DIY Moonlites

[8965]

any suggestions on DIY moonlites? seems to me that this could be one area I could save a little cash. My LFS is charging 50 bucks per led 8O

 

[XXFirefighter]

try a search for it..
It's amazing what you can find if you look...

Maybe in the DIY section...

 

[BillyZ]

definitely look in our DIY section. A few folks have come up with some solutions.

 

[CBRGuy]

Here ya go. Follow there directions. I mad the following Mods that I made were:

I used 100 Ohm Resistors 6 Watt 300 Mah (Saves you the time of looking of the correct Resistor) Adapter from Radio Shack (If you can find a DC adapter that is in that range it will save you about 15 bucks) I also enclosed the moon lights in 1" filter tube for an aquarium, which you can get at any pet store. I place bottle caps on the end and shrink wrapped them. Make a nice water proof enclosure.

LED 15pcs - 21 Bucks shipped
Adapter - 15 bucks (Look for one around your house)
Resitors 99 Cents (Radio Shack)

http://www.kaotica.com/frag/diy/moonlight/

 

[ewisner]

I just got 2 LED strips 14" long from walmart made for an auto interior. 11.99 ea. 12 LEDS blue (470 nm) ea. 1 - 12 v adapter from my basement. 2.99 for a 5 k pot and knob radio shack. I placed one strip on each side of 125 gal., one inch below water line. (remember they are on the exterior of the tank). Used 4 suction cups with little hooks to hang them (50 cents ea, also walmart. girlfriend came up with this idea!). Pointed the LED array up at 50 degrees from horizontal. The 470 nm light shines thru the acrylic and up to the surface of the water and reflects back down. I found this to give me a great wave movement shimmer thru the tank and I can bounce the light of the surface and get the lighting just right by turning the angle.
That is a grand total 29 dollar investment. 6 wire ends striped, a little spit (for the suction cups) and I am done.
With the dimmer turned all the way up, you can see a blue highlight even with the PC and MH on.
These little LEDs are bright and wide angle.
Hope this helps.

 

[ewisner]

PS. The Walmart car LED strips (and have seen them at Meijer) are premade in acrylic tubes with blue end caps with mounting hardware. My GF says they look very nice.

 

[Atari]

I bought a 6 LED moonlight setup including power supply from ebay for £15. I really doubt I could've made it any cheaper myself.

 

[malkore]

I posted my DIY lights in the DIY section (way down on the main forum) 6 nice blue LED's, plus a wall plug-in adapter, for $22 including shipping. Installed in 5 mins.

 

[klam]

I went to Target and bought these mood lights to do the diy. It's cool because the mood lights come with 3 LEDs and they can be adjusted to point them where you want.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25791

 

[ellisz]

There was a link on reefcentral for some nice moonlights. They come in a housing and contain 3 led's. I bought 2 of them for $15 shipped I believe. You can get an adjustable ac/dc plug from parts express for about $3-4.

They put out a lot more light that the 2 CSL moonlights I had. They are very nice.

I can find the link if any are interested.

 

[malkore]

Those are the LED's i used. They're called Lazer LED's.
www.xoxide.com

 

[ellisz]

Actually mine came from: http://superlumination.com/fixtures.htm

Similar though.

 

[indy]

I paid about $10 for 50 led's and about $1 for resistors, used an old dc adapter I had in the garage. It took about an hour to put together.