DIY LED 29 gallon planted

[DoctaQ]

moonlights generally are something like 50ma each or lower

and i just looked, two AA will power up, for some reason i saw 1 AA tester to mean one AA battery

you can just use small cheapo leds for moonlights but as long as you have the driver, give it a try..maybe reflect off enough surfaces to make it dim, or run a bunch in parallel to cut the current down

 

[rockhoe14er]

Yeah i can try that. I've never had moonlights before so it's a learning experience. Are they supposed to turn on after the lights go off and stay on until the white light turns on? Or is it just something to use occasionally.

 

[DoctaQ]

either way, for me it was just kinda annoying since it was in my room having a light on all the time

 

[rockhoe14er]

haha. Yeah my tank isn't in my room. So i won't have to worry about it. But it'll be cool to run every once in a while. So it looks like all the parts are out being shipped to my house and should arrive next week. Hopefully i'll be able to set this thing up and take pictures.

 

[DoctaQ]

those thermal epoxies dry fast..i try to only mix up enough to cover a few stars at a time

try to make the soldering connections as small as possible so that optic can sit all the way down on to the led, otherwise you will waste light if it doesnt sit perfectly

 

[rockhoe14er]

Yeah luckily my girlfriends father is a soldering fiend so he's going to help me out. Last time I soldered was when i made a solar panel in 7th grade so it's a little intimidating because i don't want to ruin my led's.

 

[rockhoe14er]

here is the design. What do you guys think about the light layout with them being collated instead of the lights mirroring one another.

 

[DoctaQ]

good plan

 

[rockhoe14er]

my plan is to buy a better soldering iron today and suggestions on what type of solder to use?

 

[rockhoe14er]

here are some pictures. This was my first time soldeing so i'm pretty proud of myself. My connections seem a bit weak i'm not sure if that's because i did a bad job or if that happens to everyone.