LED strip lights?

[Sunnieskys]

So I am looking at roll strip lights.

my questions:

can an you cut the strip?

if you cut them into let's say 30" strips how do you attach the 2nd and 3rd strips to the power unit?

do I have to buy additional power units?

Any other hints or products you like?

[pretends2bnormal]

They sell connectors on Amazon that you can do yourself for those lights. I did do this and could send links and stuff, but honestly? I would avoid it. It took a lot of trial and error to find all the right connectors to get it working at all and I have had issues every few months I've had it at best. In particular 1 cage always seemed to spontaneously be yellow tinted light when the others on the same control were white.

I set up the LED strip lighting in 4 T8s and a smaller 30" PVC cage last spring and have had 1 power supply burn out (running a total of 16 foot of light strip, less than the 30 that came in the spool with that power supply that it was supposed to support) and a few weeks ago all of them quit working entirely for no identifiable reason. I had a spare power supply that didn't work and triple checked all connections.. nada. Best guess is the LED strips deteriorated from humidity or heat in a few enclosures or just burned out...

I also had issues with 2 of the 4 having odd colors as a result of the connectors and one of them that was somewhat loose (they aren't super tight attachments) so it would occasionally just turn off because it slipped a tiny bit, even from just the dog walking by and once when the A/C kicked on. None of the LED strips put out a true white either, it was always slightly too cool/blue and made some of the snakes look odd in just that light.


I'm in the process of swapping over to the mounted Reptile Basics LED lights because the strips just didn't work out for me. Way brighter and surprisingly easy to install, especially if you can fit a drill into the enclosure without removing the lid. Just loosen enough to lift and slip the plug through a gap somewhere.

If you really want to do it, I can probably go back and get links to the kinds of connections that I found were easiest to work with (ones without soldering), if only to have a name for what you can search for. Not sure I would recommend the exact parts with the issues I've had though.

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[Sunnieskys]

That helped a lot thank you!

They also sell 12 strips but I didn't know how well those work either.

I will ill look at the reptile basics ones as well.

Thank you!

[pretends2bnormal]

I have one RBI light set up in a 30" cage, the 22" light bar one, and I'll take some pictures when the light is on tomorrow and I do some cleanup on that cage for an idea how nicely it lights. I'll also take a picture of the mounting mechanism for reference; it is as easy as putting the cord through a hole/slit and removing the lid for a minute and screwing in 2 brackets with 1 screw each.

Here is an old picture from before the LED strips pooped out on me and I will snap one of the AP installed LED strip when the timers flip on tomorrow too (that is my only one still working lol), just for reference. I like my lights mounted along the front, so the AP is the only one lighting from the rear of the cage.



You can kind of see the weird coloring on him by comparison to this one with normal lights and some daylight from a window. He's usually pretty orange on the body, not as red as the cage lights made him appear.


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[Sunnieskys]

Would there be a way to attach to a screen top? I'm building things for my AP cages.

[pretends2bnormal]

Would there be a way to attach to a screen top? I'm building things for my AP cages.

Probably a way. I'd guess you could swap the screw for a bolt/nut if you find one with a good head shape for the bolt/bracket. Maybe just silicone/hot glue the top side of the screw above the screen to keep it in place. Or just set it on top of the screen and secure it another way.

It mounts really well in PVC though.

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[BR8080]

I LITERALLY just finished this project in my enclosures - I have 5 Animal Plastics T10's, a T8, and a T12.

My honest recommendation - DO NOT waste your money with cheap multicolored/white LED strips - you know the ones that come with a cool remote...WASTE OF MONEY!!!

I just installed 12" LED lights (18" in the T12) I picked up at Home Depot and they do an amazing job. Installed on top [portion of the litter dam facing towards the back of the enclosure. No more headlamp when I need to clean or feed - just a click of the installed switch and all is well. They have a "low" and a "high" setting - both light up the enclosure nicely. Routed a hole in the side for the wire to pass through then velcro the switch to the side - all set!!! Now I'm thinking about getting smart plugs to control them with my Alexa LOL


(https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-12-in...8845/301534319) and the switch (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...5410/301370564)

[Sunnieskys]

Awesome! Do they screw in?

[Danger noodles]

I work with led’s at work all the time, and like said above, trying to cut and splice them together is really not good.

[pretends2bnormal]

Woo! I am super forgetful about pictures.

I ended up getting this one of my latest install during testing today. This is an AP T8 with the 42" light bar from RBI.


I am also trying out their sky hide mount which is nice so far. Smoother than the mirror clip one I have for a RBI small hide in another cage right now.

Colors on the snake with both lights for reference. This one is WAY more true to color (well, except for the glare... I didn't get one without some of that today)


Old one made everything kind of blue, his red-orange color was really odd and sort of tinted magenta, and it made his light orange much closer in shade.. - no clue why it posted upside down.... tapatalk why???


Here is an older shot of the AP. From my height and the height this cage sits, I get the visibility of the light strip all the time when I look in.. not my ideal way to light things, but the color balance is pretty normal.


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