3DVelocity would like to thank Street Glow and especially Adam Daley for their help and courtesy in providing this kit for review.

Introduction :

Unless you've been serving in a monastery for the past 12 months, you will have noticed the case mod frenzy that's running through the PC community. One of the most popular mods at the moment is the side window, and of course, the natural progression to that is some kind of lighting to display the insides of your case in all their glory. We've already covered fitting a window and jazzing up your case with a little EL Cable, so now we'll move on to the internal lighting arrangement with a hot new product from Street Glow, the PC-Neon connector Kit.

Street Glow is perhaps not one of the better known names in the case mod game, but they have been in the business of supplying a massive range of products to the automotive, boating and sporting sectors since 1990. From a mere working capital of $3000, founder Jack Panzarella has seen Street glow evolve into a multi-million dollar company, and their 45000 square foot facility houses the world's largest inventory of Neon accessories. Their website also boasts some impressive features with a dealer locator, chat room and message board all helping towards a community spirit where experienced users can swap ideas and those new to the scene can get answers to their problems. At the moment their users are primarily automotive based but as they (hopefully) expand their PC range we will start to see more case modders chewing the fat over there.

Like all good companies, Street Glow realised the demand for Neon products within the PC market, and responded with a product that would allow almost all their range of products to be adapted for use in the humble PC, and that's what we're reviewing today.

Without turning this into a physics lesson, let's just take a quick run through the basics of Neon lighting. In the simplest of terms, a Neon light is a glass tube from which air has been evacuated. In it's place, a low pressure, highly purified inert gas, in this case neon, is added. At either end of the tube is an electrode, and as current is applied, the neutral molecules of the gas begin to break down, and will either gain or lose an electron and thus take on either a negative or positive charge. These newly created charged molecules are called Ions, and the process of shedding or gaining electrons is knows as Ionisation. As the free electrons are negatively charged, they are immediately attracted to molecules that have shed an electron and are therefor positively charged. As the electron rejoins the positive molecule, other electrons within the molecule have to rearrange themselves to make room, and it is this shuffling of electrons that produces light. Once reformed, the molecule will then be broken apart by the bombardment from the electrodes and the whole process repeats over and over. This is a pretty simplistic explanation, but it gives a rough idea about what goes on when a Neon tube glows.

Okay, enough science, what is this new product I mentioned that makes life so much easier for the PC Neon user? Well, it's nothing particularly high tech or groundbreaking, but it is an incredibly simple and elegant way to get your lighting hooked up with the minimum of fuss and effort.

The PC-Neon connector kit is essentially a small distribution block which allows the connection of up to four lights or light kits. Some kits, such as the Chrome series Mini Neon Accent kits are supplied with a single transformer that can take 2 tubes, therefor you could connect 8 lights this way.

What makes the PC-Neon Connector so much easier is that it's supplied with and powered by a "Y" Molex adapter that lets you plug the whole thing straight into your PC's power supply without the need for any cutting or messing about.

 

It also comes with a double sided adhesive foam pad for mounting inside your case, and features 8 (four pairs) of spring loaded connectors into which you push the wires from your chosen lighting. To fit the wire, you simply need to strip back around 1/4 inch of insulation having first snipped off the cigarette adapter, press down on the release button (arrowed) slip in the wire and let go. It's method you'll often see these days on cheap/mid priced hi-fi systems for connecting the speakers. There's also a fixed, prewired power switch meaning the whole unit is ready to go straight from the box.

 

For testing, Street Glow also courteously supplied two of their new Chrome series lighting kits. These things look absolutely gorgeous even before you power them up, and the 9 inch Mini Accent Kit in particular has a style and compactness that looks perfect inside your case. The 10 inch standard Accent unit is perhaps a little on the bulky side, but it carries a great advantage in that the transformer is actually built into the unit itself, so despite it being a lot less compact than the Mini Accent units, it may well be the best choice if you want to run with a single light and are a bit pushed for space.

 

.

The 10 inch Neon Accent Kit

 

.

The 9 Inch Mini Neon Accent Kit

 

Page 2, fitting conclusion >>>