Dock Lights

GregP · 10-26-2004, 12:52 PM

What have you found that you like for dock lights? I originally had 120V post units on each piling but they had very short bulb life. I switched over to a low voltage system, but the fixtures are really pretty cheaplu made and have been very unreliable since getting submerged in the hurricane last fall. I'd probably like to put in new low voltage units, but havn't been able to find any fixtures that would mount well to the pilings (the ones I have seem to be no longer made). Would like something a little better than the pastic stuff at Home Depot.

-Greg

Dblvanos · 10-26-2004, 03:23 PM

Quick search turned this up, http://www.carmanah.com/solar_dock_lights.html

I say get something with LED's, they have a long lifespan and require little energy.

NJSONIC · 10-26-2004, 11:07 PM

Greg,
We have these on our deck. They mount on a 4x4,but you can take a small piece of a 4x4 and attach it to the piling first. They are strong-metal with glass lenses.Ours are five years old.The only thing that has happened to them is the brown paint has faded. Just my 2 cents.
http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=6234

GregP · 10-27-2004, 07:31 AM

Dblvanos - I've tried solar lights before (not those particular ones) and they don't get enough light during the day in the winter months to stay on all night.

NJSONIC - Thanks, they look nice but not sure they would look good since all my pilings are round and have metal caps, I'd need to add a "scab on" square post to hold them. Are the bulb sockets just the cheap plastic or are they more substantial? One problem with my current ones is the push in bulbs don't really hold tight in the plastic sockets, you can usually jiggle to bulb and it will come back on ... but it gets to be a pain to go down and shake all the bulbs each night.

Thanks - Greg

Dblvanos · 10-27-2004, 08:29 AM

Have you tried using some electrical grease in the bulb sockets. It might provide enough surface to tighten the bulb up or allow electricity to conduct.

NJSONIC · 10-27-2004, 07:58 PM

GregP,
The bulb sockets on mine are metal and the bulbs are 18w if I remember correctly.

LapseofReason · 10-27-2004, 08:43 PM

All my dock poles are cut off at 48 inch's then a 3 inch deep 7/8 hole drilled in the top and I have about 30 of them bamboo tiki lanterns, I cut about 16 inches off of the bamboo so they are about 7 feet off the dock. I think it looks cool and I get a lot of complement's on it plus they help with the bugs.

LapseofReason · 10-27-2004, 08:44 PM

You can see them to well in those pictures let me look for a better one and maybe I'll get one of them lit this week end.

LapseofReason · 10-27-2004, 08:52 PM

You can see the one's to the right and in the back here, I dont put them close to the boat in the front.

mr_velocity · 10-27-2004, 09:57 PM

What every you choose, every connection, every fitting coat with NOALOX. You'll never have a problem again.

Nice Hi-Tide boat lifts in the pic above. Got the new gear drives too. Too bad they didn't mount the motors down, would be a much cleaner installation. Overall very nice. Not sure if I would want FIRE around my boat.