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

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RLG2182

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
819
Location
Rancho Cucamonga, California
Well... here's the second part to my overhaul. :D I purchased an 8 LED diy kit from www.ledwerx.com for $15 total. He has a store on ebay too... but I figured I would just get them direct. The kit comes with 9 LEDs (in case you mess up one), 9 resistors, 6' of wire, and an AC adaptor! Here's how I did this in under an hour:

First, gather your materials and make sure none of the LED's are cracked. Here's what the package looked like out of the shipping box:
img_416515_0_ae4bbc30392c44169e5ce8c5bf72b499.jpg


The only thing that you need to get on your own is a piece of material to attach the LEDs to. I chose a piece of wood lattice that was 1.25 inches wide, and 1/4 inch thick. Pine. Cut it to length. My canopy is 48 inches long on the inside, so I made my piece 47 inches for clearance.

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Now, lay out where you want the holes for the LEDs to be. Since I had 48 inches of tank to cover with 8 LEDs, I measured off every 6 inches so that way the tank would be evenly covered. You don't have to do 8... you could do 4, or 6, or 10... but IMO, 8 was just right. Measure them out, mark the holes.

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Next, when you're drilling the holes out, make sure to use a 13/64" wood bit. This is standard for LEDs to fit perfectly. If you're using different sized LEDs, obviously use a different sized drill bit :wink: Carefully drill all the way through the piece of wood.

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Next... this is the tricky part. Take this part with care, and go slowly. Get out your trusty soldering iron and solder. You want to make sure that you work in a well ventilated area and make sure that you familiarize yourself on how to use the soldering iron before you go to town with your newly bought LEDs.

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Stick the LEDs in each hole, and line them up. Each LED has a short end, and a long end. The resistor HAS to be soldered onto the SHORT end of the LED. Line up all of the short ends to one side of the wood piece, and the long ends to the opposite. Hot glue the LEDs so they don't move around. Make sure the glue dries before moving to the solder.

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Next, when you solder the resistor directly to the short end of the LED, make sure that you only touch the solder & iron to the metal for 5 seconds MAX... any more, and the LED runs risk of burning out. If you do not successfully solder the two together on the first try, let it cool for a min, and then try again. Never try to keep the iron on there.

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(fuzzy pic... sorry :wink: )

After you wire all of the short ends together, this is more or less how it will look:

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Close-up

The positive (long ends) are done the same way, only differing in the fact that there are no resistors needed on the (+) sides. Wire all of the (-) to (-) and the (+) to (+).

When you get to the end, it should look something like this. **Make SURE you cover/wrap all of the exposed wiring with electrical tape BEFORE you test it out. No (-) wire should be touching a (+) wire at ANY time or else you risk a fire. All connections should be firm with no excess solder poking out or touching other objects.

img_416515_9_2d5936e30f4fab445fbd585c95e2d89c.jpg


All you need to do now is to hook up the power supply. Cut off the round endpiece and separate the wires. The ribbed end of the power cord is the positive. Just solder that end to the positive wire of the LEDs, and the (-) to the (-) and you're done! PARTY!!!

Here's the tank on the first test run:
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Just note: the order of the wiring should be: AC adaptor -> length of wire -> resistor -> LED -> length of wire -> resistor -> LED -> wire (and so on). That first resistor needs to be between the AC adaptor and the first LED, or else the first LED will blow out.

When you get it all mounted (I used a few simple screws to my DIY canopy), this is what it should look like (or at least on my end) :

img_416515_11_8832240bdec4f0a4a7d3fa60fa53181f.jpg


Here is what it looks like when finished:
img_416515_12_bff6da935a45123c9007053b1cf4a7ab.jpg


Now don't worry, it doesn't really look this bright! My camera merely didn't use flash, so it looks brighter than normal. This setup was easy to do, and only required a little bit of patience, a steady hand, and a fearless attitude to risk blowing $15 :wink: Now I can see my fish at night w/o a flashlight, and can stimulate corals by mimicking the moon.

Total setup: $3 HD wood, $14.99 LED kit shipped. DIY Moonlights for less than a fifth of the price of a retail setup... priceless :D
 
Once again Rob......Awesome Job! Your really getting good at these DIY projects. Next your going to have to do a 380g In Wall...... :p
 
Great write-up on the lights. I used the same lights a few weeks ago on one of my tanks. I love them. They truly are easy to put together.

Have you considered submitting your DIY Documentations to be added in the Articles section? They would make great additions.
 
mentallylost said:
Have you considered submitting your DIY Documentations to be added in the Articles section? They would make great additions.

Errrrr... I never thought of that. 8O Thought they had to be UBER AWESOME DISCOVERIES before they could be added to the "official" sticky list (or articles). :lol:

revhtree said:
Next your going to have to do a 380g In Wall...... :p

Don't even tempt me!! :p Actually, my girlfriend's parents are wanting to build an in-wall aquarium for the house that they're building this year. That might be fun... but first I need to teach them how to take care of fish!!! I think they might be paying an aquarium service to take care of the tank for them... might be the best route. At least I can choose what equipment they'll buy and make it for them. I'm guessing it'll be 8'l x 2'h X 2'w . 239 gal. :D

As for a book... this is just the stuff I've done for my tank. I literally am a jack of all trades, master of none. Laid wood floors for my parent's house, did their tile work, plumbed their sprinklers system, wired their entertainment system, laid Saltillo tile on their two decks (HEAVY stuff!!! 8O ) and even set their vcr timer. :wink: Free rent/food/bills for several summers before I moved out after college. For myself I've built wood furniture, an entertainment center for my big screen tv, wooden desks, computer systems, servers, and reptile terrariums.

As for my tank... I should've documented my stand & canopy when I was building them. I have several pictures of it finished, but not "as I was making" it. I just finished putting in (4) 80mm fans into my canopy... took the better part of the morning. I figured with that, I would just show pics of it finished. There are literally thousands of canopy variations that I figured I would merely show my end result & wiring tips (not that there are many tips to be told... but still).

Thanks for the positive feedback guys! :D :D My goal is to encourage others to dabble in DIY by starting SMALL. I support LFS's whole heartedly... but we as a society must become more self reliant for information and service. Changing the world, one DIY project at a time. HAH. :p
 
Nice write up. Just constructive criticism and notes for someone following howto: Trimming the resistors and LED leads would have been neater and limits corosion possibility, even with them coved in electrical tape (better would have been heat shrink over those connections). Pic immediately following recommendation of taping all electrical wire shows exposed solder connections.
 
czcz said:
Pic immediately following recommendation of taping all electrical wire shows exposed solder connections.

Yah... was just the timing that I took the pic. :oops: There's a lot on the underside that didn't show... made sure to cover everything up before I plugged it in. As for the trimming of the LEDs... good tip!! :D I never considered trimming them before. I'll make sure to do that next time. It's always after you finish something that you wish you could've made changes mid-stream.

I actually ran out of heat shrink... my next project will have it though. :D Should be picking up some more when I go shopping this weekend.
 
It means there are lots of pictures, and for dial up users they will have to wait a long time.
 
moon light DIY

where could 1 find the led's yo have in the pack.I have looked at radio shack and each led is 3.95 to 4.95 each.pack of 1 not including the wire and or transformer (y) [/i]
 
Re: moon light DIY

rich_bunting1 said:
where could 1 find the led's yo have in the pack.I have looked at radio shack and each led is 3.95 to 4.95 each.pack of 1 not including the wire and or transformer (y) [/i]

Radio shack has a nice markup on its parts. I would check a online electronics store..
 
just some small advice, but when working with heat sensitive wiring, such as LED's, you can use heat shunts, pretty cheap from online sources. They pull the heat right out of the wire at the point that they connect.

-- a diffuser pannel made of plastic from a old warn out flourescent light setup (you know the little textured panel that ran from end to end to keep water off the bulbs) placed under the strip with your led's pointing through would make the little beams spread out much better. Doing the same thing for my tank, will send some shots of it when done.

awesome step by step though, gonna use it as a guide actually.
thanks again. :)
 
This is a very good write up. I have successfully set up the moonlight system with your instructions. It was very informative and helpful.Thank you very much. I wish I could get a good picture of the aquarium to show how it looks now. Thanks again RLG2182
 
cool setup, only problem I see and it would only happen a long time down the road is if one of those leds goes out the whole thing goes out b/c from what I can see its wired in a series.
 
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