Odd lighting question

[jaylach]

Sorry my bad. acer not asus.
i need more sleep

I'm not a big fan of Acer although there is much worse out there. My preference is Asus or Toshiba.

since this thread has already majorly sidetracked... I've been using plant LED light strips on my tanks... they are water proof, & have built in timers... I usually use 3 sets ( one light uses 2 - 18" LED strips ) I usually stagger the timers to get light when I want, as 12b hours in the max option on the timer ( I use an LED black light to come on an hour before the white light, then go off, & come on again just before the white lights go out, & remain on, an hour after the white lights go out...

the only complaint with this system, is they all use USB plugs, rather that the standard 110 volt plug... so 4 USB's per tank... I've been buying these boxes with 4 USB plugs, that plug into 1 -110 volt plug... the trouble is, these adaptors start feeding stray voltage or ??? & my lights quit working on them ( had 3 of them fail in the last 6 months ) fortunately the lights are fine, after a group box fritzes out... the lights all come with a single USB adaptor, but that of course would take up 4 110 volt plugs per tank, if I use the ones that came with the lights... so I've been trying different brands of these multi USB plug boxes... but end up with that extra expense, and inconvenience on my timers all goofed up each time it happens, or I switch adaptors... they seem to work fine for 4-6 months, then start goofing up my lights... the lights aren't sucking the kind of power that a cell phone would, while charging, so I find the short life unacceptable

Give this a try. I have 2 of them and they work fine. One powers 2 3.5 foot light strips along with an external DVD burner and mouse dongle.

Amazon.com

 

[jaylach]

Oh, @Magnum Man : If you have been using USB2 hubs that may be the issue you are having. You may well be burning out USB2 hubs. At 5 volts USB2 only puts out 500nA while USB3 puts out up to 900mA.

 

[Magnum Man]

Of course I don’t see anything like that in the description… the ones I’ve been buying are 5 volts… 4.8 amps

 

[jaylach]

Of course I don’t see anything like that in the description… the ones I’ve been buying are 5 volts… 4.8 amps

That 4.8 amps is what the power supply in the hub is able to put out. It is not what is being supplied to the ports. All USB is 5 volts.

If you want post a link to what you are getting and I'll take a look.

 

[Magnum Man]

I’ll have to do that from my computer tomorrow, when I’m at work… I mostly use my cell at home, and I can’t get a specific link with the phone… I appreciate the help… I’ll be ordering a few more this weekend, I have a couple not working right now

 

[Magnum Man]

So... I started out buying these lights, long before I was on the forum, & had such experts available...

so far 3 per tank... on most of my 55 gallon tanks...

Amazon.com

because they are all USB, & to cut down on how many outlets I was using per aquarium< I started buying these... because with the blacklights, it makes 4 USB's per tank...

Amazon.com

these are not good with my lights, as the only seem to be lasting about 3 months... if there is something similar, that would last longer, I'd sure like to find it...

 

[Colin_T]

Go to a hardware store and look at their LED spotlights for outdoors. I am using them for indoor plants (Hippeastrums) and they do a good job.

 

[Magnum Man]

I have several LED spotlights that I had originally bought for my football tank... the spotlights made algae grow like crazy on spotlighted portions of the tank I was highlighting... so I put them on a switch, to just turn them on when I wanted... anyway, since the football tank is being disassembled, & I have 3 spotlights extra right now... putting them on the house plants growing in the tank, makes good sense... of course they are also USB's

 

[jaylach]

So... I started out buying these lights, long before I was on the forum, & had such experts available...

so far 3 per tank... on most of my 55 gallon tanks...

Amazon.com

because they are all USB, & to cut down on how many outlets I was using per aquarium< I started buying these... because with the blacklights, it makes 4 USB's per tank...

Amazon.com

these are not good with my lights, as the only seem to be lasting about 3 months... if there is something similar, that would last longer, I'd sure like to find it...

OK, you are using USB chargers, not true USB. Since different ports have different charging rates it is hard to say what the output for each port actually is.

It is possible that you are burning them out as the charger is not designed for constant output. It is designed to charge a device then shut down the port. Since you are connecting lights the charger never detects a full charge so runs continuously, never shutting off the ports as long as the lights are on. It really isn't designed for that. A true powered USB hub, on the other hand, is designed for constant use.

While the lights state 5 volts at 15 watts the amperage draw is not stated however I would doubt that it is even 1 amp.

 

[Magnum Man]

yeh... the block shape is similar to what came with the lights... the light functions fine when they are new... & I was trying to avoid the extra cords... if I could find a hub, rather than a charger similar to what I had been buying, that would be perfect... if not, I'll, have more cords I have to deal with... may be better off just buying an additional power strip per tank, & just using the plug adaptors that come withy the lights

 

[Magnum Man]

Looking at this right now for where I can do 2 aquariums into the same plugs...

Amazon.com

& looking at this for where each aquarium needs a set of plugs...

Amazon.com

think these should last longer than the charging ports I have been using???

 

[jaylach]

If it were me I'd go with the 11 port hub. If I remember right you have 4 tanks with each needing 4 USB ports. You would only need 2 of the 11 port hubs but would need 4 of the 4 port hubs. The 2 11 port hubs would be cheaper.

While I would go with actual powered USB hubs I have to put out a bit of a disclaimer. There is no guarantee that going with actual powered hubs will resolve your issue. It is quite likely that it will but it is also possible that the lights just draw too much power and you would be better off using the power cables that came with the lights. Personally I would go with the 11 port hubs as they would only take 2 wall outlets.

Good luck, hope it all works out for you.

Got my new purple bulb today, actually a day early. Won't really know until it is dark out but it looks like it is going to work out well. After the sun sets I'll post a photo.

 

[Magnum Man]

Good luck…

On my issue “most” of my tanks are in 1 place, but there are a couple that are in different parts of the house, so I’m going to try one of each and see if they hold up better

 

[MuddyWaters]

I use an LED black light to come on an hour before the white light,

I'm guessing the black light before and then black light after the white light is like morning and evening light. Does that provide something specific for the fish or is it more ambience?

 

[Magnum Man]

I personally think it triggers them for sleeping… and isn’t such a shock to them when the white light comes on in the morning… plus, if we are up, after the lights go off, it provides viewing, and some critters are more active, after the lights go off

I wasn’t aware that lighting had made those advances, when I started the tanks up about a year ago, but as these need replacing, I’ll be buying the ones that gradually come on ( sun rise ) and gradually shut off ( sun set )… I did the same 20 years ago, with my reef tanks, with high pressure sodium, and metal halide