Akasa Blue Cathode
 

Hi guys,

Just built my external water cooling box and turned it all on but my Akasa Blue Cathode is only lighting up at one end. It says it could take two hours to light up fully but it's been on about 4 times longer. Any ideas what's up or how to fix it?

Thanks.

Yep, I had the same thing happen. (if you search for it, you'll find it in here).

What you have is a faulty electrical connection at one end. It's really, really hard to fix (or was so, in my case), so if you have the option, I'd advise that you return it.

Ah bugger. Well it may be from not putting the connection together when sleeving - do ya think? I'd rather get it fixed myself because it's gonna be a right arse to take it all out of the box. You'll see why when I post my pics of it all.

The CCFLs I got were in a clear acrylic tube, with a square cap at each end. Luckily, these caps weren't glued terribly solid, so I was able to break them free from the tube, and pull out the actual CCFL tube.

Since a CCFL tube has a connection at each end, it'd be a little messy to wire it up in a case, so the manufacturer came up with the idea of extending one of the leads back to the other end, using a slim steel wire, hence the acrylic protection tube.

So the complete assembly has one powe connector, at one end.

In my case, one of those connections broke off, and was making intermitent contact, as one, I guess, might expect from a high voltage setup. The fix involved gently filing the end of the glass tube, then as carefully as possible, solder the tiny steel wire back on. The fix is very, very fragile, so once I verified that it worked, I encapsulated the weld with JB Weld, let it dry overnight, and it was back in business.

The reseller didn't want to bother with a return, so they let me keep the defective units, and sent me new ones. I now have 4 * 12" UV CCFL tubes, ready to go. As per other tests, they're about as bright as a 15 W "black light" neon.

Well I've played with all the external wires and there's no loose connections. I also tried two other cathodes from a different set using their own converter and they both worked fine at the same time (so it's not power). When I look at this cathode I can see a bright red bit at the very end of the lit end. DUnno if that means anything?

The bright red bit is an arc where the loose connection is. That is where you need to fix your problem, or you will have a partially melted piece of acrylic tube sometime in the near future. I had the same problem. If you can return it, do so. If you cant, use the soldering wire technique as seen above.

dang i wish I had of known this months ago....I recon I popped the wire myself when I accidently pulled the wire lose from the inverter while they were powerd on..bad stuff that!

Ah, bugger. Well I e-mailed the company I bought it from to ask about it but they haven't replied yet. I'll tell them what's wrong with it and see if they'll send a replacement but knowning them they won't (overclockers.co.uk). I dunno why I bought off them in the first place, they've got terrible customer support.

Ok, advice noted. Thanks guys :)

Well, if you're stuck with them, and you won't fix them, maybe you can forward them to a fellow cooler/modder in your area who's willing to apply this patch. ;)

Bollocks. I snapped the bulb inside when trying to get it out of the case :( Oh well. I need another sleeving kit (my third) so I'll order it now. Thanks for the help anyway :)