DIY moon light emitter

[Bald_noggin]

I did this using 3 x 20mm Blue LED's.

The large size helped diffuse the light over a greater area so there wasn't any bright spots in the tank.

LEDS are good in the sense that if you were so dead serious about your fish, that you could actually create a moon light simulator to mimic the lunar cycle. I could see an advatage of this for reef fish and coral, but I don't know about freshwater

Having said that, the idea of using a Cold Cathode Fluroscent Light is a great idea but they can't be dimmed.

Make sure the ends of the CCFL tube and any connections are insulated and I also suggest mounting the CCFL inverter AWAY from water. The inverters output is 600-800 Volts and around 6.5mA. OUCH!

If you have any questions on building this (or other electronic devices) please feel free to ask me! :P

Cheers,
Col.

[fish_r]

Having said that, the idea of using a Cold Cathode Fluroscent Light is a great idea but they can't be dimmed.

actually as i mentioned, they can be dimmed, i use a 12vlt adaptor that has
3/4.5/6/7.5/9/12vlt settings, when u put it on a lower voltage they dim to what voltage it is running on....

[Bald_noggin]

Hi Fish_r,

O.K. You can dim them!

I just grabbed my adjustable adaptor (has same voltage as yours) and low and behold, you can dim it.

I think I made the assumption that the inverter circuit it trying to push a constant voltage out and hence a constant brightness.

I suppose the dimming happens because the oscillator is making do with what's available, where as if it had a feedback circuit, I'm sure that one might not be able to adjust the brightness without altering the feedback.

Cheers,
Col.

Now, what topping shall I use to eat my words??

[fish_r]

I suppose the dimming happens because the oscillator is making do with what's available, where as if it had a feedback circuit, I'm sure that one might not be able to adjust the brightness without altering the feedback.

m8 to be honest i dont know that much about electrics, just know if i lower the voltage it dims the light mine were white cathodes and i sprayed them with a blue frosting spray to get the depth of blue i wanted

[Bald_noggin]

I you want blue ones (or red, green, white or even UV!) try Jaycar Electronics.

This link is for the 300 mm Blue CCFL. $9.95 just for the CCFL. Not a bad price.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

There is apparently one type of inverter for 100mm tubes and one for a 300mm tube, but I don't really think there is that much difference between them.

[fish_r]

thx for the link BN that is a good price
i do have blue ones, but there in my computer
also have UV ones...