LED Light Strips

[Stuart]

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

 

[Jonesy1990]

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

 

[cathy1986]

yeah I do looks good an is cheap with electricity

 

[jbest]

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?

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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

 

[treeofgreen]

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...

 

[cathy1986]

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

 

[cathy1986]

 

[cathy1986]

 

[Stuart]

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 ...

 

[saximus]

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

 

[jbest]

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?

 

[PetsDen_Aus]

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.

 

[Stuart]

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

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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...

 

[saximus]

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

 

[junglepython2]

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.

 

[Stuart]

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.

 

[Variety]

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

 

[Stuart]

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

 

[emmalene_bunny]

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

View attachment 273421View attachment 273420View attachment 273419

They look great!!!!

 

[jbest]

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