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so what do people think of this hard but easy task at hand by creating this little green box.

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...Its a brown box.

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indeed, very brown may it be, green like a lightsaber, glow it does.......

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we just ignored the entire chassis mod/creating a box, and just stuck ours directly to the back of the HDPE sheet.

Took about 15 minutes instead of 2-3 hours :)

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What type of PSU did you hook the box up to. How many volts too, we finished the box, but our leader is a bit scared that we might fry it. Whom ever tells us the PSU and the Voltage thanks, its greatly apreciated.

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I tested one of the assemblies and it draws 650ma when cold and as I recall got to 800ma after about 5 minutes running, I also tried both 14v (typical 12 volt supply) and a 12v gel cell, Not a big difference in current. So to sum up 4 times 800ma gets you 3.2 amps at 12 to 14 volts So a 3.5 amp or greater 12v (14v) supply should be fine don't forget a in-line fuse unless you supply is auto sensing of a short or over load.

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A quick solution to get your camera calibrated, but how's it going to stand up to constant shelling from poof balls? :ahh:

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My team actually built a really nice box from some 2x4s and plywood. I'll bring my camera and take pictures tomorrow if I remeber to...

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We built ours much the same way, a 2x4 frame, some sheet aluminum on the back, but it just doesn't seem bright enough. We may try lining the inside with foil next.

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At first outs was extremely dim, after about 3 minutes it got brighter, then I walked down to the wood shop to get some tools, and when i got back about 10-15 minutes later, it was very bright. I believe that the lights just need to worm up..

Our box took about an hour to make and about 30 minutes to wire. I wired it up to one of our 12v batteries and used a breaker panel from 2 years ago and a 20amp fuse to power it.

I was just wondering if anyone else used the correct offset for the lights from the diffuser panel?

Also, ours was plenty bright with just wood, has anyone compared a wood box to the official boxes to see how the light compares?

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we used aluminum and a 12v battery and it was bright almost instantly :) . i dont think they have to warm up.

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cold cathodes do need to warm up for maximum light output.

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4 hours of work? i can understand taking your time, but you had nothing better to do?