Review Item:

(1) UV Sensitive Fan
w/ Thermal Control
(2) Dual CCF Fan Grill

Date:
18 - April - 2003

Manufacturer:
Fan - BitsPower
Fan Grill - N/A

Supplier:
Ev-Web

Cost:
Fan - $10.77
Fan Gril - $21.54

Reviewer:
Chad

Introduction

Now I am sure many of you have seen the single CCF Fan Grill's, and they are kool, but why get those if you can get something that is twice as nice and bright. Today we have the opportunity to review an Orange UV Sensitive Fan & a Dual UV CCF Fan Grill, thanks to the fine people at Ev-Web.

Now here's what we got:

Fan
1 - UV Sensitive Fan w/ Temp. Control Sensor.
1 - Pack of Fan Screws
1 - 3 to 4 Pin Adapter

Fan Grill
1 - Dual UV CCF Fan Grill
1 - Power Inverter
1 - Switch
1 - 3" Piece of Velcro

Both items came well packaged in between a set of German newspapers (I think!) unfortunately they are of no use to me, as I cannot read German. Anyhow the items were well packaged in their individual packaging. The UV CCF Fan Grill, was packaged in a bubble wrap bag, and then placed into a Ziploc type baggie, with its inverter, wiring, and mounting equipment.)

The dual UV CCF Fan Grill has the same outer cathode as other fan grills, but also has a smaller inner cathode, that lines up perfectly with the hub of the fan blades. So this means more light! The Cathodes come mounted in a hard clear plastic that provides maximum protection and style. Between both cathodes the plastic has almost a fan like look which serves to join the inner cathode holder to the outer one. Each cathode is then directly linked to the inverter by two wires, one from each end of the cathode, so that amasses to 4 (four) wires running between the fan grill, and one end of the inverter. One the other side of the inverter there are the power wires which run to the molex, via a switch that is used to turn the cathodes on and off, independently of the fans. The inverter comes encased in a black hard plastic housing, on the top of it there are 6 holes drilled in it for ventilation.

As you can see the fan itself is a translucent BRIGHT orange color. Upon looking at it the only real difference between it and regular fan is, besides the obvious, the color, is that it has a temperature control sensor attached to it. The sensor almost looks like a green LED.

Power is supplied to the fan through a 3 pin connector, although unlike many other fans that use a 3 pin connector, the third pin IS utilized, and goes to the fan through the temperature control sensor.

Now depending on where you plan to mount the fan grill, it will become a little tricky to position the temperature control sensor. That is because of short length of the power cable, as the temperature sensor is connected to the same wire. I decide to place it along with the fan, on the window of my case. After placement, there was only real place the sensor could go, and that was to the video card, I placed it right next to the heatsink.

Installation
The installation of both items is a rather straight forward deal. First attaching the UV CCF Fan Grill, using basic fan screws did not work for me. Upon screwing through the fan grill to the fan, I heard a crack and saw that the fan grill hole was cracking, so I quickly abandoned that idea for a simpler method, Zip Ties! Using the zip ties, I attached the Dual UV CCF Fan Grill to the fan. Then like a normal fan I just screwed it to the case.

As you can see its ALOT of wires.

The Fan Mounted

Installing the switch was next, simply drilling the hole for the switch to fit into, and pushing it in till it locks in place. Then mounting the inverter, now I think the ideal location for it would have to be towards the front of the case where it would be less visible. Then hooking up power cables were a breeze.

Now in the case. And you can't see the inverter.

Then powering up!

This is with the UV CCF off. The blue light is another fan I have installed in there.

Now this is with the UV CCF on. The combination of the Blue light and the orange fan give the case a purple color.

Now I thought the orange color of the fan itself was bright! After throwing the switch on the cathode, man it was even brighter! I was amazed at how much brighter it got!

During the time that the CCF Fan Grill was on, there was never any heat nor noise coming from the intverter.

On booting up the system the R.P.M reading on the fan was 2376 R.P.M. That is as monitored with Motherboard Monitor 5. After playing some games and fooling around on the pc, it topped out at 2518 R.P.M, and then settled at 2428 R.P.M.

Pros
- Very bright colored fan - looks nice even without the UV lighting
- Very bright when UV lighting is on
- Thermal Control Sensor - nice addition
- Very nice setup on a whole
- CCF Fan Grill protected by a very hard plastic

Cons
- Too many wires coming from the CCF Fan Grill
- Sensor Placement can prove difficult because of short power cable.

Conclusion
Both the UV Sensitive Fan and the Dual UV CCF Fan Grill are very nice, the combination of both is excellent and the addition of an inner cathode makes this setup even better! Although wiring is an issue with both items, they can be modded to suit anyone needs!

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