5 LED moonlight, Revisited

[yaksplat]

Well, I finally got around to installing my moonlights. I routed out a 1/4" slot in the plywood for the wires and then covered the slot with a strip of wood that had the LED's mounted in it. I'll post pictures of the setup later. Here's how it looks in action:

FYI these are the radioshack 2600mcd blue leds

Through the top:

In the tank:

From across the room:

Jim

 

[jawaiian]

excellent job

 

[GrndHog]

Looks nice, I did basiclly the same on my tank.

 

[JProx]

jim, that is so damn cool. i am building one now.

 

[Thaiboxer]

Please share how you wired the lights up! I love that look!

I'm going to begin a hood for my 125G soon, and I'm digging for ideas. If you can post or email pics of your wiring I'd be forever grateful!

That rocks!

 

[cmor1701d]

Thanks for posting that. I feel a DIY project coming up rsn.

 

[yaksplat]

well, all of the wiring is buried. If you look at my other post of the hood, you'll see a vertical section at the back of the opening. On the bottom of this section, I routed a 1/4" slot and drilled a deep 1/4" hole on one side up into the plywood. This hole leads to another drilled hole for the wires to go through to the latching switch and the power supply. The LED's are mounted in a 3/4" x 1/8" strip of maple with one hole drilled for each led holder. This piece of maple was then glued over the slot in the plywood where the wires now rest.

All of the led's are wired in parallel, each with a resistor, 270 ohm i believe, to a 12vdc 500mA transformer.


Jim

 

[Sati]

That's pretty sweet looking. I'm going to be working on a hood for my 38g soon. Are you happy with the ammount of lights you got? If you had it to do over would you have gone less than or more than 5 of the LED's?

 

[Sati]

Oops, double post.

 

[GrndHog]

I've got DIY plans for this project if anybody wants them. PM me

 

[yaksplat]

I think 5 is a good amount for the 55. The only thing i would change is the location of the center light. Stupid me put it in the dead center which is blocked off by the brace in the 55. :censor:


Jim

 

[GrndHog]

I've got 5 on my 150 and it seems OK. Right now its to bright for my wife to go to sleep. I tell her to close her eyes and she wont see them! LOL

 

[Thaiboxer]

5 for 55... 5 for 150... is 5 just the magic number? I've got a 125... probably don't need too much light though. Can't be spoiling that romantic mood in the room with too much light. 8)

 

[Centurion]

if you lightly sand the leds they will look frosted and diffuse and soften the light.

 

[yaksplat]

Or cover them with a layer of silicone

 

[XXFirefighter]

Moonlight plans...

AWESOME moonlights... Can I please get a copy of the plans?
Thanks !

 

[swanandmokashi]

can i get a copy of the plans too pleasE?

 

[krap101]

did you put a reflecter on that? or just the lights