Bioload LED Fixture

[beefORchicken]

wow, i know the fixture isn't done, but wow it looks great! can't wait to see the finished product

[StirCrazy]

you know, you could allways put a few stratigicly placed 5mm blue leds above your brackets to light them up. would make them glow and give you the look you were thinking of.

Steve

[bioload]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

you know, you could allways put a few stratigicly placed 5mm blue leds above your brackets to light them up. would make them glow and give you the look you were thinking of.

Steve

I Like........a friend of mine told me he didn't like the brakets, BUT he did come up with an alternative that has me thinking.....more to come

The budget took a hit with the aluminum that I received for the frame. It’s WAY too heavy for the fixture for my liking. The weight of the aluminum alone is in the 20lb range and I’m worried that it may be too heavy for the tank. A friend of mine told me not to worry, that most canopies are heavier than that. However, once he picked up the aluminum bars his first words were, “Damn that’s heavy”…..so back to the drawing board

These are some sketches that I’ve completed with some modifications to the frame….I hope it will address the weight issues. The center will be a wooden frame with wooden or acrylic end caps, and using only a ¼” brushed aluminum trim on the front and back. I’m currently Google-ing “DIY Brushed Aluminum”, and finding some nice tips (as usual).





And just for kicks







My wife really likes this one…..I might regret the fact that she knows I can change the colour

[bioload]

After going through numerous threads and articles on LED color combinations I’ve come to the conclusion that the capability to change would be advantageous. With that being the case, having to remove and re-solder the LED’s into the fixture would almost certainly be tedious enough to prevent it from happening for any type of experimentation.

The idea I came up with is to solder PCB 0.1mm pins to the stars and use jumpers to connect the strings together. I’ve ordered a few of these from e-bay and await their arrival as I complete the remainder of the build.





Initially the pins will need to be soldered but once that is completed I would have a star that can be connected/disconnected with relative ease, or at least I hope so.