christmas moonlights?

[Mizuro Ami]

hey i was wondering if you could get a small portion of blue christmas decoration lights and use them as moonlights. it might be a cool thing to try out

 

[Ava_Banana]

You could..........although the thing that I would be worried about is that you would need to check the voltage of the lights...........and be very careful.

Some christmas lights are mains (240 volts in UK). I wouldn't like to mess around with those and water.

I put moonlights in recently by purchasing some blue LED's on ebay.

I connected up a transformer (mobile phone charger) which was putting out 9V to 5 LEDs in parallel and they work nicely.

 

[bunjiweb]

Interesting Ava_Banana, I was thinking of doing the same thing but with a 12V scanner adaptor! lol.

Any pics of it in action?

Ben

 

[Ava_Banana]

Ben.......it was a bit of an experiment, since I seem to just collect all these mobile phone chargers, and low voltage power supplies from old computer equipment.

The photos haven't come out very well of the moonlight, and I think I may have to use a different transformer as the one I have wired in on the moonlights is only a 9V whereas I could do with a 12V.

This is on the big window tank.

The light spreads further there as there is a greater distance between the gravel and the lights.

I find the LEDs are quite directional, in that they give a beam. I am going to buy a cold-cathode kit too to put on the other tank to see if I get a different effect.

At only a coupla quid the LEDs were worth buying just to play with them.

The cathode bits are pretty cheap too, so I will be doing the same...

 

[Nauplii]

i should put some LEDs on mi christmas list anyone? lol

 

[Ava_Banana]

Go on..........you know you want to:

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...5734340191&rd=1

 

[phillips321]

how did you wire this all up? anychance you can show us a diagram as im not too good with elctronics. what are the 470ohm things that come free in the above example

 

[smithrc]

how did you wire this all up? anychance you can show us a diagram as im not too good with elctronics. what are the 470ohm things that come free in the above example

if your not good with electronics have a look at using the cold cathode method - might suit you better (and provides an even spread of light)

 

[phillips321]

i will follow instructions pretty well, all i need to know is if they are wired in series or parrel (good old school days). The 470ohm thing, is this a resister, is it wired in before or after the LEDs?

forgot to ask,

will the UV ones you can get harm the fish? im new to keeping fish and want to get some of these LEDS, i would rather have the UV ones then the blue

 

[isu_guy]

I was thinking about doing something like this(the LEDs not the xmas lights) for my tank. I have a Black Ghost Knife (a nocternal fish) and although he is not super light shy, it would be nice to have more viewing time.

I was thinking though, which would be a better color, red or blue. Red has a lower wavelength, would that be less detectable to the fish.

(i realize that this might be better posted in the oddball due to the BGK, but figure i'm not too out of place here cause its about lights)

 

[Mizuro Ami]

LEDs would be easier to work with than xmas lights huh? i dont think im even gonna put moonlights on my tank.. maybe when i get a bigger one.. if i do try it out, i guess i'd go with the LEDs, dont want any risky hazards with high voltage xmas lights and water...

 

[daza]

here is a simple diagram for how to connect the LEDs up phillips321...

once you've stepped it down from the mains to about 12 volts by using a mains adaptor (they call them wall-warts in the US I think) it's pretty safe to play with (school stuff as you say) but still wouldn't do your fish any good to have stray electricity in the water so take care (common sense anyway I know).

I would wire the LEDs in parallel, that way if one blows the others will still work. Also, if it was wired in series then there would be a voltage drop across each one in the chain, meaning that they would get dimmer as they go along.

The resistors could go on the positive/anode end (as shown above) or could go the other side on the negative/cathode end. On the LED, the shorter leg is the cathode and the longer leg the anode. I would recommend heat shrink tubing or something over the soldered connections to protect from condensation.

I looked into doing this myself a little while ago but decided that it was cheaper the buy the ready made moonlight kits sold on ebay, which I will be doing soon.

Don't know about UV ones.

Mizuri Ami - I think it depends on what the voltage of the christmas lights are, and what there light output etc is as to whether they are better than LEDs. you could buy some LEDs knowing those things. Christmas tree lights, if 12V and gave a suitable light level, then yeah, they may well be easier because they are already wired.

 

[laggo]

Ava Banana - you say that you are going to buy a cold-cathode kit to try on your other tank. Well I bought a kit the other day off ebay for £15 - result below.

If you shop around a bit you would get the same cheaper.

 

[Ava_Banana]

Nicely explained daza...........could have done with that before I wired it up...........but that is what I ended up with .


And nice one laggo.........I didn't want to spend more than a fiver.....(skinflint me ) so will buy the bits separate and see what happens.

(Where in Essex are you ?)

 

[laggo]

Rayleigh