply multiply Volts times Amps.
I prefer getting Fujitsu laptop power supplies, simply because they are compact and they've served me well in the past. Another very acceptable supply are those for large LCD computer monitors (21"+). I just searched "laptop fujitsu 16v 4A" on eBay and bought a supply for $13 including shipping.
Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lights ($6 per 2x 12" Tube Kit)
You have many options here. CCFLs come in various sizes, ranging from 4" -> 36". The largest commonly available colored CCFL is 20", and those generally run about $15-20 per CCFL, and require their own special inverter. For the purposes of this guide, I will be using the most common CCFL type: 12" colored bars. The most common colors are Red, Green, Blue, White, and UV, and I don't suggest unusual colors like Yellow, Orange, or Purple, as they never shine the colors that website photos suggest.
There is a difference between purchasing CCFLs and a CCFL kit. A kit contain two tubes, an inverter, power cords, and a switch, and are generally the best purchase when getting new lights, while just CCFLs means only replacement tubes.
Here are some stores for purchasing CCFLs that I recommend:
MountainMods.com: My favorite place to buy CCFLs, they are a computer website with excellent prices and selection.
Xoxide.com: I'm only listing them because they sell 20" CCFLs which can be hard to find, then again, each costs $20, which can be too expensive, especially when you can get four 12" tubes (48" worth of light) for $12 elsewhere.
FrozenCPU.com: They have the biggest selection of CCFLs I've ever found. They have some very unusual tubes, such as tubes with micro-inverters built into them, focused direction tubes, along with uncommon sizes.
3x Acrylic Pipes -- 57" long, 1 1/4" wide, 1/8" thick (~$12 per pipe)
Whenever I need high quality plastics, I always purchase from TAP Plastics (Plastic Rods on the Left). They sell a huge range of acrylic and polycarbonate materials, though for this guide, we are only using round acrylic tubes.
1 1/4" diameter, 6' long, 1/8" wall pipes are $11.65 each. Watch out for shipping though, I had my pipes cut to 57 inches for some working room and to avoid a $10 oversize shipping charge for anything 6' or longer, cuts are free.
We need a very specific diameter of acrylic, since we want our CCFLs to fit snugly. The widest point of a CCFL (diagonally) is 0.8". CCFLs including their end-cubes are 12.25" long. Subtracting the wall thickness is 1 1/4" - 1/8" = 1.125". This gives our CCFL 0.325" to fit in with, which is perfect since we need some space for wiring. Also take into account the size of the CCFL inverters (shown later), though for me they fit snugly within this 1 1/4" pipe.
Hacksaw ($10)
To properly adjust the length of the Acrylic pipe.
PVC Ends ~$8-10
6x Caps: These go onto the ends of the Acrylic pipe.
OR
6x Plugs: Though I used caps which go over the PVC pipe which I find easier, you could just as easily use a PVC plug that goes into the pipe to make it more clean/compact. You will need some extra length on your acrylic pipe to make up the difference however.
A cheapy 15W iron from Radioshack.
0.022" Silver Rosin Core Solder ($4)
Becomes molten metal to make electrical connections. Silver helps it heat more easily and flow better, while rosin flux cleans your joints.
Heat-Shrink Tubing ($5-15)
A fair amount of heat-shrinking will be needed in shortening the CCFL wires. eBay has a ton of it for dirt cheap.
Hot-Glue Gun and Glue-Sticks ($5-20)
These will attach the caps to the acrylic pipe, as well as the 9v connectors.
9v Snap Connector ($1.50 each)
Connector available at Radioshack, intended for 9v batteries, we will use them as our "plug".
Electrical Tape ($4)
This tape goes on the underside of the exposed inverter, it prevents electrical shorts.
20 Gauge Speaker Wire - 25 feet ($3-10)
This will provide our extended power wires.
Laptop Power Supplies (~$13 each): They are cheap, regulated (which is normally very expensive), almost always provide 12v+, and are compact. It doesn't matter what brand you buy, we are cutting off the connector for raw wire. Be aware that on eBay some prices are very high, since laptop users whose power brick broke are desperate for a very specific model that matches their computer, it's o.k. to get off-label. Your voltage can be anywhere from 12v->16v. The inverters can take a range of power, pretty much anything under 16v and higher than 10v is acceptable. As far as the power supply rating, 60 Watts is pretty common, and should be plenty for four tubes (I have been running twelve CCFLs inside three tubes from a 64W for a couple months, though it gets very hot). The average single 12 inch CCFL pushes 12v DC @ 400mAh, or around 4.8 Watts per CCFL. To calculate Wattage, simply multiply Volts times Amps.
I prefer getting Fujitsu laptop power supplies, simply because they are compact and they've served me well in the past. Another very acceptable supply are those for large LCD computer monitors (21"+). I just searched "laptop fujitsu 16v 4A" on eBay and bought a supply for $13 including shipping.
Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lights ($6 per 2x 12" Tube Kit)
You have many options here. CCFLs come in various sizes, ranging from 4" -> 36". The largest commonly available colored CCFL is 20", and those generally run about $15-20 per CCFL, and require their own special inverter. For the purposes of this guide, I will be using the most common CCFL type: 12" colored bars. The most common colors are Red, Green, Blue, White, and UV, and I don't suggest unusual colors like Yellow, Orange, or Purple, as they never shine the colors that website photos suggest.
There is a difference between purchasing CCFLs and a CCFL kit. A kit contain two tubes, an inverter, power cords, and a switch, and are generally the best purchase when getting new lights, while just CCFLs means only replacement tubes.
Here are some stores for purchasing CCFLs that I recommend:
MountainMods.com: My favorite place to buy CCFLs, they are a computer website with excellent prices and selection.
Xoxide.com: I'm only listing them because they sell 20" CCFLs which can be hard to find, then again, each costs $20, which can be too expensive, especially when you can get four 12" tubes (48" worth of light) for $12 elsewhere.
FrozenCPU.com: They have the biggest selection of CCFLs I've ever found. They have some very unusual tubes, such as tubes with micro-inverters built into them, focused direction tubes, along with uncommon sizes.
3x Acrylic Pipes -- 57" long, 1 1/4" wide, 1/8" thick (~$12 per pipe)
Whenever I need high quality plastics, I always purchase from TAP Plastics (Plastic Rods on the Left). They sell a huge range of acrylic and polycarbonate materials, though for this guide, we are only using round acrylic tubes.
1 1/4" diameter, 6' long, 1/8" wall pipes are $11.65 each. Watch out for shipping though, I had my pipes cut to 57 inches for some working room and to avoid a $10 oversize shipping charge for anything 6' or longer, cuts are free.
We need a very specific diameter of acrylic, since we want our CCFLs to fit snugly. The widest point of a CCFL (diagonally) is 0.8". CCFLs including their end-cubes are 12.25" long. Subtracting the wall thickness is 1 1/4" - 1/8" = 1.125". This gives our CCFL 0.325" to fit in with, which is perfect since we need some space for wiring. Also take into account the size of the CCFL inverters (shown later), though for me they fit snugly within this 1 1/4" pipe.
Hacksaw ($10)
To properly adjust the length of the Acrylic pipe.
PVC Ends ~$8-10
6x Caps: These go onto the ends of the Acrylic pipe.
OR
6x Plugs: Though I used caps which go over the PVC pipe which I find easier, you could just as easily use a PVC plug that goes into the pipe to make it more clean/compact. You will need some extra length on your acrylic pipe to make up the difference however.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
all but one ccfl inverter I've ever ripped from old electronics will fire up off a 9 volt battery. Not full brightness, but they do work. I'm betting yours probably will too. One worry I have, running at lower voltage, is possibly shortening bulb life by undervolting them.
I wonder what the practical maximum of ccfl's chained to a single supply is... you have at least three. Surely 12V is more important, as you chain larger numbers of bulbs together.
I don't think chain is technically the right word, as in daisy-chaining electronics. Within each tube, both inverters have their power wires soldered together for the 9v connector, and are essentially independently connected to the power supply. Since every inverter is independently connected, the only limitation of how many can be powered is A) the maximum wattage of your power supply, and B) how many connectors you can cram onto one wire ;-D
As far as accurate voltage mattering, power supplies often have numbers that do not appear to match their real life output. I've had 12v supplies that gave me 19v when testing. The numbers on the supply begin to match up as you near the full-capacity of the supply.
One last comment, CCFL inverters can handle a wide range of voltages to light up, all the way down from your 9v to a max of what I've seen, 20v. That being said, I imagine the 20v slowly eats away at the inverter internals, but the point is they can take a wide range of voltages
Thanks for your comment.
Again, great 'Ibble! I'm adding this to my Fav list!
So calculating, every 3.2v LED uses 0.064 Watts.
Every 5v LED uses 0.1 Watts.
The rope light should say how many LEDs there are per foot, and I imagine it differs from company to company. If you are discussing incandescent rope light, then know that they use a HUGE amount of electricity and pretty much and other choice will be more useful, last longer, and use less juice.
A CCFL uses 4.8 Watts per 12" tube. If you make one of these light-tubes, you would use four CCFLs, so 19.2 Watts. Calculate up whatever system you will be using, and decide on what has the lowest energy usage. I personally think the CCFLs provide super-high bang-for-the-buck considering that one 12" tube is very bright, though LEDs are technically the most efficient. The CCFLs are look very cool, and make air glow, which is hard to top with LEDs.
Good luck with your man-cave. When you finish it, please show/send me a picture!