SUMMARY: Sunbeam Technology are a relatively new competitor to the cold cathode lighting kit business starting manufacturing in 1998. The Taiwanese company sent us in a couple of their new lighting kits for testing. Does this new competitor have what it takes to compete with lighting products from the likes of PCMods and PC Case Gear? Read on as Cameron "Mr.Tweak" Wilmot gives us an answer regarding the CCFL kits from Taiwan based Sunbeam Technology!
The workmanship of the light kits from Sunbeam are quite good and again comparable to the kits from the bigger US manufacturers aforementioned. The tubes are notably thicker than any I have ever used in the past. Construction is solid and has a strong feel to them from the thick acrylic shielding to the cubic protected ends of each – the observation of no annoying rattling sounds was also a bonus.
The inclusion of two sets of precut (to the right size) velcro tape to mount the lights to various locations in your side is also a welcome addition – the same tape is also included for the inverter to be mounted inside your case.
The product has been well thought out with extra long power cases so those with full tower cases aren’t going to be cursing at a lack of cable length and having to solder extra cable as an extension to make the required length – Additionally, all of the cabling is neat and tidy.
The only problem I have with the manufacturing process is the fact that the inverter is only covered by what Sunbeam like to call “black magic tape” which is just a fancy name for velcro. While the inverter does look pretty tidy with the magical tape, it does let down an overall excellent product, since there is the chance of electrical shocks - albeit a very remote chance. It should be noted that Keven from Sunbeam did let us know that future revisions of their lighting kits will come with a boxed inverter before much longer – Hooray!
The Inverter – Dual Neon Capable
That’s right. As I said in the introduction, the inverter included support for two light kits, something we’ve never seen before now. This saves unnecessary cable clutter inside your case if you wish to install two light kits. Aside from this, the inverter is fairly basic and looks to be designed quite well with a simple PCB layout.
In case you were wondering, the inverter is simply a device which acts as the central power source (it uses standard 12 volts) for the light kits and the switch to turn the lights on or off without having to pull our power cables left, right and center inside of your case.
As you can see from the picture below, the two pin power connector on the right hand side of the inverter is for the power source. And then it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the two connectors on the left are for the two light kits.
Once all the cables have been connected to the inverter as shown in the picture above, the black magic tape curls around the inverter as shown in the picture below.
From there attached off the power cord is a round switch which can be mounted to front of your case, usually attached to one of the 3˝” drive bay covers. The switch is fairly standard; nevertheless, I’ve included a picture of it below – If you choose to do this, a washer included to assist in the modification.
Give us the boxed inverter Sunbeam, and we’d have a near perfect product on our hands.
