# LED lighting for reptile enclosures.



## bundysnake (Mar 3, 2010)

Just wondering who here uses LED lighting in there snakes enclosure?

Do you find it bright enough? 

What are you using?

How many watts do they consume?


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## nico77 (Mar 3, 2010)

mate i just put 2 25cm led strips into a tank that is split in 2 , each side is 300x300mm and is lit up pretty well . They are 12v and i have them running off a battery charger that can be used for a power supply ( could use a 12v transformer) . They dont do any thing in the way off heating but i have a heat mat so the leds are just for light . they are cheap i got them for about $2.50 for 2 25cm strips plus postage .
send me a pm if you want a link to the store .
how big is the area you want to light ? the bigger the area the more you will need .

cheers nico


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## bundysnake (Mar 3, 2010)

i already have LED strip lighting for night lights (30cm red strips), my enclosures are 900mm/600mm/600mm and i want to remove the old T5 fluro lighting and install LED's, just trying to find the best and easiest solution.

The way it looks at the moment i may need to buy some 1 or 3 watt cree LEDS and mount them to a aluminium bar and wire them up myself. I guess the aim is to provide more light using less power and reducing the amount of heat given off by the daytime lighting (which leads to poor temperature gradient).


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## nathan09 (Mar 3, 2010)

i got a smalle 7 globe led light shining on my beardies pool, just to elumiate it, looks sic! but i use a full size globe for heating/ day time lighting.


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## bundysnake (Mar 4, 2010)

anyone else?


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## Banjo (Mar 4, 2010)

I'm using Night Sky LED Moonlight Set from Lucky Reptile, which has 3 blue LED's in a 1200 X 900 X 600 enclosure and it is excatly as it says, moonlight. and it is impressive.
Has just the right amount of light for night viewing.


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## beckyreptilegirl (Mar 4, 2010)

I am making an enclosure for my diamond and want to put some led lights in, if you guys dont mind me asking, where do you buy these from? 

thanks bec


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## chris_snake (Mar 4, 2010)

has anyone got any pics of there enclosures with LED lighting interested to see what they look like cheers


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## bundysnake (Mar 4, 2010)

I have photos of my LED night lighting if you wish to see?


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## chris_snake (Mar 4, 2010)

yeh post some up please would love to see


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## menace2society (Mar 4, 2010)

Check out aToMik Green - they've got strip, tubed, LED lighting.

Cheers,

menace2society


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## Banjo (Mar 4, 2010)

These are some pictures from when I was setting up the enclosure. I made a mounting bar from some timber and it is routed on the inside to hide the wiring to try and make it a bit neater.


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## nico77 (Mar 4, 2010)

i got mine from ebay .

here's a pic off my tank with the leds on



cheers nico


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## AndrewHenderson (Mar 4, 2010)

I have LED downlights in all my enclosures, they are 3 watts by memory. I bought them off E Bay for about 20 bucks each, plus you need a driver for them that converts 240v to 12v. they are great and give off enough light and dont require ugly cages around them as they only get up to about 27 degrees max temp.


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## Cheyne_Jones (Mar 5, 2010)

bundysnake said:


> The way it looks at the moment i may need to buy some 1 or 3 watt cree LEDS and mount them to a aluminium bar and wire them up myself. I guess the aim is to provide more light using less power and reducing the amount of heat given off by the daytime lighting (which leads to poor temperature gradient).



Those Cree LED lights make some pretty intense light, I have seen them on fish tanks and they are awesome, but it might be a little too bright for a reptile enclosure. I am pretty sure that you also have to mount them into a heat sink other wise they over heat and die on you.


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## bundysnake (Mar 5, 2010)

Yea i'm aiming to matching the intensity of a 2ft t8 fluro but use less power and produce less heat.

I'm planning to mount with thermal goop on a 500mm long length of aluminum channel which will act as a huge heat sink.

I'm ordering the gear now i will post my results on this page.


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## cris (Mar 5, 2010)

IMO bright LED lights would do nothing other than stress out most types of snakes. The Blue or red ones sound like a good idea for observing nocturanal species, does anyone know if you can get these suited for underwater use.


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## bundysnake (Mar 5, 2010)

they will only be as bright as a standard t8 fluro which most people use.

Yes you can get blue or red for underwater use, look on ebay.


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## giglamesh (Apr 29, 2010)

crees are overkill, simple leds will put out the same if not more than t8s crees put out metal halide comparison.


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## Slats (Apr 29, 2010)

LEDS will be fine underwater if you drop some silicone on the legs.


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## MrThumper (Apr 29, 2010)

Go see the guys at JAYCAR and tell them ur after LEDs for a reptile enclosure. That's how I got started using them


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