# DIY LED lighting



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

For this DIY project I decided to make my own set of LED lights with moon lights for my tank. I wanted to see how cheaply I could make it. After some research on the net I found a way to do just that. I will layout the whole design in the up coming posts with pix's


----------



## livefishcam (Nov 7, 2010)

i did a nice project with some blue led lights for my tank. cost just £6 and wired into my iobridge web interface device so people can control via my website. 

take a look at Live Fish Cam Aquarium | Under Water CCTV, Webcam, Film and Cameras | Big Brother Style FishCam TV 

you can turn the led night light on using the button above the live webcam feed of my fish tank.


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Its not too hard to do if you have basic electrical knowledge or simply research it. You can use regular old LED if you just want to light the tank. For plants though LEDs get really complicated. Also if you are doing a larger tank they do not work very well over depth. Cold cathodes are a better option, but provide a light blue light then most blue moonlights.


----------



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

Sorry for the delay in getting this DIY LED lights done and documented. I had just got a new tank started and needed a light for it. I really liked the look of LED’s but didn’t have the money for one. So I started to look around to see what my options were. After a couple days of research I found a person that had done one with Christmas lights to get the moon lighting. I thought about it and researched some more about Christmas LED lights. This is what I’ve found


1. If you have live plants *DO NOT USE THIS TYPE OF LIGHT!!!*
2. Christmas LED lights are easily found and are easy on the pockets
3. This is a easy DIY project that I feel anyone can do.
4. If you have live plants *DO NOT USE THIS TYPE OF LIGHT!!!*
5. Good thing I don’t have live plants!!!!

What you need for this job is a piece of 1.5” pvc pipe cut to length to fit your tank
A jig saw
A drill and drill bit (I found a drill bit that was the perfect size and I didn’t need glue)
Christmas LED lights make sure to use indoor/outdoor lights not just indoor lights.(I used 100 white and 100 blue)








I got these for $12.00 each










and some glue. Hot glue is the best ( I glued my finger to the PVC on a test run!!)
Start out by cutting your 1.5” pvc pipe in half. It doesn’t have to be perfect 









You can use 3m adhesive glue and put some aluminum foil shinny side out to act as a reflector.
Before youstart drilling your holes put two lights together and measure across them
to see just how close you can place them.On these lights I drilled my holes 1/4 inch apart. Use your imagination 
(I put a piece of tape down the center and drilled on either side then went down the center)









Start putting your lights in (I will try to get the size of the drill bit it made it so easy to install without having to glue)

make sure that you install your lights so that your plugs come out at the same end.

I had hoped to use my old lid from my other light but it will not fit. I will have to get a piece of the plastic gutter and see how that fits

I will run two timers one for day, one for moon, and then of course the off time 

I hope that you found this useful. I love the way it came out. 

Here are the rest of the picts of the finished light (minus the hood)
















The above picture was taken at night with the flash off on my camera

















after seeing just how bright the blue LED were I could have gotten away with a strand of 50 or 60 instead of 100 and it doesn't create heat !!!

now I'm sure I forgot something but please tell me what you think. I will answer your questions about this DIY build to the best of my abilities


----------



## zof (Apr 23, 2010)

Oh my god, look at that wire nest!!! Interesting concept you got going there


----------



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

zof: hehe yeah its quite the nest of wires. I hope to get to the hardware store soon to get it covered up.


----------



## FiatBen (Sep 18, 2010)

*Can you explain*

why you warn against using this setup with live plants?


----------



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

Ben, I've been told by several sources and other web sites that the these type of led lights do not work in the correct wave length for proper plant growth. among others


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Yes the common little (5mm) are crap for growing plants, for various reason. When using LED's to grow plants, super high powered 3 watt LEDs are used. These things are a whole different ball game then little LEDs. They are powered differently, produce considerable amount of heat, are expensive, and some other stuff.

Honestly, no insult intended, but I don't feel this is a good way to go. $12 for LED moonlights is expensive to me. IDK what size tank you are lighting either or how bright it really is in person. For me a 15 gallon tank(2x1x1) took 4 good quality component LEDs to light it. Wire is cheap to come by in this house. The 5mm LEDs themselves costed 60 cents. Then maybe a dollar for resistors and $5 for a decent phone charger to run them off of. Then its just some time, tape, and know-how. IMO anytank deeper then 1 foot or longer then 30" you should just use cold cathodes. Adjustable cold cathode moonlighting on my 55gallon costed $17 maximum, requires less work then the LEDs, but still need to splice and connect a couple wires.


----------



## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

while i appreciate that things could be done differently IMHO i think this is a great DIY and i am glad it got entered in the contest!!!. its really fits for what a lot of folks are trying to do out there... i agree with you Ram that perhaps a rain gutter cover would clean up the look a bit.. but other wise well done!!! 

oh on a quick side note there is nothing wrong with a healthy conversation where folks present both sides and nothing wrong with two or more DIY projects covering the same topic with differing approaches... at this time the conversation seems to be bread from varying perspectives and that is great!!! be aware however that this should not turn into a flaming of the OP....


----------



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

Mikaila: First none taken, This project was done in a effort to offer something that I felt the masses could do. I do know that with the LED lights you talk about would require some solder, an iron and some know how in electronics. If you were to do just the 4 or 5 moon lights then it would be easy to wire up with very little work but anyone who would try it would have to understand the placement of the resisters, serial, and/or parallel configurations. Now when going into a much larger configuration such as this project with 200 LED's it is worth the extra cost to have that wiring done if the Person doing it doesn't understand resisters, Ohm's law, etc. that way they don't not have to worry about it. Now you can also go to ebay and find the LED lights in 100 count strands for under $5.00.(it can also take up to a month to get them) I could have went that way but I like to support my local small town hardware store. It's up to the person doing the project to decide if it is worth it to them. this project may not be to your standards or done the way you would do it but to others it may be right up their alley.

I also want to thank you for posting and I hope you have a wonderful day!!!


----------



## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

i think moonlights in general are bad for live plants, it kills their dark ours and they dont grow properly. I think you should leave the wirenest... looks kinda like your growing a curly chia-pet on top of the light fixture... I really like this project.

I would like to ask a question though, if one of the leds burn out, how do you replace it without taking everything apart? I feel like pulling one light up to change will make u pull out several and then you gotta put em all back in... etc.

And an upgrade tip, if you line the pvc with aluminum foil, or any other shiney reflector-like material, you could have probably gotten away with less LEDs for more light. White surfaces are good, but metallic ones are better. Also with the foil, you can get the ripply water effect, <-- i dont know what its actually called, but u see them in pools in bright sunlight...

I think i will be adding a smaller version of this project to my to-do list... maybe like 3 leds for my 1g tank. Does anyone know where individual LEDs can be bought? and how to wire them?


----------



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

SinCrisis: there are 3 inches between each light so its not hard to pull one and replace the led. It plugs in the same way as the older Christmas lights. I had to pop a few when i started and I just used a small pick that I have to push it back out. It works great. I have a site I like to use to run calculations with and it shows some of the basics of wiring them up. If you would like I could send you a link in PM. If you are only doing 3 it will be super easy. The power source and resisters will be determined by the type of LED's you chose. 
I'm sure between myself and many others on here we can help you get it done

Yeah I don't have a reasonable answer as to why I didn't use the foil. I knew about it but when I was working on it I just forgot about it. :roll:


----------



## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

Ohh that link would be great, please PM it to me.


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

ram50 said:


> Mikaila: First none taken, This project was done in a effort to offer something that I felt the masses could do. I do know that with the LED lights you talk about would require some solder, an iron and some know how in electronics. If you were to do just the 4 or 5 moon lights then it would be easy to wire up with very little work but anyone who would try it would have to understand the placement of the resisters, serial, and/or parallel configurations. Now when going into a much larger configuration such as this project with 200 LED's it is worth the extra cost to have that wiring done if the Person doing it doesn't understand resisters, Ohm's law, etc. that way they don't not have to worry about it. Now you can also go to ebay and find the LED lights in 100 count strands for under $5.00.(it can also take up to a month to get them) I could have went that way but I like to support my local small town hardware store. It's up to the person doing the project to decide if it is worth it to them. this project may not be to your standards or done the way you would do it but to others it may be right up their alley.
> 
> I also want to thank you for posting and I hope you have a wonderful day!!!


Thats fine if people want to use this method. But how big is this tank? Moonlights IMO are suppose to be dim enough to still allow the fish to sleep. Brighter ones can be used you just need to make sure your fish do have a period to sleep. Also I am much too lazy to even use the cordless iron we have. I believe in the power of tape and hot glue!



SinCrisis said:


> i think moonlights in general are bad for live plants, it kills their dark ours and they dont grow properly.?


Moonlights won't hurt live plants at all. They probably won't even notice the light. Wild plants grow under the moon just fine...


----------



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

its a 29 gal tank. the moon lights are on a timer along with the other lights. they get white light for about 12 hours then get moon lights for about 4 hours then it all shuts down untill the next cycle starts. I do think that 100 blue led was too much. It's something that I learned after the fact. I really didn't expect them to be so bright. If it was a larger tank they may be fine. On this 29 I think the blues are too bright. If I was to do it over I would go with a strand of 50 or 60 blues


----------



## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

question - could a strand be cut shorter? and capped off on the cut ends? just asking


----------



## shadetreeme (Oct 11, 2010)

Here is a PIC of my DIY led setup.... cost .... under $5
Picasa Web Albums - brian.n.phone - 2010-11-29


----------



## redchigh (Jan 20, 2010)

Bearwithfish-
Yep. 


Also, the real funny thing about those lights, is that it actually IS fairly close to one of the spectrums for plants. 440nm (blue) is one of the frequencies in the highest demand for photosynthesis. Of course, there are several other frequencies that you need (660 being another important one.) to balance it... If you have too much red, blue, green, or orange, then algae takes over.

Just wanted to correct it.


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

shadetreeme said:


> Here is a PIC of my DIY led setup.... cost .... under $5
> Picasa Web Albums - brian.n.phone - 2010-11-29


Which I find kinda amusing considering the cost of the camera you used to take a picture of it;-)


----------



## badxgillen (Aug 20, 2010)

*light*

can you please show us how to make a $17 LED light...i would be ever so greatfull...i know you said its simple splicing of wires but could you elaborate...


----------



## shadetreeme (Oct 11, 2010)

OK guys here is a cheap setup..........
Computer power supply( I happen to have an old one layin around)
Used FOXLINK FTPS-0302 350W ATX Computer Power Supply for Dell Compaq HP Replacement-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com $5.99 plus shipping
This unit has a 12v 15Amp plug.... more than enough to run several LEDs

LED lights
Logisys Light and Case Accesories-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com
Lots of options including
Logisys Lazer LED for Computer Case-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com
which is what I used

As you can see there are many options including UV or even a 48" led strip for $29.99.... all designed to plug into the computer power supply.

PS Mikaila31..... That cam is like 4 years old , but still takes good pics...oh ....and ..... :tongue: LOL


----------



## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

shadetreeme said:


> OK guys here is a cheap setup..........
> Computer power supply( I happen to have an old one layin around)
> Used FOXLINK FTPS-0302 350W ATX Computer Power Supply for Dell Compaq HP Replacement-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com $5.99 plus shipping
> This unit has a 12v 15Amp plug.... more than enough to run several LEDs
> ...


Yeah can't beat cold cathodes. I suggest a 12 inch tube for every 2 feet of fish tank. I have the exact same two items. Though the dual 12" logisys cold cathodes you can get a lot cheaper. I just use regular ac/dc converters to run them. If you use the universal converters you can actively dim the lights. I had kinda a crazy span with these lights. Like my junior or senior year in high school. My car was my unfortunate victim:lol:. I have $50 of blue cold cathodes and those same lazer lights. They are completely wired in to my car's interior and electrical system. I did do a good job though. You can't see anything unless its night. They also run through those sound controllers so the whole thing can turn into a disco if I want it too lol. I won't lie though the whole effect may be a bit silly, my footwell lights are always on(normal on, not flashy). I find the blue light relaxing when driving at night. Those things are cheap but reliable. They have been in there 3 years and work just great. I do need to undo some stuff. Like EVERY light inside that car is blue and I can't give a real rational reason to why I did it. Original my icky green gauge lights bothered me so those were extracted and replaced with blue LEDs, but then that lead to the cold cathodes and even my dome and map lights are blue. My car is red on the outside:tongue: . 

Enjoy your camera. I wish it was mine. I still love my Panasonic lumix and can do some great photography with it IMO, but its no SLR.


----------



## shadetreeme (Oct 11, 2010)

New led setup for my 125. I have NO idea how this is possible but.... 48 LED Blue Flexible Strip Waterproof Car Light Bulb - eBay (item 300431074013 end time Jan-20-11 09:05:06 PST)

Its true the 2 led strips shipped to my house from China were $5.90, and they are awsome. I ordered 3 more sets today.
I looked through "that box" and found the power supply for an old bluetooth that puts out 12V and I was in business.

I cut strips od double faced tape and stuck the LED strips to my light housing.










Drilled a small hole for the wire it com out.










Wired it to the DC power supply and plugged it in....










Then I turned out the lights to really check it out. Total cost.... under 6 bucks!!!


----------



## ram50 (Sep 21, 2010)

you know I am glad that my little light project has sparked such a thought process on this DIY project. It just proves that there is more than one way to complete a project and many different items that can be used. It great to see all the info and ideas. Keep it up guys/girls


----------

