My DIY Moonlight Project

[FishBuddy]

Hi Everyone,

Since there's quite a few of you out there that are interested in the DIY moonlight project, I'll write something out to share with everyone based on my moonlight project constructed for my 48" Oceanic canopy:

My Parts/Equipment List:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a) 10x 5mm blue LED with a wavelength of ~470nm.
b) 10x 470 ohm 1/4 watt resistors.
c) 5 feet of speaker wire; or any low voltage wires (ie: door bell or telephone wires).
d) a soldering iron.
e) electrical tape.
f) heat shrink tubing (got it from Active).
g) 12V DC adapter.
h) on/off switch (optional; free from a broken computer power supply).
i) DC power connector (optional; got it from Radio Shack).
j) chrome LED holders (optional).

My Procedure:
~~~~~~~~

-  drill 10 holes on the canopy at approx. 4.25" apart.
-  installed chrome LED holders.
-  for EACH of the LEDs, do the following:
   1) solder one end of the resistor to the "SHORT" leg (the negative side) of the LED.
   2) solder the other end of the resistor to the negative wire (mine was the black wire for easy identification).
   3) solder the other "LONG" leg (the positive side) of the LED to the positive wire (mine was the red wire).
   4) test the circuit with the 12V DC adapter to ensure all the LEDs you've done so far lit up.  If not, check your connection or LED as you could fried your LED during the soldering process.  Do not solder the connection for more than 5 seconds at a time.  Let it cool off before trying again.
   5) install the heat shrink tubing over the connection (you could use electrical tape if you like).
   6) seat the LED to the LED holder.
   7) use electrical tape to hold the wires in placed.
-  when you have completed your chain of LEDs, connect your positive and negative wire to the 12V DC adapter accordingly.  Now your have a moonlight!!!!

Additional Things Which I've Done To My Moonlight Setup:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  add an on/off switch.  I could therefore switch on my canopy light and LED moonlight independently. 
-  add an independent DC power connector jack ($4 at Radio Shack).  That way, I can unplug the 12V DC adapter from the canopy easily.

Additional Tips/Tricks:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  before soldering each LED, test them first with a 3.0V source (ie: pair up a set of C or D batteries).  Nothing could be more frustrating than finding out it was a broken LED to begin with :-(
-  don't snip the extra leader on the resistors.  Instead, wrap it around the power wire (and the LED) to produce a snug fit.


Pictures are worth a thousand words, so here it is:






[attachment deleted by admin]

[lucky777]

Looks very simple, thanks