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LED lighting in your homemade enclosure?

sarae

sarae

New member
Was just wondering if anyone has had success using LEDs in their DIY project... more specifically, how many were needed for various lengths in order to appropriately illuminate the enclosure?


I'm hoping to do a set of 48" enclosures encased in a furniture-style cabinet (think cagesbydesign's majestic series) but I'd like to use LEDs for general lighting, maybe one daylight set and one either moonlight or red light. I'm just not sure how many i'll need per enclosure to achieve a uniform but not overpowering light.
 
I don't know the answer, but I _do_ know heavy duty Velcro is a good way to attach LED fixtures inside a viv!! Then they are easy to remove if you ever have to.
 
sarae, I used the Under Cabinet Led Lights to light up my tanks, they connect and Light up Vary nicely, and are Almost heatless. I know I held them for a while and the only heat I felt was from my own hand. They are expensive though, around 43 dollars each.
Utilitech 18" 3-Light Linking LED Bar
copy and Paste that ^ into your Google bar and click enter. you will find it at Lows. but they light everything up better then anything you can get from a pet store. with almost natural light too.
 
Nice. Mine are 48" long, so I wonder if i would need three... three each x 5 vivs.... $15/each I guess $225 isn't too bad for lighting. Wonder if i can find a multi-pack somewhere.
 
I know they come in three packs and if I remember correctly, it was right at $40 for the three pack. I bought two of those packs and have two lights left over. I would assume they come in 6 packs as well like the Xenons but I didn't see any at my local home depot(Austin, TX).

If you try the Xenons, let me know if they get hot or not because they are half the price of the LEDs and I have a couple more vivs to build in the near future.

Also, the LED lights daisy chain really easily so you would only need one outlet for all of the lights.
 
Oh, and I would probably use three in a 48" viv(12" from the wall and 12" apart) but it would probably still be okay with just 2. They are pretty darn bright.
 
i'll ask about the heat output at my local store and see if anyone knows.

I was also looking at this track-light style but i'm not sure if even angled, the 15" long fixture could cover the 48" enclosure.
 
It looks like those only have 3 LEDs in each fixture. The pucks I use have 12 but of course they are a bit pricey.
 
very true. I'd like to say price is not a deciding factor, as I want this enclosure to be done right and last a long time... but i also want to have it built before i die and not be saving up for the rest of my life :D

it looks like the xenons do put off heat... about half what a halogen does.. which is still way too much. Back to the LED drawing board :D
 
Warning, Xenon's Get HOT! Like Really hot, I spent 2 hours in Lowes and Homedepot Feeling lights, I still got the burns on my fingers from Xenon's and I just Touched them once. even some of the LED Puck lights get hot. you will want to go in and test them yourself when you want the lights.. I went with the 42 dollar lights because they dont get hot, they link with eachother, so its just one plug in that you have to deal with and Ive had them sitting right on the glass for the last few days. all Plusses in my book.
 
dont let them deture you! I had them bring a ladder and I climbed up and Felt lights! (lol) they looked at me like I was insane, but my snakes are safe because I wasted two hours of my life, feeling lights... (ok reading that.. im insane)
 
LED lights

I was planning on using LEDs for lighting a couple vivs I'm going to make out of a nice shelf/cabinet thingy from a resale shop.

I've looked at several stores for LED lights. They are all so expensive. LEDs are not terribly expensive by themselves, though. If we are mounting these somewhat permanently, and usually out of sight, why not make our own lights? We don't need mass-produced, high-overhead, fancy plastic deals.

All you would need would be a power supply, LEDs, and a resistor. The power supply you can get at a thrift store somewhere (you know, those wall warts). My local one has giant boxes of them for $1 each. A 12 volt would be fine. A 9v would work too. The LEDs draw so little current, I think most supplies should have no trouble whatsoever. I'll have to look online for an electronics distributor to find good LEDs to use (bright & cheap). White lights will be more, but if you want some night illumination, red happens to be the cheapest color. The resistor just limits the current so you don't burn out the LED. Throw a rheostat in there instead, and you've got a nice dimmer for your lights too. We could just drill a lot of holes in some strip of material (wood, plastic, pvc, metal, etc.) and glue them in. Want to chain them? That should be easy with just a little more wire and a couple connectors.

I'm home on lunch, but I can figure out more later.
 
xreinx said:
dont let them deture you! I had them bring a ladder and I climbed up and Felt lights! (lol) they looked at me like I was insane, but my snakes are safe because I wasted two hours of my life, feeling lights... (ok reading that.. im insane)
Click to expand...

they already know i'm insane.. i spent an hour feeling ceramic tile when i was doing my bearded dragon's vivs :crazy02:
 
Lol, thats my Next project! Ive got a 2 by 2 by 6 foot tank that I got for free, the bottem is busted so I am going to tile the bottem and set it on its end, weighted with water in the bottem. but Tile and grout are the only things I feel safe in putting in there, because of the amount of water I want to place in the tank. (its going to have hot shelves and waterfalls, im thinking I want poison dart frogs next... ) but yea, I felt lights, I like the three LED light bar, here let me show you.
 
pics

one is with led, the other is not, both pics are taken without flash.
 

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