DIY LED Using 10 Watt Arrays

[mike31154]

To provide additional flexibility to the fixture with regard to dawn/dusk effect, I've decided to add some SMD5050 RGB strips. During the longer summer days ambient daylight minimizes the effect of the sudden blast of light when the 10 watters kick in, but this time of year it's quite a radical wake up call for the livestock in a darkened room.

I scored a 5 meter reel of waterproof RGB LED strip lighting online complete with 44 key IR remote control & 12 volt DC 5 amp power supply for about $35. Had to wait a month to get it, but can't complain for free shipping & no brokerage fee or customs hit. Had an 8 foot length of the thin aluminum angle left from the 10 watt rail build, so I cut that into 2 sections & stuck the RGB strips to them. The aluminum angle will be attached to the existing center rail of my fixture using stainless #4 screws. I've threaded the holes so should be a slick & easy addition. I'll need to disconnect the fixture & take it down though, so I can drill & tap matching holes into the center rail.

Photo of the strips mounted to the alu angle. They come with a 3M sticky backing which holds well, but a zip tie at each end to support the connectors adds a bit of security.


Opposite end. The RGB control box with IR receiver attaches to the connector. Power supply plugs into the other end of the control box. Plug & play with more colour choices, dimming, flash modes than I'll ever need.


I loosely laid the two strips above the tank the other day to see how it looked & they put out quite a bit of light. The 5 meter reel of 5050 LEDs consumes 36 watts, there are 60 LEDs per meter providing 780-900 lumens/meter. Each of the strips I cut off the reel is just over a meter long (approx. 41 inches). This gives me 63 LEDs/strip, for a total of 126 for dawn dusk/tweaking or night lighting. Good thing they can be dimmed with the 44 key remote. One of the timed power bars I use for the 10 watt LEDs has the alternate day/night receptacles, so the plan is to plug the strip light power supply into one of the night jobs. Still not as good as having a controller to turn the strips off at some point during the night when I'm not home, but better than nothing I guess. When I'm away I may just set them up to be fully dimmed red all night.

[mseepman]

Hey Mike,

I scored a couple of those same ones and am planning on using them above my kitchen cabinets.

Nice way to use them on the tank!

[mike31154]

Indeed, uses for LED strip lights are almost limitless. I considered using the whole reel as Xmas lighting on a spruce tree in my front yard, but found that I probably need more than 5 meters for that! So I ended up using the crappy tire LED strings I bought a few years ago. Many of those are beginning to burn out already though & they don't have the flashing/dimming options, so I'm thinking of ordering a few reels for next year.