Dock Lights
 

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

Re: Dock Lights
 

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.

Re: Dock Lights
 

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

Re: Dock Lights
 

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

Re: Dock Lights
 

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.

Re: Dock Lights
 

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

Re: Dock Lights
 

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.

Re: Dock Lights
 

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.

Re: Dock Lights
 

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.

Re: Dock Lights
 

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.

Re: Dock Lights
 

Thanks but I'm looking for lights that turn themselves on and off every day, I don't want to have to go down and "light" them. There are some other lights on the Rockler site that look interesting, might get one to see how hard it would be to make a small block to adapt the flat light back of the lights to the round pilings.

Several "dock" lights I've seen are made to mount to the decking, but I'm afraid I would trash them when shoveling the snow off of the dock.

I'll give the conductive grease idea a try, but since the current bulbs are push in ones, with one contact on each side, I'd need to make sure not to let the grease create a short circuit between the two sides.

What I really need is something long and skinny that I can attach vertically to the pilings with a waterproof housing that doesn't cost $100+ each. Not to demanding am I??

-Greg

Re: Dock Lights
 

cmpact flourescent bulbs last a lot longer than incandescent.
There is a line of commercial grade CF's with 3 year guarantees on bulb and ballast. They cost 4x as much as the hardware store versions but they do outlast the guarantee period.

Re: Dock Lights
 

mcollinstn - But where can I find some good, weatherproof, compact fixtures for them?

Re: Dock Lights
 

Hi Greg -

I put some really nice compact flourescents on my dock in Florida two years ago. They are only 7 watts but light the dock really well. They have a number of different styles. I got them in Sarasota. I'll be down on November 11. I know I have a box in the garage, so I can give you the manufacturers info if you call me then. 941-779-2049.

Re: Dock Lights
 

Barry,

Thanks. I'll try to remember to call and see what they are. My one concern with florescents is if they will "start" when it's cold out. I replaced all the florescents in my garage with Halogens as the florescents wouldn't light off in the winter.

-Greg

Re: Dock Lights
 

Greg,
Let me know what you end up doing. I am building a pier on a house I recently bought in the Keys and haven't decided on lighting for the pilings... Let me know...

Re: Dock Lights
 

Cold weather starts take longer on a CF for sure, but mine have always eventually started after a few minutes. I guess it depends on how cold is cold...

And weatherproof? Any globe style cover should be good enough.