12 volt rope lights

[hitthebricks]

just bought one of these 6ft.rope lights for the portable and found a small gell battery won't cut it for power. What do I need for 4-6 hrs. of nite life. HTB

[Dan Wood]

Do you know the power of the lights (watts)?

Volts X Amps = Watts

Take your wattage and divide by 12 volt - that is what you need for amps out of your battery.

i.e. - If they were 12 watt lights, you would be able to run for 7.5 hours on a 7.5 amp-hr. battery (theoretical).

[mtwalleye]

I fished out of an Eskimo Quick Flip III wednesday night. The rope lights did not provide enough light in my opinion. They also lasted about 2 hours on a locator battery. Returned my lights to Cabelas yesterday. Going to stick with the gas lantern.

[Dan Wood]

I'm putting in fluorescent lights in my otter currently. I'll get some photos up when I finish up with the project.. Fluroescent lights use much less power for the same output of incandescent lights (less heat generated and more power going towards making light). They claim 4-6 times the light output, so a 15 Watt fluorescent is equivalent to a 60+ Watt regular incandescent light source.

I'm wiring (2) 18 Watt fluroescents to a 12 volt (18 amp - hour) battery. In theory this should draw 3 amps and last near 6 hrs. I'm not sure both lights will be needed, so I may get by with one, especially when fishing longer nights - so that should last up to 12 hrs.

LED provides the least amount of power consumption and they are durable which is a big plus, but I don't feel they put out enough light without having tons of them (in which case the price becomes too high). The fluorescents are a good choice for low power consumption. The 12 volt bulbs are a little tough to come by and not cheap (expect to pay $15-$25 each). I'm taking the bulbs out when I'm moving my sled and protecting them to get away from durability issues. I can put in one or both bulbs, depending on how much light I need. I'm thinking two of the 18 watt bulbs will be more than I need, but this is a starting point. I may go down to 12 or 15 watt bulbs in the future and run both lamps.

This is in my Otter lodge that I pull with my atv, so battery weight isn't an issue. If I was doing this on a pull-by-hand sled, I'd downsize this set-up. The 12 amp-hour batteries are pretty light and would run a single 18 watt bulb for up to 8 hrs.

[barnyard]

I'm doing 12 volt LED's. I am using a combination of marker lights and license plate lights (that's what they are for on semi trailers.) The LED's seem pretty bright and they draw next to nothing for power. They are a bit more expensive though.

Tom B

[JWB475]

I installed four - 12" bar lights in my Otter Resort - each light has 12 individual LED bulbs. The lights I used are available from superbrightleds.com, I think they were around 18 bucks. When all four lights are on, it is like sitting on the surface of the sun, especially when there is some snow on the ice.

I rarely have more than 2 of the lights on, except when I am putting things away for the night. 2 of the bar lights are more than enough to light up my house.

I picked up some 3/4" diameter clear plastic tubing which the lights slid into, and also added some plastic caps on each end. I drilled a hole in one of the plastic caps to run the wire, and added some silicone to the hole - this makes the lights practically waterproof, and very durable. I then zip-tied them to the poles that run across the ceiling, 2 across the front pole and 2 across the middle pole. The zip ties allow you to rotate/move the lights to adjust the lighting as needed - which turned out to be pretty useful.

I picked up some cheap lamp wire, and ran it through the aluminum tubing to the lights. I drilled a hole in the center of the tube, and ran the wiring all the way out the bottom of the aluminum tube. I added some plastic tubing to the end of the aluminum poles to keep the wire from fraying on the edges of the poles when setting up and taking down the house, kind of hard to explain...

I also picked up some waterproof connectors and rocker switches from Radio Shack to finish things off. To reduce the amount of wire and to simplify things 2 LED lights are tied into one switch.

One night I left all 4 lights on by accident, and they were still running the next morning, off of a standard Vexilar battery. The rocker switches are mounted inside of the removable storage/seating insert that I built last year.

I also added a 6 LED accent light, and wired it into a third rocker switch. This light works great for charging up glow lures…

Kind of an expensive modification, but the lights should last for a very long time, and they are pretty much maintenance free. With a lantern you have way too many fragile parts, such as globes and mantles. They also put out a fair amount of heat, and I don't have to worry about melting anything, or burning myself.

I like to be pretty mobile when I am on the lake, and the LED's will take some abuse, I can run from spot to spot with a snowmobile or 4 wheeler without having to worry about breaking them.

I can also disconnect the LED lights whenever I want to, and I can use them in the boat, or anywhere I need a portable light source, that uses very little battery juice….

AttI will try to attach a couple of quick photo's...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/JWB475/xmas002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/JWB475/xmas005.jpg

[Surface Tension]

JWB475, good job. I like that idea.

[Duffer]

ive had that idea for awhile but never thought of using tubing where did u get the clear plastic tube.

[JWB475]

It is clear flexible tubing, 3/4" inside diamater, it comes in a roll. I picked it up at Home Depot, as well as the plastic caps.

One thing I forgot to add, I wound up having to put a piece of dowel rod in the tube with the lights otherwise the tubing would coil back up, and it would have broken the LED lights.

[hanson]

JWB475-

I like it! I think I found myself ANOTHER summer project.

When you say "Bright as the sun," I assume you mean I need to wear sunglasses in the icehouse at night to cut down on glare. I might be weird but thats the type of light level I like.

No offense to Clam, but I didn't believe the rope light would work for me from the moment I saw it. When I checked them out at the Ice Show in St. Paul, I said no way. I'd rather replace broken mantels on my coleman lantern than put up with that.

[Surface Tension]

TTT

[S.D. Ice Angular]

JWB475

I like the idea also, but I am a little un-clear on how you used the dowel??

How much do you think it cost you overall??

Please advise if you can??

Also what was the “Part Number” of the lights you used??

Thanks

[JWB475]

After I put the LED Bar light in the clear plastic tubing, the tubing kept trying to curl back up into it's natural position (it came in a roll), so I slid a dowel rod in the tubing behind the light to keep it from doing this. It was a tight squeeze, but it fit.

I purchased the LB1 Series 12" lightbar from superbright LED's.

Most of the cost is in the light, so they probably cost around $20-$22/piece to make.

2 will light up any flip over portable, and 1 might even do the job.

[tucciproshop]

I would also say go with leds. I built a device for a guy I work with and used 12 super bright 10,000 mcd LED's, but the kool part was it ran off 4 AA batteries and it lit up my garage. It only used 200ma or 2 tenths of an amp and I thought he had said he let it run for 3 days straight and it was still bright hmm imagine how long it would last off a 12 volt battery.

[The Chemist]

Alright I'm gonna need a little help/suggestions here. I picked up the Clam rope light on Friday, and when I opened it up the terminals weren't connected. Not a big deal I can read directions and figure it out. Here comes the problem: The directions say nothing about connecting the alligator clips. In fact I think my 8yr old could've done a a better job at spelling. I would've thought that a company like that would have had someone proof read/attempt to perform the instructions. Anyways my thing is now: Is it possible to get something else in and built by next Friday. I would really like to have something that didn't require alot for batteries. Or if someone could point me to a place where I can find ideas on building lights. My electronic experience is basically limited to household wiring and the sort(not the technical side though, can install a new light fixture). So I would need a little direction. And I do have a Radio Shack near the house so I have the availability of any components I would think that I would need. Thanks

[Ben1022]

JWB,

could you send any other pics of how you put the wiring thru the tubing. I think I get the idea of adding some tubing at the junction of the three aluminum to protect the wires.

Any reply is appreciated. You can also email me at dwahlen at mn dot rr dot com.

[hitthebricks]

that sounds more like what I need. Who carries the lights, and does the bar come with attached wiring or do I need to assemble

[The Chemist]

I just tested some lights the last couple nights that I had found at Kmart in the auto section. The are the type that have the 12 Black lights in it. Picked the lights up for $3.50 each and then a replacement white bulb was $3. The light runs off of 8 AA batteries and I had turned it on at 10:30 last night and the lights were dying at ~6:00 this morning. Plus they do cast off alot of light

[cliffy]

I heard a rumor this weekend that Clam was going to be coming out with a LED rope light next season. I guess there had been a lot of issues about the current rope light not lasting very long. Has anyone else heard this rumor.

[The Chemist]

They have them on the HSOforum but they are sold out for the season. I had picked up 2 of the regular lighting systems but I'm going to be returning them today.

[CNY Tim]

The Clam lighting system has some issues I had two units the white rope lights were first and 15 lights wouldn't work and the second were red and 10 lights did not work. I returned both and talking with there CS personnel they will be using another manufacturer for the lights for next season. There customer service was fantastic for me.

[cliffy]

Thanks for the info....I should have checked thier web-site before asking the question. The LED light system looks like the way to go...I wonder if they will have any for sale this spring/summer. I could see putting that type of lighting system in my boat...just an idea.

[satnu]

JWB475

Could you post some more details on your system? I have the lights but not sure how to wire them up. Did you use a resistor? How did you connect the power to the lights? Any help would be appreciated!!!!!!