DIY-Inexspensive LED moon lights....

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by Todd_Sails, Jan 27, 2012.

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  1. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    OK, like the title says,

    I was at Menards buying other things, and picked up a 4 pack of those small round push to turn on led lights. These are about 2.5 in. in diameter. The came with the batteries, all 4 + batts., $7.95.

    I hung 2 of them inside my canopy.

    I installed them by hanging them on the inside/front of my canopy- so as the shine towards the rear. they also give off enough light to add a nice glow when the DT and room lights are all off.

    I like it! Just sharing
     
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  3. Forest Reefs

    Forest Reefs Plankton

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    Sounds good, clever idea.
     
  4. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    Works great! It gives a real mellow shimmering light as I would think the moon light would.
     
  5. redfishsc

    redfishsc Feather Duster

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    If you get tired of replacing the batteries, you can probably splice in a small cheap DC power supply of the right voltage. If it uses two AA batteries, and you have two puck lights, a common 5-6v cell phone charger would probably run both of them if you wired them in series. May be a hair dimmer than with the batteries but it's going to be tricky to find something that's right on 6.0-6.4 volts (ie, 3.0-3.2v per puck).
     
  6. Ashevillian

    Ashevillian Pajama Cardinal

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    I tried this and the glue holding the light up kept coming undone also the batteries eventually died on me and I gave up. Not sure if I would have the know how to splice and wire them to a phone charger - that'd be pretty bad ass though
     
  7. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    Yes, I have a bunch of power adapters from over the years of out of date and failed/etc. electronics.

    To the guuy that glued them, I hung them on a screw vertically in my canopy so they wouldn't fall in. Not as direct of light, but it still works.
     
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  9. Reef-a-holic

    Reef-a-holic 3reef Sponsor

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    Cool...I've used all kinds of LED's for moonlights on various tanks...I think the one's I liked best were for automotive use...I have dozens of old AC/DC power packs...very easy to wire one up so you don't have to deal with batteries like was mentioned above.
     
  10. redfishsc

    redfishsc Feather Duster

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    Easy.

    Take a charger of the right voltage, keep unplugged, and lop off the adapter on the very end of it. Strip the two strands of wire about 1/8" to expose some wire for soldering.

    Identify the + and - leads.

    Find the + and - battery terminals. Paint them with a touch of flux paste.


    Take a really hot soldering iron, and see if you can solder the + to the +, and the - to the -. Let it cool, plug it in. See if it lights up.


    This is pretty low voltage, so as long as you have a 5-6 volt charger, you aren't going to get zapped unless you stick the wires in a raw open sore.