DIY Gutter LED Lighting!

[Cave Dweller]

Hi everyone. Just wanted to share some of what I'm doing right now in regards to a DIY fixture that you can move out of the way to have more access to the front of the tank. I can seem a bit unusual at first as the main body of the unit is made out of vinyl gutter material and PVC pieces but figured hey I can give it a shot and share it with you guys. Worst case scenario I didn't put too much down the drain if it didn't work.

Materials
?Genova? Style Vinyl Gutter (10ft)
Internal vinyl end caps
? PVC tubing/fittings
Misc (screws, aluminum foil, spray adhesive)
Waterproof LED Kits (Amazon) with power supply
48? Tube lighting safety sleeve (believe for a T12 bulb)
Equipment
Drill with bits/hole saw
Hacksaw
Tape Measure

First part was the trimming down of the gutter to 2 48 ?? sections. (Forgot to take a pic sorry) Then I wound up using a slightly larger hole saw that necessary to cut into the inside end caps to be mounted to the gutter.

**Noob to posting pics on here... will get them up shortly**


As I unfortunately couldn?t find the nylon screws that I was looking for, I figured that I could use stainless steel and then perhaps once the unit is towards its final assembly, use some Plasti Dip to try and protect them a bit more than normal. (Not applied in pictures)

 

[Cave Dweller]

 

[Cave Dweller]

After putting those together, it?s time to dig through the box of fittings and put the side arm pieces together





Sides were not cut to exact measurements and since it was put together at 11pm I just wanted to see what it would look like. It will definitely have to be trimmed down a bit in a couple of areas as it?s a bit wide and too tall when raised.







I had already had the ?white? LED kit in my house and just wanted to give it a shot and see just how much it would light up the tank.



(1 Strip)


(2 Strips but close together)




Put the gutter on top of one and as you can see it would glow without some sort of backing/reflector.



This is where I?m at so far. Working on the best way to mount the lights under the ?hood ?with the safety tubes for a little more protection from the salt spray and going to spray adhesive some heavy duty aluminum to the inside to try and work as a makeshift reflector.
More to come in the next few days.

 

[vio]

I like it, clean , simple, light and nice. Good idea, you may add some kind of splash cover (Acrylic ) also ? I love it. Vio.

 

[Cave Dweller]

yeah thought about that as well.. might have to try to find a L-shaped trim that I could apply to the side of the gutter and under the edge so i could slide a thin piece in. won't take much in terms of thickness just to keep it protected a bit.

 

[Cave Dweller]

Think I could get away with a small diameter air tubing split that it could slide over the edge and then the sheet just rest on top of it like I have drawn with my awesome Paint skills...

 

[Tonyscoots84]

great idea!

 

[vio]

will be nice if you paint silver , after finish , just to look like Aluminium.

 

[vio]

Think I could get away with a small diameter air tubing split that it could slide over the edge and then the sheet just rest on top of it like I have drawn with my awesome Paint skills...

so what's the dimension (wide) for cover splash ?!/!? if is 3" i got some free Acrylic for u, if is 3 1/2 i still give to u any way lol.

 

[Cave Dweller]

Sorry for the delays. Haven't had much time lately to keep working on it. However the gutter is 4.5" wide sadly so will likely just buy a bigger piece and cut it down to size.

 

[vio]

Sorry for the delays. Haven't had much time lately to keep working on it. However the gutter is 4.5" wide sadly so will likely just buy a bigger piece and cut it down to size.

I got one for you (Free) 1/4 X 4 7/8 x 48 let me now if u want it.

 

[Cave Dweller]

Well hell I'd be stupid not to accept that. May I ask where you got it from so I can get an identical one? Guessing it was cut from a larger piece but you never know... Also where are you located?

 

[vio]

like i said , i got some strips (Acrylic) 1/4 x 4 7/8 x 48" i got table saw (NO router) if you want i will try to cut to 4.500" NOT sure how tide is your tolerance, i can see u Sunday , around 59 St. and Park Av. ( Manhattan ) if u need 2 is fine, just try to encourage and help DIY members. I got the material from my local Lock Smith, i help him so many times, i don't pay for, is NEW, got the paper protection on.Vio

 

[Cave Dweller]

vio inbox is full

 

[vio]

Thank You, let me now. Vio

 

[vio]

i got your Acrylic 4.500 x 48 1/8 x 1/4 ( 2 ) call me.

 

[vio]

So , how is the cover ? Works for u. ?! Post some pics. Please.

 

[troywalkerphoto]

Great DIY solution!

 

[Cave Dweller]

Sorry for the delays everyone. Been working late and haven't had too much time to work on it. Am kind of hitting a wall in terms of how I want the wiring to go now. My original plan was to have 1 tube mounted in the center with both colors in it, but wanted to turn it into almost "bulbs'.

First off thanks gotta go to Vio for hooking me up with 4' pieces of acrylic to use as a splash guard.



Original setup with 1 tube.


The general idea was to hang the units from the ends like such.



Gave in and bought a small piece of acrylic that I could cut twice and make a 1" strip, to which I then used the adhesive from the strips itself, and some waterproof locktite along both sides to keep it on the strip. Main reason was to keep the tacky feeling waterproof coating from sticking to the tubes they are in and allows more air flow around them.


With each color in its own designated tube it would be something along the lines of this:


Only hard part is that the way it is wired is with the DC connectors so now I have to figure out how to run the wires. still a work in progress but have the original setup still on the tank while I work on the other half.

 

[vio]

nice i love it.