Reefiness
Well-Known Member
Do you have 2 tanks next to each other that you want to run moonlights on but don't want to spend an extra 100+ to have an additional LSM and LED strip... Then heres an easy guide to lengthen the distance between the LEDS as well as adding a barrel connector to make some maintenance easier.
I choose to put the barrel in mine because it will allow me to take my canopy off of my tank without worrying about the other LEDS mounted over the other tank.
For anyone wondering, I have little to no experience soldering so this is a project anyone can do with the right materials. All I did was watch a video on youtube about how to solder wires together. Last photo shows all leds working after the project was completed. One thing I noticed which I wasnt sure of is that if the barrel connector is disconnected then all of the LEDS dont work, not just the ones that were disconnected. There may be a way to fix that, but im not aware of it, and this works well enough for me.
EDIT: One thing to note which I believe is rather important. From what I found out, there is a positive and negative lead on the wires. Apparently there is a way to figure out which is which, but rather than doing that I just made sure to stay consistent with my wiring. What I mean by that... There are 2 black wires in the APEX led cable. One has a white stripe, the other is solid black (may have some writing on it). I connected the white stripe wire to the red leads on the barrel connector and the red striped wire on the 18 gauge wire. So basically solid blacks went to solid blacks, and all the rest went to the odds and end categories.
Things I purchased for this project...
18 gauge speaker wire in black https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZX4326/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?
Barrel connectors with pigtails https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074WCBPTP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?
Helping hands https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RB38X8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?
Heat shrink tubes https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CNGUW4M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?
Soldering iron
Solder and flux, or flux core solder
I choose to put the barrel in mine because it will allow me to take my canopy off of my tank without worrying about the other LEDS mounted over the other tank.
For anyone wondering, I have little to no experience soldering so this is a project anyone can do with the right materials. All I did was watch a video on youtube about how to solder wires together. Last photo shows all leds working after the project was completed. One thing I noticed which I wasnt sure of is that if the barrel connector is disconnected then all of the LEDS dont work, not just the ones that were disconnected. There may be a way to fix that, but im not aware of it, and this works well enough for me.
EDIT: One thing to note which I believe is rather important. From what I found out, there is a positive and negative lead on the wires. Apparently there is a way to figure out which is which, but rather than doing that I just made sure to stay consistent with my wiring. What I mean by that... There are 2 black wires in the APEX led cable. One has a white stripe, the other is solid black (may have some writing on it). I connected the white stripe wire to the red leads on the barrel connector and the red striped wire on the 18 gauge wire. So basically solid blacks went to solid blacks, and all the rest went to the odds and end categories.
Things I purchased for this project...
18 gauge speaker wire in black https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HZX4326/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?
Barrel connectors with pigtails https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074WCBPTP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?
Helping hands https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RB38X8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?
Heat shrink tubes https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CNGUW4M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?
Soldering iron
Solder and flux, or flux core solder
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