Modifying one’s computer used to be a task for the hard-core user, performing all custimazations by trial and error. Little support was given to the end user, because simply a community did not exist that offered pre-modded products.
Fast forward to today, and now there are many modding products, and a user can have a professional look with little work performed. While this brings the world of modding to the average person, many of the mods just look the same, and users can become complacent with mediocre products. For example, nearly every modder has cold cathode lighting in their rigs, with little difference to seperate them. “Red” cold cathodes look rather orangy or pink, and no one has really corrected this issue.
Enter madlights to offer an innovative lighting solution. One simple kit can fill the role of several cold cathodes by offering several color solutions. They can be used to deliver special effects that cold cathodes never could: Madlights can be focused to spotlight a particular area in one’s case, and they are digitally controlled to change color, fade in, or cycle colors. The lighting units are small enough to be placed almost anywhere in a case.
Packaging
The kit I received came in a US Priority Mail box. Once opened, there is an installation sheet, a blue limited warranty card, a pink bag containing the hardware, and a white box containing a bunch of plastic mouting hardware. The various plastic angle brackets and wire clips are attached with Velcro for easy installation and removal. Each of the LED modules come with pre-attached Velcro strips, as does the circuit board.
High-brightness LEDs continue to make inroads into lighting applications dominated by incandescents and other light sources. Their use in traffic signals, automotive brake lights, architectural lighting, and full-color displays keeps growing, as designers are finding ways to improve these versatile semiconductors. LEDs promise significant reduction in power consumption compared to incandescents, as well as longer life and greater reliability. Moreover, LEDs are increasing their light output, making them brighter and cheaper than other sources.
Madlights are a small kit that uses twelve super-bright LEDs (4 banks of red, green, and blue). The controller board uses these three colors in many combinations to create an array of effects and color combinations. One can select between 7 solid colors to fill their case (red, green, blue, orange, aqua, purple, and white) or choose between the pre-programmed effects, such as fading between colors, fading all in and out, random colors, etc.
The kit actually contains several PCBs, the main controller unit, and smaller ones that house the LEDs. The board houses 2 controller chips, 4 LED bank sockets, and various electronic components. Upon closer inspection of the board, it appears that it could handle another LED per bank, but there is a missing resistor for it.
The kit comes with 2 LED strips, so two sockets are left unused. The strips worked on all ports, so I see no reason why 4 strips could not be running at the same time. There are also places for potentiometers, which have been left unsoldered. A single Zenier diode appears to regulate the power to the LEDs, keeping the current steady whether the regulated 12v molex is used, or an unregulated 9v adapter.
The LED boards are stringed together with flat grey ribbon cable consisting of 5 wires (red+, green+, blue+, an unused LED+, and a common ground-). The ribbon cable has angle brackets at each end, is very pliable, and with pretty much retain the shape that you bend it to.
Two standard-issue Radio Shack buttons (red and black) are fashioned to a pluggable lead, and connect directly to the controller board. The red button is used to switch between the various modes, and the black button toggles between 5 different speeds for each setting. Pressing both buttons together will turn the unit off.
The board receives power from a line run from the 12v lead of a Molex extension. This lead can easily be cut and connected to a baybus switch, and for this purpose I used the Zalman ZM-MFC1. The board has a socket for a 9 volt adapter, which makes the product usable outside a computer case. Imagine the looks you would get cruising down the highway with this thing blinking away in your car!
The 12 Ultrabright LEDs consume less than 1 watt of power (0.8 to be exact). Madlights calculates that this kit produces about twice the brightness for about ¼th of the power. LEDs produce their light about 99% efficiently, and therefore no practically measurable heat is generated (The LEDs measured the same as room temperature). In contrast, the average cold-cathode temperature measured was 101°F!
The LEDs are rated for 100,000 hours of continuous usage, or 12 years. Each LEDs averages between 5,000 and 8,000 mcs (millicandellas) With all LEDs combined, the Madlights kit produces over 60,000 mcd of lighting. Adding 2 more LED strips could raise this to 120,000 mcd (over the level of cold cathodes). Madlights is not ready to sell additional clusters yet, but they should be coming soon.
I installed each LED group in pretty much the four corners of my case. It was powered up and I went through all of the different modes. Out of the 17 different settings, seven of them are solid colors. The other settings are a combination of colors, some of which fade between colors.
The controller chip will remember the last setting used, so it will resume the program it was running when the unit is turned on. Out of the 17 modes, 9 are selectable between 5 speeds , and 7 are steady colors (mode 7 cannot alter its speed). That gives 53 different modes that the madlights can display.
| Program # | Program Description | Speed Control |
| 1 | RGB Full color palette | Yes |
| 2 | RGB Cross-fading full color blends | Yes |
| 3 | RGB 7 Solid color combinations | Yes |
| 4 | Red Blue Green Rotation | Yes |
| 5 | Red Green Blue Color Builder | Yes |
| 6 | Red Fade On, Green Fade On, Blue Fade On | Yes |
| 7 | Red Green Blue All Fade on and off | No |
| 8 | Red Blue Green Then off, repeat | Yes |
| 9 | Green and Blue Steady on Red flashing | Yes |
| 10 | Red Green Blue Sequence | Yes |
| 11 | Red Steady On | Steady On |
| 12 | Green Steady On | Steady On |
| 13 | Blue Steady On | Steady On |
| 14 | Red and Green Steady On (Orange) | Steady On |
| 15 | Blue and Red Steady On (Purple) | Steady On |
| 16 | Green and Blue Steady On (Aqua) | Steady On |
| 17 | Red Green Blue Steady On (White) | Steady On |
This kit really is an electronics hobbyist kit, and will be judged as such. I would recommend several enhancements if this were to be sold as an average consumer-level product. I would encase the PCB in a box, the ribbon cable and plugs would be smaller. The LEDs could possibly be integrated to one tri-color LED (so the color focus points are smaller), and instead of the two toggle buttons I would use a dial that could switch instantly between the modes (as many holiday lights feature). The beauty of modding, though, is that you could add these enhancements yourself!
Since the three LEDs are positioned right next to each other, they do not focus onto a single point, resulting in a color-banding rainbow effect when illuminated, which I personally like but others may not. For example, the purple setting looks continuous from a distance, but looking closer one can see red and blue color stripes, creating slightly juxtaposed shadows.
Here are some videos of the Madlights in action, with an accompanying techno soundtrack. Each is about 2 minutes long and 5MB, so watch yer fat pipe! The lights look much better in real life, as it is difficult to video in low light without a professional camera.
When the lights flicker in the video, the LEDs are actually fading in or out. The color is not as pure as it exists in person, as anyone who has photographed colored lighting will attest. The videos do give a good idea of the different effects that can be achieved, and are still entertaining to watch.
| Video File | File Size | Video Format |
| Case Bottom (Omnibus) | 5,541 KB | Windows Media 9 |
| Head On (Take California) | 5,764 KB | Windows Media 9 |
| Enclosed Case (Enjoy the Silence!) | 5,529 KB | Windows Media 9 |
Conclusion
Everyone likes looking at the dancing holiday lights around Christmas time. They can be mesmerizing, and kids can be seen staring at them for hours, all with a glazed look of wonderment on their faces. This is the reaction that Madlights brings to me, bringing back the sense of awe and fascination that can only be had by staring at computer equipment for hours on end! This is what modding is all about, and this is what Madlights makes possible again.
If I were rating this as a polished consumer-level product, I would definitely take points for feature implementation mentioned earlier. Being that this is a raw hobbyist kit, the main thing that matters is the end result, which greatly depends on the user’s installation.
Madlights brings a unique and innovative lighting solution to the modding market, and is definately recommended with a 9 out of 10 rating. Let’s all give a big hand to Madlights for making this review possible!
Pros
- Computer controlled light show!
- Multiple colors and settings
- Efficient super-bright LEDs
- Velcro mounting
Cons
- High price (but aren’t good mods worth it?)