Documentation: How to DIY Moonlights ***dial up sensitive***

[JProx]

yeah it looks like series to me, but leds have a life of 10,000 operating hours or about 417days of 24hr use. so if you only use them for 8hrs a day it would last for about 1250 days or about 3.5 yrs.

 

[Joshsmit56001]

Just finished my Moonlights last night and they look great. Thanks the plans guy!

Josh

 

[Skuseman]

I put a switch into the line and the led's burned out. However the link to the site to get a new setup isn't working. I have bought LEDs and resistors from another site but i keep blowing the LED's. I need to know what size resistors to get with my LED's I'm using a 4volt output power source. and I only want 4 LEDs in the string.Any HELP will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fubie]

Great write-up. If anyone is searching for another online vendor of led's (ledwerx.com isn't working as far as I can tell) try eled.com

I ordered from there while I was deployed to Iraq and they were great. You are looking for 5mm blue (470nm) water clear led's. Click here for the page

Remember the higher the mcd value the brighter the output so you are most likely going to want 1000mcd or less. It is up to you though. Oh and JProx I have some of these high output leds on computer that have run 24/7 for years and are still going strong.

Also wanted to add the possibility of using a PC cold cathode kit. Since I love to mod my PC's this is a very simple moonlight anyone can do. I found this link that gives good info on it.

P.S. While you guys are at it change your opto mouse led to BLUUUUUU too! [/url]

 

[TygGer]

I put one together also, but instead I swore I wired the resistors to the positive leads of each LED instead of the negatives. ????

 

[JProx]

the circuit will work in either fashion, attaching the resistors to either polarity will not harm the circuit, however they 'should' be attached to the negitive side (or shorter leg of the led)

 

[sudz]

Even though i have a freshwater tank, i put a single blue LED attached to a 3volt transformer from an old rechargeable shaver. Its the perfect voltage and output for an ultrabright blue LED. I have that, and a UV led into my tank, When you first turn off the lights at night, the blue strip from my neon's is VERY bright. Its quite cool!

Is having a weak moonlight in a FW tank ok?

 

[flanque]

How many amps is that power supply?

 

[sudz]

up to 600 mAh sustained 1000 Mah burst. Got it for 6.99, it does 1.5-12 volts (pretty nifty)

 

[MiamiFishy]

DYI MoonLight LED Project

I was wondering if it would be possible to give us the type of resistance ( ohm) or the color rings on the ones you used in the project. I can go to Radio Shack and get some. I can;t quite make out the color , looks like White, gold, green, black, red, brown, and gold.????

Great pics, which my tank will look like that... maybe soon it will.LOL

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

If you don't have the led's yet, try Ebay, you get a much better price (11$ for a hundred, or 6$ or so for 50) and they come with resistors rated for 12VDC... most eletronics shops try to gouge you for 2$/led and 1$/resistor.

The value of resistor depends on the DC adapter voltage. the coles notes breakdown for the average value can be calculated by.

(InputVoltage-.7)/.03 = Resistor value.

So, assume 12 volts in.

12 -.7 = 11.3 / .03 = 376Ohms , or the nearest common resistor which is greater (probably 380Ohm)

Most 12v adapters put out 13.8v, so putting it through the works it is 470Ohms ~

The resistors colour codes are
0 - black
1 - brown
2 - red
3 - orange
4 - yellow
5 - green
6 - blue
7 - violet
8 - grey
9 - white

The breakdown of the bands are
moving towards the gold/silver band (tolerance, gold = 5%, silver = 10%)
first band = first digit
second band = second digit
third band = multiplier (unless a 4th band is present, in which case, this is the 3rd digit, the next is the multiplier. But typically you won't see this)

So for example, the resistors that came with my LED's rated for 13.8v are

yellow violet brown gold
4 - 7 - 1 - 5%
using what was said above.
47 * 10^1 = 470Ohms at 5% tolerance (+/- 5%)

The ones in this example are
red red brown gold
so
2-2-10^1 5%
or 220 Ohms.

And the adapter he was probably using is a 6v DC adapter.

Hope it's not too winded, I just think it's better for people to know how to calculate the right resistor rather then assuming the same resistance is used for every transformer.

For those that care beyond that where I got those numbers..

.7 is the voltage that the LED uses
.03 is the maximum current that can travel to the LED (.03a or 30mA)
the formula is basic ohms law. *Voltage divided by current = resistance*, resistance * current = Voltage and Voltage / Resistance = Current

You subtract the .7 volts from the source voltage because this is the voltage drop across the LED. The remainder must be dropped across the resistor that must have 30ma travelling through it. Knowing this, you can divide the remaining voltage you need to drop by the 30mA you need to flow through to get the resistance. This formula is fundemental to electronics.

 

[MiamiFishy]

Thank you Wizard for that lengthly but very instructive answer. I had taken some many years ago some electronic classes and remembered a bit about the resistance table, but not all of it, so really and trully thank you, and I'll be checking Ebay for the leds as well.

Ill try to post some pics after my NEW project is complete.
I have a new 29 gall tank that is dieying for some attention. ( don't worry, it has not been set up yet, no fish are in danger... just my lower back! )

 

[SCFatz]

Nice post RLG2182.well done.

I'm going to do this in some fashion and will probably buy the supplies online tonight.It looks to good and is to cheap not too imo.

A question or thought though....

What would be the down side of mounting the leds inside the bulb housing itself....like the standard strip that comes with start up kits.I realize that the leds would also light up the inside of the strip housing,but wouldn't most of the light make it to the tank without the "beam" effect?

Any one try this or know why I shouldn't?

 

[norolo]

led lights

that looks so cool one day ill do that hopefully

 

[7Enigma]

Can anyone comment on another site that has a kit like this? I am completely stupid when it comes to DIY but I really would like to give this a shot! Thanks!

 

[Humanis1993]

what resistors did you use and what is the output of the ac adaptor?