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computer case lights question

I just bought a powmax tower case for my computer. It has an LED fan and dual blue bars in the front along with another LED that changes colors. my question is that I leave my machine on all day will it hurt the LEDs' to stay on all day? and if I needed to are the blue bars in the front alond with the LED light re-placable? (sp?)

viperman224
Junior Poster
183 posts since Dec 2003
Reputation Points: 29
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LED life expectancy is based on current and temperature. You can expect our LEDS to last approximately 100,000 hours at 20 ma with ambient temperature of 20 C.

RC_Razor
Junior Poster
156 posts since Feb 2004
Reputation Points: 18
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Viper,

LED's can be replaced. Although, depending on where they are installed (a fan for example) it's harder to disassemble the fan and install a new LED than to replace the entire fan. Lighting for CPU's is generally cheap, ranging from $2.99 to $15 for all sorts of lighting. Here is a site to check out that provides good lighting options... http://www.xoxide.com/lighting.html

As for running it all day, essentially, any well built lighting case should be made to do so. Yours is no exception. Your LED's have a "usage life." As a standard example, let's say your LED's can last up to 15,000 hours. So if you leave your CPU running while youre not home, it'll still be using those LED hours. It's all preference really. I find replacing lighting is extremely easy and cheap so I let them run with my machine all day long. To give you a time frame, a bulb that has 15,000 hours of life can last 625 days. Id account for temps and Id also assume you wont get a full 15K out of them so maybe 600 days. Thats a good chunk of time.

Also, you may want to look into Cold Cathode lighting. It "burns" a lot brighter and longer. Youll need much less of them to get the desired effect you're looking for. The "blue bars" in the front of your machine may already be Cold Cathodes. You cannot replace bulbs or anything with these, after they burn out, you must replace the tube, which generally runs about 8 bucks.

Any other questions, please let us know. Hope this helps.

~Trezier

Trezier
Newbie Poster
15 posts since Feb 2004
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yeah ahh... i was going to say all that to... just remember temp. and its current ... your current on your computer through your LEDS is 20ma to each LED light (in the fans and or a light bar).. now keep them kewl like every thing else.. in the box... and like trezier said "look into Cold Cathode lighting. It "burns" a lot brighter and longer."

RC_Razor
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156 posts since Feb 2004
Reputation Points: 18
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This article has been dead for over three months

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