night light for nite life

[pendragon]

So i got this idea that things happen in the dark when im not looking....so i wanted to see my reef at night.

 

my friend and i made a red bulb to view at night. Now i have a very small tank ( 4 gal) and the hood is already packed iwth two 13 watters. so here are the materials:

 

 

a red led turn signal bulb ( the kind import cars use for there car)

a 12v converter ( radio shack item for less than$20)

solder and wires.

 

solder one wire on converter to bottom of led then solder one line to the side of bulb.

 

plug in and you got yourself a mini nite light for your nano. i wil get pics for this soon.

:smile:

[Jefe12234]

LED's? Really? I guess I've never replaced a turn signal bulb so I don't know what they are. Do all cars use them, or is it just a fancy import thing?

 

Also, are they really bright? Do you think you could use a standard LED from Radio Shack, or would it be dimmer than the car LED?

 

I'd like to see what's goin on in my tank too.

 

-Chris

[tlyee63]

great idea!!!

I as about to add a nite light to my nano and also dont have room.try checking out --http//www.hosfelt.com/

they have 12 v converters for like 5 bucks and even more for less than $10

[tlyee63]

they have super bright LEDS but most run at 1.5 to 3 volts so either find a low voltage adapter or run some in

series to get yur voltage from the adapter 1.5 +1.5= 3 etc.etc

[pendragon]

hey ylee63,

 

yeah the led light i got is a fancy import thing, if you go to nopi.com or som other import car store site they sould have it. its really bright and compact. this night light is so cool. My lionfish only really comes out at night so i get to see him be very active at nite.

 

if you use the one for a car, it runs 12 v so it is hella bright. :smile:

[Hopsing]

SWEET!  Great Idea Pendragon...Hey, If I go to pep boys and by a little blue one...i just hook up the bulb to the transformer and set it to like 3w?  That's it?  I'm gonna try it tonight!

[pendragon]

it should indicate on the package as to what the voltage is, use that as your guide. solder and plug in. thats it. just a note, i used red because, i think, animalscant see the red color so they think they are in the dark. heheheheh hide and go seek.

 

good luck and tell me how it goes.:smile:

[khurley]

Here is a link to some plans that have already been tried to use LED's for a night light.  I had bookmarked these for a rainy day, but haven't tried them myself yet.

 

http://www.csdco.com/~cgadd/aqua/art_nightlight.htm

[NanoReefer53]

I have some blue LEDs from my brother's computer case modding. Guess what, they're rated at 420nm too =D. I plan on going to get a resistor (have plenty) and hook it up to a 3v AC adapter. Sounds good ? Hopefully it will be able to light my 20gal enough at nite to view the tank

[tlyee63]

L.E.D s dont run on a/c voltage  d/c  only, just trying to make sure you dont destroy anything you dont have to

[NanoReefer53]

lol...thanks

 

i'm not really sure how to hook them up to my power sockets in the wall though. I only know how to hook em up to my computer. Any suggestions ?

[flaunt]

you just need a a/c to d/c transformer

[tlyee63]

Yeah you need a 12 dc power supply to power your LEDs .try hosfelt .com for power supply their really cheap over there,dont know how to convert milli amps though I dont think it"s 1000 milli's to 1 amp

[lizbeth]

I'll tell ya what I'm going to try when I get my tank set up. Christmas lights, a string of those little ones. I have some Holloween lights that the bulbs are purple, red and green........I might do something with them.

[pendragon]

thats not a bad idea.

:smile:

[gt3073b]

I used one of those Indiglo night lights from KMart. Got it for about $2 and it works great. Puts a nice creepy blue glow in the tank.

[linty]

You can buy red LED bulbs from

http://www.emergi-lite.com/en/catalogue/exitopt.html

 

they aren't too bright, but it they can fit in a normal (incandescent) fixture.  There are about 30 LEDS per 5 watt bulb

[tlyee63]

go with ultra bright l.e.d's .just got my catalog from hosfelt.com and they sell ultra for under $2 each ,dont

know how bright 10,000mcd are, but think every 1k

equals 1 candle power,gonna order some with a power supply for under 10 dollars, once  I figure how bright

ths relates to those micro flashlights for key chains

[linty]

yeah, but some of those LED bulbs are 30 ultra bright LEDS AND you can put them right into a normal socket.  Er...they changed the webpage though, I don't know if you can still order them.

[SpongeBob]

thats a good idea pendragon.  I was just recently thinking about a night light for my tank.  I was thinking about that new INDIGLO brand lightlight that they sell for use in dark hallways.  I dont know if youve seen one before but they are really neat.  I think It would be the perfect amount of light for nightime.  I just need to rig up an ac plug in my lighthood.  Im planning on leaving it on day and night.  (no need for an ON/OFF switch since it uses .03 watts, thats like 2.4 cents a year)  I cant wait to build it.  If it works out nicely Ill take a picture and post it.  K c ya.

[linty]

I'd imagine that there may be a true advantage to using red as pendragon suggested as opposed to the indiglo green, since the creatures in your reef are adapted to an environment where almost all the light available to them is in the upper spectrum they probably don't even have the means to detect red light.  

[Kapelakin]

I agree with linty.  You definitely want to look for a red light for nighttime viewing, because the whole point is to have a light we can see but the critters can't.  Otherwise we'd just use our actinics.