Strobe light in case?

[Tech^salvager]

Would it be possibly to put a strobe light in a case (not worried about heat). Are there plans to bulid one for DC or would I have to get a inverter to change AC to DC. Edit I mean DC to AC as in psu to strobe light
Thanks for your help.

[Paco103]

I'm sure you could get one that runs off of DC, but I wouldn't bother looking, and definitely wouldn't try a DC->AC converter inside your computer. Your 12V rail probably isn't up for that kind of load. My suggestion (if you're comfortable with electricity) would be to put a pass-through plug in the bottom of your power supply, or maybe some other way (hardwire if you like). When you open up the case one the power supply, the 110V lines are completely open. You could just tap these and solder on new leads to lead to your strobe light. It would be better off than trying to make your power supply pump another load like a converter. A Strobe shouldn't draw too much over all, but still probably more than you want to put on your output line.

Just make sure you have the power supply completely unplugged, power switch off, and you can drain the capacitors and such inside simply by unplugging it then turning on your computer, which should flash the last little bit of energy out of it.

[Tech^salvager]

Thanks Paco that info helped out.
Yeah I am fine with electronics and I have good enough soldering skills been soldering for a year and a half now.

[Paco103]

Cool deal then. Post some pics, or maybe a short vid clip when you're done. It definitely sounds unique, but I'd think it would distract from the monitor. I guess that depends on your desk arrangement though. Certainly wouldn't work on mine, although I can think of a lot of cool effects

[SLX]

Thats a great Idea and would look pretty nifty as well. I bet you could find plans if you search the net. Im wondering how the case fans would look.

[Paco103]

It would be cool to get them timed right so the fans look like they're not moving. I plan on doing that with a mini LED strobe in mine. I noticed the effect really well on my chrome CPU fan with my optical mouse. When it idles, the flicker is just right where it has that effect on the fan.

[leprechaun_40]

A strobe light works on a discharge so I'd be concerned with it causing interferance with normal operation of the computer. That hi capacity discharge is going to create quite a powerful EMF that could disrupt HDD read/writes and possibly even memory and CPU operation.

[stix_kua]

Well I would say just get a sound sensitive cathode like I did...mine is blue...

[the xenon]

i found strobe light for computers on sale at xoxide.com
http://www.xoxide.com/strobelights.html

[RamonGTP]

There are definatly DC strobe lights... I know cuz I've got some on my car. There are websites where you can get 12volt strobe lights used on ambulances/firetrucks/police cars but they're not cheap. Or you can get something like this... http://www.cardomain.com/item/STGANHLSCOMBO