LED Lights

[NoSlack]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of changing all my lights over to the low amp draw LED bulbs.

Being the tight wad I am, I didn’t want to spent $100 or more re-lamping the boat, so I gathered up all the raw material and started building what I needed.

So far I have the bait light, cabin lights and the red/greed running lights done. Next on the list will be the anchor light, stern light and the masthead light on the front of the fly bridge.

I ordered a bag of 100 of 60 degree viewable super bright LEDs form Hong Kong for 35 cents each shipped. Picked up some 1 ½” X 1 ½” PC boards to mount stuff on and a couple bags on ¼ watt 51 ohm resistors to drop the voltage to the operating specs for the LEDs. I used the LEDs in strings of 3 so 51 ohms was the resistance needed. If you use 1 LED across 12 volts, go with a ¼ watt 510 ohm resistor.



These are the LEDs I ordered from Hong Kong.




Cabin lights built on the PC boards


Cabin light lit up.


Light over table, 180 ma draw.


V berth lit up.


Port/strb lights potted and ready to install.


Port light






Port/strb lit up

[Knot Now]

Mike,
Do you find the interior light is bright enough?
How many LEDS for that light? 9?
I was thinking of putting a "ring" of LEDs inside the light and keeping the halogen light also?

I bought LEDS for the red and green running lights at PEPBOYS.

Phil

[NoSlack]

I had the same thought as you on the interior light and after the first one I knew the LEDs put out more light than the regulare bulb. I believe most of the store bought bulbs are going to be with 10 degree viewable LEDs. I think those give more of a spot light effect. The 60 degree LEDs spred the light out better for lighting up a space like the cabin.The picture were taken with the flash off on my camera. What you see is what it really looks like.

Mike

[iclypso]

Looks good, Mike. You say that you went with 150 ohm for 3 LED, and recommend 510 ohm for one. Is that just because 450 (3x150) is as close as you can get to 510 off the shelf? I'm a mechanical guy, heart and soul. V=IR is about as deep as I dare to get on the electrical side of things. Any idea what the total draw is when you have the whole boat lit up? What are the savings?

[NoSlack]

Picking the out the resistor is a little more trial and error than ohms laws. Ideally the LED like the voltage between 3.4 and 3.8 for maximum life expectancy. With the boat battery voltage ranging from 11.5 with the engine off for several hours to 14 with the engine on, you need to pick an average and build to that. I set up a power supply at 12.8 volts and started playing with different combos of LED strings and resistors until I settled on 510 ohms for 1 LED and 51 ohms if I used them in a string of 3.

My best guess on amp draw with my cabin lights and running lights on will be around 1 1/2 amps. Each light draws around .2 amps and I could have 7 or 8 lights on if I was all lit up.

Next on the dream list is to come up with a very low amp draw bait system for over night on the hook.

Mike

[iclypso]

Next on the dream list is to come up with a very low amp draw bait system for over night on the hook.

Boy, have I got the system for you! The draw is negligible but, then again, so is the water flow. Luckily, the price is as low as the effectiveness; just remove it and it's yours.

[Knot Now]

Mike,
Have you considered a cycling timer system?
On for one minute...off for three or four.....
I have heard they are effective, but have not ever seen one.
Maybe just hook-up a bilge float system using the timer used on auto headlights. When the level drops the float it would trigger the system and the timer would allow it to stay on for a few minutes.
Just some ideas I was thinking about....
Phil

[Knot Now]

Parts:
R1______________4K7 1/4W ResistorR2,R3___________1K 1/4W ResistorsC1____________100΅F 25V Electrolytic Capacitor (See Notes)D1___________1N4002 100V 1A DiodeQ1____________BC547 45V 100mA NPN TransistorQ2____________BC327 45V 800mA PNP TransistorP1_____________SPST PushbuttonRL1___________[COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Relay[/COLOR][/COLOR] with SPDT 10A min. switch Coil Voltage 12V. Coil resistance 150-600 Ohms

Comments:
This device is a simple timer, allowing to keep on the headlights of your vehicle for about 1min. and 30sec., e.g. when accessing some dark place, without the necessity of coming back to switch-off the lights.

Circuit operation:
Pushing on P1 allows C1 charging to full 12V battery supply. Therefore Q1 is driven hard-on, driving in turn Q2 and its Relay load. The headlights are thus activated by means of the Relay contact wired in parallel to the vehicle's [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]headlights [COLOR=blue! important]switch[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]. RL1 remains activated until C1 is almost fully discharged, i.e. when its voltage falls below about 0.7V.
The timing delay of the circuit depends by C1 and R1 values and was set to about 1min. and 30sec.
In practice, due to electrolytic capacitors wide tolerance value, this delay will vary from about 1min. and 30sec. to 1min. and 50sec.
An interesting variation is to use the inside [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]lamp[/COLOR][/COLOR] as a command source for the timer. In this way, when the door is opened C1 is charged, but it will start to discharge only when the door will be closed, substituting pushbutton operation.
To enable the circuit acting in this way, simply connect the cathode of a 1N4002 diode to R1-C1 junction and the anode to the "live" lead of the inside lamp.
This lead can be singled-out using a voltmeter, as it is the lead where a 12V voltage can be measured in respect to the vehicle frame when the lamp is on.
Notes:

• The Relay contact must be rated at 10A or more.
• 
  Timings obtained trying different tolerance electrolytic capacitors for C1:
  100΅F = 1'30" to 1'50"
  47΅F = 0'45" to 1'05"
  220΅F = 3'15" to 4'15"

[NoSlack]

The bass fishermen use a livewell timer, so I don't see why it wouldn't work for us. Something to tinker with over the next few months.

Mike

[Professor]

For the bait pump issue I switch over to a low amp pump at night. It’s on a separate thru hull and you need to open that system and close the other system (both the thru hull and to the tank). The low amp pump would loose suction if used while running but is fine at night. The on off switches on a bass boat are ok but your bait quality is going to suffer particularly if you are close to max for the tank. Bass don’t need to keep swimming to stay alive. I don’t have the low amp pump model number with me but as I’m in Yellowstone Park right now and didn’t need the boat here. I switched almost all my lights to LED. I would recommend a mix of lights as the LED light is pretty strange looking.