Couple of questions about lighting..

[Rachel.Cody]

So I got an idea today being I need some more light for my planted tank. I bought two 12" LED dual row light bars for my truck that I no longer use. They are BRIGHT. But with them being waterproof and having mounts i was thinking about making a light for my planted 75g tank. Im not sure if itll work or not because I know very little about household wiring. They have a positive and negative like most automotive wiring. I want to be able to put a dimmer on them if i can. But them being 12v is there any way for them to work in a standard household outlet? Idk what most household are, 110? If there is anyone that knows anything about this help would be great. Thank you.

 

[Rachel.Cody]

sorry, households are 120

 

[Racersk]

You will need a 'driver' for the LED's. This is just the industry term for a AC->DC power supply. There are tons of these available, but what YOU need to do is this...

Find out what the amp draw of your automotive LEDS are. Guessing 5-7amps.

Then go to any electronics store and ask to look through the 12V power supplies.- find one with a 12VDC output and has enough amperage to push the lights.

X2 things to note...

1-these are automotive lights-ie car on and charging = 14VDC so the lights might not look as bright as compared to when on the car with the engine on.

2-they usually have a beam pattern that doesn't blind oncomers- you may have to suspend your lights off the tank for proper coverage


Side note- these get hot, they are designed to be used on a moving vehicle. So again suspend them somehow off your tanks glass lids- or it will crack (worst case) or evaporate water as it touches the glass causing it to frost over- both suck.




Now you know what's up- check out my HID lighting on my saltwater nano tank- uses an H4 HID bulb/ballast from a car kit, and a old scrapped computer power supply!




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[Rachel.Cody]

I have a couple spare hid kits laying around too. The leds are flood pattern so, offroad use only. Sound like a lot of trouble to me lol. Maybe i wont be doing it lol.