# Can I paint Clear Nail Polish on the circult board on LED to water proof it?



## Hoyuen (Jun 23, 2011)

I've taken the splash guard off some LED to get a better beam angle. I am adding a splash guard... but I still don't feel safe because the LED is literally 2 inch from water surface and there's a HOB filter pouring water into the opening.

Can I use clear nail polish at least to fend off evaporation?


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Try epoxy. Alot of companies use epoxy to waterproof/seal circuits. I've also heard you could use silicone but I don't know how reliable that is with a circuit that might be a little warm.


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## sinner (Sep 25, 2010)

Hoyuen said:


> I've taken the splash guard off some LED to get a better beam angle. I am adding a splash guard... but I still don't feel safe because the LED is literally 2 inch from water surface and there's a HOB filter pouring water into the opening.
> 
> Can I use clear nail polish at least to fend off evaporation?


hot glue gun.. 
cheap and very effective.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

My LED's run pretty hot so i'm thinking the hot glue wouldn't work. Effective at feeding the fish hot glue


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

I think you'll be better off with silicon. Nail polish will eventually peel off.

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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

altcharacter said:


> My LED's run pretty hot so i'm thinking the hot glue wouldn't work. Effective at feeding the fish hot glue


From my experience mounting 4 x Seoul SSC P4 bins to a old 2-486 heatsink it is the heatsink you want more off as I used white bathroom silicone to hold my lens mounts. LED's are rearward heat emitting thus why the heatsink is the most important piece to dissipate the heat. Granted I've not made any LED lights for tanks yet my experience comes from MTB high power LEDs for night riding. IIRC the rule was 2 inches of surface space disipates and keeps the LED from overheating. This was based on the Seoul SSC P4 and Cree Q5 years ago. LED's have gotten larger and into the quad dies now. Granted that rule was for riders which they would be in motion to also aid in cooling the LED's down.

I have found in my expeirence using 1" x 1/16" square aluminum at stationary lumination it takes about 4" for 1 LED to keep the heat under control IIRC. If you pack them tighter then make sure that fan you have to cool them is working.

I've yet to have any silicone peel off from when I left the quad LED on inside the house once. It got so hot the heatsink was slightly warping ;; as I zip tied it under pressure to a reflector to hold the light in place.


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