Caution - Sunbeam Liquid Neon Light Strip - Dodgy Electrics!When installing a Sunbeam Liquid Neon Light Strip I found first hand the dangers of using cheap electronics. Luckily I caught it in time.
For my new PC, I have decided to brighten it up with some flashy lights and I chose a new type of light called "liquid neon". This is a warning to all considering purchasing one of these "unique Liquid Neon lights".
The Sunbeam Liquid Neon Light Strip is supposed to create a flashy rippling wave effect inside a computer case similar to the photo on the right. Indeed it did look like this for a short while. It lasted until I smelt a rather familiar, but unwelcome, smell of Magic Smoke™ . And along with it burning plastic. Quickly pulling the plug it didn't actually catch fire, but wasn't far from it. It would appear that the transformer inside the inverter is shorting out causing it to overheat and spark.
With the light removed from my case, I removed the cover on the inverter to see what was going on inside. This is what I found:-
In my opinion, the Sunbeam Liquid Neon Light Strip is a dangerous product. What would have happened if I had left my brand-new PC unattended???
I'm not alone on this. Several other forums and websites are claiming that the inverter overheats and that the light creates large amounts of interference. I would not recommend this product to anyone and would instead recommend an Akasa cold cathode or led lighting kit instead.
