LED Lights

[kevfish]

Has any one ever tried the LED light bulbs that are the size of a tail light bulb in their fish house? Are they brighter than the regular bulb? Also, do they make bulbs in different watts? Trying to brighten up the fish house without spending alot of cash

[TV BOY]

Yes I have them in my house, they make ones with different ammounts of leds per bulb. They will cost around 12-15 bucks per bulb but will outlast a regular tail-light style bulb. They put out a different type of light, They are bright but don't have the light spectrum range of an incandecent. I have 8 dome lights in my house (way more than enough) and have some with the leds and some with the regular auto style bulbs. Do a google search for "superbrightled" an you can get them.

[kevfish]

so do you think they are brighter than a regular bulb or easier to see with than a regular bulb

[satnu]

Both IMHO. Mine run off of a Vex battery. Lights my Otter Resort fully! I bought 2-12" led strips from superbrightleds. Mounted them in 1/2" pvc and put a clear plexi strip over them.

[TV BOY]

One led light will not light up the house as much as one of the auto style bulbs(more wattage). As far as seeming bright, it is a more blueish-white light and you can barely tell the lights are on if you look at the house across the lake. Inside you can see fine play cards etc..

[mudman]

satnu-

Do you just use some plastic tiedowns and strap them to the poles?

or is the mounting difficult?

Could you please give me some details, I have a clam guide so I assume it would be the same set up for any flip style.

[satnu]

No, I am using velcro. Zip ties are permanent. I wanted to be able to take them off and store them in a safe place while hauling with sled.

I'll post some pics of the assembly.

I went to my local pet store and bought 3/4' thin walled acrylic tubing. Cut to 13". Inserted light, dabbed some epoxy on the corners of the circuit board to hold them in place. Bought pvc end caps. Drilled a hole in one cap for wiring. Ran wire and soldered resistor in place. Note: resistor goes to POSITIVE side of connection only. Hooked up to Vex battery with alligator clips and tadda!!!! Lights have been running for 20 hours straight with no fade out as of yet.

[mudman]

Sweet!

I just order some from superbrightled!!

[satnu]

Well I guess you can't just post images, so no pic unless you want them e-mailed. Sorry!

[MNmikew]

Anyone ever try these in a pop-up camper? I have a couple 12v lights in mine that do OK but not great. I think there 1157 type bulbs in there. Do they make a LED equivilent to these?

[kevfish]

they make a bulb for them-my question is- Are they brighter?

[Ears]

I did order some of the led lights from the superbightled site, I bought the circut board of 24 leds with the 1156 base. I tried 2 in my 6 1/2 by 14 and like TV boy said, its a diffrent type of light. Not nearly as bright, but they would make nice hole lights. The light they produce really makes the floursent paint on bobbers stand out. I have not tried any of the led tubes that they offer.

[Tom I Am]

I've made my own LED lights as well. I just buy the bulbs and build my own clusters or bar lights. Each bulb drops 3.5 volts nominally. For each 3 bulbs you need a 100 ohm resistor to limit current to around 20mA. I use a portable so I prefer the bulbs in a 6 foot stick. Bulbs placed around 2 inches apart over that run. These bulbs use a "MCD" unit class to describe brightness. I use the 8,000-12,000 MCD. They also have a beam angle. I've used the 15 degree bulbs. These bulbs are great because they use very little power and they claim they have a lifespan of 10,000 hours. Vex batteries are 7amp/hour. My 6 foot lite draws 0.2 amps. That means my vex battery will last 35 hours. I have a seperate battery in a fused box dedicated to the lights. I used to use a 12V RV 60 watt bulb. I'd get 2 hours and she was going dead. Sucks way too much juice for the extra light. I don't know if I would recommend using these in a permanant shack for playing cards and stuff. They may not be bright enough for everyone. Plus in a perm your going to have a full size deep cycle battery and consumption may not be that critical. If your on the move and don't want to drag the kitchen sink then they are great.

[kevfish]

Thanks-you answered my question