Dimmable LED lights

[thealien]

I am going to be building a couple of plywood enclosures next year. I am going to waterproof the inside with drylock (but am open to interior and exterior waterproofing, staining, and painting options and opinions). I will probably just polyurethane or stain and poly the exterior. Like the animal plastics cages option I want to use a couple of strips of white dimmable LED lighting, one front and one back. I really want to be able to dim the lights with my herpistat 4 using the ramping feature for natural sunrise and sunset appearance. I will be heating with a pro products radiant heat panel as recomended bt BOB @ pro heat. Humidity will be handled with 2-4 nozzles and a pro mist set up also controlled by the Hepistst 4.

This enclosure will be 8 feet long by 2 feet deep and 2 feet high. I chooses this size because the 4 X 8 sheets of plywood can be cut into 2 foot widths for the top, back, and bottom. The final 2 foot by 8 foot piece will be cut into four 2 foot pieces for the 2 ends and 2 feet at either end up front leaving a 4 foot opening for sliding glass.

Mainly I am looking for dimmable LED solutions but am open to any suggestions.

[chairman]

I didn't realize the herpstat does that now. You used to have to buy special setups that were designed for aquarium lighting.

Anyway, you don't want to use drylok. I used it in the past and it would absolutely protect your wood, but the surfaces will be rough and difficult to clean. I would just use a couple coats of water based polyurethane. The cost is similar, the application method is similar, the protection is similar, but the resulting surface is easier to work with.

Do you really need a mister? Your lighting solution is likely to be some variety of under cabinet led light; however, they don't make a whole lot of water friendly outdoor options in that style of light. If you need the mister then I'd look into the custom aquarium lighting I mentioned above. They can handle water. You could also make your own. I made led lights for my carpet pythons out of a 4' protective cover for fluorescent tubes, a section of outdoor cut-to-length led strip lights, and a 12v power supply from a thrift store. My lights are technically dimmable and could even change colors but the way I did it they're just a normal blue colored light. The led lights had a peel and stick backing, which I used for a time, but planning the lights in the tube is working much better.

Also, what are you planning to keep in this cage?

[Boots]

Ok, I am just going to throw this out there. If your just going with the LED solution that is dimmable, have you thought of trying out the under counter strip lighting by Philips Hues. While I believe they are water proof, there are also sleeves for them that would also protect them. With them being part of the smart lighting system, I think you should be able to use them to simulate sun rise and sunset. Just a thought.

Jason

[thealien]

I have found a couple on Amazon that say they are 120 Volt dimmable. I also have an email into a couple of LED manufacturers. I will post what I end up doing and my thoughts. Could be a month away from that though.

Thanks