fppf
09-19-2005, 01:33 AM
Well, because I won a DIY moon light kit from the forum I thought it only be right to post how to install one of these :-D
So here it is, my installation of a DIY moon lighting kit.
Here is a picture of my tank light, just a standard all glass twin tube light.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/light.jpg
The plastic housing of the light is held on by little clips. These will be used to hold in the moon lights. There easly removed by giving them a squeeze and gentle push. Just don't squeeze to hard or they break :roll:
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/LightClips.jpg
The way I held my LED's in is with "J Molding". Its used in dry wall when an exsposed edge is left to keep it from cracking. You can find it at your local Lowes (I hate HD) where they sell the sheets of dry wall. Its just a plastic "J" hence the name. I drilled the taller side of the J to line up with the holes in the light housing. This way when I snap the clips back in they will hold the molding. I then drilled the bottom part to hold the LED's.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/JMolding.jpg
To actually hold the LED's in place in the J molding I used standard panel mount LED clips. Don't glue them in :roll: these clips are made to hold them. Hint Hint, maybe the people that put the DIY kit together can throw these in, Hint Hint, Digikey part number 67-1332-ND $5 for 100
LED Panel Mount (http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?Ref=5977&Row=177654&Site=US)
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/LEDholder.jpg
To wire my LEDS I just ran some standard 2 conductor wire in the J mold. I did not cut the wire at all, just us a razor blade and cut into the side of the insulation. Then you can solder the LED to the wires with no problems. Easy, clean, and fast.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/LEDwire.jpg
At the end of each piece of J mold I put a strain relief, good old zip ties :-D
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/strainrelief.jpg
Here are the finished sticks, one for the front and one for the back. The light is 3 feet I put 3 LED's in front and 3 in back.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/sticks.jpg
And there is the wire routing and finished product. I pointed my LED's in twords the reflectors. I found this gives a more soft glowing light, kind of like what you get with moon light :wink:
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/finish1.jpg
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/finish2.jpg
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/finish3.jpg
Some of you may note I did not put any current limiting resistors on my LED's. This is because I will be driving them with a programable current driver. The driver will be controlled by my aquarium controller that is in the works. The controller will calculate sunrise/sunset moonrise/moonset and moon phase. This will give my pets a sense of home :-D
I have not posted about the controller to date, so here is a sneak peak. It is at the point where I'm ready to have some of the main control PCB's made up. There is still a large amount of micro and PC software to write. Hopefully I will have some time over the long winter to finish it. The pic is old, thats the software dev board and my LCD display. At the point in the picture I had finished writing the micro drivers for the temp sensor and LCD, so it was only natural to marvel at my work and display the room temp, right? :-D
http://members.aol.com/fppf/Pic/micro.jpg
So here it is, my installation of a DIY moon lighting kit.
Here is a picture of my tank light, just a standard all glass twin tube light.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/light.jpg
The plastic housing of the light is held on by little clips. These will be used to hold in the moon lights. There easly removed by giving them a squeeze and gentle push. Just don't squeeze to hard or they break :roll:
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/LightClips.jpg
The way I held my LED's in is with "J Molding". Its used in dry wall when an exsposed edge is left to keep it from cracking. You can find it at your local Lowes (I hate HD) where they sell the sheets of dry wall. Its just a plastic "J" hence the name. I drilled the taller side of the J to line up with the holes in the light housing. This way when I snap the clips back in they will hold the molding. I then drilled the bottom part to hold the LED's.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/JMolding.jpg
To actually hold the LED's in place in the J molding I used standard panel mount LED clips. Don't glue them in :roll: these clips are made to hold them. Hint Hint, maybe the people that put the DIY kit together can throw these in, Hint Hint, Digikey part number 67-1332-ND $5 for 100
LED Panel Mount (http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?Ref=5977&Row=177654&Site=US)
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/LEDholder.jpg
To wire my LEDS I just ran some standard 2 conductor wire in the J mold. I did not cut the wire at all, just us a razor blade and cut into the side of the insulation. Then you can solder the LED to the wires with no problems. Easy, clean, and fast.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/LEDwire.jpg
At the end of each piece of J mold I put a strain relief, good old zip ties :-D
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/strainrelief.jpg
Here are the finished sticks, one for the front and one for the back. The light is 3 feet I put 3 LED's in front and 3 in back.
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/sticks.jpg
And there is the wire routing and finished product. I pointed my LED's in twords the reflectors. I found this gives a more soft glowing light, kind of like what you get with moon light :wink:
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/finish1.jpg
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/finish2.jpg
http://members.aol.com/fppf/fish/DIYMoon/finish3.jpg
Some of you may note I did not put any current limiting resistors on my LED's. This is because I will be driving them with a programable current driver. The driver will be controlled by my aquarium controller that is in the works. The controller will calculate sunrise/sunset moonrise/moonset and moon phase. This will give my pets a sense of home :-D
I have not posted about the controller to date, so here is a sneak peak. It is at the point where I'm ready to have some of the main control PCB's made up. There is still a large amount of micro and PC software to write. Hopefully I will have some time over the long winter to finish it. The pic is old, thats the software dev board and my LCD display. At the point in the picture I had finished writing the micro drivers for the temp sensor and LCD, so it was only natural to marvel at my work and display the room temp, right? :-D
http://members.aol.com/fppf/Pic/micro.jpg