I-pacs and fluorescent trackball lights mix like oil & water

[spidermonkey]

I recently bought a 12v mini fluorescent light fixture to mount under my trackball. I connected the light to a 12v adapter and plugged it in. My computer immediatly started beeping like crazy and my screen just started scrolling by itself. I thought my intellipoint mouse must have took a sh@!#t  but when I moved the light fixture away from my i-pac (which is mounted next to my trackball) the beeping and other oddities immediatly went away. Has anybody heard of  fluorescent lights causing interference when mounted near an i-pac?  Does a ballast have any magnetic properties that would cause an i-pac to malfunction? All I know is that as soon as I shut off the light the problems went away. I really don't feel like moving my i-pac to a different location because all my joysticks and button wires are already routed and connected to the i-pac right where it is. I've heard that incandesant bulbs are a no no because the heat from them could cause the trackball to expand and hinder its operation. If anybody has used leds to light up there trackball then how many and where do you mount the leds so that they  defuse the light throughout the  
trackball evenly? I want to get a nice even glow and not just a dot of light in the middle of the trackball. Whats everybody else using to light their trackballs?
Thanks for reading.
S.M.

[electricd]

A small light bulb like what is found in most flashlights or coin doors looks awesome.  It doesnt seem to put out much heat at all, I actually mounted it about 6 inches from the trackball with no reflector so the light defuses quite nicely and the trackball glows with no appearance of the bulb showing through (steady glow all over).

ED7

[Tommy Boy]

I haven't tried this yet but I'm thinking about it: How about a ring of Glow Wire as a light source?  It wouldn't create heat problems and wouldn't have the point-source issues either.  Since you already have your CP wired for 12v, I think you can just plug the driver right in to your 12v source.

If you missed it, 1UP had a few posts on glow wire just within the last few days...

As I said, I haven't tried this yet so I don't know if there might be some issues that I'm not considering.

[1UP]

Is your trackball clear, or just translucent?  I used a translucent blue ball inside my Kidsball, and put 2 high intensity blue LEDs mounted about 45 degrees to the top right and top left corners on the floor of the chassis.  These get run to my custom lighting board, connected to the 5v power supply of my PC, with a 47 ohm resistor to cut the voltage.  They light up the entire trackball, with no "dots"...

[Vesper]

If you have a Happ trackball, Bob Roberts sells the light-assembly for them.  Happ actually used to sell these, but doesn't currently.  I just used one on my Happ 3" trackball.  There's a hole on the bottom that it screws into and it uses a mini 12V 161 bulb.  Looks fantastic.

[Beley]

Sounds like you need some shielding.

either put the florescent light ballast in a metal box and ground the box to the earth ground, or put the i-pac in to such a box, or better yet do both

[1UP]

I think fluorescent lighting is overkill anyway.  LEDs take less space and almost never have to be replaced...

[spidermonkey]

My trackball is a Betson Imperial Translucent blue PS2 version. It does have various holes underneath that may be there for mounting an optional light assembly probably offered by Betson. I'll have to check out their online catalog and see what they offer. I wish had thought about a light when I ordered the trackball. I probably could have bought the one that goes with it.  If Betson starts whining about their minimum order limit than I just may go with 1UP'S solution. I hate to see the mini fluorescent go because it gave the ball a perfect even glow. Oh well, I have a 16" shop light mounted in the bottom of my cab in case I have to work on anything in there so I guess I'll mount the small one up top for future moniter or sound system repair (perish the thought). Thanks for all your ideas.
S.M.