# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Moonlighting



## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

A new generation of LEDs is making this type of lighting practical for the aquarium. A company called Sunbrite is marketing LED lamps that come in a number of colors, including white and 470nm blue. The latter has been used in a marine moonlight device. The former is being used here to give a moonlight appearance better suited to freshwater. The specifications for this family of parts can be found here: http://www.sunbriteleds.com/product.asp?id=1040

In my moonlight, I mounted 10 of the white LEDs in a wooden strip alongside the main reflector of the daytime PC lamp. The lamps are simply pushed through 3/8 inch holes drilled in the 3/4 inch strip, and then hot-glued in place. The lamps have wedge bases, but I simply soldered the wire leads to bus wires, so they are all connected in parallel. The wooden strip is mounted on two small angle brackets so the lamps shine into the water. A 12 V wall-wart power supply and a 250 ohm, 5W wirewound rheostat provide illumination control from dim moonlight to nearly dawn.

All parts can be purchased at www.digi-key.com The part number of the white LEDs is 441-1008-ND. Ten of them cost $13.33, so this is not an expensive project. You can probably do it all for about $25.

The moonlight effect is very pretty. The white LED gives a very realistic moonlight, and does not shift its spectrum as it is dimmed. If you want a marine effect in deep water, then the 470 nm blue LED is great. Note that I chose LEDs with a 60 degree dispersion angle. They are also available in 30 degree models, for a smaller spot.

I have some pictures of the lightbar and a ghostly photo of my Oscar peering back at the camera over the crypts. If anybody is interested, I can post them.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

A new generation of LEDs is making this type of lighting practical for the aquarium. A company called Sunbrite is marketing LED lamps that come in a number of colors, including white and 470nm blue. The latter has been used in a marine moonlight device. The former is being used here to give a moonlight appearance better suited to freshwater. The specifications for this family of parts can be found here: http://www.sunbriteleds.com/product.asp?id=1040

In my moonlight, I mounted 10 of the white LEDs in a wooden strip alongside the main reflector of the daytime PC lamp. The lamps are simply pushed through 3/8 inch holes drilled in the 3/4 inch strip, and then hot-glued in place. The lamps have wedge bases, but I simply soldered the wire leads to bus wires, so they are all connected in parallel. The wooden strip is mounted on two small angle brackets so the lamps shine into the water. A 12 V wall-wart power supply and a 250 ohm, 5W wirewound rheostat provide illumination control from dim moonlight to nearly dawn.

All parts can be purchased at www.digi-key.com The part number of the white LEDs is 441-1008-ND. Ten of them cost $13.33, so this is not an expensive project. You can probably do it all for about $25.

The moonlight effect is very pretty. The white LED gives a very realistic moonlight, and does not shift its spectrum as it is dimmed. If you want a marine effect in deep water, then the 470 nm blue LED is great. Note that I chose LEDs with a 60 degree dispersion angle. They are also available in 30 degree models, for a smaller spot.

I have some pictures of the lightbar and a ghostly photo of my Oscar peering back at the camera over the crypts. If anybody is interested, I can post them.


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## david lim (Mar 30, 2004)

Wow. that sounds awesome. Pls post the pictures! I am very intrigued to see.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

I can post pix later, maybe today. Meanwhile, you can look at the cute pix on the Britelites marketing site here: http://www.brightlights-tech.com/moonbeam.htm

They are using the 470 nm blue LED, with the 30 degree spot lens, and a colimating reflector. This would provide a rather intense spot that you could use to highlight a piece of coral, for instance, in a marine setup. My lighting is diffuse, using the 60 degree lens without a reflector. I wanted to illuminate the whole aquarium, although I can see "moonbeams" in the water, even with the greater dispersion. I can see that 20 LEDs would have produce more even illumination, but 10 looks pretty good too.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

OK, my ten minutes are up, so here are the pictures in another post:










This pic shows the lightbar mounted under the lighting fixture. It occupies the space in fromt of the reflector. The LEDs are just pushed through 3/8 inch holes in a strip of 1/4 inch birch plywood. The strip of plywood is 3/4 inch wide and runs the length of the lighting fixture. The lamps are bussed together with AWG 24 bus wire and Teflon sleeving. Of course the wiring is on the other side of the strip.










This pic shows my Oscar in the moonlight, hovering over two crypts. This picture looks very much like the aquarium appears to the eye in a darkened room. The camera shutter speed was 2 seconds at f2.8, with ISO 200 equivalent speed on the CCD. The voltage on the LED lamps was 9 volts. I think the white balance is very good with the LEDs. This picture required no white balance adjustments. In another picture, with a shutter speed of 15 seconds, the tank appears like daylight, with excellent color balance.

I hope I have given some of you some ideas on how to use the new, inexpensive LED lamps for interesting lighting projects.


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## Vicki (Jan 31, 2003)

Glenn, that is awesome! That would be a perfect solution for my 30 gallon apisto tank, it would give mom some light but be so much more natural than leaving a light on in the room. My tank is open topped, with a JBJ pc fixture about 5" above the water level; do you think it would work to attach the LEDs to the inside housing above the acrylic shield? How many lights would you recommend for a 3 foot tank, keeping in mind that the lights will be behind acrylic, 5-6" above the water level?

http://www.wheelpost.com


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## Bremer (Feb 3, 2003)

What are the part numbers for the "A 12 V wall-wart power supply and a 250 ohm, 5W wirewound rheostat"? Do you leave them on 24/7 or is the moonlight on a timer of some kind?


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

Vicki, you would want to use the 30 degree lens parts, and a reflector might be needed as well. You could try the 30 degree parts, without the reflector, first. If that's not good enough, you would have to use a flashlight reflector to focus the light more tightly.

Bremer, the Digi-Key part number of the power supply is T501P1P-ND. The part number of the rheostat is CT2155-ND. I just turn-on the moonlight when I need mood lighting (wink-wink). You can do whatever your heart desires: 24/7, timer, or a computerized, astronomical-moon-phase controller. Since you are asking specific questions, I will answer one you haven't asked. The LEDs are polarity sensitive, but their polarity is not marked. You will just have to flip them around if they don't light. You won't damage them by reversing polarity, just reverse the connection.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

My 10 minutes is up again, so I can't edit that last post. What kind of rule is that?

Vicki, the number of lamps to use is dependent on how you want it to look. The commercial "moonlights" use one, maybe two LEDs. I have used 10, and it's in a 46 gallon bowfront, which is 36 inches long. The effect is kind of like track lighting on a small scale. I can see the light beams in the water, when the fish stir up particulates. If you had only one of the 30 degree spots, then I think you would only be able to highlight about a one foot circle on the bottom of the tank. The Brightlights web site shows these effects, using the 470 nm blue LED. They also show the commercial moonlight, which resembles a miniature gooseneck desk lamp with reflector. 

OBTW, the Brightlights web site claims the white LEDs have a blackbody radiation temperature of 9500 K. Sunbright does not make any such claim, but it is likely to be true, since my photography results are so much like daylight.


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## Guttboy (Jul 27, 2003)

WOW very interesting! I got my corals to spawn while in Okinawa japan by putting a small shoplight over the tank and voila! Spawning! I now have a cool new project to undertake in the 100 gallon that is my planted joy now!

Now if I can convince the wife...LOL!

BTW how hard is it to make....I am pretty handy and did the AHsupply retrofit to my 10 gallon to put in two 13 watt PC's in there....does this require soldering? Does the rheostat adjust the brightness....sorry for my ignorance but I am not really an electronics guy!

GREAT IDEA!!!!

Mike









100Gallon/Rena Filstar XP3/Icecap660 with 4x4' Ge Aquarays/Flourite Gravel mix/Malaysian driftwood


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## Guttboy (Jul 27, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Guttboy:
> WOW very interesting! I got my corals to spawn while in Okinawa japan by putting a small shoplight over the tank and voila! Spawning! I now have a cool new project to undertake in the 100 gallon that is my planted joy now!
> ...


100Gallon/Rena Filstar XP3/Icecap660 with 4x4' Ge Aquarays/Flourite Gravel mix/Malaysian driftwood


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

I may have to do this. I already have a 12V PS for the fans in the canopy so it would not be hard to do.

Moderator










American by birth, Marine by the grace of God! This post spell checked with IESpell available at http://www.iespell.com

See my Profile for tank details.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Guttboy:
> ...can you recommend an inexpensive soldering device and what type of solder do you need...never soldered before...is it hard? Does the rheostat adjust the brightness....


Yes, a hobbyist soldering iron can be had at your local Radio Shack or other electronics supply house. Digi-Key sells inexpensive soldering irons, such as the 40 Watt Easy Braid DJY-10340, and a holder DST68. You would use 63/37 Pb-Sn eutectic solder for this, such as the Kester "44" RA roll solders. Digi-Key PN KE1112-ND. Is it hard to solder? Hmm, I don't know how to answer that. Soldering this project is pretty easy as soldering jobs go, but without any experience, and no one to teach you, I can't tell you if you can do it. You will have to make that call yourself.

The rheostat adjusts the brightness of the lamps. A rheostat is an adjustable resistor that is connected in series with a load, and reduces the current in the load as the rheostat resistance is increased. Each LED lamp in this project contains its own series ballasting resistor to connect to the 12 V supply. The voltage on the LED is about 3.3 V, and the rest is dropped across the ballast resistor, and a reverse-polarity protection diode. With the rheostat turned fully clockwise, the lamps are connected directly to the 12 V supply. Each lamp draws 30 mA, so the 10 lamps draw 300 mA total. As the rheostat is turned CCW, the slider moves across the resistance wires and the resistance increases. At fully CCW, the resistance is at a maximum of 250 Ohms, and the current is reduced to a minimum of about 35 mA. The lamps are very dim then.


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## JamesHoftiezer (Feb 2, 2003)

This is a cool project. It was just a few years ago when they figured out how to make blue and white LEDs. Overall this should be a lot easier and take up a lot less space than the 13w PC I'm using.

*James Hoftiezer
Hoftiezer.Net - Journals and Libraries
Rate My Tank!!

Tank Journal - Aquascape ( Latest / Archive(No Longer Active))
Tank Journal - Parts and Construction ( Latest / Archive(No Longer Active))*


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## Bremer (Feb 3, 2003)

I like this idea so much, I've decided to build my own. I have the parts from digi-key now and I know how to solder. So I'm part way there. But, I'm not certain how the wiring goes together... I don't suppose you have a picture or diagram?

Can you give me a general idea of the wiring concept? I envision it looking kind of like a christmas light strand....with each LED attached to one wire off of the PS and then the two wire-ends from the power supply attached to the rheostat. But the rheostat appears to have 3 wire-attachment points (assuming that is what they are) and the product specifications don't provide me with any guidance. Any advice would be appreciated.


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## imported_timlawyer (Jul 14, 2003)

Here is one link I found:

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_nightlight.htm

I have been fiddling around with this and found that by using a reflector from a cheap flashlight you can create some amazing spot light type effects. Just poke the LEDs through the hole where the lightbulb would normally go.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Bremer:
> I like this idea so much, I've decided to build my own. I have the parts from digi-key now and I know how to solder. So I'm part way there. But, I'm not certain how the wiring goes together... I don't suppose you have a picture or diagram?
> ...


The lamps are wired in parallel, not like a christmas tree string which is wired in series, but rather like the lamps in your house. I have drawn a schematic of the wiring and have posted it below:










There are three wiring terminals on the rheostat, but you need only two of them for this application. Hold the rheostat so the shaft is facing you. Wire the left hand terminal to the power supply. Wire the center terminal to the lamps. The power switch is optional. If you bought the exact power supply I quoted, then it came with a 3.5 mm phone plug, a lot like a headphone plug. You can use a 3.5 mm (1/8 inch) phone jack to connect the power, or cut off the plug and hardwire the power supply. Without the jack, the switch might be more important to have.

I don't have asembly photos. I didn't bother to take any, since I assumed everybody's hood would be different, and they would not be too useful. If you're stuck, however, I could take some and post them.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by timlawyer:
> Here is one link I found:
> ...


The schematic in that link shows the LEDs incorrectly wired. If you are using LEDs, they must never be wired in parallel. All the diodes must be in series. Then you control the series current to control illumination. In my project, I used LED *lamps*. Each lamp contains its own ballast resistor (and reverse-polarity protection diode), so it can be wired in parallel, or series, in a circuit, and will perform much like an incandescent lamp.


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## Bremer (Feb 3, 2003)

Okay, I understand how it is done now. Thanks for the schematic and tips.


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## Vicki (Jan 31, 2003)

Thank you very much for the schematic, Glenn. I've already ordered the parts, hoping they'll get here by this weekend. Thanks again for posting this interesting project!

http://www.wheelpost.com


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## imported_Creature (Feb 6, 2003)

gsmollin, thanks for all the information and training you have provided. The picture you posted pretty much sold me on the idea, though I, too, am not a whiz at this kind of stuff, but with your info and diagram I'm sure I can assemble it.

One clarification:

Quote:
The lamps are wired in parallel, not like a christmas tree string which is wired in series,...

Quote:
The schematic in that link shows the LEDs incorrectly wired. If you are using LEDs, they must never be wired in parallel. All the diodes must be in series....

The LEDs are wired in parallel not in series, correct? Your previous comments regarding the christmas tree light analogy seem contradictory in this respect, at least how I read it. I just want make sure I get it right. I'll follow your diagram for sure.

To take it a step further, how would I go about finding more information on a computerized, astronomical-moon-phase controller you mentioned? This too would be really awesome.

Thanks again!

Gi


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## imported_Creature (Feb 6, 2003)

One more thing, I keep getting an invalid part number for the power supply.

"...Digi-Key part number of the power supply is T501P1P-ND."

And searching for the 12 V wall-wart power supply get no results. Help!

Thanks,

Gil


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

Creature,

Your confusion rests on not understanding the difference between the LED *lamps* we are using in this project, and the LED devices featured in the link timlawyer posted. These are different devices, and are applied differently. In our project, we are using lamps that act a lot like incandescent lamps. This is because they contain three parts inside: a ballast resistor, an LED, and a reverse-polarity-protection diode. You may know that the lamps in your home are wired in a parallel circuit. That is the way we are using the lamps here. Christmas tree lamps are wired in series, and one could do that too, except it would require high voltage to wire 10, 12 volt lamps in series, and I don't want to propose that to inexperienced people. Experienced electrical people don't need my help, and can do whatever they please.

Now the experimenter in the link that timlawyer posted is using LEDs (light emitting diodes). These are the light-generating part of the lamp we are using. I could draw an analogy between the LED and the fluorescent tube in a PC lamp. The PC and the LED both make light, and they both need a ballast to work correctly in a circuit. The ballast is contained in the wedge-base of the LED lamp, just like the ballast may be in the base of a PC lamp. I hope I'm being clear on this now.

The part number for the power supply is T501-P1P-ND. Sorry about that. Without the dash, the Digi-Key search engine is clueless. "wall-wort" is a slang term for a wall-mounted power supply, and won't get any hits, I'm sure.

The computerized, moon-phase controller was a joke, son. I don't have any. However, I think it's a great idea. Somebody should do it.


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## imported_Creature (Feb 6, 2003)

Thanks for the clarification. And, I did miss the joke. Some initial research led me to the website below:

http://www.digitallighting.com/animationfolder/dmxser.htm

While it's not computerized or follow a specific moonphase, perhaps it can be used to simulate moonrise and moonset or even sunrise and sunset. It states that it can control LEDs and fluorescent lights, maybe even our compact fluorecent lighting?

If you get a chance maybe you can look at their products and see which might work for our applications. These things aren't cheap either.

Thanks again,

Gil


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

Would the 13watt ahsupply kit /w darkblue bulb be a good substitute?

What does teflon sleeving and AWG 24 bus wire look like?

Where can I order those?

72 Gal, 3 WPG PC 10 hour, pressurize co2 /w controller 3 bps, Fluval 404, ph 6.75
A Canadian's Plant Traders website

[This message was edited by EDGE on Sun October 19 2003 at 07:57 PM.]


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by EDGE:
> Would the 13watt ahsupply kit /w darkblue bulb be a good substitute?
> ...


I found some bus wire at Radio Shack. Here is a link to their web catalog:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F010%5F003%5F000&product%5Fid=278%2D1341

Here is a link to some heat shrink tubing they sell. Its polyolefin instead of Teflon, but that's OK. You don't need Teflon for this project.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F010%5F008%5F002&product%5Fid=278%2D1627

You don't need to shrink the tubing, although the larger sizes might be easier to handle if you did. Shrinking the tubing requires a hot air gun or small torch. Maybe you shouldn't if you're not handy with torches or hot air guns, because you can do a lot of damage with them if they are mis-used.

As an alternative to bus wire, you can always use regular hookup wire, and just splice the wires together at the lamps. It is easier to find hookup wire than bus wire and tubing.

A dark blue, 13 W fluorescent tube is not a good substitute for the white LED lamps in this project. First it's blue, not white. Moonlight is white. Second, it's a couple of orders of magnitude too powerful for moonlight. Even the LEDs are too powerful, which is why I have a dimmer. With the voltage up all the way, the lighting resembles dawn, not moonlight. It makes a good party light though.


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

Do you have a picture of the wiring behind the led light?

72 Gal, 3 WPG PC 10 hour, pressurize co2 /w controller 3 bps, Fluval 404, ph 6.75
A Canadian's Plant Traders website


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

OK, I suppose I should have taken those when it was apart. I'll have to disassemble the light hood to get to the back side of the light bar, so this may take a day or two, depending on my schedule.


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## gsmollin (Feb 3, 2003)

Here is the wiring detail inside the hood:










The picture shows two of the ten LED lamps that are bussed together.


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## imported_molahs4 (Feb 3, 2003)

Edge, to follow up on gsmollin's response regarding the 13 watt AHSupply moonlight, I just installed one yesterday. It's pretty bright. If I had known about the LED solution a couple months ago when I was planning this project I probably would have gone that route instead of the dark blue bulb. My wife keeps having concerns that we are keeping the fish awake with the night light, and therefore stressing them out.

I believe that James H. also stated that he would have preferred LED's instead of his 13 watt PC bulb.

-Scott
tank specs and bad pictures


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