Excited about LEDs :-P

[Karackle]

Sooooo I'm excited because my roommate told me today that she would help me install some blue and some red LEDs in the hood of my 20g! (i'm sure she'd help me do it for the 5g also!) The topic of LEDs came up today for various reasons, and it turns out she has loads of them at work and I asked if it would be hard to rig some colored lighting up and she said it would be super easy. And now she's really excited about the idea too and wants to use dimmer switches, possibly a photo-sensor so they turn on automatically when the lights go out (and then they'd turn off on a timer). I want to do a row of blue for the "moonlight" effect, and a row of red so i can observe nocturnal activity! I'm just really excited about the idea and felt the need to share with my fellow aquarium enthusiasts! Input/ideas/comments/questions/concerns etc. are of course always welcome, but i mostly am posting out of excitment!!! heeheehee

 

[JohnPaul]

Sounds pretty cool. Would love to see some pics (under the various colors) once you get it hooked up.

 

[Karackle]

Hey thanks! Yeah I'm excited, it's good to have a roommate that's an engineer i guess i will definitely take and post pictures once I get it all hooked up!

 

[neilanh]

Hmmm, can she hook some other's of us up with photo sensors and dimmers?

 

[Karackle]

Hahahaha probably not unfortunately....but they're apaprently quite cheap! I'll post a "how to" if I can if it's really as simple as she says it is!

 

[neilanh]

Or just where to get the parts? I've been unsuccessful finding dimmers I like, and never even thought about a photo cell. LEDs have a 10 bazillion trillion hour lifetime (maybe slighly exaggerated) so I usually just leave them on 'round the clock.

 

[Karackle]

I'll ask her, but I think she got the dimmer at Radio shack, you can also just get a regular on/off switch I believe, also from Radio Shack (again, i think). I'll ask her! Not sure about the photo cell...

 

[MisticX]

PLS PLS PLS PLS ask...

i think 1000 of us want to DYI such a system, or at least have someone do it for us.

finding the photo cell is not that hard, might cost about 7 bucks, finding the wide angle Light Emission Diode s is harder for me though.

 

[kimo]

All parts can be found at Radio Shack.

wall socket >> On/Off switch >> 5V/.5A transformer (power source) >> Current limiting Resistor (size and wattage depends on load) >> Photocell >> potentiometer (hooked up as a pot or rheostat) for light dimmer >> LED's in series or parallel (might need a voltage dropping resistor) depending on how you want them (and the source voltage) >> ground return.

Don't play around with wall socket voltage (120v/15A), it can kill.

Understand Ohm's Law and check all component info before you experiment.

 

[DallasFish]

So what happened with the DIY effort? How did it turn out? Any pics?

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

I set my 29 gal up for 12 bucks... its 15 leds and a dc/ac converter.

It would look cooler if the tank wasnt still cycling at the time of those pictures

 

[DallasFish]

Looks good! Did you mount the LEDs in your existing fixture? Where did you buy them?

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

Everybody loves Ebay LOL got a 50 pack of the led's And yes i drilled holes behind the main light fixture and stuck them into the holes behind it. Made sure to keep the holes just shy of the full size of the bulb.. so the butt of the bulb rest on the plastic hood.

 

[Jagwa]

that looks really good. i'm definitely going to do that to my tank

 

[DallasFish]

Nice work thanks for the info!

 

[rob28]

all i can say is..."wow, me likey"