Rope lighting uses, cockpit and cabin

S

Sea Wolf

New member
I think I saw rope lighting around the edge of a cabin in a C-D album once, might have been on ___________ ?

Serious fisherman also use rope lighting around the edge of the cokpit, hidden underneath the gunnel edge, to illuminate the cockpit without glare at nightime. Has anyone done this?

I also have an idea that a rope light encircling the cabin top just up under the edge of the cabin top where it would be easily trapped and out of the weather would not only be attractive at dockside at night, but also provide reflections and glare that would make it impossible to see inside, especially when coupled with the use of moderate window tinting on the inside.

Such a lighting system would be only be used at dockside, about the only time you really need privacy screens, and where you usually have shore power. It could be rigged with a dimmer control to fine tune it's effectiveness. Does anyone have any experience with this?

All ideas and comments welcome, even if you might consider the above a "Las Vegas Cheap Thrills Trick".

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Joe
 
"Las Veags cheap thrills trick" I like that, if you could rig the lights up to flash you'd have something :) Those would look sharp, I don't know if I'd trust them for privacy. I could see where a few strings in the cockpit would be real handy not only for fishing but would also make good porch lights.
 
I installed rope lighting under the gunnels in the cockpit in my boat (22' CD). I ordered it from http://www.noveltylights.com. What I got:

1 Custom 12V Rope Light for Cars and Boats MRL--12V-16-KIT Clear 16 Feet $28.95

3 Mini Rope Light Track MRL-TRACK N/A N/A $7.50

Ship Method: UPS Ground
Sub Total : $36.45
Shipping Charge : $6.21
Tax: ($0.00)
Total : $42.66

16' is maybe a foot longer than needed to go from bulk head to over the fuel tanks and back around to bulk head on the other side 15' would work nicely. I installed mine by using 4200 to glue the rope light tracks to the bottom of the gunnels. I have a switch panel in the gunnels that controls the rope light, a spot light, a 12V outlet in the cockpit, the rear bilge pump and man over ride on both the forward and rear bilge. I like them. Someone had suggested earlier that I use amber lights for improved night vision but the white worked out OK. They're not too bright (but neither am I...) to seriously impact night vision but they do allow you to see the floor of the cockpit well. They also add some ambiance for sundowners.

Roger on the SeaDNA
 
Installed 12 volt LED Rope Lighting from Platinum Lighting, Las Vegas. The voltage draw is low, the solar charger will easily replace voltage used during a typical night at the dock. I used wire cable loops and the screws over the front and side windows. Started the input wire in a corner to hide the wire and ran over the window tops. Lots of cool (cold) soft light, waterproof, low volts, zero bulb problems or spares to carry and if left on all night will use .3 volts in 12 hours.

We also have a 12 volt outside windshield washer just like your auto. J. C. Whitney Windshield Washer Kit, 20 Bucks, a little planning and push a button and both windows are instantly clear of salt spray.
 
Roger i was looking at the site that you listed and was wandering how muchbatterydrain your 12v lights take over the leds.I read that they use 5.5volt compared to .3 but what in real terms does that mean? I can see that they are a lot cheaper per ft then the leds but I would have to have a dead battery in the morning.
 
Tom-

Since I'm up in the middle of the night, I'll take the liberty of getting started on this one. (We'll save Roger for editing and more difficult projects!)

12 volt filament red rope lights take about 3.6 watts per foot, so the 16 feet around the three sides of the cockpit would take 57.6 watts, or a draw of about 5 amps at 12 volts. *

By comparison, 12 volt LED red rope lights take about 0.4 watts per foot, so the 16 feet around the cockpit would take 6.4 watts, or a draw of 0.53 amps at 12 volts. *

* The exact numbers will vary from one product line to another somewhat on both these products.

You can see that the LED's take about only 10% of the power of the filaments, mostly because they don't waste energy creating heat just like the filament bulbs we used to use so much at home.

Multiply the amps by the hours the lights are left on, and you get the amp-hours.

This means the filament versions would take 5 amp-hours out of your battery(s) for every hour, and the LED's .56 amp-hours.

Compare the amp-hour drains above to the typical 100-115 amp hour group 27 battery, and neither one makes much of a dent.

I've ordered 16 feet of red 12 volt LED rope lights from the following company along with a power cord and end cap (you could solder these in yourself and save the cost) and the shipping, and the total came to $65.86.

I chose the red over white because it is better for night vision and won't attract bugs as much. The white ones are brighter, of course. However, the price per foot jumps from $2.95 to $7.95. (White LEDs are more expensive to make than red ones.)

Here's the source I used:

http://www.lightingfx.com/item--LED-Rope-Light--RL-LED

You could also use cheaper 120 volt lights available everywhere in stores if you only want to use them when connected to shore power or have an inverter.

For a possibly cheaper source, you might consult the J.C. Whitney on line catalogue or a discount automotive store locally.

After I install and evaluate these, I will consider lights around the cabin top (???).

I want to see if lights in the cabin perimenter will create enough glare and reflections as to make seeing into the interior impossible with my tinted glass, which would work just like the one-way mirror principle of the police interrogation room, casinos, etc.

Total invisibility is not critical, as when I'm in the slip at the marina, we already have much the same effect from the overhead lights, and I don't really need absolute privacy anyway.

I'll probably use 120 or 12 volt filament type lights on the cabin so that I can use a dimmer switch to control the brightness, which you can't really do with LEDs.

I'll also use the brighter white lights, since bugs here on the lake at night are not an issue. White filament lights are also much cheaper, too!

The result of the cabin top set up will hopefully be to dial up or down the lights to make the interior invisible from outside. Kind of a "light shield" effect.

Where's that picture of Daydream with the lights! I know I've seen it before, but I seem to remember it being in one of the get-together albums. What did you think of it, Pat and Patty?

Next step: Purple lights under the trailer fenders!

HTH!

Any corections, Roger, Dan, or ????

Joe.
 
Yeah, the prior incarnation of Daydream had the 12 volt lights under the roof overhang of the aft cabin bulkhead, we liked them a lot. Bought them from a friend of Doug on Liberty Call. They were installed in a track that fit nearly perfectly in that space, just friction held it in place. It was just wired to the cabin light circuit, so they were on whenever the circuit was powered up.

Luna C":xmgez6ey said:
I think Day Dream (22) and Nine Inches had some rope lighting that was very cool.
Click to expand...
 
Joe thanks for the lesson in lights. I will go with the led. three strings should do it. one under the back cabin lip where pat had his and one under each side where roger has his. White up hi for entertaning at night and blue ( susan hates red anything) for night/fishing lights. also good for going to the port-a-pot at night on the back desk. I have been making a few small improvements lately to Susan E. More storage and shelves are next and I know nothing about wood and barely have the right tools. We will see how it comes out.
 
Thanks, guys for the comments!

Tom- Strangely enough, I have a set of 120 volt lights where every other one is blue or white.

You can either have the blue ones or the white ones on, or both, OR you can let them cycle / fade back and forth from blue to white.

Kinda too much schmaltz for some people's sense of good taste!

Joe.
 
Joe , blue and white lights that fade?, lights around the outside? flood and spot lights? are you going to vegas or have the little green guys come to visit? I hate to be the one to tell you but disco died!! Oh i know its like when my aunt got mad at the neigbor's and left her x-mass lights up... for 4 years, even the tree. she decorated it different for all the holidays.
 
Sea Wolf":3s81qtq3 said:
Tom-

Since I'm up in the middle of the night, I'll take the liberty of getting started on this one. (We'll save Roger for editing and more difficult projects!)

<lots of stuff clipped.

Any corections, Roger, Dan, or ????

Joe.
Click to expand...

None from me - thanks Joe. I got the filament ones both due to price and the assumption that I might want/need to put them on a dimmer which you quite correctly stated cannot be done with LED lights. So far, I'm very happy with them. In addition to the fact that the battery drain is minimal, if I have lights on, I am almost always either fishing (with one engine running) or at the dock connected to shore power. So for me the battery drain (even if it was larger) is irrelevant.

Roger on the SeaDNA
 
Joe,
Just out of curiosity, do you know why red LEDs are cheaper to manufacture than white LEDs? With most lights the color of the glass covering doesn't make any difference in price. Do the white ones come from Exxon?
 
Ken

No I don't know the EXACT reason, but you'll notice that it's only recently that bright white LEDs have become readily available in flashlights, etc.

LEDs are solid state devices kinda like transistors and diodes, but they emit light at the junctions of dissimilar materials.

The color of the light would probably be a function of the change in energy states or levels as electrons are accelerated accross the junction, then decelerated. This is from the Quantum Theory which explains much of light and atomic phenomena.

Different colors would then result from the different kinds of junctions from different materials, each one type of which would have or emit it's characteristic color based on the level differential or energy state change accross the junction.

A white LED would probably be harder to make in that white light is made of of all colors of visible light, so either the junction has to be mulltipile level, or there must be some coating around the LED that is excited by the characteristic junction color which then re-radiates the light in a mixed, broader spectrum, just like the coatings in fluorescent lights.

Such LEDs would or could be harder and therefore more expensive to make.

That's my best $0.02 shot, w/o looking it up!

Joe.
 
Thanks Joe,
Very interesting stuff. I have used that site before but had forgotten how handy it is to answer lots of questions. Now I know.
 
Ok, to follow up on this thread, I'm posting some photos of the LED lights in my cabin. We also got into a similar discussion of the uses of LED's for use out in the cockpit on another thread.

The first photo is with just the LEDs on and the incadescent map lights on, the second is also with the flourescents also on so you can see the set up better. It's hard to photograph the LED's well because of internal reflections in the clear plastic tubes and the long exposure times.

The entire 17 ft string of LED rope lights uses a little over 0.5 amps of current!

The LED rope lights are secured to the top of the cabin with clear plastic wire straps at the inside where the screw heads are for the roof hand rails. (I have wooden ones, so there are seven screws, not four, as with the stainless ones.)


IM002288.jpg
IM002000.jpg



Joe.
 
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