Madlights Lighting Kit

Reviews: Cases

Author:
Editor:
Sponsor:
Published:

Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Madlights
May. 24, 2003

Specifications

Introduction

Lighting up your case is one of the most popular case modifications. If you have a window on the side of your case, why not show off the inside with a cathode or neon light? I can give you one reason: the very little options you have when using cathodes or neon lights. With these basic lighting solutions, you usually have just three colors to choose from, and they are all static. The Madlights company has realized this, and has created the Madlights lighting kit to give your case lighting many more options.

What is Madlights?

Madlights is a small kit that uses twelve LEDs with the basic colors of red, green and blue. The controller board in the Madlights kit uses these three colors in several combinations to create a vast array of color choices, and settings for up to 16 different lighting solutions. You can either have solid colors that are constantly on, or variations of flashing and fading colors to give your computer a bit more life. With these options, you can set a mood that is truly unique to you.

On to the Kit

The Madlights PR kit I received came with the item itself, a CD with images and movies regarding Madlights and an AC power adapter. The kit that is for sale to consumers will only contain the Madlights kit. You can purchase an AC power adapter separately.

The Madlights kit contains several PCBs, the main one being the controller unit, and the smaller ones had the LEDs which connect to the main unit via the flat gray cables. There are two buttons, red and black, that plug into the main PCB. The red button switches through the different lighting modes while the black button switches through five different speeds. There is also a 4-pin molex connector that plugs into the PCB to give power to the unit. As for mounting the Madlights kit, each PCB contains Velcro on it so it can be places anywhere in your case, and easily removed. There are angle brackets and wire clips for better mounting and organizing of the Madlights kit in your case.

The main PCB is the control house of the unit. It contains all the circuitry for controlling the LEDs, getting input from the buttons, and receiving power. The smaller PCBs contain three LEDs; each LED being either red, green or blue.

The red and black buttons are mountable on your case, but it will require a little bit of drilling. For the purpose of this review, I just ran the button wires out the back of my case through an open PCI slot.

So How Does it Look?

Ok, enough babble about the unit itself, how does it look?! Well, after mounting each LED group in each of the four corners of my case, I powered it up and went through all the different modes. Boy are there are a lot of modes! Out of the 16 different settings, six of them are solid colors. The other settings are combinations of colors, some of which fade from color to color. There is also the ability to turn the lights off as a "17th" setting. The Madlights kit is smart too! When your computer turns off, the kit will remember which setting was used last and will display that setting the next time your computer starts up. Here are some pictures:

(NOTE: The colors are actually a lot brighter and fill the case more than the pictures actually show. My camera didn't pick up the brightness as well as I would have liked.)

(NOTE #2: I know my computer is very unorganized with wires going everywhere. When I get time, it will be cleaned up.)

To show off some of the different settings, I have included a video of the Madlights kit in action!

Click here to download (1.3 Megs)
(Note that the movie isn't too great of quality, and there is pointless sound due to my camera's lack of sound options.)

To see better pictures of Madlights and better movies of Madlights in action, check out www.Madlights.com

Conclusion

All in all, this is a fantastic kit. It does everything cold cathodes or neon lights could do and so much more! The ability to choose your color and setting is a nice thing to have, but it would be nice if it had UV lighting as well. The wires are long enough to mount this in almost any case, and the LEDs are very bright. The only major downside of this kit is the price, which is retailed at $60 USD. If you have the cash, Madlights would make a great addition to any case.

Pros

Multiple Colors
Multiple Settings
Bright LEDs
Remembers setting
Velcro Mounting

Cons

High Price

Subscribe to Accessories [more info]

View All

Related Reviews

Enermax Security Screws & Tool Kit

Accessories March 26, 2004

Enermax UC-A8FATR4 Ultimate (Fan) Controller

Accessories February 20, 2004

Vantec NXP-301 Fan & Light Controller

Accessories November 4, 2003

Cooler Master Musketeer

Accessories October 20, 2003

Add Comment

7 User Comments

1 - Posted by Kurtis on May 24, 2003 - 3:24 pm

Splooge.

2 - Posted by Brian on May 24, 2003 - 3:24 pm

You better clean that up.

3 - Posted by Kurtis on May 24, 2003 - 3:27 pm

hmm.... we need to hire a custodian... we get too many cool products and im sick of cleaning up

4 - Posted by hikaroui on May 25, 2003 - 12:21 am

mmm.. count me IN!

5 - Posted by ELiTE KiLLaH on May 25, 2003 - 6:37 pm

nice review
nice product

a good alt to ccfl's

6 - Posted by Kurtis on May 25, 2003 - 8:10 pm

very good indeed. they so sexay

7 - Posted by Cabot_Teg118 on July 25, 2003 - 4:00 pm

Cool!! I'll have to consider gettin those once I get my computer.

Add Comment

To add a comment without being a member, you may omit the password field, but you must enter your name (or nickname) along with your comment. * Denotes required fields.