Boat Lighting

[BeenThere]

Currently I have two flood lights mounted on my hardtop, and I would like to replace one with a very low watt/amp light. Something to just shed a little light in the cockpit area at night while fishing. The light would allow me to have it on all the time at night and not have to worry about it draining the battery. Any thoughts<br /><br />Don

 

[mattttt25]

Re: Boat Lighting

i have two spreader lights forward and one aft, mounted on the hardtop. but i also have a small dome light on the underside of the hardtop for just what you describe. simple push buttom operation, and you can get them with red lenses if you prefer. they sell them at any of the big marine stores, real cheap. good luck-

 

[rickrick]

Re: Boat Lighting

get a "L.E.D. light". they use a fraction<br />of the juice and they last much longer.

 

[magster65]

Re: Boat Lighting

My SeaRay had cockpit lighting tucked up under the deck so it lit up the floor area. It was dim, during the day you couln't see it but at night it was just right. If you want something overhead, try you local auto wrecker. Our Aerostar mini-van has a really neat interior light (two adjustable map lights and a center light on a dimmer switch. That'd be trick.

 

[Franki]

Re: Boat Lighting

I have a mini flouresent 12 light in my cabin, it has two tubes, each about 20cm long.<br /><br />Just one by itself gives off a huge amount of light, and uses only a few watts..<br /><br />Thats what I use for my all around white light when I am at anchor at night.<br /><br />I've left it on all night and it made no appreciative difference to the battery at all..<br /><br />rgds<br /><br />Frank

 

[jeff_nicholas]

Re: Boat Lighting

I'd look for a 24 or 32 volt bulb to replace the flood. Twice the Volts = 1/2 the amps and much, much less light. I used a 32V bulb in my anchor light on the sailboat to conserve power -- of course you almost had to hold a match next to it to see if it was on... <br /><br /> http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&keyword=361041 <br /><br />-or-<br /><br />Page 670 of the Master Catalog

 

[trollhole]

Re: Boat Lighting

L.E.D.s <br /><br />Go here this is your best bet. And trust me I can leave them on all night all day and all night and still have plenty of juice to start my motor.

 

[Franki]

Re: Boat Lighting

Yes, but how bright is an LED???<br /><br />All the ones I have seen are very dim... they give off visable light, but not enough to throw light on their suroundings.. (the boat next to the LED I mean.)<br /><br />Are there other Light Emmiting Diodes that I don't know about???<br /><br />rgds<br /><br />Frank

 

[SlowlySinking]

Re: Boat Lighting

Hi, ultra bright LEDS are available, you can buy flashlights that use LEDS and they are real bright, I notice that many trucks (UPS)now use LED tail lights, here's one source for the LEDS, http://www.hosfelt.com/ do a web search and you will likely find many more sources. Good luck.

 

[trollhole]

Re: Boat Lighting

They are very bright almost too bright sometimes. They will eventually replace the incandesant bulb as we know it today. Have you seen the new light bulbs they are putting in street traffic signals. They are starting to change them out because they last so long they are really bright and very tuff, and use very little electricity.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Boat Lighting

I used LED marker lights made by Grote', get them a NAPA.... Good looking, with a chrome plastic bezel... I wired them into 2 seperate circuits... 1 switch lites 2 of them for dim lighting... other switch lites 10 others, for when I Really want to See.... I used the red markers to help with night blindness....