Moonlight Led's, Ebay Style

[Mikaila31]

I don't know much about electricity except that years ago when I had hair it would make it stick up.
Would attaching the wires from an LED strip to a "Hornby train set controller" work? In addittion, would turning the train speed control dial alter the brightness of the led's?

You need to read the info on the controller itself. It should say input and output then give you information of Volts(V) and amps(A). It might work if it is a AC/DC converter. Its its just an AC controller then its no good.

For me its "DIY or die". Common sense can make electricity very safe around water. I believe its done differently in the UK, but here in the US I use GFCI outlets for all my tanks. If there is ever a power leakage, short, fault, ect it cuts power almost instantly to the entire tank(sometime multiple tanks). If water and electricity ever meet it cuts. It also cut the power randomly on me once and I couldn't find anything wrong with the tank. When I returned the power to the tank everything seemed to work fine, but then my heater tried to cook my fish the next day. As a result DIY is pretty safe if you do things correctly. I also use glass lids on all my tanks, so water does not get near any of my lighting equipment anyway. I wouldn't run a tank any differently. I don't care if things are suppose to be waterproof bulbs get hot and should not have to deal with condensation. Only thing having exposed lighting does is shorten bulb life, shorten fixture life, and increase the chances of water and electricity meeting.

BTW no soldering Iron necessary. Both the system I posted don't have a single soldered connection. Electrical tape or heat shrinks are my preferred connections. Compared to most US fixtures its an improvement actually. Every premade fixture I've torn apart from standard T8's to expensive power compacts are wired using only wire nuts . The waterproof endcaps and tight heat shrink connections on the one high powered power compact fixture I built is considered fancy over here. Thats the number one reason I push DIY. Things like heat shrinks are a cheap thing to use that increases quality. When you make something its likely to last longer then what you will be paying more to buy. Also you built it! If something does happen it should be easy to fix. I would of quit this hobby long ago if it stayed as expensive as it was when I first started. You can build your own stuff and once you get the hang of that you can buy that "broken" used fixture for cheap and have it working in 30 minuets or know what part you need to replace.

 

[moochy13]

i agree with a lot of what you say, i do all my work on my own classic car, but im confortable with it and know it inside out. but like you say, knowing how everything works when it breaks, and doing everything cheaper and possibly better is very satisfying. the same could not be said about wiring electrics. the wiring is the one thing ive not touched in my car

anyways, heres a picture that isnt too far off what my lights look like. obviously hard to pick up exact colours with a simple digi cam.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Electrical & Electronic work is not that hard (I have been doing it as a living for 26 years so maybe I am biased).

If you are not confident then just buy ready made.


Water = good. Electricity = good.

Water + Electricity = Bad.

 

[flix_cw]

anyways, heres a picture that isnt too far off what my lights look like. obviously hard to pick up exact colours with a simple digi cam.

looks great!!

 

[Tantrix]

Lemme get in on this conversation. First of all, many of the strip lights sold on ebay were actually meant as motorcycle under carriage lights used to pimp out your motorcycle (thus the odd wiring) and not meant as aquarium lights. Plus most of the lights sold on ebay are not true moonlights (aside from them being blue). They are simply an attempt to fit into a niche that they don't fit into; and in the end....you end up with disappointment. Most of the lights do not accurately reproduce "true moonlight" and have a limited coverage area (90 - 100 degree angle). The end result is a beam of blue light that cuts through your aquarium water (as in the Moochy13 pic) and not produce a tranquil wash of blue light.

That being said; I have only found a few ebay sellers who actually sell a quality product and give a true moonlight effect. Simply go to ebay and search for " Aqua-tech Ambiance". I have purchased these in the past and they truly outshine the competition (excuse the pun). Not to mention they use half the amount of LEDs as others and are much less expensive.

I have no affiliation for this ebay store...I am just an ecstatically happy customer.

 

[moochy13]

the 'beams' in my tank is far less noticable in person. i had great difficulty finding a remotely accurate photo representation of the lights, also my water was very dirty, helping to emphasis the beam affect. im not saying it doesnt exist, but its nowhere near as bad as it looks in my photo.