Another LED Night Light

[Team Slug]

Here's my version of the LED moon light. It was made with a single 1W, 455nm LED and it lights my 75g easily. This is it at about 35% of it's maximum intensity. Anything much higher and it is way too bright to simulate the moon. A day and night photo:

http://www.concentric.net/~Sspink/105_0505small.JPG

http://www.concentric.net/~Sspink/105_0506small.JPG

It cost about $15 without the AC adapter.

[DJ88©]

Ahh the Luxeon Star...

Have two here I want to play with.. nice job. Those things put out some major light. :D

[Team Slug]

You'll have plenty of fun with the Luxeons...just don't forget the heatsink. I'm just using a piece of flat aluminum stock and it seems to work well. Of course, I'm not running them full tilt either so that makes a big difference.

The 455 nm looks almost purple compared to the normal 470 nm blue. The whites also work great in flashlights.

Have you seen the 5W version...your eyes will hurt for hours.:cool:

[DJ88©]

I bet the 5W will hurt.. These ones did when I looked at one by accident. :)

I have already mounted a nice piece of aluminum on each that I have. a red, a 455 and a 470.. more toys. ;)

[Team Slug]

I can see the wheels turning now...:D

[DJ88©]

Oh you don't know the half of it. ;)

How did you get such an even dispersion of light with only the one luxeon? Aimed across the inside of the hood? Horizontally I mean.

[Team Slug]

I used the batwing version instead of the lambertian. If you use the lambertian it tends to be a little more like a spotlight. I have the single led mounted in the middle of my hood pointing straight down. Works great, but the piles of LR tend to block the light at the far edges. I could have just used two LEDs and mounted one over each pile and that would have completely filled the tank to the edges.

[DJ88©]

That explains it. :)

Didn't have much of a choice here. I grabbed what came in at the local elex store. ;)

[Awestralian]

Awesome!

Im going to make a trip to our local elect. shop on the weekend to see what i can pick up to make my own version.

These two moonlight threads have got me all inspired... lol..
:bum:

[DiscusZ]

Can someone provide part numbers and where they got these things from.


Thanks

[Team Slug]

The LED I used is a Lumiled Luxeon, #LXHL-MRRC. LXHL-MRRD would also work, it has a slightly different radiation pattern. These are the royal blue color which I prefer, but you may not. All the information you need on them is at lumileds.com (http://www.lumileds.com)

The regular blue version is LXHL-MB1C or LXHL-MB1D. THese are closer in color to the LEDs you see at Radio Shack.

I bought mine from Future Electronics. The link is on the lumileds website. One note...I got a much better price when I called directly and setup an account than by using the webite. They definitely aren't cheap, but when you can use 1 or 2 to light your aquarium they become cost effective pretty quickly.

[DJ88©]

For the rest of the pieces used all you need is the description of what it is. ie resistor 220 ohm. 6volt powersupply 800mA. etc. They are generic stuff.

[DvSkIn]

That's cool I did one as well, for my 40 breeder, I have a few pics for ya, tell me what ya think???

A shot down my canopy
http://dvskin.smugmug.com/photos/338131-M.jpg

And a LED only tank shot, might wanna turn the lights off in the room for this one, it will show u better
http://dvskin.smugmug.com/photos/338132-M.jpg



DVS

[chipster]

Guys thank you for the setups and contributions on this subject ,,, it is nice to have a couple of guys on here with the knowledge that you posses! Chip