LED Light's for under your washboards

[warthog5]

I've bought some and returned some and bought some more lately.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...=4720631.22545

I bought these to begin with.

ALM-RC Accent Light Module

12VDC Rectangular Module with 3 Super Bright LEDs in Red.



I did use some inside my console's in White, but I returned the red one's.

Then I ordered these in Red.

MCM - Accent Light Module

Accent Light with 6 Super Bright LEDs 12VDC



Much, Much better. It's hard to really tell anything about these diffrent light's until you have them in your hand a fire them up.

So I'm your guinea pig. I will have 4 in Red down each side of the cockpit. That would be 16in from the transom on the 1st one and then 30in spacing between them going foward.

I did order 7 more in White for in the cuddy. I hate shadow's in task lighting.

One thing they don't tell you on that site about these light's is you have 2 sorce's for the ground. It has a ground thru one of the mounting screw's and a ground wire too.

[HungOne]

Bobby;

Thanks!!! This is awesome!!!! This was coming up on my to-do list soon and was going to start asking for sources. The prices are insanely better than what I've found so far.

[warthog5]

Megabyte used some Red LED side marker light's under his.

[HungOne]

just bought my set of 8 in red too. dang, sorry for being such a copy cat.

[warthog5]

Hey, That's part of this whole deal here. When you find something that work's, why try and reinvent the wheel.

I'm sure your going to need more than 8 to light it nicely.

Remember that my cockpit area is about the length from your tansom to the front of your console.

Just guessing here, but your going to need 6 more. 3 for each side.

Measure it out 16in from the transom for the 1st light and then one every 30in toward the bow.

[HungOne]

actually I was just thinking about using for mood lighting, 4 in the deck and 4 at the bow... []

[warthog5]

[] A little Booze will help her too.[]

[HungOne]

a little booze couldn't hurt... just finished mounting all my electronics including the stereo... no I just need to connect the speakers and dig out some Barry Manilo CD's. Yeah.... come-on!!!!!

[warthog5]

I enjoy doing all this wiring, but my body doesn't.

I worked till midnight tonight. We had a hard rainstorm come thru. It's 75 deg in the shop. I didn't even break a sweat, but my knee's, leg's and back feel it. lot's of stuff going on in there.

[ob1jeeper]

quote:

---

Originally posted by warthog5


I enjoy doing all this wiring, but my body doesn't.

I worked till midnight tonight. We had a hard rainstorm come thru. It's 75 deg in the shop. I didn't even break a sweat, but my knee's, leg's and back feel it. lot's of stuff going on in there.

---

Bobby,

Don't want to be a spoil-sport here... But trust me on this one... It DON'T get any easier on the body over the next 10-20 years...[][(#)]
OB1

[warthog5]

I sure feel it this morning. I've about run out of insulated female spade terminal's and it's Freaking Hot outside.[xx(]

[HungOne]

Dang, I don't think age has anything to do with it. I'm a bit younger than you guys and my body is feeling it too. Bending your body all which way to do this wiring stuff is absolutely not body friendly. I just got back from the store to buys some last minute things and female spade connectors were one of them too....

[BYRAM]

Ijust ordered 2 for under my washboards..I'm replacing my old incandesant (sp?) ones.. thanx to Megabyte and Wart for bringing it up again..

[Megabyte]

Bobby is right. It's tough to decide on how much light these units will put out, how many will be needed to light the area properly, and what modifications might be needed to make them work in a marine environment.

It's also tough getting a proper photograph at night. []



I used LED marker lights of the type used in the trucking industry. Because automotive lights generally rely on the chassis being the ground, the lights I bought simply had a ground 'tab'. In an automotive application, that would be OK, but wouldn't work for me.



What I did was to drill the housing to allow a ground wire to be inserted, and make contact with the ground tab, then I soldered the wire giving me both a hot, and a ground lead. A dab of marine silicone made the housing watertight.

Installation was straight forward, with placement made as much for coverage as it was for proper spacing.



The really cool thing is that more and more LED products seem to be coming on the market weekly, so better marine specific lights are sure to be hitting the market soon. Problem is, as soon as the "marine" tag is applied to the products, the price will probably triple. []