Underwater Light Placement

[CatNewBee]

Well, they are very inefficient ant therefore probably not bright enough.

Power: Primary 24V 3A 72W, Secondary (LED) 10W

[MikeFergie]

I like my lights

Just remember to put them deep enough to not let the normal movement of the boat and water take them out of the water or you will get a lot of flickering

[Lambretta]

Originally Posted by LeeV

I wanted to share the info about SILS with all who might be interested, so I posted it in the General Forum at http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ts-190326.html

I have nothing to do with them, and am interested more in where we're going with induction methods. Nor am I a naysayer; nobody ever got a new system right the first time. I'd love to see a perfected system for instrument sending units.

Regards,

Made contact with SILS as I really like the tech and no holes in hulls
They are planning to launch the product towards the end of the first quarter of 2018. still busy with moldings and testing

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by Lambretta

Made contact with SILS as I really like the tech and no holes in hulls
They are planning to launch the product towards the end of the first quarter of 2018. still busy with moldings and testing

James is the Product Manager in the U.K., and Hank Richert is the Vice President – Sales and Marketing In Va, in case you missed either. They're testing the heat sinks at this time. Interesting stuff.

James Tupper
BA Hons Marketing
Sales & Marketing

Direct Line: +44 (0)1476 583864
BGB SILS - Contactless Underwater Lighting - No Drilling of the Hull > BGB SILS - Contactless Underwater Lighting - No Drilling of the Hull


Hank Richert
BGB Technology, Inc.

1060 Port Walthall Drive

Colonial Heights, VA 23834 USA

Tel: 804-720-4738

E-mail: hank.richert@bgbtechnology.com

Website: BGB Technology | Slip Rings | Brush Holders

[D-Vector]

Originally Posted by MikeFergie

I like my lights

Just remember to put them deep enough to not let the normal movement of the boat and water take them out of the water or you will get a lot of flickering

Thanks Mike. Your lights look good.

Would you mind elaborating on where they're installed? E.g., are then below the aft bridgedeck pointing inward/downward at a 45 degree angle about 1' below the water line?

Thanks to all who have replied so far. I like the inductive systems (who wouldn't). Seems there's always something better coming down the road...

[MikeFergie]

It depends a lot on your boat setup.

On the Leopards they have courtesy lights, 1 just inside the door and one down the steps to each hull. You take loose the the cover in the back cabins and you get to these lights. I wired in my step blue leds and from the step to the underwater blue leds. For me it's these blue step lights where it starts and I actually leave the step lights on the whole night while on swing moorings.

I like yourself have not just an issue with drilling holes ( but lucky in the leopard these are in the back engine compartments which are separate from the boat ) but more around the stainless structure of the lights and I am concerned around barnacles on the lenses. I mean I get barnacles on my depth sounder transducer so I am sure the glass will follow.

So I decided to make a wooden pole with the lights mounted on the side the fits neatly into the centre of the bridgedeck and put it in every night I want the lights. When not using them I put the system in the back locker.

I will take pictures if you want. This I have been using for the past 6 months and the beam goes from the middle out and shines about 30 m from the boat on both sides in clear water

[rallyman1122]

I notice that all those that don't like the idea are mono hull owners and all those that like the idea are multi-hull owners. Interesting to see different stroke for different folks

[tuskie]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

Why?!

Why, indeed. I totally agree with your sentiments and personally have better uses for my amps.

However, I have found the "underwater bling" to be quite useful at times.

For a start, research has proven that there is a lineal statistical correlation between the amount of Underwater Lumen Output and Anchorage Neighbour Annoyance. (ULO=ANA) These boats are guaranteed to run generators longer, "share" their choice of music with the anchorage until the small hours and generally engage in unseamanly anchoring practice. The worst offenders are also equiped with flashing coloured LEDs on deck, upward directed mast lights and sound effect sirens. The upside: they advertise their presence so you can avoid anchoring near the "blue light set".

We have found ourselves in anchorages where the "blue lagoon" thing is so prevelent that we can identify our boat at night by the fact that it DOESN'T have underwater coloured lights. When this happens we know that it's time to move on.

Careful nocturnal observation in these anchorages has also revealed squid, in shock and partially blinded, sheltering in the quiet and dark under our hulls.

[smj]

Originally Posted by rallyman1122

I notice that all those that don't like the idea are mono hull owners and all those that like the idea are multi-hull owners. Interesting to see different stroke for different folks

Multihuller and don't care for it. But whatever floats your boat[emoji1303]

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by MikeFergie

It depends a lot on your boat setup.

On the Leopards they have courtesy lights, 1 just inside the door and one down the steps to each hull. You take loose the the cover in the back cabins and you get to these lights. I wired in my step blue leds and from the step to the underwater blue leds. For me it's these blue step lights where it starts and I actually leave the step lights on the whole night while on swing moorings.

I like yourself have not just an issue with drilling holes ( but lucky in the leopard these are in the back engine compartments which are separate from the boat ) but more around the stainless structure of the lights and I am concerned around barnacles on the lenses. I mean I get barnacles on my depth sounder transducer so I am sure the glass will follow.

So I decided to make a wooden pole with the lights mounted on the side the fits neatly into the centre of the bridgedeck and put it in every night I want the lights. When not using them I put the system in the back locker.

I will take pictures if you want. This I have been using for the past 6 months and the beam goes from the middle out and shines about 30 m from the boat on both sides in clear water

I wouldn't mind seeing pictures, including dimensions and which lights you used, if possible, so I don't reinvent the wheel. They are great for fishing an scrubbing the hulls!

Thx!

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by rallyman1122

I notice that all those that don't like the idea are mono hull owners and all those that like the idea are multi-hull owners. Interesting to see different stroke for different folks

From what I've seen, fishing boats use them the most. My last charter was on a Mahe 36 in the BVI and Cane Garden Bay was lit up like Times Square! 45'+ fishing boats with every color imaginable backed up into the beach/bar area.

Not for me, but to each their own,

[SailFastTri]

Docking lights at the sides of your bows below deck level, that face forward, would be more useful IMHO. I have them and love the extra light when docking, picking up a mooring, or anchoring. No deck glare if mounted below the hull-deck joint.

[Catopia]

We installed 6 of these on our L450 a couple of years ago. They work well and no drilling required.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/night...blue--18025478

[solecollector]

I have four Lumitec SeaBlaze Full Spectrum and would highly recommend them. I worked closely with Lumitec to create a solid setup for my Lagoon 440. I can tell you this - the front lights are a HUGE deal. When pulling get anchor at night or actually anchoring at night - turning on the front underwater lights makes a HUGE difference. It could actually be a safety thing as you can see what is on the bottom like cables and anything else you might want to avoid.



The ones ones on the back are super nice just to relax and watch the fish. When we were at Warderick Wells we sat there for hours watching these two bull sharks come in and out of the lights with tons of fish around.

Installing them correctly is a must - and the lower the better.



Here is a video Lumitec shot of Moving On. There will be a new video soon of some more super sweet upgrades.....!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBGuite3lB0&t=17s

[MikeFergie]

I loveED lumtitec lights (leds) and bought a few different versions for different parts of my boat.

On my steps on the hulls I mounted Lumitec Andros the nice shiny stainless versions. Over a period of 6 months I had to replace every light at least once. They were beautiful and bright but somehow the sea water lapping on the back steps was a HUGE problem for these lights.
Two things happened - they would create a brown streak down the fiberglass gel coat where they were mounted which was a pain to keep cleaning. Then they just stopped working.
The main reason I liked the Andros was you drilled a small hole for the wires and even a smaller mounting hole for the screw. All of the plastic versions require a min of 10mm hole in the step.

In April this year I was out on the water and noticed a electrical smell and after a lot of searching noticed the step lamp was not working and I touched the stainless and burned both my fingers really bad. The stainless Lumitec Andros housing was very hot. I immediately cut the wiring to the light and the smell disappeared. One things were cool I took off the Andros light. My gel coat was damaged due to the heat. Somehow what it looks like is that seawater had penetrated the led inside the stainless housing and this had shorted the wires to directly make contact with the stainless steel housing and this made the housing very hot !!

Somehow not hot enough to blow the circuit breaker on the lights but hot enough to damage my boat and my fingers.

Now I have fitted Quick clear plexan led step light and have a pile of nice little stainless steel Andros housing not working. Disappointing on the value I spent on them but most importantly what if this somehow happen in the middle of the night when I was asleep. A fire [emoji91].
That is not a good thought so I have got a new respect for 12v and stainless steel leds. I don't want them on my boat !!

This leads me to think about the steel structure on the leds underwater and what if they get saltwater in. My advise have a fuse close by the wiring just before it goes through the hull so if things go wrong it just pops a fuse and you don't have any major issues

Just my advice.