LED Lighting

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Walkers Edge

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Since LED lighting seems to be a hot topic spread throughout a few different threads I wanted to get recommendations, experiences and most importantly pictures of the LED lighting you have installed or seen in person.
Please include the Mfgr and Model in your posts.

Everyone loves pictures so fire away!
 
Hella's are junk...160 and only 230 lumens, typical halogen is 800 lumens, and remember you will have a different color light so led will look dimmer to your eye at first until you adjust. I have a big thread on this site about all of the led spreaders on the market currently. I've seen most and most are jsut ok. Only 2 I would consider out of the bunch, Lunar"Polaris" LEd ...BOE marine carries them online but they aren't out yet. They are 800 lumens, and about 1 amp draw per light, opposed to 4.5-4.6 for a halogen per light. For your size boat they should be ok, and are relatively reasonably prices if you get in the first order. They have a few pictures online, not a ton yet. I am going with VisionX LED spreader's. I fish at night offshore and need lots of light to prevent blind spots and to attract bait, the VisionX light's offer more options, but in the end cost more. For visionX you need a 1 as the last number in the XIL series to notate a flood beam, the XIL-40 is 720 lumens, XIL-60 is 1440. I am purchasing mine monday and will have pictures of them comparing the LED's and Halogen's by the weekend of the 21 for sure I am going to take pictures before and after the install to compare, as well as a side by side of a single light.
As for underwater's, Chris at coastal night light's has a decent affordable light, but get a double square, don't skimp out the single's aren;t that great. Ocean LEd amphibian's are another option but cost a bit more, but Ocean LEd has proper insurance incase they ever malfunctioned, Chris I'm not too sure of how that would work, you'd put him out of his house and be lucky to get a fair settlement, something I'd be cautious of personally. Abyss has a decent lower end light as well. As with anything, you get what you pay for.
http://www.shadow-caster.com/
Here is a new company I just found, have not seen them in person, but they look great in the picture's. Would love to see them a few buck's cheaper though. Persoanlly, I do not think Chris's lights shine far enough, many love them but I am used to being on big sport fish boat's with better light's and they do not compare. The bigger amphibian's give off a better quality light. Persoanlly I'm not a fan of a lot of little LED's, from my experience they burn out more often, seen too many of Chris's first gen underwater's with a bunch of light's burned out. good new's is there are a ton more to stay lite, but they shouldn't be burning out period, he has gotten better with that though. Bigger brands use less, but more powerful LED's, they do not burn out nearly as often, but if one does you notice it more since there are less and they were very powerful. If you will only use them on occasion and only need a little light, Chris's light's would be fine, but if you will use them often and for years to come, but better quality.
 
If they're starting to burn out already something is wrong, those lights haven't been out too long. They are either being over-driven or getting too hot.
 
A lot of earlier LED's, especially one's that guys were putting into original halogen spreader housing's and were refitting them to LED's had issues, and the 10,000hr life span was more like 300, mostly because of a lack of knowledge about LED's in the marine industry. also, they need a different lense design to spread the light, a standard halogen lense would not work well. I think the problem Chris had was using smaller cheaper LED's, some had flaws. I like what the guy is doing, but persoanlyl have seen more issues and failure's in one's with more smaller LED's then one's with less bigger one's, but smaller LED light's are easier to get, cheaper to buy usually and there are many more being manufactured, the bigger LED's with more watt output are something newer and were not available when LEd's first came out. Not many LED spreader's out, this is the first real season with some competition in the market. Ocean LED has one coming out in June or July, but after hearing their pricetag, it would not be towards the top of my list, hopefully they can get the price down some. As for underwater lights, there are a ton out there now and plenty of pictures, but in the end you get what you pay for, so know how practical they will be and make a decision based on that, buying top of the line may not make sense for all, infact it usually doesn't, but low grade isn;t the best option either, that just leads to wasted money or more money spent to do it right the second time.
 
Your description regarding the use of many smaller leds vs a few much larger diodes explains alot.

For my purposes slightly less light is fine, battery power is limited and I don't plan on carrying a gen with me unless one of my fishing buddies volunteers his. Initially I am going to install (1) spreader in the center of my hardtop facing rear and wired into a seperate switch. This way I can use that light all night long but have the option of kicking on the halogens to land something substantial.
 
Last night I was able to install the Blue LED rope lighting under the gunwale on both sides of my 208.

Let me tell you, these LIGHT UP the cockpit a brillient blue. It looks great and was VERY easy to install.

The LED ropes are directional lights moulded inside thier flexible casing so attention must be paid to ensure even lighting throughout. This is done by rotating the rope once secured in its "bracket".

Since I have never liked the cheap attwood, incandescnet GW cockpit lights my install was exceptionally simple:
-Run lights in approximate desired position
-Remove existing gw cockpit lights and crimp/shrink wires to rope leads under gunwale
-Mount ropes using cable restraints in desired positions
-Done

I tried taking pictures in various modes on my camera but nothing came out that accurately shows what you see when the lights are turned on. Maybe I will post a picture or 2 tomorrow with a disclaimer.

BTW: Those stock cockpit lights are about as cheamp as they come and heat up to fingerburning-temp in no time at all. I am glad they are disconnected.
 
This is where I purchased the lights, the customer service is exceptional.

http://www.cbconcept.com/led-166warmwhi ... 1-1-1.aspx

When you receive the lights you will want to do your own "sealing" of the connections for extended longevity.

Under $40 dollars total for everything shipped to do both gunwales. Stainless screws and restraints cheap at Lowes/HD
Install Time<1hr
 
Hey Walker's Edge, I replaced my Attwoods with Hela courtesy lights. Awhile back I posted up here on whether I could just switch out the lights. I got some good advise and then did a little research. I started by taking out one Attwood courtesy light. It turns out that they are stern lights rated for 2nm. I don't agree that they are cheap lights as they are pretty expensive and standard navigation lights. What I learned once I took them out is that Grady does a real nice job of installing the lights with a square connection set up instead of straight wiring into the socket. I am probably not doing a great job of describing the connection piece but suffice it to describe it as an extra bit of protection for the electrical system.
After I took out the Atwoods, I then cut the hard wire. I had purchased the blue Hela courtesy lights (white base) and they fit perfectly in the hole where the Atwoods were located. The only problem I encountered was that the Attwods were attached to the boat from the cockpit out with two screws. The Helas screw from the outboard in. As it is next to impossible to try and drill from behind the step into the cockpit, I solved the problem by hooking up the wiring then using Marine Life to seal the Hela light in place. A day later I went back and then put a bead around the Hela housing to make sure that it was compltely sealed.
I really like the blue coutesy lights. They are, after all, step lights and I think the Attwoods are an example of over building.
I am now thinking of running rope lighting in the rest of cockpit and it should be an easy cut and hot shrink into the coutesy light feed.

Here is my question on LED's. I am thinking about putting in underwater lights. Any suggestions on where to run the electrical connection. What would somebody suggest on running the electrical leads to? The courtesy light feed (in which case they would be controlled by the same rocker switch on the panel). Or install a new fuse and switch. Thanks.
By the way, blue is just to much fun to look at from a aesthetic view.
 
el jefe,
Price and usage aside the term cheap may not be correct. I was referring to the amount of heat generated and the way they seal together and to the boat.

The connections were done properly and mine functioned fine and had lasted 11 years.

Given that my boat is significantly smaller than yours the results may vary, but..... My take on running the underwater lights off of the same feed as the courtest lights is that it may be a mistake if you intend to use the underwaters while night fishing like I do.

The ropes are much brighter than I expected even though they are about 4" recessed under the lip of the gunnel, they look really sweet but definitely hinder night vision so you may want the option to control them on a seperate switch. Many underwaters are also not recommended to use out of the water for long so using the courtesy lights loading and unloading gear while on a lift/trailer could pose a problem.

Other than that just verify your wire sizes can carry the combined amperage and it should be an easy source to tap into.

Which underwater lights are you in favor of? I will most likely go with oceanled amphibians.
 
Got your spin on the Atwoods. I laughed when I actually looked at them closely and saw they were stern lights. Frankly, I am suprised that any one is using non LED on exterior lighting these days and I am thinking of switching out my anchor/stern light on the hard top to LED because the bulb keeps jiggling in the socket and I am tired of climbing up on the hard top to reset.
As to the under water lights, you more or less confirmed what I suspected that I should run a new connection for them. As I enjoy fishing but more for fun than sport, I was thinking of getting Scarab Chris's lights. For me the light issue is not a necessity but more for show and tell. What I am having trouble figuring is how whether to run the wires through the hull and into the bilge or over the transom and through the auto pilot hole or another access point in the transom well (like the transducers).
 
If you get Chris's lights get double square's, the single's aren;t worth the money not enough light even for small boats, for $50 more a light it is a lot better light quality. I know guys with single's, and 3 of them this year purchased double's to replace them the other's went with high quality lights. Chris's lights are ok, great deal for the price, but being in the industry and seeing lots of under water lights over time, smaller bulbs burn out a lot faster and more often, bigger and fewer bulbs tend to have less issues. Also, most other lights can be serviced and have bulbs fixed by the factory, Chris's are sealed for life and will never be replaced. Can't run Chris's underway either, they need the water to cool them, not all do, his get hot, I've felt them in person. Always run a seperate switch/fuse for each type of lighting, I would highly recommend avoiding tieing into current power lines for more lighting. There will be times where you will want to possibly run some but not all of the lights at the same time, why run more amp draw on your batteries if they are not needed. cahnces are that with the rope lighting you won't want the courtesey lights also, they light the same area, would be redundant. You can buy 12vdc fuse panel switches for 60 bucks for 3 switches, and around hundred for 4, add one and wire it into your boats fuse block and ground block and your set and it is done right. Also, your adding more draw to that current switch and might exceed the switched fuse amount, either way tieing them in isn't the right way to do it. This is an easy wire job, no need to cut corners. If you are worried about running new lines under the deck, buy a wire puller, they are about $30 and will make your life really easy.

http://www.accentalarms.com/shopexd.asp?id=15299

Using the speaker cut out and your access hatches you will be able to reach anywhere in the boat with this tool and run wire's fast and the right way, also great for around the house and in walls. We ran my autopilot wiring last weekend in about 30 min with 2 guys working, took half that time just to get all the access hatches open, wiring was a snap once we had all access hatches opened.
 
I was thinking about Chris' underwater lights but after hearing more about them I'm going to pass. Chris posted he uses acrylic to seal the LEDs. Acrylic is a decent heat insuator, if the outside gets hot, the inside is VERY hot. That explains the burn-outs. Is the voltage regulator inside the housing? The LEDs shouldn't give off that much heat. If a newer version has some form of heat-sink (or relocating the regulator?), then they may be a better option.
 
Grog, for such low power devices, water is an infinite heat sink, the liquid contact surface between underwater lights and water creates the best heat transfer medium around. Just don't use them when the boat is out of the water, if you have such concerns.
 
And by the way, plastics and other synthetics are considered better insulators than they are as heat transfer mediums. Metals are much better than plastics at transferring heat.

Looking behind modern synthetic encased MFDs will reveal the heat transfer device, usually in a fin shape made of metal protruding out, that's the ticket. Being the MFDs are in air, they need such a device, if they were under water, such an extenstive heat sink is unnesessary.
 
http://www.yachtlights.com/gallery/view ... me=album19

This page sort of gives you an idea of how bright they are compared to other lights, but the pictures aren't the best quality. The amphibian's are a decent light, but a little more expensive then some other's with comparable light, but Ocean LED is a great company and stands by their products and if there is ever an issue you will get great service and typically a replacement, not many brands will do that. I was looking into A6's as well, easy installation somewhat small in size and somewhat decent amount of light.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... id=1019602

that is a decent light as well and somewhat comparable in light quality and in price.

A6 draws a lot less power so for your purpose it might be better, and Ocean LED UW lights are one of the few brands that designs a light that doe snot get hot, and can be run while the boat is running, asthetically they look sweet when running at night, nothing like a blue flame behind the boat in the wake.

I think A6's would be plenty of light for your boat and you would be happy with them, easy to install and will last you a long time. Still deciding what I want to go with next year but A6's remain towards the top of my list for now.

This is a really nice light as well(Shadow Caster), but new to the market so not sure how they will last, and hopefully they come down a few dollars as they sell more units, but they are really bright and seem to be nicely built. Price could be a little lower to compete better with A6's but the light quality seems to be the best I've seen out of a non thru hull mounted UW light so far. they also draw a bit more amps then other's, probably why they are so bright, might be able to get away with 1 if mounted in the right location as opposed to 2 lights.
http://www.binnacletackle.com/Shadowcaster.html
http://www.binnacletackle.com/
They have lots of picture's and a video as well.
http://www.shadow-caster.com/
 
What is a good LED source for bulbs to replace cabin lights (used a lot for reading), anchor light, running lights, helm dome light and courtesy lights? '98 272
Thanks
 
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