New Fishtank Light Design/Creation (JD Fishtank Mod)

[James Downing]

As some of you may remember, I melted a small white spot in the middle of my fishtanks when trying to install some 55W foglights in it. Well... the inability to use the lights that I installed, and the white spots on the tanks, both bothered me, so I set about to fix the problem. I decided to go with a design that used an enclosed 50W bulb in a cone enclosure mounted at the bottom of the fishtank.

What do yall think?

This is what the deer see... (minus my real lights)

Im going to try and get some 'on the wall' shots later tonight... if I remember.

<small>[ January 22, 2004, 09:22 AM: Message edited by: James Downing ]</small>

 

[Chris Benvie]

Looks good james

keep it up and give us a write up so others can give it a whirl

 

[MilTownSHO]

Different...

Did you just cut part of the fishtank off? I like how the top of it still lights up along with the 50w.

 

[James Downing]

Heres a conglomeration of some pictures I took during the process.

Step 1:
Remove Fishtank, and cut a 1-7/8" hole in each near the bottom. Note the placement of one of the lights, these are halogen 50w bulbs with their own conial reflectors. A hole is drilled directly behind the large hole, into the reflector back of the fishtank, for the wires, soldered to the prongs on the bulb to stick out from (note wires). (also note my reason for undertaking this project... the white melt spots in my light)

Step 2:
Mask off the top of the fishtank, and trim the sides with a razor.

Step 3:

Stuff 4 tissues into each tank, in order to not get the insides painted, and keep them reflective. Paint with either car color, or black.

Step 4: (not pictured)

Glue halogen bulb in place with strong epoxy, bring wires out rear of light, solder quick connectors... and well, run your interior wiring for your switch... and remove masking from tanks.

And, that was the basics, yall can figure it out if you really wanta, its not too hard.

 

[DDakRT]

It's different. I'm not sure if I like the look yet though.

Oh and BTW, one of your fog light is misalinged

 

[DoC-JoneS]

James are you running Hella FF75's down there? if you are don't feel bad i've never been able to get mine aligned properly either...

 

[BlownByU]

Are those fog lights piaas or hella? I like the look, do you have a problem with blinding oncomming traffic with the 55Ws? thumb

 

[James Downing]

The lights in my fog holes are Hella FF75 driving lights... I get quite a few high-beam flashes when I drive at night. I have not had the pleasure of driving at night with the new fishtank bulbs yet. Although, I have stood around 80 foot away at night, and they, alone, hurt my eyes.

 

[ShoGuy93]

Looks good man. I love the nice and clean look. and those are bright as ****.... I like!!! evil_gri

 

[cyanmauve]

Props on the mod. It looks cool. Is there any functional benefit that accompanies this other than increased visability to oncomers? Even if there isn't, it looks too cool not to do.

 

[James Downing]

The increased visibility to others is probobly the best functional benefit. It doesnt really increase visibility of the road, except on really dark roads, and then, it only really lights up the trees. I guess it helps some with side visibility too.

My main reason for doing it, is because my old fishtanks were in bad condition, and before buying new ones, I wanted to make sure I hadnt exhausted my options.

 

[SolidState]

TBH, I really like it...

I was thinking of replacing my fishies with some sorta fog light, but this looks like a better idea...

 

[Emerald93MTX]

is there any way you could modify it so you could aim them? Maybe that would give some benefits to driving at night, instead of asking for a cop to give you a ticket. j/k. Looks good man.

 

[James Downing]

I looked into this. The only way I found to do it, would have been to flush the top of the light with the fishie, and then have the bottom part of the light recessed into the housing about a half inch... so, I decided to go with what cosmetically looked better.

Although, it does still help a bit with night driving, It lights up the upper half of the upcoming scenery. It has some gain at night.

 

[James Downing]

Just thought I would give a few more details to whoever may wish to do this.

About the aiming, it probobly would not help, as the lights are basically omni (180°) directional from the center axis.

The only other problem I have noticed, is how hot they get. After driving in the rain, the lights will steam from the water hitting them. Also, it seems to have slightly bubbled the glue that holds the lamps in.

beer

 

[James Downing]

Yeah, a week ago I got out of the car, and one of the fish-lights were hanging out of the shroud. The intensity of the bulb's temperature bubbled, and burnt the glue to a crisp.

I realized that some ti-temp glue was needed.

I had just the thing. JB Weld. Works great and has held up since (just a pointer).

 

[Silver95]

hey im interested in this for spring time. i have a few questions that hopefully the member who did it can answer(sorry forgot the name)

1.Do i have to have them painted black, or the color of the car? Can i just leave the tanks as they are?

2. You said it was a 55? can i use a smaller one that produces less heat and light?

thanks a lot,

very nice mod!

 

[James Downing]

Silver95:
hey im interested in this for spring time. i have a few questions that hopefully the member who did it can answer(sorry forgot the name)

1.Do i have to have them painted black, or the color of the car? Can i just leave the tanks as they are?

2. You said it was a 55? can i use a smaller one that produces less heat and light?

thanks a lot,

very nice mod!

1. If you do leave it clear, be careful of the gluing procedure... it could get it messy looking.

2. sure... use your imagination!