REVIEW: BCMods LED Strips (30cm)

So I had the pleasure of dealing with BCMods, a new modding genius on the PC front. He has kindly let me have a couple of his latest LED strips to review. These can be bought directly from BCMods's website, www.bcmods.co.uk and are available in white (reviewed), red, green and blue. Lengths are in 30cm (reviewed) and 60cm. So without further a due.. Let us begin!

Let's see the strips bare and exposed to the man-made bulb light of my room. I apologies now for the shoddy phone images.

fig. 1

The strips are brilliantly assembled. Very clean sleeves at each end of the 550 black parachord (for those who are wondering what material is best for braiding, I'd highly recommend 550 parachord any day). The para chord is soft and easy to bend around. I'd say my only gripe was the fact the chord may have been a bit too long for my case.

fig. 2

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Wonderful! ..Moving on. It was time to see how bright it was. Rummaging down to the chassis (PC case, for those who are wondering) and opening the side panel I began the search for a spare 3-pin (see fig. 2) on my motherboard. I found a 4-pin but for the test I ideally needed 3, so I swapped one of my current fans to the 4-pin and used the empty 3-pin connection on my fan controller. Simples! Now let's see how it lights up.

fig. 5

So not so bad in bulb-light. I thought I'd hop to it and remove the paper backing to reveal the adhesive to stick it to the top of my case. Now, the fans that you can see (in white) are the Enermax Clusters with LED switches. I was quite happy that the fans included this feature, otherwise this review would not have been easy to do. A click on each switch to the fans allowed me to switch the LEDs off and let them continuing spinning away, removing the hot air out of the case.

fig. 6

Now in place, lets see how the light works out..

fig. 7

Wonderful! Please don't lecture me on the tidiness of the case.. I know the cable management could do with some work. But the lighting is great! Also, because I hooked the LED strip up to my fan controller I can also dim the lighting a bit. Here are a few tests from off to full brightness.

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It's not a lot of levels but it's nice to have a bit of range and control over the output of brightness. Definitely something to consider if you have a fan controller already and you're looking to install one of these.

Conclusion

So I'd like to say a huge thank you to BCMods for providing myself with these LED strips. They are available from his website (www.bcmods.co.uk) and can also be had in white (reviewed), red, blue and green. Lengths are from 30cm (reviewed) to 60cm for the much larger case. Personally if you have a relatively small case the 30cm should be enough (but more is always better.)

The strips were wonderfully made using the 550 black para chord and strong black sleeving. These both not only look and feel good but are very durable yet flexible. I can only suggest possibly having the option of wire length.

A fine product which emits enough light to show all your goodies inside your case.

fig. 11

The Good

+ 550 Para chord used instead of cheap braiding material

+ Emits a lot of light and works well with a fan controller for dimming/off

+ Sleeved neatly

+ 550 Para chord offers durability as well as flexibility

+ Adhesive is easy to remove and re-apply without damaging the case

The Mediocre

- Cable length could be shorter for smaller or mid-sized cases

The Bad

. None!

Verdict: 9.8/10

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Greetings fellow nerds, geeks, chicks, technology-driven minds and those merely seeking the core being of the news and reviews of technology!

I'm very new to the blogging side of things and always wanted to set up something like this, where I can express my own views on this fast-paced and growing lifestyle we all live in today.

D-out.