Modular LED is taking the pain out of putting together DIY LED aquarium lights. DIY has always been a huge component in the hobby and many people have been doing their own Frankenstein rigs of LED lights. Anyone that’s put together a DIY system will tell you the cost, time and knowledge to do it right can make it a tough investment to commit to in the long term. Enter Modular LED — a plug and play method that is making it simple to create your very own LED light with just a few simple tools.
The company has everything from LED boards that can be connected with simple, prefabricated jumpers to full-on LED kits with LEDs, heatsinks, cooling fans and drivers and all the other fixings you need to get your badass LED light up over your tank in no time.You can buy individual components or opt for a complete fixture kit.
Instead of using the typical LED star approach that required individual tabs to be soldered together, Modular LED uses boards with two LEDs and that connect by a snap-in cable to really make it plug and play. These aren’t any cheap LEDs other, they use the same CREE XP-E LEDs you get in high-end fixtures giving you a bright appearance and low energy draw.
Not sure what to do with these LEDs but want to get started? They have complete kits with all the LEDs, cables, drivers, heatsink, power supplies and everything else you need for your light. The company even has a series of videos to walk you through the steps of gluing LEDs to a heatsink, attaching a driver, how to attach LEDs with the connectors and more.
Overall, this is a really cool concept and allows you to get a decent LED aquarium light for a reasonable cost. The biggest benefit is the plug and play nature makes the time investment much lower, most likely resulting in less stress and headaches in the long term. Pricing is pretty decent with a 2 LED moonlight system running you $36.25 on the low end to $845 for a four-foot, dimmable LED fixture with 36 LEDs.
