DIY Moonlights

[Zprface]

I would like to make my own LED moonlights.  There is an older post on another forum, but I was curious if anyone here had ever tried it.  I have almost all of the parts I need so far.  If anyone can offer their insight, it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

 

Linda

[ctreptow]

Hi Linda

 

I have done this before and it worked great. I purchased Blue LEDs from an online store and wired them up around the inside of my canopy. I used a 12 volt transformer from an old cell phone.

 

Since then I have found it to be more cost effective and safer to just purchase the LED lights from Autolumination and wire them into the transformer.

 

Autolumination

 

Chris

[xeon]

If you check my picture gallery, I have a picture of my moonlights in my tank.  I use four 10K mcd blue LEDs.  They were too bright... so I also added a 1500 ohm wire wound pot so I can dim them.  On the power side I use a 4.5V DC transformer.  IMO, using a smaller supply voltage is more efficient in my application.  The generic specs of blue LEDs are in the 30ma/3.5 - 4V range.  Mine are in parallel, which puts equal voltage to each.  

 

As far as figuring out what to do, you need to figure out what the LED specs are.  Then you need to decide how many you plan on using.  Then I would decide whether it would make better sense to wire them in series or parallel w/ whatever power supplies you have on hand.  You could even run a combo circuit, ie. two parallel runs w/ three in series on each parallel leg.  You might try google and search for "LED calculator".  I know I have seen one before... you feed in your specs, supply power and it will spit out what resistor values you should use.

[Zprface]

Thanks for replies.  I am new at this.  I had a tank around 20 years ago, but it's an entirely different animal now!  I have everything except for the resistors.  Those I can get for 99 cents at RS.  I didn't buy their LED's  because 1- they were out & 2- they were 3.29 each.  I bought a hundred for $30.  It was the principal of the thing! [crzy] .  I am planning on using three & wiring them parallel.  I'll try it this week.  Hopefully, I won't burn the house down.

 

Thanks again.

 

Linda

[ctreptow]

No Problem

 

12 Volt very safe and the most you can do is blow out some LEDs. If you have 30 LEDs you have some to spare. When you're done you'll love it.

 

Chris

[mogurnda]

Sorry to break in, but why not use red LEDS, to disturb the critters a little less? Many of our pets see very well in the blue range, but a lot of the inverts can't see red.

[pez]

Blue is more like moon light that red.  Especially at 10 meters down.

 

Are you refering to the first fixture on the page?  How bright are these?  Do you need more than one or two?

 

http://autolumination.com/fixtures.htm

 

-Tom

[xeon]

Pez,

I imagine the page should list specs somewhere.  The spec for brightness is mcd or millicandela/s.  I used 10000 mcd and they are too bright, so I added a dimmer.    

 

The other spec to look at is the view angle.  LED's produce light in a cone.  The view angle is the measurement of this.  So if you you use a single LED with a 30 degree view angle and shown it directly down in your tank.... you would have a light path following a 30 degree cone from the LED.  In my toying, I found that bouncing the LEDs off of my reflector at an angle breaks up the spotlight effect.

[ctreptow]

As for the Autolumination lights I use 2 3 led fixtures over my 75. It gives it a nice glos but not too light.

 

Chris

[flowerseller]

I used to have a red bulb in my canopy 15 years ago. It was neat. With the main lights out and the red light was on, it was just like another whole tank. The nocturnal inhabitants were non the less wiser and went about business as usual thinking they were in the dark.

I think I'll put one in again just for kicks since I'm not after a moon effect.

[pez]

Xeon,

 

I have no concept of how bright a mcd is.  It's like saying a 100 liter tank - I have to convert it to gallons to get some concept (d*mn english system).  I suppose there is a way to equate it to a normal incandescent lamp.  Perhaps I'll do a web search.

 

 

On an related note, anyone with an electronic controller can get fancy with the day/night cycles.  An item like an AquaController combined with one of these gadgets could control the entire daylight and moonlight cycle.  I know a number of people who do this.  The only potential downside is having your corals spawn in concert with the mass spawning event on the GBR.

 

-Tom

[xeon]

This probably will not clarify much, but here is the official spec of "millicandela" and "candela" from a reference book.

 

MCD is short for millicandela, where a candela is defined as the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 x 1012 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.

 

How's that for an answer, LOL?  Originally the measurement was the amount of light given off by a candle at the flame.  Since candles aren't an exact measurement, they came up with the little diddy above.  So my 10 candela (10K mcd) LEDs at the point of light are the equivelant of 10 candles... or 10 of the definition above at full rated potential.  It is kind of convulated even with the definition.  The "Dave" definition of 10K mcd LEDs is - don't look directly into them if you do not want to hurt your eyes or see spots.      

 

For our purposes, I think something around 6000 mcd would work.  Brightness or the lack of brightness can be subjective.  I used 10K mcd LEDs and threw a 1500 ohm wire wound pot into the mix so I could dim it as needed.  Too bright can be fixed easily with no damage to the LED.