looking for Moonlight parts

[aaron]

I was thinking of making up a couple of LED moonlights after reading about them in Reef Central DIY pages. Does anyone know where to pick up the electrical components? and perhaps get a little bit of wiring advice? In my experience the people in Radio shack dont know much more than how to sell you a cell phone. Does anyone know of a helpful / knowledgeable RS store or some place similar?

 

[House of Laughter]

Aaron,

Someone on this board not too long ago did their own lights - not sure if they bought them or built them - try searching for Moonlights or LEDs and see what that brings - I would offer to help as I do many DIY things for my tank - unfortunately, electricity and I don't get along

I'll keep my eyes open and if I see anything I'll let you know - also, did you see if anyone on ebay was selling them?

House

 

[FRY]

i did my own moonlight made a strip 36 inches long,cut 3 pieces of plexeglass 3/4 x 36 glue them to make a U ,mounted leds inside of U did wiring on top ,what info u need.let me see if i can show a picthure

 

[FRY]

i did my own moonlight made a strip 36 inches long,cut 3 pieces of plexeglass 3/4 x 36 glue them to make a U ,mounted leds inside of U did wiring on top ,what info u need.let me see if i can show a picthure

 

[aaron]

I think I'm fairly clear on the construction side, my biggest problem is just finding a place to buy the parts - resistors etc. My local Radio shack is full of morons who dont know anything about electronics and while they have the dislay drawers to put all the electical components they are all empty.

 

[[JWS]wasabi]

I actually went to ikea 2 weeks ago to get stuff for my house, they have this LED light fixture for 12$ that is basically 10 blue/white leds that are all wired up already. Its supposed to be a hanging light type thing, but I threw out the metal frame your supposed to hang it on and stapled it into my canopy with a dimmer switch.. totally works for me. It provides a nice diffuse glow and cant be beat for the price. I will try to figure out what the name of it is from my recipt, I didnt see it on their site...
BlarFunKwaqul or OopaJig something... I hate Ikea names.

 

[lazyreefer]

i think you can get all the stuff you need on ebay. look under LED lights. they are popular for the car application... if you decide to get some wanna split? i think rebels23 made some some time ago not too sure.

 

[Rebels23]

Hey Aaron,

Do a search on EBAY for LEDs. There is a guy that sells them in lots of 50s and 100s for dirt cheap (the ultra bright ones). They are pretty easy to wire up. I went to radio shack, and bought some resistors and wires and wired up a test proto-type one.

They are relatively easy to wire up. After I set up my tank with my ca reactor, I am going to try to do a refugium light with close to 100 white LEDs (you will need a hefty transformer for that many). Just remember Ohm's Law, V(Voltage) = I(Current) X R(Resistance). Wasabi had a great suggestion also with Ikea. If it is cheap enough and does the job, why not??
HTH

Rebels23

 

[aaron]

I think i am heading out to ikea some time soon so if you can come up with the name of those LED lights i'd really apreciate it.
Cheers

 

[Pedro]

I went to home depot and picked up one of those temporary light sockets, the rubber ones. I cut a hole in the canopy and glued it in place. The just connect a cord to it and a timer. I use 7watt blue bulbs. Works great for me, i like it. Very cheap too.

 

[FRY]

aaron how many leds are u looking for

 

[aaron]

I bought 1 on canal street and tried it out. It was a bit too subtle so I' m just looking for two or three more. They're for a small tank i have in the living room (15 gal) I wanted the moonlight so when people come over late at night they can still check out the tank after the fish have gone to bed.

 

[[JWS]wasabi]

i dont have the ikea name for the light, but if you go and find the section in the lighting department with all they hanging pendant lights, thats where i found the hanging LED array.

They are 12 leds in a parallel array, each one is glued inside a 1"x2" piece of acryllic. I think you could remove the acryllic, but I left it in place since it diffuses the light quite well.

I get a nice ambient blue glow from above.. no real hard shadows in the tank at all.

 

[marrone]

wasabi

Here's Ikea web site can you point out the one that you purchased. I don't see any with LED lights listed.


http://www.ikea-usa.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10101&storeId=12&categoryId=10448&langId=-1&parentCats=10111*10448&chapterId=10450&cattype=sub

 

[[JWS]wasabi]

I already tried to find it on there for ya. its not listed on their site or in the catalog, they have a bunch of stuff at the stores that never makes it to the catalog or web.

 

[FRY]

i can give you 2 or 3 leds

 

[FRY]

i can give you 2 or 3 leds

 

[aaron]

That would be great, how much do you want for them?
where abouts in brooklyn are you?

 

[FRY]

in greenpoint ill give them to you

 

[aaron]

Sorry i havent written back, I have a sick fish and between that and trying to set up the new tank and get some real work done I have been swamped.
I am in Park Slope, are you ever down this way?