does UV light harm PC components?

[Bl00dgod]

i hope some of you already got "long time" experience on UV light and pc parts and shares the story or tells about shenanigans

long story short i wanted some light in my case and got a UV recommendation

@unknownmiscreant warned about possible dangers that the UV can harm the components

 

thanks in advance

 

 

 

[FlpDaMattress]

10 minutes ago, Bl00dgod said:

i hope some of you already got "long time" experience on UV light and pc parts and shares the story or tells about shenanigans

long story short i wanted some light in my case and got a UV recommendation

@unknownmiscreant warned about possible dangers that the UV can harm the components

 

thanks in advance

 

 

 

You won't see any issues. Also, Cablemod makes the best strips.

https://cablemod.com/product/cablemod-widebeam-hybrid-led-kit-30cm/

[Bl00dgod]

Just now, FlpDaMattress said:

You won't see any issues, Cablemod makes the best strips

https://cablemod.com/product/cablemod-widebeam-hybrid-led-kit-30cm/

cablemod suggested them to me 

 

 

[Daan101]

disclamer: I have never owned a PC with UV lights in it.

 

In theory, yes UV light will have a effect certain plastics, meaning that it will make them more brittle and rubber can become dried out effecting its sealing abilities.

In practice, you most likely won't notice the effect unless you are planning to use your PC for a insane amount of time (10+ years) or plan to use UV light in line of sight of sealing rubber rings (think inside a fitting). And even then its a stretch to imagine any kind of damage that isn't aesthetic.

 

Personal opinion: I think you will be just fine, but I don't like the way UV looks, even with UV reactive fluids.

 

[FlpDaMattress]

Just now, Bl00dgod said:

cablemod suggested them to me 

 

 

You really won't be dissapointed

#NotSponsored

[AlexTheGreatish]

It depends on what plastics are inside your case, since some plastics don't really care while others will get mangled.  Here is a good resource for what ones will be worst off.

 

That being said, I'd just go for it since there are such low forces associated with keeping a case together I doubt that it'd be an issue even if the plastics became a lot more brittle.

[Dylanc1500]

16 minutes ago, Bl00dgod said:

i hope some of you already got "long time" experience on UV light and pc parts and shares the story or tells about shenanigans

long story short i wanted some light in my case and got a UV recommendation

@unknownmiscreant warned about possible dangers that the UV can harm the components

 

thanks in advance

 

 

 

Strong UV light can, over a long period of time, cause plastic and rubber to become brittle. However most lights don't have a strong enough output to really take any effect. The difference with sunlight is the very strong output of the UV spectrum it puts out. It is possible, but most modern plastics can uphold to the small amount of UV light that could be produced by LED strips or cathodes.

[Bl00dgod]

5 minutes ago, Daan101 said:

snip

 

so you say from my usual usage of ~5years per rig (currently in the 2nd year ) and then selling them i should be safe

[Bananasplit_00]

it might wreck some plastics, but generally you should be good

[Revan654]

13 hours ago, FlpDaMattress said:

You won't see any issues. Also, Cablemod makes the best strips.

https://cablemod.com/product/cablemod-widebeam-hybrid-led-kit-30cm/

Actually they don't. DarkSide UV LED are allot better. Cablemod has some purple bleeding. Among a few other issues.

 

-----

 

Most of the key parts of the motherboard and such are actually acrylic and nylon. Nylon is used on most of the slots & CPU sockets. Nylon has UV resistance.

[Skanky Sylveon]

Ultraviolet light can de color some plastics with long term exposure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_degradation

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4320144/

Quote

Polystyrene (PS), one of the most important material in the modern plastic industry, has been used all over the world, due to its excellent physical properties and low-cost. When polystyrene is subjected to UV irradiation in the presence of air, it undergoes a rapid yellowing and a gradual embrittlement.

Most of these issues are from sunlight though, UV lights are nowhere near as strong.

It's also true that some products have inbuilt UV resistance.

Whether or not you should go with UV or not, I have no idea, I don't have enough information.

A UV light did discolor a lava lamp of mine once though.

[NumLock21]

Before rgb light strips. There was uv lighting

[Daan101]

On 1-12-2017 at 5:16 PM, Bl00dgod said:

so you say from my usual usage of ~5years per rig (currently in the 2nd year ) and then selling them i should be safe

Yes, The only things that I see could be a problem to sell is cables that become brittle (so they become hard instead of being bendable)

[FlpDaMattress]

On 12/2/2017 at 1:38 PM, Daan101 said:

Yes, The only things that I see could be a problem to sell is cables that become brittle (so they become hard instead of being bendable)

Just out of curiosity, wouldn't nylon sleeved cables fix that? 

[Skreedles]

On 01/12/2017 at 12:00 PM, Bl00dgod said:

i hope some of you already got "long time" experience on UV light and pc parts and shares the story or tells about shenanigans

long story short i wanted some light in my case and got a UV recommendation

@unknownmiscreant warned about possible dangers that the UV can harm the components

 

thanks in advance

 

 

 

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/skin-cancer/prevention-and-early-detection/what-is-uv-radiation.html

[Bl00dgod]

1 hour ago, Skreedles said:

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/skin-cancer/prevention-and-early-detection/what-is-uv-radiation.html

i believe that it harms some of the components in long term... but IMO. getting cancer from a few hours a day within my pc, behind a tempered glass panel is ridiculous

cant imagine me visiting the doc to tell me i got skin cancer from my pc light, no offense

[Nicnac]

It's bad for the eyes long-term but your're probably not even close to ever look at it long enough for that to matter.

[Necromonger]

The only thing I have experience in was my previous job as an inspector at a metal finishing facility.

 

As an inspector, my job was to make sure the coatings on all of the parts we processed were to specification and that visually and through testing they weren't coming off...

 

We used several electronic devices to conduct our testing. Now there was a room (dark room) where we conducted NDT (non-destructive testing) like magnetic particle testing or penetrant. In order to check these parts we had to UV light the whole dark room. I worked this job for about 2 and a half years. 

 

In my experience, the UV lights always seemed to oxidize plastics and rubbers over time. Our Positectors would start to crack up after like a year of exposure to UV lights. These devices are built rugged with heavy rubber and plastic, but after a while of exposure to UV light the plastic shell and rubber would turn brittle. Other hoses and plastics inside this dark room suffered the same thing. They would oxidize and turn very brittle. This was in complete contrast to other Positectors we had at other locations (where they weren't exposed to UV light from the dark room). The ones not exposed only showed abrasive wear from handling, but the ones from our NDT inspections were all looking really worn or broken/chipped. The LCD screens on those would also fail (the ones from our NDT rooms). 

 

Personally, I didn't have a problem with it as I wasn't paying for these Positectors (they are pretty expensive). We always replaced the broken ones (usually the ones from our NDT rooms) and the company paid for it.

[Bl00dgod]

18 hours ago, Necromonger said:

The only thing I have experience in was my previous job as an inspector at a metal finishing facility.

 

As an inspector, my job was to make sure the coatings on all of the parts we processed were to specification and that visually and through testing they weren't coming off...

 

We used several electronic devices to conduct our testing. Now there was a room (dark room) where we conducted NDT (non-destructive testing) like magnetic particle testing or penetrant. In order to check these parts we had to UV light the whole dark room. I worked this job for about 2 and a half years. 

 

In my experience, the UV lights always seemed to oxidize plastics and rubbers over time. Our Positectors would start to crack up after like a year of exposure to UV lights. These devices are built rugged with heavy rubber and plastic, but after a while of exposure to UV light the plastic shell and rubber would turn brittle. Other hoses and plastics inside this dark room suffered the same thing. They would oxidize and turn very brittle. This was in complete contrast to other Positectors we had at other locations (where they weren't exposed to UV light from the dark room). The ones not exposed only showed abrasive wear from handling, but the ones from our NDT inspections were all looking really worn or broken/chipped. The LCD screens on those would also fail (the ones from our NDT rooms). 

 

Personally, I didn't have a problem with it as I wasn't paying for these Positectors (they are pretty expensive). We always replaced the broken ones (usually the ones from our NDT rooms) and the company paid for it.

thanks for that story, so these components were in the room with UV activated for 24/7 365 days ?

most people said it harms parts after a period of like 5 years and i´ll be using it in the evening for maybe 3-4 hours a day on my "pc"-podestal next to the desk

[Necromonger]

6 hours ago, Bl00dgod said:

thanks for that story, so these components were in the room with UV activated for 24/7 365 days ?

most people said it harms parts after a period of like 5 years and i´ll be using it in the evening for maybe 3-4 hours a day on my "pc"-podestal next to the desk

Basically, we had 3 shifts and worked M-S, of course Saturday was optional, but approximately year long exposure, minus holidays.

 

Some motherboard manufacturers add UV coatings to prevent this degradation (from UV lights). I'd check with your manufacturers.