# Diy led lighting question



## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

I have started a little project and i am going to be building a stand for 6 tanks now i got to the part of contemplating what lighting to use i am leaning towards ordering a 5 meter strip of leds super white lights rather then shop lights it seems a hell of a lot cheaper less weight and space it takes up.

These are the 2 cheapest options i have so far
DC/12V
DC/12V Pure White(6000K-6500K)

Will i need to have some sort of cooling fans for either of these or will they be fine on there own. I plan to just attach them to the to the stand it self about 10-12 inches above each tank. I plan to have flipping doors to get at the tanks for maintenance which will keep the light directed at the tanks but also trap heat. is it worth giving it a shot? The light strip is 5 meters and can be cut every 3 lights without damaging the strip but if i have to get into cooling everything and still keeping the tanks heated or cooled i am not sure it is worth the time?

any advise or ides to light 6 tanks cheap would be appreciated. Btw they are 4x 20 gal long and 2x 29 gal

Thanks Al.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

There is no way these could even draw any type of heat. The specs for them say 4.2 watts per foot @0.36A which means they'll be very cool. Also the reason they can be glued to the surface you're putting them on. You won't be able to grow any plants or anything but they would be alright for lighting.

Another thing you need to consider is that they are 12v and meant for car applications. If you're going to use them for home applications you'll need a constant power 12v driver which aren't expensive ($6 each) but depending on what you want to do it could add up in price. Or just hook up your car to the lights everytime you get home


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

altcharacter said:


> Another thing you need to consider is that they are 12v and meant for car applications. If you're going to use them for home applications you'll need a constant power 12v driver which aren't expensive ($6 each) but depending on what you want to do it could add up in price. Or just hook up your car to the lights everytime you get home


lol.. I believe they also have them in 9v i bought just a 48'' strip of blue 9v a year or 2 ago and they work good for moonlight. I did not plan to use them for plants just grow out tanks and such so that is a good thing only reason i asked about heat is while browsing some diy threads on here i seen a few people concerned about cooling fans.

If i go this route which makes sense cause it is very cheap i plan to cut the 5m strip to 6 lengths and light 6 different tanks on the same rack. I mean if it does not end up working out which i do not see why it wouldn't all i need is to have the tanks with light at least it only cost around $20 for 6 tanks. If i had to spend on fans and take extra time to install i would have just used shop lights.

Thanks for the reply i guess i will give it a try lol at plug the car into it


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

If you want to just light up the tank to see inside then it'll definitely work for you. The lights that you're getting aren't really for anything other than ambient lighting.

Compare one strip of what you're getting that puts out 250 lumens for the whole strip to a single Cree XP-E that puts out 450 lumens and you can see why the higher end led's draw alot of heat. 

Good luck and take pictures, I wanna see how it turns out!


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## DaFishMan (Dec 19, 2006)

Hi if I can ask about 'i bought just a 48'' strip of blue 9v a year or 2 ago and they work good for moonlight'.

I'd love moonlights on my tank can you point me where to get the parts ?
I saw the $200. strip at BA I'm not going that way lol. Did you make your own strip to house them or did you go a different route ?


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

These are the guys i originally ordered my blue led from they cost me around $5 free shipping LINK Looking through there stuff i did not see the blue but you can always shoot them an email and ask check through there store or ebay search them. i would suggest buy them from hongkong most have free shipping and are dirt cheap i seen guys in the states selling these same $5 lights for $70+ lol

I will take a picture shortly of how i installed them was very simple and took all of 2 mins was very worth the effort looks amazing at night


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

Okay not sure if you can see what i did here but basically i wedged the lights between the plastic housing and the ballasts it self. That way i did not have to go over board designing its own separate housing. You could always use good double sided tape or even hot glue if your lights are not designed the same. To power them i basically found an old 9v plug to some random toy or something cut and joined the wires.

I have it set up on a dual timer 9pm white light off blue lights turn on 9:30am it switches. Cost me all of 5 bux and looks cool at night. I have a thread in diy section i did it with Christmas lights and hot glue but this turned out better nearly 2 years and no bulbs to replace.


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