I am going to go ahead and implement a bunch of led lights into My two tanks for night switches as i am often more apt to view at night then during the day when i am at work! I figured i would keep a journal/how to for any one that is interested in making their own! so here is the holding/entry post and i will start taking pics and notes as i go when i get home tonight!

Things you'll need!

First and foremost is a bread board!
Key component to any electronics building!





Soldering iron and some solder/flux heat wrap



Resistor kit, and some wire. Resistors of varying size.


a soldering board (curcuit board) and some LEDs!



Ok so take your board and lets get rocking.



I like to plan my builds out before hand on the bread board then settle the plan out on the curcuit board






wire the LEDS together, and remember to wire positive to negative and then back to positive (if you are wiring in series)





For this build i am building to boards for either side of the florescent, so i link them together with a strand.



something to keep in mind,I always like to seal things up , i use hot glue to tack down any loose ends as well as the back of the board this will help to prevent condensation settleing in the areas with exposed wire.. not criticle but in the long run a good idea...


Wire up your power source. and remember if you are wiring LED's ->|- power flows only one way through them, so negative to negative and positive to positive) My power supply was a 200mA 12 volt battery charger from a phone... maybe? who knows. but any ac/dc converter will work.

and make sure you check to see if they work before you mount them!

Like i said i wanted two sets on either side of the florescent and so i stage them, and hide the wiring linking thetwo behind the 'reflector'
I happen to have some industrail hot glue so i just use that to mount oh pretty much everything...




I have mine set up on a timmer to kick in 15 mins before the florescent kicks off, so i will have a pic of the final lighting after the lights go down tonight!!


Hope you enjoyed, and more to come with another couple builds!

__________________
When you pay that cash or swipe that card you are making a bond with that animal that you will treat it with love and respect, and its needs will be met, first and foremost (unless you have kids...) I don't care if you have to eat ramen noodles or nothing at all to feed your cat dog fish rat whatever. That's the bond you made! Life is precious!

Hi Zac.
Great idea. Looking forward to seeing your progress. If you havent already check my lastest 'LED lighting' post.
I will keep you updated if I do buy these.
Cheers.
Dan

Heyo!

__________________
When you pay that cash or swipe that card you are making a bond with that animal that you will treat it with love and respect, and its needs will be met, first and foremost (unless you have kids...) I don't care if you have to eat ramen noodles or nothing at all to feed your cat dog fish rat whatever. That's the bond you made! Life is precious!

Looks great. I'm hesitant to work with anythin electrical (bad luck follows me) but obviously you know what you're doing!

__________________
"Being ignorant is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn".-- Benjamin Franklin

Went ahead and made a set of reds for the bottom tank, here are the two tanks finished project!!
Lights on.


Lights off and moonlight

Tetras seem to love the blue moonlight


The lower tank

And the lower lit up


And the two of them lit up all finished projecty!


If you have any Q's shoot! and thanks for reading!!

__________________
When you pay that cash or swipe that card you are making a bond with that animal that you will treat it with love and respect, and its needs will be met, first and foremost (unless you have kids...) I don't care if you have to eat ramen noodles or nothing at all to feed your cat dog fish rat whatever. That's the bond you made! Life is precious!