DC lights

[fishduckdog]

I'm always carrying an extra 12VDC battery with me & I thought I'd put it to work for some lighting next the holes in the ice house, and let the Coleman lantern take a break (fumes). Anyone have some good ideas?
Thanks
Charlie

[cwmn]

If youre any where near Oakdale MN check out Tools and More, they have a large selection of 12 volt lights, I have one rigged on my flasher to light the hole at night, I run it off the same batt thet the flasher runs off.

[Guest]

i have a auto dome replacement light,walmart
about 5 bucks,on\off switch also, wired to my
vlex,used alligator clips,total cost under 6
bucks,helps when check tip ups outdoors at night also

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I wired my permanent 8x10 fish house with 2 auto dome lights I bought at Walmart for about 6 bucks each and hooked them to a deep cycle trolling battery. We use the house a lot and only had to recharge the battery once this winter.
I like the suggestion about the dome light on the Vexilar Box !!! Great idea! I will have one on mine by next week !
Good fishing!
Cliff

------------------
Cliff's Guide Service
CliffsGuideService-LakeVermilion.com
Lake Vermilion
Phone: (218) 753-2005

[JIGSTER]

IF YOU HAVE A DEPTH FINDER VEX OR ZERCOM I WOULD GUESS YOU HAVE A CHARGER. MAYBE BUY A EXTRA BATTERY AND GO TO ANY STORE THAT SELLS EQUIPMENT FOR CAMPERS/RVS AND THEY USUALLY CARRY MANY DIFFERENT 12V. LITES. THIS WOULD BE THE WAY TO GO IN A PORTABLE FOR SHORT TERM USE.

JIGSTER

[Dave]

Here's a thread about lanterns and lights. I found a 50W bulb on a Vex battery only lasts about an hour.

http://fishingminnesota.com/ubb/Forum30/HTML/001028.html

[Ferny]

Here's what were doing this year.
We have a 12V portable jump start battery packs ~$40 on sale and a 350Watt inverter ~ $40 regular price. You plug in the inverter and then we are using flourescent lights in the shack. It's nice and bright and quiet and the lights just sip current. The inverter fans are a little noisy so we keep it outside and run a cord inside.
It works great. You also have extra 12V DC around if your depthfinder battery runs low.
If the battery pack runs low you can recharge it with your vehicle.

Ferny.

[Guest]

We I put my house together, I was in the same situation. I found something that worked really well. It may take some time, but the good part is that its cheap. Go to a big bone yard and pick up some of those old style dome lights. There the kind you get out of old utility trucks. They fit flat on the wall or ceiling and they don't suck a lot of juice. The important thing is that you get some low voltage wiring. You can find this at many hardware stores. In my house I wired all four of my lights into one harness. The only thing you need to figure is how the lights are grounded. you may have to connect the ground wire off the battery to the outside of the frame of the light. Other people use low voltage light bulbs, But this system sucks much less power. I run 4 lights and a car stereo off my system and recharge the battery every three weekends. Its not fancy but I found it works great and is power efficient. Others may have more techinical systems that reuire more power and are more expensive to install. This is cheap and works great.
Good luck and get me back if you want more info

[Guest]

I take my kids fishing alot and they were getting headaches from the fumes of a coleman lantern. I switched to a 12vdc battery and 2 lights. I use a shop light housing (dome shaped aluminum, 12" dia.) and RV 50W 12V bulbs. It throws alot of light and will drain my deepcycle battery in about 4-5 hrs. The nice thing about the dome deflectors is you can drop them below head height (added eye comfort).

I am looking into those new LED strips that are contained in a plastic tube. Lower power requirements. The 50W bulb is overkill but they are readily available at most stores with an RV section.