Royal Blue Lighting

This is my first time building a laminar fountain so I'm hoping it will turn out good. I'm using a 3" PVC tube approximately 1 foot long. I'm trying the lighting for the first time. I'm using 2.5MM fiber cable ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180533477037&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2042wt_811 ).


Lighting Details - www.luxeonstar.com
Wiring Harness for 3021 & 4015 'N' Drivers - 4 wire
1000mA, Non-Dimmable, BuckPuck AC Driver - PCB Mount
Royal Blue (447.5 nm) Rebel, Pre-Mounted On A 20mm Star Base - 740mW @ 700mA

Did I buy the right equipment? Unfortunately, the fiber cable is not covered. What should I do about that?
Any other tips will be helpful. Thank you!

If you are doing a long run for the fibers you should protect them using something like heatshrink just to protect it from getting scratched and such.

What size of outlet are you going to use? Normally people go with a much larger jet size. Very common sizes are 8" and 6". They are usually quite large arcs. There are those who have done small fountains with pretty little arcs, and those would be the 3" and smaller.

Unfortunately, my hardware store only sells 3" diameter PVC pipe or smaller. So that's what I purchased. Now for the outlet, I'm not sure what to use or even what size. I did make a small laminar fountain, I'll post the picture tomorrow. It turned out better than I expected.

Another question, is the fiber optic cable and the LED light I chose good enough for this project or will it become to dim?

Can you possibly provided a diagram on how the layers should be arranged. i.e. the straws, screens, filters, etc.

Covered or not you dont want to use THAT particular fiber cable - ITS SIDEGLOW.
Its meant to be used for decoration or lighting along its entire path. The light is supposed
to come out the sides and GLOW.

You will want end lighted fiber cable where the light source is directed to the end - so the light coming out
is as bright as the source. Little if any loss.

Ask on the board - some may have the 3.0 mm cable that many of us have used.

I personally have switched over to using a single 1/2 inch plexiglass rod in the main fountain tube and highly polished at both ends. I only use a small run of fiber cable to feed the plexiglass rod. I like this because the plexiglass rod is stiff - wont bend in the tube - is not effected by the water and there is less worry about water leaks with heat shrink tubing the multiple fiber cables. Just my thoughts.

covewi wrote:Covered or not you dont want to use THAT particular fiber cable - ITS SIDEGLOW.
Its meant to be used for decoration or lighting along its entire path. The light is supposed
to come out the sides and GLOW.

You will want end lighted fiber cable where the light source is directed to the end - so the light coming out
is as bright as the source. Little if any loss.

Ask on the board - some may have the 3.0 mm cable that many of us have used.

I personally have switched over to using a single 1/2 inch plexiglass rod in the main fountain tube and highly polished at both ends. I only use a small run of fiber cable to feed the plexiglass rod. I like this because the plexiglass rod is stiff - wont bend in the tube - is not effected by the water and there is less worry about water leaks with heat shrink tubing the multiple fiber cables. Just my thoughts.

Just bought 5 feet of 3 MM end glow jacketed fiber glass. ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180532563168#ht_2408wt_811 ). Hope this is the right kind. =)

Read everything there is in this post and others - https://laminar.forumotion.com/laminar-nozzle-talk-and-pictures-f1/the-guide-for-a-perfect-rgb-light-with-pmma-fiber-optic-cable-t93.htm

I'm a bit worried, I have a heat sink on my Luxeon Royal Blue (447.5 nm) Rebel, Pre-Mounted On A 20mm Star Base - 740mW @ 700mA, and the temperature is averaging around 120 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-15 minutes of constant use. Should I be worried or is that about normal?

EricS wrote:I'm a bit worried, I have a heat sink on my Luxeon Royal Blue (447.5 nm) Rebel, Pre-Mounted On A 20mm Star Base - 740mW @ 700mA, and the temperature is averaging around 120 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10-15 minutes of constant use. Should I be worried or is that about normal?

Sounds normal..

My RED luxeon was more than 180F (that is not normal) but they still shine bright :-)

The star base the led is mounted on is a heatsink of sorts - however its a good idea
to mount that on a small finned heatsink. Be sure to use some thermal paste between the
two surfaces. That should be enough to disapate the heat. If too much heat builds up
in your light control unit enclosure - use a fan.

Keep up the good work and enjoy yourself.

Success. Finally. I do have some patching up to do. Looks good though IMO.


I was interrupting the stream with my finger at the beginning.

looks good, what did you do for your layers? How are you porting your light?

John wrote:looks good, what did you do for your layers? How are you porting your light?

Starting at the bottom, I'm using 8 layers of filter. Each filter is approximately half an inch thick. Followed by metal screen, standard-sized straws and followed by another screen. I then placed a copper tube in the middle of the PVC pipe. I then run my fiberoptic cable through the copper pipe. I sealed each end with heat-shrink tubing. The very last picture is where the light source is coming from. I'm still being cautious about the temperature inside that little box, I'm still thinking of adding a fan in it pretty soon. The pink cable you see is where the fiber optic cable is. For the opening, I can't remember exactly the name of the piece I bought, I bought it in the electrical section at Lowes. I believe it's a reducing coupling? I then drilled a hole perpendicular to the PVC for water to enter at. That's about it.