After seeing the moon lights from last meeting, I thought I might try a diy version.  I was searching around for adequate LEDs and came across this:

http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T031/1081.pdf">http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T031/1081.pdf   These LEDs are replacement "bulbs" for automobile signal lights and instrument panels.  And they're very bright.  They also operate at 12 volts which is nice since my hood fan is 12 volt too (and I wouldn't have to wire in resistors if using normal LED Vf=3.5volt).  Check out item 441-1007-ND (7000 mcd!).

Anyway, this got me thinking that the auto parts store might carry this sort of stuff so I went to Checker and checked :).  I bought a LED conversion kit for the rear licence plate bolts.  The kit contains two VERY bright blue LEDs with wire leads and a switch all for only $7.  Checker didn't have any info on the peak wavelength for the LEDs (the guy behind the counter looked at me like I was crazy...he's right of course).  I tried them last night on my tank and they must be 470 nm or close to it cause my corals fluoreced when under the LED.  Anyway, that's pretty cheap compared to other options out there.

I'll post a pic when I get home tonight...

Seems to be a bunch of people over at RC interested in the same thing.  I haven't read all the threads but here is one to check out. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110662&highlight=BLUE+led">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110662&highlight=BLUE+led

I got some blue LEDs from http://www.superbrightleds.com yesterday, got a project box and resistors from Radio Shack, and a power supply from work and hooked one up last night.  I got the 15 degree beam 470nm 5500mcd models and with one bulb at 15 inches away it lights up a 4-5 inch circle fairly well, so I plan on using 4 on my small tank.  I probably should have gone with the 30 degree LED's instead of the 15 degree, but live and learn.  One good thing - the 470nm wavelength really makes corals glow, my galaxia, fuzzy mushroom, and blasto glow like mad.  I'll have some pics up tonight or tomorrow.

Well I tried taking pictures of the light on in my tank, but my camera is junk and it turned out way too dark.  Here's a picture of the packaging and installation.  The package comes with two LEDs and a switch.  The LEDs are mounted in the head of a bolt making installation very easy.  The effect is kinda neat...like shimmering moonlight. 

pistonfister- You can use any transformer over 3.7 volts, you just need a resistor in series with the LED.  Everyone has a wall plug transformer laying around gathering dust (it looks like Sarnack has some available if needed).  If the current for your LED is 20 mA (typical) and you're using a 12 volt power supply you'll need a (12-3.7)/0.020 = 415 ohm resistor.  So wire a 500 ohm resistor in series and it should be fine.

Some claim they help to induce coral spawning?  You decide if that's a good thing or not?  I just gives me an excuse to watch my tank after the lights go out.  I know, for me, it's just a novelty and will be used less and less as the novelty wears off.

Neonlicious, hahahaha that's funny.

How about ghetto bootie licious.

Wow, I have missed a lot of posts while making a moonlight with Danny for his tank... Here is a picture of his tank under the new moonlight.  I'll post pictures of the setup and how it looks on my tank tomorrow night *yawn*

Once again, here is a topic I have tried to avoid, but now I'll make my comment.  Since so many of you seem interested in moon lights, I will give you some inside info.  In two weeks a new type of moon light will be released for public trials, and once again, we may be getting one here for our club.  I won't tell you how it works (to keep the surprise) but I'll let you know that it doesn't have an LED.  It doesn't have any type of bulb!

Adam

Is it like the flat nightlights? I took one of those and wired it to an outlet a few years ago. One nightlight wasn't as bright as the image above but it looked good. if you took a couple of those, pugged them into a cheap multi-outlet extension cord, you'd have the same thing for about $10

my 2 cents

Mark,

I have heard of people using the indiglo nightlights as well but I dont think they make the corals glow like these LEDs.  Also with LED's you get the nice glitter lines.  And the light was built from about 12 bucks in supplies.

Dave

 I seriously wonder if there is a benifit or not to running a moonlight. I friend of mine was arguing a piont with me. He said if you have a moon light then you shouldnt run it every night because the moon isnt out every night. Well He had a piont I guess you could go out and get a bunch of differant sized leds and simulate the lunar cylce but that still leaves the first question do these ( any on the market)  moonlights have any benifit besides looking cool. If they dont then you could run any led or light night light like Mark said and call it good. 

jfinch, Are you running just a strait 12v power supplie to the leds you bought ?

Quote: Originally posted by pistonfister on 13 April 2003

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 I seriously wonder if there is a benifit or not to running a moonlight. I friend of mine was arguing a piont with me. He said if you have a moon light then you shouldnt run it every night because the moon isnt out every night. Well He had a piont I guess you could go out and get a bunch of differant sized leds and simulate the lunar cylce but that still leaves the first question do these ( any on the market)  moonlights have any benifit besides looking cool. If they dont then you could run any led or light night light like Mark said and call it good. 

jfinch, Are you running just a strait 12v power supplie to the leds you bought ?

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I have no idea if they benifit the corals or not.  I put it in just for fun so I could watch everthing come out at nite and crawl around :)  The LED is nice because it peaks at 470 nm making the coral glow in the light, not sure the plug in the wall night indiglo night lights would do the same.

Yes, the LED (I'm only running one...it's a 20 gal tank) wire leads are connected directly to a 12 volt power supply.  Upon closer inspection of the LED I found that there is a resistor wired in series.  It's essentually the same thing Sarnak is doing.  I liked my "ghetto bootie licious" package 'cause the LEDs were mounted in a bolt which made for easy installation in my hood (see earlier picture).  The picture Sarnak posted is what mine looks like too, the shimmer is incredible!

Sarnak, how are you installing in the hood?

On Danny's tank the power goes up to a box mounted in the center of his canopy, this is where the resistors are, then from that box there are 2 ethernet cables that go to each side of the tank and mount to the sides of the canopy with a sticky pad zip tie holder thingy. 

Also Radio shack has some LED holders almost identical to the ones that came on yours.  I think they were like a buck and a half for 2 of them.

I mounted mine last night but I didnt have enough room to do the same thing, so I think I will drill holes in my reflectors and mount the bulbs there with the screw-in type connectors like you have.

Dave

I was asked to post this...  The calculation is posted above by Jon (jfinch)

Here is a calculator:

http://www.ledsupply.com/techinfo.html">http://www.ledsupply.com/techinfo.html

I used the 9v power supply so here is that calculation

They didnt have 275 Ohm resistors so I used a 270 Ohm instead.

Speaking of moonlights, there is a good thread going around on RC about great affordable moonlighting.  I just ordered a setup from them:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=183820">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=183820

Thanks for the resister calculations!!

I'm no electrical guru so I may be way off base. If you have a 12V power supply and each led wants to use 3.5V, doesn't that mean you can only have three leds before the leds suffers degredation?

Gonzo,

No not necessarily.  Look at the power supply, it'll have a "mA" (milliamp) rating.  I'm looking at one right now that's 12 volts and 300 mA.  Most LEDs draw 20 mA, so with my power supply I could power 15 LEDs before overloading the power supply.  All the LEDs are wired in parallel so they all see the same supply voltage and current gets split up between them.  Sarnack did a great job explaining the voltage drop calculation at the top of this page.

Hey just a little update!

I recently bought some parts from Digi-key and needed to beef up my order to avoid the $5 handling fee so I bought some violet LEDs.  Here's the catalog page:  http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T032/1135.pdf">http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T032/1135.pdf  it's part number 67-1830-ND.  I've been using blue LEDs with a light wavelength of 470 nm.  This wavelength really makes the yellows glow and most of the greens.  Atinic light is 420 nm.  These violet LEDs emit at 410 nm.  WOW!  The difference is startling (going from 470 nm to 410 nm).  It almost makes the tank look fake.  The yellows still glow, but the greens are surreal.  Overall, I like the violet light much better.

Sarnak, have you tried a violet LED?  Wanna borrow one and see the difference?

I haven't tried them... They had some UV 400nm where I got the 470nm LED's but I didnt give them much thought....  I'd like to see what they look like if you can bring one to the next meeting or something.

Dave

It appears Jon and I think alike, I bought a set of the LED's from Checker Auto Parts for my bullet bike a couple of months ago, and never got around to installing them. I plugged them into a 12V power supply though and stuck one over my tank to see how it looked, and it was awesome. So, I decided to buy a few more, and make a Moon Strip over my tank.

I installed 7 of these in a (42" long x 2 1/2" wide x 3/4" thick) piece of clear acrylic and screwed it into my hood, and it looks sweet. Cost me about $35.00 for the whole thing, and took me about three hours to build.

3 of the LED's are directed at the sand bed and live rock, and I installed the other 4 as directionals that are pointed to spotlight several green and red corals that I have in the tank. I almost like looking at my tank in the dark better than in the daytime now. Plus, you can see all sorts of different new critters at night that you never could before. Very Cool!

By the way, as Jon mentioned the great thing about these LED's is the fact that they already have the resistor connected, and they come in a nice bolt so you can put them anywhere. All you need is a 12V power supply rated to support the LED's x the number of Milliamps or mA that they use.

If you buy the checker LED's, they run off of a 1/4 watt 330 ohm resistor which puts them at approximately 30 mA each. I have a 12V 300 mA power supply, and I am running seven of the LED's off of it.

This way, you don't have to worry about what voltage powwer adapter to use, just get a 12V with a sufficent mA rating for how many you want to run.