Underwater Lights

ok still off topic, but;

Met Jon Oast [aka Toast, host of yakfisher.com] last year at the Harrisburg Penna Bas Pro. he was doing a demo.

Rolled up in a Toyota Echo, with both a T13 and a Torque strapped to the roof. talk about funny looking...  will see if i can dig up a pic he posted of that rig...

Here's a link to some brighter lights, both halogen and LED. Looks like you just drop them overboard when you're ready for light.

http://www.fishinglightsetc.com/

Haze has an interesting idea about using pvc. I've seen several people make their own portable FF mounts using pvc that fir into rod holders. Very simple.

Always happy to help, k_84!

So the "I hate you...but just for a brief second" award goes to Pisco.

I couldn't help myself.  Friends were thinking about going out icefishing one last time and I used that as an excuse to justify the purchase of the drop down type magnum LED lights suggested by Pisco. 

Not sure how you can really compare but here's some pics I took against our SUV's headlights.  Two thoughts.  One I don't think the picture was taken directly head on to the headlights but close.  Two the LED's are throwing that light out 360 degrees.  So it's pretty bright.  It's a glass tube nestled inside a plastic tube.  Looks FRAGILE if you ask me.  I think I am going to fashion a pvc holder/carry case for it so I can also use it off one of my rod holders.

The info that came with it says

552 LEDs
28 watts
2.3 amps
2100 lumens
25' cord

 
 


Dang, that thing looks bright from all the way down here.  Should attract lots of bugs, above and below the surface.

"Replaceable inner globe" makes it sound like it is repairable.                   

remember, average car headlights is a focused 55 watts.

at a 28 watt rating for over 500 LEDs, that's pretty good.

A draw of 2.3 amps is going to pull down a 7ah battery pretty quick.  Be careful about over discharging.  So now you have me looking at the AquaStar - 960 lumens/1 amp.  Wish it was available in blue.

I hate you ...

Okay, I'm over it.

A draw of 2.3 amps is going to pull down a 7ah battery pretty quick.  Be careful about over discharging.  So now you have me looking at the AquaStar - 960 lumens/1 amp.  Wish it was available in blue.

I hate you ...

Okay, I'm over it.

Lol.  Wait till I catch something with it.

So here's my solution to the power draw concern...especially since I have 2amps more worth of lights coming.  An 18aH battery (~$55) addition for a total of 25AH.  Both fit nicely inside my center hatch. Alaska nights are short.  Problem is if I add the night time to my activities, I am going to be wore out by mid may.  It's already hard with the 20+ hours of dayliight we get during the summer.




 

2.3amps + 2 amps (more!?!) = 4.3 amps total drawdown per hour.

50% max drawdown of the the 25amp/hour battery pack (recommended to keep from killing SLA batteries) =12.5 amp/hours

12.5 amp/hours divided by 4.3 = 2.9 hours of lighting.

Probably good enough for the early summer, with the short nights.

I wish I could see it in action- I'll bet it lights up a big area, especially in clear water.

Funny, here we are a fishing site, and so many of us are dabbling in electrical, incl. our founder. Maybe we should open up an electrical wiki or library for member reference. list things such as formulas to calculate draw and sustained power, Battery and electrical supply site index, etc. Might be a good thing for all.

Funny, here we are a fishing site, and so many of us are dabbling in electrical, incl. our founder. Maybe we should open up an electrical wiki or library for member reference. list things as formulas to calculate draw and sustained power, Battery and electrical supply site index, etc. Might be a good thing for all.

+1

That could be useful.  Put up some cheat sheets or links to calculators and info.  Started kayaking to relax both body and mind...don't want to have to do calculus to catch fish.  lol

LMAO, you should have been here when polepole and 3 others gave us all a science lesson on calculating torque and torsion in various lengths and diameters of fishing rods.... after about page 1 most of us set back and went "HUHN?"

you want an educated answer to most anything, just ask someone here. diversity of skills and education levels vary but there is always someone with either a good answer or the right answer.

I've been looking into lighting for myself and I came across these guys:

http://www.wildcatlighting.com/kayakscanoes.html

Tempted to go with them, but the those Hydro glow is nice since you can drop it down into the water, and it doesn't require any mounting to the kayak itself.

I've been looking into lighting for myself and I came across these guys:

http://www.wildcatlighting.com/kayakscanoes.html

Tempted to go with them, but the those Hydro glow is nice since you can drop it down into the water, and it doesn't require any mounting to the kayak itself.

The issue I see with the lights listed on your link is that:

A) They are above water.  If you are trying to light up the water versus the water surface, I think the reflectivity is going to diminish significantly the in water penetration of the lights. 

B) I also think their claim about frequency matched lights for max penetration is bogus.  My understanding of the visible light spectrum is that there is no such thing as "optimal" across all water conditions. Penetration is based strictly on wavelength. The typical green color associated with the fish attraction I believe is based on the typical fish's ability to sense certain wavelength.  The lights are green which is a VERY popular color for these lights, but their comments make me think they really don't understand much other than lights attract fish and forage.

Even narrowed down to inland and freshwater, it's a bogus comment IMHO.

B) I guess you can power lights with rechargeable AA batteries.  I think with the best AA batteries you might get the equivalent of an 7AH sealed acid battery if you use 8 of them.  Not an issue but I'd be curious to the power consumption and lumens.

But I would definitely like to hear how they worked if you install them or any other light. I may give it a go this weekend.  But my past experience tells me the Salmon and Halibut are more sight feeders and I can't say I have caught a lot of salmon when dark.  Dawn and Dusk are GREAT times, but rarely can I recall getting hit when dark.  If I lived in Ocean Shores, WA like I used to, I would definitely try some squidding! 

I am not an engineer so I could be completely off in my assessment.  I am still awaiting my Attwood marine underwater lights (X2).




On backorder...

You make some good points. After looking around some more, I'll probably end up going with one of these:

http://www.hydroglow.com/store.html

Probably the 2', but might just settle for the 1'.

I like those because:

a) they disperse the light underwater
b) very easy to use, no install, wiring, etc
c) I can take it with me if I go out on a boat, fish from shore, etc

Cool. Post how it works if you get them. I got the lights from fishinglightsetc. I think. In one of the earlier post someone gave me the link. SUPER bright.