Led Lighting
 

I am looking for led lighting for under my gunwhales in my cockpit, in my engine compartment, and under the lip of my swim platform. I was looking at these http://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/side-emitting/ but was looking for other suggestion. I want to be able to wire them into an accessory switch on the dash.

I have some led replacements that went I to the light pods I already had. They have a good product. And quick shipping

I have some of these under my gunnels http://www.amazon.com/SUPERNIGHT-Wat...led+waterproof they work great but usually start to fail after a year so I have been replacing them annually. The wont last long at all under the swim platform, but will probably do ok in the motor room

I also have these on the underside of my T-top and they are very bright, very high quality and should be a permanent installation. http://www.lumiteclighting.com/produ...op-lights/halo

I would go with the strips under the gunnels and the Halo or something else from Lumitec in the motor room and under the platform. You could also use the Halo everywhere and then with one switch you can control all the lights together both dimming and color change depending on the version you get. I have the white, red, blue, dimming version.

Yea I read some reviews on there replacement lights, and people really were happy with them, but only saw 1 that mentioned there LED strips.

I saw the supernight ones, and the one reason why i moved on from them is cause they have a controller. As I want to wire these to my courtesy lights switch on my dash, and I just want them to be blue.

How many strips do you have of these? and how bright are they?

Lumitec has a great product for a great price.

After reading reviews on lighting and then speaking with a guy at Superbrightleds I went ahead and ordered these:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/morei...light-bar/123/

I will update this thread once I receive and see how they work.

I had some waterproof LED strip left over and stuck it to the underside of my platform and ran the wire in thru the cockpit drain thru hull. Didn't know how it'd work or like it, so figured no holes and no cost to try. Been on there 2 yrs now and still going strong. Wired to an empty acc switch on dash

Sweet, good to hear. How long is the strip you used under the platform, and what did you use to attach it?. Also, the lighting I got is IP67 rating, which means it can be completely submerged up to 1 meter for 30 minutes or less. That will never happen on my swim platform, and if it does I have more to worry about then the LED strip light LOL

They are just 12v strips you don't have to use the controller but if all you want is blue the strips come in a single colors just buy blue strips. If it was me and I didn't want or need the RGB I would all lumitec halos wired to one switch and then the entire boat is the same color and dimming level.

I guess I was typing as you were posting I didn't see you had already made your decision those should work fine and they are so cheap you can always change them for something else later.

Guessing 6' or so long. The strips come with double side tape on them, but I wanted to make sure the tape would stick, getting soaked as they do. So I peeled off their tape and put on some quality 3M tape I picked up from Menards. The 3M tape is 10x thicker and more rubbery than the cheaper stuff. Still stuck 2 yrs later just like day installed. No idea what the rating is. It was just a $15 roll I bought thru ebay. It's fully encased in silicone. Looks like it could rest on the bottom of the lake and still work.

Yea it was $135 shipped for 6 strips at 3 1/2 feet per strip. Cost more then the supernights, but the supernights are a IP65 rating (which is a light water projection rating) where the ones I got from SuperBrightLeds can be submerged in water, and the ones from SuperBrightLeds are more lumens per foot and overall. Also, they are side emitting strips, so when I attach them up inside the gunnels the lights will shine straight down instead of directly into the the other side of the gunnel.

Yea these don't have the double sided tape on them, which is no big deal cause I would have replaced it anyway considering the reviews I read on all the LED strips that the double sided tape that comes on them doesn't last. As i said mine are only 3 1/2 feet long, so hopefully I get enough coverage back there with 1 strips, as i don't really want to make a connection under the platform.

I just got done spliceing 3 16' strips together. Took no time and works great.

You'll be amazed at the amount of light that is put off by them. I put some inside some side compartments and under the seats for some indirect lighting. Originally put several inch strips in each location, but that proved to be WAY to bright. I ended up with just 1 section (3 leds) at each spot, so 3/4-1"??? long

Nevermind the speaker color lighting. For some reason it always looks whitish when pic from iPhone. They are blue

Good to hear, cause I have a 24ft outlaw, and was planning on putting 1 3 1/2 foot section on each side inside the gunnels in the cockpit, then 2 more inside the gunnels on each side in the engine compartment. Then a 3 1/2 foot strip under the swim platform. That would leave me with 1 more 3 1/2 foot section which I can put where ever there isn't enough light, and can even cut that one in sections to add to multiple places. I am thinking it should be enough, but guess I won't know until I have it all in the boat. I really like the one under your platform, and you saying you have a 6 footer under there makes me think I didn't order enough as at each location the light strip will be shorter then the distance i want to light by around 1/2. What do you think, you think that should be sufficient? I mean I don't want to be a huge blue light out there, but would like it to be apparently noticeable even is slightly lit enviroment like at the dock at the bar at night and such.

I'd go with 2 sections under your platform if you can, otherwise the lighting will be too centered. My slip neighbor has a tubular platform and originally just lite the center part. Was lacking eveness, so he put a small strip on each side of the 2 middle supports. That really made a big improvement. I think the tubular platforms are more forgiving as the lighting reflects off the water and upwards, where as on mine it has to reflect outwards. It's still lights up good though. Not sure why my 1st pic looks like 2 strips reflecting off the water, it's 1 long single one and lights up evenly all the way across. Nice thing about these strips is they are easy to work with. Lite it up, look at it, and cover up the lights till you get the look you want, then cut and solder/seal the strip ends.

Ok I will probably do that then, this way I know the platform will have plenty of light, and if I need to add one It will be cake to just run another under my gunnels or dash as i wouldnt have to go through the transom again. In the specifications they say you can run up to 3 strips in a serious without seeing brightness loss, so I can run 2 lights on the platform and tie 1 in on each side which will give me 2 lines from the switch feeding each side of the boat with 3 strips in a series on each side. Only down fall is I will have to go through the transom on each side so 2 holes, which isn't that big of a deal, and will allow for all connections to be protected inside the boat instead of making a connection under the platform. I have a solid platform as well, so the extra light will probably help give me some good spread.

You mean I don't have to buy 450 dollar lights for back there?

I used to be a customer of superbrightleds.com, and had absolutely no complaints on their products, but now the same products can be had for 1/5th the price on ebay and amazon, so I started buying from there with similar results.

Just search 12v LED on either Amazon or ebay and you will find A LOT of options for a very reasonable price.

Google SuperBrightLeds they have the underwater lights that mount on the transom as well. They are more money but the ones I would get are $100 a piece. I have seen those under water lights for transome for a rediculous amount of money for a light. I would love to see what justifies the $1100 price tag on some of these lights.