L.e.d Hood Lights

[adambrum]

Just a thought would it be possable to replace the strip lights with led lights i know this would need several hundred lights but i was thinking about using different colours to simulate sunrise sunset ect ie mixing red with yellow then fadeing the red out and adding white i would be using a plc or some sort of control card to control the lights ( i can bug the techs at work to help ) this is for acichlid tank so plants are not an issue.

 

[scubadoo]

I guess that anything's possible if you set your mind and wallet to work on it.

Biorb have a system like this on a very small scale for their aquaria, but I have no idea how you upscale it to a big tank.

 

[boshank23]

it has been done, i have seen a tank with LED lights. im pretty sure there were close to 200 LED's perhaps more. was on another fish forum i wont post the link but if you want it PM me

 

[hoarp001]

LED technology is pretty advanced now. They have really really super duper bright LEDS now.

Afew years ago i made an LED system for my room, it was pretty cheap and was quite phsycodelic.

what you do, is get some cable trunking from BandQ. This is a long plastic gutter with a snap on cover to hide cables. Make sure you get one that dosnt have sticky pads on the back.

Using a very small drill or a needle or something, poke holes for all your LEDs in the back of the trunking. Push the LED legs through, adding a blob of CA gel or super glue. Make sure you get the polarity round the right way (meaning all the positive legs (the long ones) are all on the same side) now you just bend the legs out inside the trunking, then start at o ne end working down and solder a copper wire onto each leg. You can light them with a 12 or 9v transformer, just make sure you get one meaty enough for all your LEDs.

Snap the top back on, and put sticky pads or screws into it to fix it to the inside of the lid.

It will cost you about 20 quid all in all....

 

[raptorrex]

LED technology is pretty advanced now. They have really really super duper bright LEDS now.

Afew years ago i made an LED system for my room, it was pretty cheap and was quite phsycodelic.

what you do, is get some cable trunking from BandQ. This is a long plastic gutter with a snap on cover to hide cables. Make sure you get one that dosnt have sticky pads on the back.

Using a very small drill or a needle or something, poke holes for all your LEDs in the back of the trunking. Push the LED legs through, adding a blob of CA gel or super glue. Make sure you get the polarity round the right way (meaning all the positive legs (the long ones) are all on the same side) now you just bend the legs out inside the trunking, then start at o ne end working down and solder a copper wire onto each leg. You can light them with a 12 or 9v transformer, just make sure you get one meaty enough for all your LEDs.

Snap the top back on, and put sticky pads or screws into it to fix it to the inside of the lid.

It will cost you about 20 quid all in all....

what amp rating do these things have?

 

[rfisher]

Hi,

I dont mean to put a dampener on your idea but you will have to add a dropper resistor in line with the L.E.D's or they wil burn out. You will need to work the value based on your Power supply voltage and the number of L.E.D's you have. You will also need to know what the forward voltage of the L.E.D is to work out the resistor value. I cant remember the equations you need to work this out but I am sure that somebody on this forum will know.

Also I hope have this right, it has been a number of years since I studied Electronics and I hope that what I have just said is still valid and I am not leading you astray. If that is the case then I am sorry, I was only trying to help.

Rich

 

[hoarp001]

Oh ####e yeah, forgot about those. That wont any any to the cost, they are points of a penny each. Just take abit longer and some more soldering skill.

If you go to maplin and say what you are doing they will work out the value of teh resistors needed and show you an appropriate transformer. If you look on the maplin site at some suitable LEDs it will have the current draw. Times this by s many LEDs you are using and it will give you your ampage....

 

[mr.dark-saint]

I should post my rig on my 125 . Just need to remember to do it.