yes, moonlights again...

gregvabch

gregvabch

Active Member
has anyone who has built their own moonlights found anything readily available to use as a case to mount them in? i have seen many pictures of the bulbs with electrical tape wrapped around the base and i kinda wanted something that looked a little bit more "professionally manufactured". maybe a small plastic box of some sort, not crazy about electrical tape under my MH's...it seems to get slimy and loose it's grip when you heat it up.
 
ryan115

ryan115

Member
have you tried heat shrink tubing that adds a nice touch or if you are more worried about function and not so much about the look you could try high temp hot glue which mioght be able to hold up against your MHs
 
robchuck

robchuck

Active Member
Radio Shack sells a very small project box that you could probably cram two LEDs and their respective resistors into.
 
robchuck

robchuck

Active Member
Another idea just crossed my mind. You could also use the same coating used for tool handles to coat the exposed wiring.
 
norway

norway

Member
i installed stereo's and alarms in cars for years and led's were always used for the indicator light on the dash... led's are made with a small lip at the base of the bulb. in other words get some plastic or thin sheet metal that you can easily bend like
_______ ________
l l
l___________l
and then drill holes big enough to put the led into without it going all the way through (resting on the lip)
like:
_______ ________
l l
l____l_l_____l
U
i only put one led here but if your hood has the room you could make the mounting plate big enough to fit all your lights
SORRY ABOUT THE DRAWINGS, im about to do this project myself in the next week so if you want, wait, and ill send pictures
 
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bluedolphi

Guest
This is what I did.
I have a link below where you can purchase the acrylic 1/2" square bar. I drilled all the way through the acrylic to allow better penetration from the LED's.
You can use super glue (gel), to attach the LED's into the acrylic. Just drill the hole the size of the LED. I removed the electrical tape that you see in the photos, as it was not needed in the end.
You can attach to the hood using some of the new loop type velcro. It is extremely strong holding. Both sides actually "snap" together.
Here are some photos:
Here is where you can purchase the 1/2" square acrylic bar:
Acrylic bar
 
gregvabch

gregvabch

Active Member
blue dolphi--- thanks. question, did you use the bars to eliminate the spotlight effect? also, just curious, how many led's are you using, what are you using as a power supply, and how big is your tank?
robchuck--- i saw the project boxes from "the shack" the other day, i guess i could always put 2 or 3 of them in there.... the smallest one just seemed bigger than what i needed.
norway--- drawings...... i understand what you're saying :D plastic would be ideal but i'm not familiar with bendable plastic....(stressmarks/cracking)
 
moto757

moto757

Member
did mine on my tank didn't really want to wanted the nice looking ones but when i saw how much one costs and you need one for every 2 feet which the minimum cost for two i found would be around 60 bucks for 2 without shipping
 
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bluedolphi

Guest
Gregvabch,
Yes... I was concerned about the spotlight effect. I have none.
I would place an LED every 3"-4" if I were you. This setup is only on a small 18 gallon tank. I am building another for a 60" 120 gallon tank as well. The one I posted photos of has an LED only approx. every 7". I will be placing an LED every 3" on my new bar.
The ps that I used was an old ps that I had lying around. It is rated at:
6v 330mA
I used 47ohm resistors. However, would likely use 100 ohm for this same ps, I just had a few of the 47ohm sitting around and wanted to get rid of them first.
Let me know if you need any help or need some links to help.
 
norway

norway

Member
you can use a torch to heat.....not melt, the plastic(from home depot) and it actually bends nicely
 
gregvabch

gregvabch

Active Member
eric, i like those project boxes, they're smaller than the ones i found before. i can get the resistors at work, but i noticed you didn't mention using any....
bludolphi, i'm a little shaky on dc circuits, is there a limit to how many bulbs you can correctly run? my power supply is an old cell phone charger, 5.5 V. i just ordered 15 led's but only because that was the smallest amount i could order from the site i got them from, (at least as far as i could tell). 470nm, 60 degree viewing angle. i'm curious if because the viewing angle is so wide that they won't spotlight like the 15 degree ones. that is really cheap for that acrylic bar! i saw some on a different site and they wanted a lot more for them :D
 
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bluedolphi

Guest
Yes... you can run all of those LED's. Providing you run them in Parallel. Do not wire in series. Then you will only be limited by the mA of the power supply.
What happens is that if you run in series.... the first LED will draw 3+- volts. Then the next will draw whatever is left..... and then you will have no power left for the remaining LED's.
Here is a link to a diagram showing the difference between wiring in series vs parallel.
How to wire a circuit
Use a power supply that has a high mA rating. At least say 300mA. The LED's only draw approx. 20mA so you can see that you can wire quite a few LED's onto the power supply.
Check on the power supply to see what the mA rating is.
The site that sells the acrylic bars, is very good at shipping your order out promptly. You want to keep the bars around 3 ft in length to avoid an oversize shipping surcharge/penalty.
I highly recommend installing your moonlights this way. It is very clean and neat. and allows you to install in a tight space if needed.
Hope that helps.
 
gregvabch

gregvabch

Active Member
rob--i saw those, but i didn't wanna piss the guy off and ask him where he got them from since he's obviously trying to make a buck.
bluedolphi--thanks for the parallel diagram, i was a little confused before, even though that's how i was going to wire them, the "barney style" diagram clarified. the power supply is 5.5V @ 950 mA. we had a discussion at work last night, what i got from it was that a parallel circuit you're more concerned with the amperage of each load in the circuit, as opposed to voltage in a series circuit.
i guess my question now is, do i need resistors? they are used for dissapating heat right? the forward current on the led's is 30 mA, and the typical forward voltage is 3.6V. in choosing resistors, how do i know what wattage i want? 1/8? 1/4? 1/2? 1? 2?
eric--the mcd on the leds are 2,600. you said you're running 5 on your 75G? i wasn't planning on using all the led's, what i meant was that there was a minimum amount i had to order, in order to purchase them from the site i got them off of, (minimum amount worth their time). i thought that 5 would be enough, but i'll have room to hook up more led's if 5 doesn't do what i want.
greg
 
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bluedolphi

Guest
Gregvabch,
I calculated the resistor ohms that you will need. You should use approximately a 64 Ohms resistor (63.33334 Ohms). You can use a 100 Ohms resistor if that is all you can find.
That power supply is excellent. Wiring in parallel and having 950mA to use will mean you can run lots of LEDs (up to 31 actually). I still recommend you put them at most 4-5 inches apart (I will be placing 3"-4" apart on my next project).
You are fine using 1/4 or 1/2 watt resistors. It will not effect the performance for you, but rather this is more of a level of protection the resistor will have. In this application it will not matter what wattage rating you use. You will notice the higher wattage resistors are beefier in size (will take more current without damage basically). Just stick with either a 1/4 or 1/2 watt resistor.
Hope that helps.
 
blackomne

blackomne

Member
Why don't you do what I did? Buy one of these cold cathode setups with the dual light for a computer, 12volt. Buy a second bulb if you want. Then buy a 12 volt power block. Cut off the computer plug, and the end on the 12 volt supply attached positive to positive and negative to negative. It comes with a switch for turning it on and off. Only draw back is heat messes with the set-up and making sure the power block can handle the demand.
blue cold cathode light
 
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bluedolphi

Guest
Hmmmmmmmm....... I have a couple of those cold cathodes. Did not think of trying that. I like the idea of replicating the same light wave as the moon (470nm). But the cold cathode is an idea. I will have to play with that.
Which bulb would you use... I see you linked to the blue one? Hey... how bout UV....? lol (jus kidding).
How did yours turn out? Are you happy with the amount of light you are getting into the tank, etc.?
 
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