# My Cheap moonlight project!



## Explorer guy (Sep 12, 2011)

Ok, so I went to Canadian Tire today and found some "Halloween" LEDS, $15.99, pulled the plastic "festive Bats" off, and swung over to Lowes and found this white heavy plastic "Lattice" trim...8 feet long for $5.97. It has a U shape, as you will see below in the pics. I cut it in half since my light ballast is 4 feet long (I now have a spare....great!) I drilled holes 2" apart (as my 8 1/2 foot strand of lights contained 25 lights). I drilled the holes just big enough for the leds to stick through, and the power wires tucked in nice and snug into the lattice trim. I inserted this right inbetween my 2 main bulbs, gave it a quick snap on both ends with the staple gun to secure it, and voila. No glue, no mess, easy to take apart if need be, all for about $25. I have also put it on a timer, so at midnight when my main lights go off, the led's come on till 7 am. perfect condo night lighting!


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

Nice looks great. The nice blue glow at night makes it all worth the time and $


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## Explorer guy (Sep 12, 2011)

Al-Losaurus said:


> Nice looks great. The nice blue glow at night makes it all worth the time and $


That's the best part! $25 and maybe 45 mins. Of messing with it. A bit of ingenuity goes a long way... Especially with this hobby!


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## marbss (Feb 11, 2010)

thanks for posting this. I have been looking at LEDs on dealextreme - but this project you posted is 100x easier!


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

If you want cheaper lights try this http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAP...093406&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2129wt_905 free shipping i think too! i got these the second time around and the lighting is a bit better and i basically just wedged them between the light casing and the outer plastic casing took literally 2 mins.. only thing you need is a old dc plug to cut and attach to the lights.

Edit: now i see them again i am going to order a bunch more they are good to have and CHEAP!!


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## Explorer guy (Sep 12, 2011)

marbss said:


> thanks for posting this. I have been looking at LEDs on dealextreme - but this project you posted is 100x easier!


Super easy! Super clean and no fuss. I've now started DIY 2.... My background!


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## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

good job. i may have to try this


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## wing (Feb 12, 2012)

so cool, that's give some idea, thank you


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

so you just used an led strip? not an actuall bulb right?

im going to make one of these this weekend for my 75 gal

great idea !


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## joe (Jan 3, 2012)

nvm i get it its genius lol
its like christmas leds

thats amazing!

Way to think outside the box!!

one question thou, which canadian tire you get these at? if so are there more cause its not really the halloween season lol


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

pretty cool. There's ways to do many things by looking outside the box.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

*overkill???*

I'm no electrical wiz, so here's my newb question....

I see Explorer Guy here using christmas lights DIY, and then I see vids online where they have like individual heat sinks for each LED bulb, and fans blowing over them etc. I'm sure we've all seen those vids on youtube...

What is the difference? In terms of, what is the downside of going the christmas light LED route, as opposed to the (megabucks?) individual LED hookup with heatsinks and dedicated fans? Do LED emit that much heat? Is the christmas light LED going to burn out faster than the ones with the heat sinks and fans? Are those lights of a different intensity requiring such elaborate setups with heatsinks and such?

I personally think that Explorer's DIY project has produced excellent results, but that just begs the question that why would someone spend so much more on heatsinks and fans, if this works just as well.


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## sintrillium (Aug 9, 2010)

Difference-Besides price theres the led intensity or watts

Downsides- None that i know of (It's Cheaper anyway)

Heat Related-The higher the intensity more heat is generated by the led usually after 0.5 Watts is recomended the use of cooling devices like heatsinks and fans

Regarding the leds lifespan usualy will last 30000 to 50000 hours after that will start to decay in light intensity and quality


forgive my spelling english is my second language


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

Great!
Thanks for your response.
Makes things a whole lot clearer. I'm still teeter tottering about going the LED route, but this definitely helps.


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