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Thread: DIY Canopy with LED night light and fans

  1. #1
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    DIY Canopy with LED night light and fans

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    I started by looking for a tank with canopy as I do not like to see the water line and hate to have dog fur and what-have-you dropping into my tank, but none came with the light set I wanted. Since I made my own light sets, I made a canopy to house them.


    Decided that acrylic seems easy to work with, is waterproof and will not deteriorate to affect the tank water. Ordered black opaque acrylic sheets cut to the dimensions I wanted from www.overjoyed.com.sg. Sent them an email of the dimensions I wanted and the acrylic sheets were cut to exact measurements.Holes are then drilled on the acrylic sheets to enable hoses pipes and wires to pass through from behind, and for the placement of fans.

    Measurements and Holes cut in acrylic.JPG

    The edges were glued to form a rectangular shape. To rein enforce the corners, rein enforcement acrylic rods were added.

    Rein enforcement.JPG

    Thin strips of wire trunking were added to provide extra support when placed on the aquarium tank. Initially, I planned to support the weight of the canopy at the corners with the rein enforcement rods, but it seemed the dimensions I planned were too “loose” and the canopy will slide down like a skirt. The left over wire trunkings I found at home served the purpose well in supporting the weight, plus it can hide and guide wires along the edges of the canopy.

    Canopy Front and Side view.JPG


    Fans are added to the side and back of the canopy to ventilate it, one blowing air in while the other, out of the tank. Fans and adaptors can be bought at Sim Lim tower. All wire connections are waterproofed with silicon.

    Fan inside and outside.JPG



    The next part of the canopy is the top panel which I wanted to include LED lights to serve as night lights. LED units can be bought at Sim Lim tower also, and connected in parallel to an adaptor that can take the combined current (which is less than half amp).


    The LED units are riveted to the top panels of the canopy, and the top faces of the rivets are painted black for aesthetic sake.These panels are then glued to the top of the canopy at the front and back, leaving just enough space at the centre for the light sets to rest on.

    Night Light.jpg

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    And finally the completed canopy with fans and LED night lights mounted on my tank. The light sets were made as described in another thread

    DIY 4 X T5HO 2 feet light sets with fans


    Canopy.JPG


    Testing the LEDs in the dark.

    In Dark Room.JPG
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    very nicely done!

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    WOW!! Amazing... Bro, intending to accept orders for customisations?!?

    Mind sharing with me the price of the LEDs & which shop in SLS that I can get them? Is it easy to connect them & get them running? (Sorry, but I get tremors when dealing with such electrical stuffs...)

    Cheers!!

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    Haha I am a hobbyist, not a business person, so not intending to do it for money.

    There are many shops in SLS that sells LEDs. I cannot remember which exact shop I bought from, but I think is level 3. It is indeed easy to connect them and get them running. Just connect the wires on the LED with your own wires to extend them, and connect to an AC-DC adaptor and that is it. You can solder the wires to be more professional, use a connector from any DIY shop and just screw on, or simply just tie the copper parts of the wire together and use black tape to tape up the connection.

    The LED I bought got specify which is "+" and which is "-". Do not worry even if you get it wrong, it just will not light up dat's all. Just swap the positions until you get it right.

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    Nice job done.
    What is the thickness of the acrylic sheet used? Will need your advice in the future when I need to do some cover using acrylic as well.
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    Thank you. The thickness I used is 5mm. But I cheated by ordering them cut to size for me. =)

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    Is it tough to drill on acrylic? Do we need special drill bits?
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    Acrylic is quite easy to work with. Just normal drill bits will do. In fact they are easier than even the PVC trunking I used to to make the light casing, cause PVC is softer and will tend to stretch when you are drilling, and thus the size of holes drilled got to be bigger than what you plan.

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    nice bro. intending to start this project to. currently, in research n design phase.
    simply inspiring..... THANKS!!

    cheers.

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    Glad you like my sharing. If you need any advice or idea, feel free to discuss.

    Note: Remember to plan more thoroughly for what other equipments you may want to add in future. I added a clip-on fan to blow direct at the water surface, but due to the limited space beneath the light tubes, the fan can only bend to certain angle. Also, I wanted to add a food timer, but totally no space to fit at all unless I remove one set of lights.

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    Do you connect the DC supply directly to the LEDs?
    Do you need a resistor?
    thanks
    ********
    Andrew

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    Yes just DC to the LED without resistors.

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    Thanks for the reply.
    Hope 1 day i can have my own DIY light.
    ********
    Andrew

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    Quote Originally Posted by gemo82 View Post
    Yes just DC to the LED without resistors.
    Apologies, I have DIYed my LED lighting for my motorcycle signals, indicators, etc. currently planning to do up a trial for my tank.

    I intentionally try to hook up 1 LED to a Eveready 9V batt. There was an instant bright light and then darkness. I try again and again with other power sources. nothing work. Confirm LED burnt.

    I = V/R so if there aren't any resistant or resistance is very low (LED has close to Zero resistance), the Current (I) will be very high or near infinity... blowing the LED in an instant. Resistor regulate the Voltage and Current.

    Are your LEDs pre connected with resistance by shop... think you need to clear this up... else people will waste $$$ blowing LEDs.
    Baby Steel!

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    The LEDs I used are pre-connected. When I tried them at the shop, the shop keeper just connect to a DC supply, and I can read the voltage and current from there. So I guess the resistors are built in to each LED module that I bought. Sorry for any misunderstandings, and thanks for pointing it out.

    I just bought 2 strips of LED for another DIY, again just connect to DC supply. So I suppose those in strips and modules can be connected straight to a DC supply without problem, but not individual LEDs.

    If in doubt, always ask before you buy or connect.

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