Moonlights

[easyian]

Just a general question. How long does everyone leave their moonlights on? Do you leave them on all night or do you have them on a timer?

 

[24 hours? NE!]

I just got my moonlight up and working a week ago. So far, my schedule is to have them come on a half-hour before the main lights go out and go out in the morning after the sun lightens up the living room.

 

[sw-addict]

mine have been running for over a year 24/7 they dont use that much power and turning them on and off probably shortens their lifespan like most lightbulbs.

 

[Biggen]

I agree with addicts schedule. If I were running them, I'd run them 24/7. This way you won't ever have to worry with a timer. You won't even be able to notice that they are on when your main lights are on.

 

[dralarms]

You won't even be able to notice that they are on when your main lights are on.

Unless you have 1 shinning right into a dark hole in the rocks. I leave mine on 24/7 and after rearranging my rocks again I noticed I can see the blue hitting the sand in between some of the rocks.

 

[Biggen]

I noticed I can see the blue hitting the sand in between some of the rocks.

Woops!! I guess you need to rearrange again, then.

 

[Tripoli]

Probably been discussed at length before, but where's a good place to buy moonlights and how much would a setup of them cost? Also, I've heard that you can get different colors...Besides personal preference, is there any reason to get a certain color of light?

 

[24 hours? NE!]

I need the timer for something else anyway.

 

[dralarms]

You can build them for 20 bux. I built one with 10 lights for less than 20 bux. The led's are .95 cents at lebos.com, you need a resistor for each one @ 5 for a buck at radio shack. If you get a 4.5 vdc power supply then you need 39 ohm resistors. I used a piece of birch paneling for the mounting strip but for my next one I'm gonna get a 1 by 6 rip it to 1 1/2 inches and groove out the middle with my table saw. The plywood wants to bow from the heat of the lighting fixture it's sitting under. HTH BTW if you can solder 2 peices of wire together you can build your own.

 

[easyian]

That is what I did. Except I drilled holes into my light reflector and installed them into that. I have a 90 gal and 5 LEDs were perfect. The most expensive part was the power supply which was 8 bucks Canadian.

This is what I followed and it turned out perfect. Of course I modified the design for my tank.
http://www.kaotica.com/frag/diy/moonlight/

 

[easyian]

You will have to copy and paste the link. I'm not to up on making the link work properly.

 

[dralarms]

That's cool, the only thing I would change is to use an aligator clip on the led while soldering to absorb some of the heat.

 

[bckane]

Where is the link to the led's
TIA
bckane

 

[JBFett]

What's a good rule of thumb for how many led's you can add without it being too bright?

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

I was wondering also, Im going to get my leds in tomorrow or wedensday and I just want to make sure on one thing, I solder the resistor on the cathode, right??? Ive seen two different opinons I heard that they go on the cathode and another goes on node, which one??? Im leaning towards the cathode sid but I could be wrong. Thanks

P.S. justmytwocents I have a quick question, when I do the modular style I have everything except my leds but they will be here in a day or two, but I didnt get the coupler, my dad said that he could just cut the ends off the 5 way and the cd adapter and just solder the + to the 5 way and solder the - to the 5 way, will that work? Thanks

 

[bungle]

i've only noticed the sw folks talking about moonlights. is there a particular reason? i will soon be setting up a fw tank, and like the look of moonlights. will they work for fw?

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

Yea, but its cool for sw, because in lr there are critters that only come out at night

 

[JBFett]

I've got a better question. Thelebos.com manual uses 1/4 watt resistors. I was going to use different LEDs and the only appropriate 47 ohm resistors radioshack has are 1/2 watt. Does that matter?

 

[dralarms]

I was going to use different LEDs and the only appropriate 47 ohm resistors radioshack has are 1/2 watt. Does that matter?

No, that just means they will handle more amperage. 1/2 watt will be fine (actually what I used.

 

[JJFly]

Moonlight

Try http://www.lsdiodes.com/

They have the 5mm blue led 4000mcd for 1/2 the price ($.45) of others and they also carry the 56ohm resisters in 5 packs for $.25 and shipping is very reasonable. Great/Fast service too!