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Today we have a new product from the NZXT line of accessories in our test lab. The product we are going to look at is a set of LED’s with a black mesh sleeve that runs the entire length of the cable.
These LED’s come in a wide range of colors and are either 1 metre or 2 metre long depending on which set you order. If you get the 1 metre set it contains 12 LED’s while the 2 metre kit has 24 LED’s.
The LED kits are packaged in a rugged plastic that should adequately protect them during shipping.
The rear of the package includes product details including the colour and length of the enclosed LED kit.
Once we remove the contents from the plastic packaging we find our string of LED’s and an installation guide to assist with the setup of our kit. There is a small PCB that controls everything and 1 Molex adapter that plugs onto the PCB to power the lights. The PCB simply then mounts in any available rear expansion bay in our test system.
The faceplate attached to the PCB has a power button as well a switch that allows us to select between 3 various levels of brightness.
This image shows where the Molex power adapter attaches to the PCB using a 3 pin connector. The cable is sleeved and has rubber shrink tube on both ends to protect the small wires that attach to the Molex and the 3 pin connectors.
The string of LED’s then attaches to the right side of the PCB using a 2 pin connector. If we look at the 2nd image we can see where the plug for the LED’s attaches. The images show that the Red and Black wires are exposed and extending beyond the rubber tubing. The 2nd image is from the first sample we received which was damaged and the Red wire was detached at the plug end. The replacement that we received had the shrink tube covering the wires correctly so the original most likely sneaked past the assembly line back in the factory. We suggest being cautious when attaching and detaching the LED’s as these wires are very thin and fragile.
NZXT offer plenty of mounting hardware and in this particular case they have provided a small package of cable clips with pre applied adhesive strips. The small clips are used to secure the LED lights in the exact area we choose; making it much easier to hide the cable.
We suggest attaching the clips to the cable prior to installing the LED’s to simplify any possible shifting or repositioning that may be required. To get an idea of what these LED’s can be used for we placed the 1 metre Red LED kit on the inside of the side panel of our NZXT Phantom to illuminate the area that would hold a 200mm fan.
It took some time experimenting with flash settings on my Digital camera to capture an image that shows off the LED kit but the image above was actually taken in a totally dark room. The image captures the subtle effect of the LED’s without too much colour bleeding providing a good representation of one idea for the use of one of the NZXT LED kits.
Is the LED Kit something we would run out and buy? Probably not. Does it have a place in the market? Yes. The NZXT LED kit does exactly what it is advertised to do and that is provide a simple way for a user to spice up the look of the system.
The ability to vary the brightness level also earns points. They are very affordable at $10 for the 1 metre kit and $15 for the 2 metre kit so for that reason we feel that the NZXT LED Kit is “Worth Considering”
