GlassWalker
Member
Been wanting to upgrade the lights in a 58L Askoll Pure L tank for a while. This is a small tank with a lid mounted 24W PL tube, encased in a watertight enclosure. I've had the tank nearly 2 years now and I'm sure tube would have degraded in that time too.
I took it apart a moment ago to see what options I have. Was really hot in there. Using an IR thermometer, the driver was ~55C and the tube mount was over 60C! Plugging it into a mains power meter, the assembly was taking about 22W at the wall.
Anyway, I'd like to replace it with LEDs. I could work it into the enclosure, or I could remove the unit and mount it directly to the inside of the lid. I don't want to modify/cut/remove the lid in any way other than at most providing new mounting points for whatever will go in there.
The available area inside the lid is about 53x16x6cm. If I were to recycle the existing enclosure, I'd have at most about 33x11cm to play with. Not sure on depth, as there's many obstructions inside. As it is lidded, the electrical power shouldn't be too much as the existing one makes the top of the lid warm/hot to the touch as it is.
As one possible option, I was thinking there is the Interpet 470mm x3 LED which is rated at 7.2W. It is short enough to fit, but I'm not sure if that is "enough". I have the 1150mm x3 in my other tank. By itself that felt a bit dim, but that is a taller tank, so I might get away with it here. My gut feel is a little more might be required.
Interpet also do other lighting bars, but as far as I can tell those are 1.8W each and it'll take a fair few of them which would make the cost add up.
Just thought I'd check in case there were other options I might have overlooked.
I took it apart a moment ago to see what options I have. Was really hot in there. Using an IR thermometer, the driver was ~55C and the tube mount was over 60C! Plugging it into a mains power meter, the assembly was taking about 22W at the wall.
Anyway, I'd like to replace it with LEDs. I could work it into the enclosure, or I could remove the unit and mount it directly to the inside of the lid. I don't want to modify/cut/remove the lid in any way other than at most providing new mounting points for whatever will go in there.
The available area inside the lid is about 53x16x6cm. If I were to recycle the existing enclosure, I'd have at most about 33x11cm to play with. Not sure on depth, as there's many obstructions inside. As it is lidded, the electrical power shouldn't be too much as the existing one makes the top of the lid warm/hot to the touch as it is.
As one possible option, I was thinking there is the Interpet 470mm x3 LED which is rated at 7.2W. It is short enough to fit, but I'm not sure if that is "enough". I have the 1150mm x3 in my other tank. By itself that felt a bit dim, but that is a taller tank, so I might get away with it here. My gut feel is a little more might be required.
Interpet also do other lighting bars, but as far as I can tell those are 1.8W each and it'll take a fair few of them which would make the cost add up.
Just thought I'd check in case there were other options I might have overlooked.