Reliable source for LED strips

[Steve Roehrs]

Hi Hackers

One of my fish tanks at home has recently blown another fluorescent ballast, leaving me with no lights over my fish tank.  It seems that this is a common problem, but because of their peculiar size they are difficult to replace.  I haven't in fact verified that this is the case, but that's irrelevant because I'm using this as a hack opportunity to replace the tubes with LEDS!

Stage one just to get it working before my plants all die is to drive them from a simple dimmer (probably from ebay).  Stage 2 of course is the Arduino controller to simulate sunrise/sunset, moonlight, and a temperature monitor, but that can wait for now.

So - I'm looking for a reliable source of 12V 5 metre 5050 LED strips, 60 LED/metre - one in cool white, one in blue, maybe a metre of red too, or possible a metre of RGB instead of the blue/red. 

Something like this : http://dx.com/p/72w-soft-flexible-cuttable-white-300-led-smd-lamp-tape-strip-5m-dc-12v-126238?rt=1&p=2&m=3&r=2&k=1&t=1&s=65528&u=126238

I want the waterproof version (or at least IP65) - since they will be mounted in the same place as the old tubes so they won't be immersed in water, but condensation could be an issue.  It was probably condensation that did the old ballasts in, in the first place.

I did look at using 1W or 3W Cree star LEDs - I could probably manage the heatsinking  but not the waterproofing.

(If anyone's interested, the controller will probably be a bare ATMEGA328 driving the 12V LED strips with PWM via TIP122s, up to 1.2A per string, with a small LCD, RTC, a few buttons, and some DS1820s to monitor the water and light temp, and a buzzer to sound an alarm when the temp goes out of range.  Future plans might include a relay to control the heater, but since the heater has its own thermostat that's not a requirement, yet.  I think I can get some nice ripple effects by ramping up/down between the different strips at different speeds too.  If the TIP122s need too much base current for the 1.2A, I have a ULN2003 I can use in between if need be)

I haven't dealt with DealExtreme - has anyone bought their products before? 

Cheers

Steve

[Ken]

I've bought a few things from DealExtreme.
They are characterised by: cheap; slow delivery (occasionally fast); poor quality-controlled products; cheap.
Did I mention cheap?
I regard their stuff as cheap enough to not get too upset if what I receive is rubbish.
Would I buy from them again? Yes.
Just don't trust the specs on their products too much.

You can buy strip LEDs like that in Oz which are waterproof.  More expensive of course.  Dunno about blue though.

Ken.
 

Steve

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[Jamie Mackenzie]

Maybe some of the stuff Adafruit have is worth a look:

http://adafruit.com/category/37_86

[Christopher Yeoh]

I've bought those sorts of LED strips from Deal Extreme before. They can be a bit slow, depending on stock levels i think though. Other times they've been pretty fast. 

Have been happy with the quality of the led strips. 

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[Kim Hawtin]

>>> One of my fish tanks at home has recently blown another fluorescent
>>> ballast, leaving me with no lights over my fish tank. It seems that this is
>>> a common problem, but because of their peculiar size they are difficult to
>>> replace. I haven't in fact verified that this is the case, but that's
>>> irrelevant because I'm using this as a hack opportunity to replace the tubes
>>> with LEDS!

I have one of these, works well;
http://www.rockby.com.au/searchres_11.cfm?select=54&subcode=562

cheers,

Kim
--
"Art without engineering is dreaming; engineering without art is
calculating." --SKR

[Ben Kramer]

Heya,

I got a reel from this guy, and have been pretty happy with it:

http://stores.ebay.com.au/bettercome

Cheers,

Ben.

[Geordie Millar]

I've got two of these (different SKU. Can't tell you how it differs…)

http://dx.com/p/72w-soft-flexible-cuttable-300-led-smd-lamp-tape-strip-rgb-5m-dc-12v-126240

and I've been happy with them. One of them is still on the roll, and one of them has been cut into two 1.5m lengths and two 1m lengths.

They don't seem to be quite 72 watts, and one LED on one of them has the wrong resistor on it, so it's not quite white, but apart from that, they're great. They're pretty bright.

On 16/10/2012, at 9:59 AM, Steve Roehrs <steve....@gmail.com> wrote:

Something like this : http://dx.com/p/72w-soft-flexible-cuttable-white-300-led-smd-lamp-tape-strip-5m-dc-12v-126238?rt=1&p=2&m=3&r=2&k=1&t=1&s=65528&u=126238

I want the waterproof version (or at least IP65) - since they will be mounted in the same place as the old tubes so they won't be immersed in water, but condensation could be an issue.  It was probably condensation that did the old ballasts in, in the first place.

[Damien P]

On Tuesday, October 16, 2012 10:10:16 AM UTC+10:30, Ken wrote:

I regard their stuff as cheap enough to not get too upset if what I receive is rubbish.

I'm of the same opinion.  But I've found for more unusual parts their "usually ships in n days" is wrong.  With ebay I know they have the stuff in stock ready to go.

[Steve Roehrs]

Thanks all for the advice - I found them cheaper than DealExtreme on ebay, one with Australian stock, the other from Singapore, so will see what happens.

Steve

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[Ken]

A link would be appropriate here!

[Steve Roehrs]

Sorry Ken, here's the links:

White LED Strip (Australian stock) : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/130783783740

RGB Strip w/controller:  http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261111163639

PWM Dimmer for LED strip : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261097677600

12V 100W PSU : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251150546874

White LED Strip : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251150547361

The dimmer and RGB strip controller are only until I make the Arduino controller.  Incidentally I'm trying to find the right logic-level MOSFETS to drive up 12V, 5A.  Any suggestions?  If I can't find the right ones, I'll probably end up just using TIP122 transistors and suffer the increase in heat dissipation.

The PSU is more expensive than the perforated steel box ones, but considering that this will be living above a tropical fish tank, and the ballasts probably failed due to water ingress from condensation, I thought it was worth spending a little more on a sealed unit.  I might still end up putting it outside of the hood, depending on how much heat it puts out.

Steve