# LED Light Strips



## Stuart (Nov 13, 2012)

Howdy all, Im hoping for a bit of advice and to hear if anyone else has used LED strip lighting in their enclosures and their experiences with it?

I've been building 2 banks of enclosures for a while now and should have dedicated more time to it, but "distractions" have prevented me from actually working on it as much as I like. Anyway, Im coming up to the final steps of finishing off the enclosures and was thinking of using LED strip lighting to light the insides. They will be purely decorative and only used at night (funny that) as heating will be supplied via heat cords and thermostats as required (Its warm up here most the year) and I would be planning on flush mounting the ribbon against the top front edge of the enclosures facing inwards.

Has anyone actually done this before and in your honest opinions (Yes, I said honest), what would the Pros and Cons be? Things to watch for off the top of my head are would be where the wiring for the strip lights enter the cage turning into possible escape points as well as the mounting on the lights to prevent the long slithery things from getting tangled in the wiring. Also, Im not sure on the heat output of the light strips..

Thanks in advance for any help and apologies for the poorly written explanation above as well as all grammatical errors, lack of sleep tends to do that to me...

Stuart


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## Jonesy1990 (Nov 13, 2012)

I have used LEDs in my recent enclosure build and it looks amazing. Mine are green just a glow really, it looks really nice shining down through the tops of the fake plants and branches. I can't see any negatives in having them set up in my setup, just make sure the cable entry point is tight and secure like you mentioned and you should be safe


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## cathy1986 (Nov 13, 2012)

yeah I do looks good an is cheap with electricity


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## jbest (Nov 13, 2012)

This is a great idea but do they run using a PowerPoint and 240v or using a 12v battery pack. And how much wattage were you thinkin?

- - - Updated - - -



cathy1986 said:


> yeah I do looks good an is cheap with electricity



Sorry for getting off topic but are they real or fake plants? Looks really good except for the pink flowers of course


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## treeofgreen (Nov 13, 2012)

Pros:
Look great!
heaps of colours
CHEAP AS
Cheap on electricity
Last a lifetime
Minimal heat (can also be a con i guess)
Flexible and easy to customise/position (not all strips are like this though, some are rigid) 

Cons:
waiting for shipping from china ebay sellers...


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## cathy1986 (Nov 13, 2012)

fake fake fake and i love it i got them from the expo in ippy last weekend and i love my flowers they are real its the only way i have managed to ever keep a plant alive lol

Cathy


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## cathy1986 (Nov 13, 2012)




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## cathy1986 (Nov 13, 2012)




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## Stuart (Nov 13, 2012)

Thanks Guys and Gals.

jbest, I was thinking of between 5W and 9W strips but thats dependant at the moment on whether or not I have several 12V DC adaptors connecting to each one or try join it through the enclosures and leaving it split between 2 or 3 power supplies instead. My only issue with that is I have never been a fan of multiple electrical joins on wire 

I have looked at the eBay stuff but as these enclosures are going to last a while, I have been looking into an australian supplier that I can go back to if there are any wire or capacity issues. Call me paranoid, but I have never been a fan of China/Hong Kong products unless they are for a birthday ...


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## saximus (Nov 13, 2012)

If you buy the stuff on a roll you can set the wattage you want by the length you use. Then you can just get an adaptor that's rated to whatever current that length will draw. Means you have to do a little bit of maths but you can ensure you aren't using unnecessarily overrated (or dangerously underrated) adaptors


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## jbest (Nov 13, 2012)

Omg I hate you I planned in going but worked all weekend. What did they set you back on average? Did the suppliers say where you could order more from?


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## PetsDen_Aus (Nov 13, 2012)

Leds are great, Ive got them in a 6ft unit at home. I bought mine off eBay but we should hopefully have some in store soon to sell. In my unit I used 3 x 1.6m strips that run off the one power pack.
I also got the leds that you can change the colour with a remote control. The whole lot only cost me $50 including shipping from an aus. seller on ebay. Have had them in the unit for about 2 months and haven't had an issue.


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## Stuart (Nov 13, 2012)

Thanks for all the help so far guys. Once Im home this arvo, I'll get some pics of the enclosure and my proposed mounting points so you can see what I mean by I want to make sure they will will light up and area rather than be a "directional" light as such

- - - Updated - - -

Hey Guys, these are the enclosures Im building. As you can see there is an edging on each enclosure that drops down about 2 or 3 inchs and thats where Im hoping the strip lights will go. What are your thoughts?







Excuse the dogs, they were not helping as much as they should of...


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## saximus (Nov 14, 2012)

Yeah if you put them on the inside of those lips it will light up the entire enclosure and they will be hidden from the outside so it should look really nice


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## junglepython2 (Nov 14, 2012)

I bought the cheapies off ebay to add some light to the enclosures as I am mainly using heat cords these days. Were fantastic for a few months but they have all dimmed significantly since and now its at the point where they are providing very little lighting at all.


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## Stuart (Nov 14, 2012)

saximus said:


> Yeah if you put them on the inside of those lips it will light up the entire enclosure and they will be hidden from the outside so it should look really nice



Thanks mate. I'll do some trial runs and get some pics up, but appriciate the advice and kind words.


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## Variety (Nov 14, 2012)

Just becareful if you get a strip with an adhesive on it already, high temps can cause it to fail and make the strip fall off the roof then youll have your curious python covered in sticky cheap glue for a while lol


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## Stuart (Dec 10, 2012)

I didn't want to start a new thread as I was lazy and didn't get the pics of it coming together, but here are the enclosures in the final throes of being painted. I should have more pics up tonight with the final coat but needless to say, its been a long 4 month journey. Now to wait for the arrival of the glass on Thursday and it fitting followed by the lighting this week.

Constructive criticism is welcome


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## emmalene_bunny (Dec 10, 2012)

SniperCap said:


> I didn't want to start a new thread as I was lazy and didn't get the pics of it coming together, but here are the enclosures in the final throes of being painted. I should have more pics up tonight with the final coat but needless to say, its been a long 4 month journey. Now to wait for the arrival of the glass on Thursday and it fitting followed by the lighting this week.
> 
> Constructive criticism is welcome
> 
> ...



They look great!!!!


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## jbest (Dec 11, 2012)

my led lighting came but god knows how i connect the strip back to wire to go to other enclosure for new strip....might be one for my sparky mate


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## saximus (Dec 11, 2012)

There should be two holes at each break point. You just need to solder two wires into those holes. It's all low voltage stuff so you don't need a sparky to do any of it


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## Stuart (Dec 12, 2012)

Ok, I kind of lied, I did say the painted pics would be up last night, but here they are now.. Please excuse the dust in a couple of the photos and dont tell my wife she appears in them either.. :shock:









Now to await the glass thats due here tomorrow and the LED light strips and we should have something the snakes will enjoy. Might get them shifted upstairs tonight and Im not looking forward to that....


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## SteveNT (Dec 12, 2012)

I tried em but the bhp just worked on them until he ripped them down. (he has no problem moving a 3 kilo piece of ironwood from one end of his tank to the other and loves "redecorating").

I also use a red led tube suspended above the tarantula tank (they dont see red).


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## pythonmum (Dec 12, 2012)

SteveNT said:


> I tried em but the bhp just worked on them until he ripped them down. (he has no problem moving a 3 kilo piece of ironwood from one end of his tank to the other and loves "redecorating").
> 
> I also use a red led tube suspended above the tarantula tank (they dont see red).


Wow - what a destructive BHP! My Darwin and woma don't bother the LEDs. I stapled black cloth to the roof of the enclosure to hold down the cords when my Darwin would loosen them. Since then, no dramas. Mine were under counter strips from Bunnings - no soldering or sparky needed.


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## bigjoediver (Dec 12, 2012)

Only trouble with the ones in a tube are the alternate use as a perch!


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## Shaggz (Dec 13, 2012)

do them suction cups ever let go with the weight on them BigJoe???


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## bigjoediver (Dec 13, 2012)

Shaggz said:


> do them suction cups ever let go with the weight on them BigJoe???



The ones that came with them did but I got some good ones from Bunnings that had metal hooks and took the hooks out and used a couple of cable ties. Have another one in the middle of the enclosure just cable tied through the mesh vent strip.


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