input on trying to make a moonlight

millerman

millerman

Member
Need input or if you all think will work:
Have a 20 gallon and the 65 watt light strip. glass top penguin 280 filter and a power head.
trying to make a moon light since mine did not come with one. thought about
Those blue neon led light strips that are about 6 inches long used for the import cars found in the automotive section at wal-mart thought about splicing to a 6v cell charger then covering spliced section with liquid electrical tape please help me on what your ideas are or what you have done
 
millerman

millerman

Member
will they fit into the light bar? just starting out so i do not know all these things but have seen where people have made moonlights out of light ropes and christmas light
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
You have a couple problems. First, anything that is designed to run in a car needs 12 volts, not 6. It may work, albeit a bit dim.
Seocnd, cell phone chargers often have circuitry in them that doesn't just put out a straight voltage. You'd be better off grabbing a universal adapter from Radio Shack for 12 bucks or so. hmmm... I thought everyone had a shoe box full of plundered wall adapters... maybe it's just me.
Third, it's pretty certain that the wavelength that this light strip you're talking about puts off isn't correct. Moonlights are designed to simulate moon light. Of course, if all you are after is the effect, then you don't need to worry about that, as incorrect light won't hurt anything... it just won't help.
I homebrewed a moonlight using a bunch of LEDS from superbrightleds.com. In retrospect, the effort I put into making it and the expense I went to made me wish I had just bougt the stupid kit.
 
yimmy

yimmy

Active Member
I just got moon lights, they came with small screws, you buy on and then you can link on more. I have 2 for a 4ft tank. You could also try double sided tape.
good luck
 
pfitz44

pfitz44

Active Member
I am makretrofitiong my 55 gal hood this weekend with moonlights. All you need is blue LED's from radioshack. Its pretty simple to do... ill post up when im done
 
style23

style23

Member
what i did is bought a 4.5volt converter from radio shack, bought some 460nm blue LED's, used speaker wire to solder the LED's too, and i siliconed them to the inside of my hood, if you silicone them make sure you do a good job, salt water does a number on bare metal...also the LED's i got from radio shack are polar sensative, so you have to have them going to right way or they will not light up.
 
pfitz44

pfitz44

Active Member
all leds are "polarized".... The way an LED works is it is a Light Emitting Diode.. Diodes will only let current flow in one direction
 
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