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Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov
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Sunday, 01 July 2007 |
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Page 1 of 2
Thanks to Xoxide for the product samples.
What started out as neon bulbs years ago has evolved into cold cathodes, LEDs, cold cathode fans, LED fans, etc. The list goes on with individual companies trying to outdo the competition by adding more/brighter lights or, as some have dared to venture, attempt something entirely new. Since the introduction of multi-colored cold cathode bulbs, attention began shifting elsewhere. One particular type that's still being improved on is the black light. By nature, UV sensitive materials have a tendency to glow as opposed to their visible spectrum counterparts.
Which is why we're seeing UV reactive everything nowadays, from fans to cases to water cooling dyes. So after plain-Jane UV fans hit the street, it wasn't long until someone got the bright idea of following in Antec's footsteps. Roughly a year ago they were the first to introduce LED fans with the lights mounted around the casing. Fast forward to today, I received an unexpected package with seven of these blowers, each one unique in color combination.
After opening up the package, the first thing that struck me as being odd was the seemingly random assortment. For one thing, two of the seven fans came in plain carboard boxes, though they included what none of the others did: four thumbscrews each. Two of the blister packed ones contained no stickers and none of them had screws. Furthermore, these resemble Vantec's Spectrum UV LED line but the specs don't match up. On top of all that, Vantec offers five different color combinations while I received seven out of a possible nine. Here's the list of the available combinations, whether you find them for sale or not:
- Blue
- Green
- Orange
- Blue/green
- Blue/orange
- Green/blue
- Green/orange
- Orange/blue
- Orange/green
The cardboard label makes no mention of the actual manufacturer and the "Shining" sticker label on some of the fans doesn't help much either. But it really doesn't matter so long as they work. All of these fans are the standard 80mm versions with translucent UV-reactive dye coated cases and fins. They use a 3-pin connection with the wires covered by a clear plastic shell to stay in tune with the transparent look. As for specs, here's what the package says:
- Dimensions: 80x80x25.4mm
- Weight: 71.5g
- Airflow: 34CFM
- Rated voltage: 12V DC
- Input current: 0.20A
- Input power: 2.4 watts
- Static pressure: 0.12 (inch-H20)
- Noise level: 30dBA
- Housing: thermoplastic UL94V-0 PBT PCB UL standard 95HB
- Lead wire: AWG #26.UL1007
- Bearing: sleeve bearing (ball bearing also available)
- Insulation resistance: 10M ohm at 500V DC between lead wire (+) and frame
- Dielectric withstand: 5mA max. at 500V AC for 1 min between lead wire (+) and frame
- Speed: middle - 2600rpm +/- 10% (high & low speed also available)
- Life expectancy: 50,000 hours at 25C (ball bearing)
- 20 hours at 25C (sleeve bearing)
- Operating temperature: satisfies specifications after exposure (10C ~ +65C)
- Storage temperature: -30C + 70C for 100 hours returns to normal room temperature for 24 hours
- Above measurements apply at 25C +/- 5C relative humidity 65% +/- 15% (RH)
Pretty extensive list of specs, though only the first few lines really matter. Generally speaking these are medium output models. Not completely silent but not ear bleeding loud either. At any rate, let's take a closer look at the fans themselves:
As you can probably guess the LEDs are mounted in pre-drilled holes around the casing. This is optimal placement as it doesn't take up any extra space (unlike cold cathodes mounted on fans). Aside from being glued into the case from the outside, they (along with the wires) are also secured by a piece of clear tape, possibly to prevent shortage. Unlike Antec's original fans, however, the wires for the lights don't come from the main power lead. Instead, each LED has its own connection on the motor PCB. However it still seems like they're wired in series, so if one stops working the rest will shut off as well.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 July 2007 )
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