Battery and lights in portable

[Acemac]

I want to hook up some lights in my flip over this winter. I have never used 12v power fishing, but I am sick of buying the tanks for my little lantern not to mention sick of getting rid of those things.

what is the best type of battery? what are the best lights? any tips would be great I have little exp with lights in a fishhouse alwasy used white gas light...

[motley man]

I bought some led string lights that take 3 AA batteries and they work great. Have them in enclosed trailer for deer shack. Can't remember name of company, but it's on here somewhere if anyone knows what the name is post it.

[PerchJerker]

I use a spare 12 volt battery, either from my camera (4.5 amp/hr) or my flashr (7 amp/hr). It's plenty of power and will run my lights for days.

The lights I use are round L ED lights that were originally designed to be mounted in a boat. One thing I like about them is each light has it's own on/off switch right on the light.

The only thing I wish I'd done differently is add 1 more light to my setup. The light level is fine for fishing, and I usually only use 1 or 2 of the lights when fishing. But for tying knots, or digging around in the sled for something, it could be a little brighter. I'll probably add a string of rope lights this year to give me a little more light.

Hope that helps.

[Acemac]

hmm using the batery froim my camera great idea!

so you just got to make sure you buy 12v lights then just rig them to the bat?

[BartmanMN]

I purchased a 12v 12a battery online that I use in my boys PowerWheel 4 wheeler in the Summer, then it gets moved to my ice house for the Winter. That thing would run my string of LED's for day's maybe weeks.

[Northlander]

I got the LED lights from the outdoorprostore here on FM and I love them. I have ones that work on AA batteries and the ones you clip to another source such as your flasher battery. Both work very well and are durable and great on batteries life.

[tsande00]

I have lights that run off of AA batteries and ones that clip to a 12v source. By FAR I like the ones that clip to the 12v source better. No fiddling around with small batteries, or remembering to take some with, or hoping the switch didn't get turned on draining your batteries since your last use.... Simply clip on to your large (7 or 9 amp hr)12v battery (Flasher or camera style) and away you go. Bring the battery inside once in awhile to charge it up.

You can use just about any type of wire and a couple $0.50 alligator clips to terminate your lights, or you can buy pre-made rope lights and such for $30 or so. I would highly recommend getting a setup that doesn't run off AA or AAA batteries, just my 2cents.

I just wired a set of red led strip lights, blue led strip lights, and a 12v computer fan to run off of three separate switches in my house. I also added a 12v receptical to the switch box so I can charge my phone or GPS. There are 2 wires leaving my switch box that I simply terminate to the battery when I am ready to fish and the entire house is instantly energized. Pretty simple setup and no more lantern.

[DTro]

I bought some of those LED jobbies from overseas on the big auction site and LOVE THEM!!

Then I bought a spare 12v flasher battery and put it in a small softsided cooler to keep it from banging around and also keeps it semi warm.

[motley man]

outdoor pro store is a good light.

[jBohmer]

I have seen the batteries for sale at Batteries Plus. If I can remeber they were about $20. I do not remeber how many amps, but that should not matter if you are using LED lights. They do not draw much current. I know a guy that has mounted batteries in a cooler with terminals and switches to run his flasher and lights. I have not seen it yet but I am thinking of something similar for my flip up. My lantern takes up too much space. Good luck!

[Dale_Gribble]

Any rope style LED puts off some decent light. I would HIGHLY recommend getting a flasher style battery because 1. AA and AAA batteries are expensive and 2. they die very fast in the cold. My best has been a Zeus brand.

[remington 300]

ive been using a rechargable led flashlight/worklight, got it at northern tool,

its a bayco 45/60lumen flash/worklight, it comes with a car charger and a 110 for at home, i really like it and it provides plenty of light in the shack. i just zip tie it to one of my poles and am good to go,

mike.

[schweady]

Did the outdoor pro series site ever come up with longer strands or makes some connectable end-to-end, as promised last fall? My 96 cm length from H K is the cats for my Otter Cabin.

[BuckyBadger]

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2133305/1

This was a good thread for me, I ended up using the Bessst Hongy Kongy lights as well. They worked like a champ, even lit up my deer hunting shack with 3 sets of 96cm ones this fall.

[BuckyBadger]

Here's the inside of my little hunting shelter, this is the amount of light with 3 96cm LED strings all running off a single 12volt battery, no flash on phone camera. in my flip over I run one 96 and the smaller 40 something, usually only have the smaller one on.

[CrappieNight]

Ax-Man Surplus has 12v 3.6Ah batteries for $6. They also have all the LED lights you could ever need.

[south_metro_fish]

I have been looking at different stores for some led lights that run off 12v and most of the 12v puck style lights seem to be to dim. I did find one 12v light at Menards that is a rectangle and has enough led bulbs to get it bright, and it says that you can hook up 3 in a line. The brand name was Zilotek led task light, The only problem is their about $25 a piece. I would like to get 2 and string a rope light across the top. I'm still looking for some good lights that are a decent price, I will let you know what I come up with.

[dmichaelm]

I saw some battery powered low profile rope lights on the big orange box HSOforum for cheap. They are powered by 3AA's so I'll be swinging through and checking those out.

I picked up one of the aforementioned 12v axman batteries at the Fridley location. They had 2 boxes of 80' worth of white rope lights for $30. An enterprising individual might be able to make themselves a whole bunch of custom rigs for the HSO community. Too bad I'm busy, and lack the skill.

[dmichaelm]

so.. i found a light set better than the one described at a big box. the power source is DC 4.5V from 3 alkaline D batteries. I'm a bit (ok.ok...alot) of an electrical dummy.

If I use the aforementioned 12v 3.5amp battery as my power source, will I face any issues?

[Nick Kuhn]

Depending on how good the voltage/current regulator on there is you can be anywhere from just fine to the lovely smell of burning electrical components.

Since my brother wants to try ice fishing, I'm probably going to try whip up my own lighting. Probably go with a series/parallel array of LEDs. Maybe a 5x6 layout (10x3 @ 25mA wiring, 250mA total). In a fish house that output should be better than typical indoor lighting, and on a 5AH battery will last a long time. I could simplify things by overdriving some ultrabrights, but those would probably melt the canvas if they touched it, and also their close range brightness rivals the sun so it could do some damage to someones eyes.