DIY moonlight broke :(

[headshrink]

I THINK I splashed some water on it. Only one of the two LEDs doesn't work. It was sitting on the brace under the PCs pointing into the reflector. Is it possible that heat from the PCs could have burnt out an LED, or is it more likely that water damaged it?

[bzzbee2]

i would say it could be water dammaged.. if the led's are completely exposed, condensation could have settled on the top portion of the led where the wires come out, possibly allowing current to short them out. but then again. im no electrical genius.

[headshrink]

Is it likely that I burnt out the resister too, or just the LED? I have a multi-meter but I really don't know much about them (dad's actually).

[sagitariuscbc]

headshrink-i have some leds and resisters for those tix;)
you'll be good as new!:D

[headshrink]

Sounds good to me :)

[Bamm Bamm]

Do you guys have any links to cheap easy mon lights? I really want to make a few setups(one for each large tank) took down my nano last night..

[bzzbee2]

do a search for diy moonlighting ... there is tons of info on this subject. your best bet is to buy some LED's and resistors off ebay. if you live by a fry's get the resistors there. they cost like 2.00 for 100...

[Bamm Bamm]

SWEET thanks/.. I'll scope it out..

[brettzki]

LOL, you guys might laugh at this one, but it actually works like a champ! I bought the X-10 Active home and a blue rope light, I think it was like 13 feet long or something like that. Well, anyway, I put a pair of ultra actinics on one appliance module on the x-10, then a pair of 50/50 on another module, and the metal halides on another module, and finally for my personal DIY moonlights in installed blue rope lights on top-inside of my canopy and basically they go all the way around my light fixture, and hooked the rope lights up to an x-10 lamp module and this can be dimmed, but I run it at 100% and it's awesome at night ... VERY nice soft glow! The x-10 active home is not necessary obviously, but it works really well for sunrise to sunset simulation. ... 10:30pm the moonlights go on with nothing else on in the tank, then 6:30am the ultra actinics come on, then at 8:30am the 50/50's come on, then at 12:00pm the metal halides come on ... 3:30pm the halides shut off, 9:45pm the 50/50's shut off, and 10:30pm the actinics shut off while at the same time the moonlights (rope light) come on! Try it out, I spent roughly 80.00 for the x-10 active home and 3 addition appliance modules (3-prong), and the rope light was 9.99. Enjoy.

[user48953]

Brett.. Do you know if the x10 Firecracker (free $6 one) can be timed controlled? i jumped on the band wagon last week and ordered one :D

huy

[brettzki]

Yes it can, the "firecracker" module is the device that allows you to control the devices with your pc ... the firecracker stores all the data so that your pc doesn't need to be on. You'll need appliance module for all lights accept for incadescent bulbs or moonlights.

[late2wake]

bretzki-
are you sure? i thought the firecracker wasnt capable of macros or storing data (ie timed schedules, etc.) if you could explain, that would be great =) thanks!

[brettzki]

I may be wrong, but if I'm not mistaken you connect your firecracker unit to your computer via phone cable that converts to a 9-pin serial and holds two triple A batteries to hold the programming. 500 hours lifetime on a fresh set of batteries.

[late2wake]

ooo, thats the activehome x10 module. the firecracker is a starter kit thats comes with a remote, transciever, and a lamp module. it just turns it on and off with a remote. the activehome that hooks up to the computer is what you want to look for then. this way, the activehome module will store macros, schedules and time.

[brettzki]

Yeah .. that's the ticket!