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LED Fuge Light - DIY


doncb

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I've been wanting to light bay 2 as a fuge but wasn't happy with the thought of putting a PC in the back with the possible heat issues, light spill over, etc. So I built an LED aray of 21 11,000mcd whites, 2 430nM & 2 468nM LED's. I mounted them on a circuit board blank (Radio Shack) and then sealed it inside a clear acrilic box (Container Store). I mounted the box to a piece of plexiglass I had painted (black on top and white epoxy on the bottom). I'm using a 30vdc power supply from an old printer. Within a couple of days, my Cheato had turned from a pale green to a dark green. No heat issues either.

 

Here it is from the top. No light spill over either! Slips in and out easily.

DSC01386.jpg

 

Here is the bottom. I painted the circuit board too.

DSC01387.jpg

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Originally posted by artarmon42

That is very nice!

What was the final total cost?

Any before and after shots of the Chaeto?

 

Didn't think to take any pics of the Cheato. Definately a dark green now though!

 

Costs: LED's - 50 for $7.99 from besthongkong on ebay (used 21); circuit board from RS - $2.00 for 2 (1.5" x 1.5"); Power supply - had it lying around. Plexiglass - $5.00 10" x 12" piece (used 3.25 x 6"); box .59.

 

I like the way it looks "built-in" and it slips in/out real easy. Totally sealed so salt isn't a problem. And since I'm not overdriving the LED's heat isn't an issue.

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artarmon42

Do you have the LEDs in series or parallel?

I don't remember much from my electronics days, but do you need some kind of resistor to make sure the voltage (or was that amp?) ratings aren't exceeded?

 

Love the "slide in" look.

PM me if you're interested in custom making one for my 12G :)

Or (if you're like me and) don't want the hassle, gimme your circuitry plans :P

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Originally posted by artarmon42

Do you have the LEDs in series or parallel?

I don't remember much from my electronics days, but do you need some kind of resistor to make sure the voltage (or was that amp?) ratings aren't exceeded?

 

Love the "slide in" look.

PM me if you're interested in custom making one for my 12G :)

Or (if you're like me and) don't want the hassle, gimme your circuitry plans :P

 

Since I am using a 30vdc power supply I wired 5 LED's in series and wired the 5 groups in parallel. You don't need a resistor for every LED or LED series. I used a pot for the entire circuit. The blue rectangle is a 15 turn 1K ohm pot 1.5amp rating. The positive goes through the pot to the LED's. The rows all connect to the pos. & neg. on each side of the board. The circuit board is a Radio Shack 276-148. 2 to a pack & they snap apart. Solder pads on the back.

 

Looks like this:

 

|--LED---LED---LED---LED---LED---|

|--LED---LED---LED---LED---LED---|

|--LED---LED---LED---LED---LED---|

|--LED---LED---LED---LED---LED---|

|--LED---LED---LED---LED---LED---|

|-------POT------POS..30VDC.NEG--|

 

 

On the top pic you'll notice a "clip" on the right. This is 2 pieces of plexiglass superglued to the main piece. The main piece slides under the rear lip. The left end rests on the divider between bay 1 & 2. The clip holds the right end in place. The plexi doesn't have to be as long as I made mine but I wanted to be sure to trap the light. With the LED's being so low and directional I'm sure it could be shorter. I hot glued the circuit board in the lid of the box and sealed the box w/ nail polish. There is absolutely no light getting into the main tank and no heat generated.

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artarmon42

Questions:

1) Why have a pot at all? Would a variable voltage adapter work instead?

2) How did you figure the 5 in series bit. Sorry, really rusty with my electronics... what's the formula that tells you to put 5 in series?

3) If I recall LEDs have a small spread of light. Do you think putting "blinders" (such as shading the sides of the box) will prevent light spillage sideways? If I put your mod over chamber 1, will that stop light from going back out over the grate?

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Originally posted by artarmon42

Questions:

1) Why have a pot at all? Would a variable voltage adapter work instead?

2) How did you figure the 5 in series bit. Sorry, really rusty with my electronics... what's the formula that tells you to put 5 in series?

3) If I recall LEDs have a small spread of light. Do you think putting "blinders" (such as shading the sides of the box) will prevent light spillage sideways? If I put your mod over chamber 1, will that stop light from going back out over the grate?

 

1) The pot (or resistor) is mainly a current limiting device. You generally want to run the LED's @ 20mA. Running over this will give a brighter light but reduces the life. See # 2 for an additional reason why a variable voltage adapter won't work.

 

2) To figure how many LED's you can run in series, take the operating voltage and devide the power supply output by this. 12vdc / 3.5 = 3.4 so you can only have 3 LED's in series on a 12vdc supply. 30vdc / 3.5 = 8.4. I used 5 since that was how many I could fit in a row on the board. Note, this only affects the # you can have in series. The total # is limited by the amp rating of the power supply.

 

3) LED's generally have an angle of 15 to 20 degrees. I thought about painting the sides of the box but decided I didn't need to since I was mounting it over bay 2. You might need some type of additional baffle to block the light if you put it in bay 1.

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Hey doncb -

 

I'm working on one of these LED Fuge light / covers for my 24 Gallon Nano. I've got the plexi cut and glued together. I was wondering what you used to paint your plexi? If you could pass on the name / brand / where you bought it / etc. that would be really helpful.

 

Cheers -

sNEIRBO

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The black is gloss black enamel. The white is gloss white appliance epoxy. Regular gloss white enamel would work too. Just be sure to let the paint dry well. I did go over the plexi with some steel wool to take the gloss off for better adhesion.

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Thanks! I wasn't sure if it was ok to put regular spray paint on there since it might get exposed to the water. Home Depot sells a Plastic Primer for better adhesion of the enamels. I too scuffed up the plexi. I sanded down the cut edges and while I was at it I scuffed up the surface. I'll post pictures of my final product along with costs when it's complete. I've made some further modifications to your modification. :pirate:

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Originally posted by sNEIRBO

Thanks!  I wasn't sure if it was ok to put regular spray paint on there since it might get exposed to the water.  Home Depot sells a Plastic Primer for better adhesion of the enamels.  I too scuffed up the plexi.  I sanded down the cut edges and while I was at it I scuffed up the surface.  I'll post pictures of my final product along with costs when it's complete.  I've made some further modifications to your modification.  :pirate:

 

Look forward to the pics. That's one of the neat things about this forum and sharing ideas. Someone can take an idea and improve on it.

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wannabeafarmer

Hey, slick mod!

 

Sorry to but in, but I am an electronics dum-dum...but I would like to do something like this for my AC500 Fuge on my 10 gallon.

 

The area I need to light is 9" x 4". How many leds do you think I would need, and what type of resistor/pot(??? don't even really know what that is!???).

 

Right now I've got a 8" 4 watt t5 lighting the fuge, but the light bleed is horrible.

 

Any help from you electronic gurus would be extremely appreciated!

 

Thanks,

 

John

 

---Edit--- Sorry to post a non-Nanocube ? in the Nanocube area...

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Originally posted by wannabeafarmer

Hey, slick mod!

 

 

Thanks,

 

John

 

---Edit---  Sorry to post a non-Nanocube ? in the Nanocube area...

 

Well, we cubers don't discriminate against non-cubers! :D

 

I used 25 LED's to light a 3" x 3" area so I would probably use 75 LED's over 8". The resistor / pot (variable resistor) is used to limit the current / voltage to the LED's. If your power suppply is 12vdc and your LED opperates at 3.5vdc and you put 12volts through it, it will be very bright for a very short time. First you wire a certain number of LED's in series and then wire the series clusters in parallel. The number in series is determined by the supply voltage. For instance, @ 12vdc you can only have 3 LED's in series. That's why I used a 30vdc supply. The total number of LED's is determined by the current rating of the supply. Hope this helped. Oh, make sure you get at least 10,000mcd LED's so they are bright enough.

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If you're looking for someplace to buy LED Lights all ready setup and good to go, check out -

 

http://www.superbrightleds.com/other_bulbs.htm

 

Look about halfway down the page, and you'll see some square board LED lights. They have 24 or 36 Bulb lights available. I bought a 24 bulb for my Nano Cube, snipped off the connector and attached the wires to a 12VDC Adapter I had lying around the house (for an old Black & Decker battery charger I wasn't using). If you bought a couple of these LED Lights from this site I'm pretty sure you could hook 2 or 3 of them up to the same 12VDC Adapter and they'd work fine.

 

If you're looking for boxes to put the lights in, go to your local Staples or Office Max - check out the boxes for paper clips and thumb tacks. The lights at superbrightleds.com said that they're "weather proof", you might be able to get away with sticking them to the back of the plexi with some clear caulk. I didn't want to risk it so I caulked mine inside of a paper clip box I bought at a local $1 Store then caulked the box shut. I also scuffed up the cover of the box with some fine grit sand paper to diffuse the light.

 

If you're looking for paint that will stick well to plexi - Krylock sells a paint specifically for plastic called "Fusion". No primer needed - though I sanded down my plexi to scuff it up before painting.

 

I'd post pictures of what I did, but I can't figure out how to do that. Anyone who can tell me how to get photos posted I'd really appreciate!

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wannabeafarmer

So, would I use the same pot that you did, or would I have to use a different one with a larger array?

 

Thanks for all the help, guys...I think I'm starting to understand this!

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If you buy lights from superbrightleds.com, here's what you'd need to do -

 

1) order lights from website

2) find a 12VDC adapter (scrounge somthing from around the house, or go to Radio Shack and buy one)

3) Get your lights out of the mailbox when they get delivered

4) Cut the plug end off of the LED lights

5) Cut the end off of the 12VDC adapter

6) fish the wires through your plexi hood / sheild

7) connect the wires from the lights w/ the wires from the 12VDC adapter

8) plug in the adapter - good to go!

 

The only electric knowledge you need is how to cut, connect and tape wires. Everything is already done for you. Granted you're going to pay a little more, but for those of us who don't have degrees in electrical engineering you got to do what you got to do!

 

Cheers -

sNEIRBO

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I took me about 2 days of searching on the net to find that place! I was looking at trying to alter LED Stick Lights and all kinds of things until I stumbled upon that site. I thought it was great that they had exactly what I was looking for. I hope more people get some use out of it!

 

Let the "modding" begin!

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wannabeafarmer

Click here, then scroll down...

 

Looking at the "#Triple LED Dome & Utility Lights"

 

They are inexpensive, and supposedly completely waterproof...

 

I was thinking 3 would cover my AC500 fuge, mounted right inside the AC500 lid...just have to drill a small hole for the wires.

 

Anyone got any input?

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very cool. again, i wonder about the spectrum. why not just get the one with 24 leds inside? it says it has a 100 degree angle, which seems like it would work well

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wannabeafarmer

I thought multiples of the 3 led one might work better, because the lense of the light, if mounted on the inside of the AC500 fuge lid, will be right at water level...didn't know if I would get enough spread with only one big one in the center.

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