new gig lights

[semojetman]

I am considering running 12 volt led lights on my gig rail this year.
Maybe a couple 120w bars.

Do you think the charging system on my 60 horse mercury and a couple deep cycle batteries would run these lights for a night?
Trying to get away from a generator

 

[Brian J]

If Seth doesn't see this thread, you might message him. I think he some really efficient lighting system on his boat.

 

[semojetman]

Thanks. Will do.

I would just love to lose the generator and only have the low low noise of my 4 stroke out back.
Also, i would gain floor space.

My buddy put 4. 50W led lights on his rig, and they work great. They are 110.
So 200w total puts off some good light.

 

[Seth]

semojetman » Yesterday, 21:33[/url]"]I am considering running 12 volt led lights on my gig rail this year.
Maybe a couple 120w bars.

Do you think the charging system on my 60 horse mercury and a couple deep cycle batteries would run these lights for a night?
Trying to get away from a generator

I doubt your Mercury has much of a charging system but if you have a couple good deep cycles, you will be fine. The two lights that most guys on Bowfishing Country are running are the 50w and the 27w LED flood lights. Most recommend the 50w version since they have a bigger coverage area. The lights can be wired in 12 or 24v. If you have two batteries, the run time will be the same regardless but if you wire them 24v you can get away with smaller wiring. The 50w model draws 5 amps in 12v and 2.5 amps in 24v. When I finally make the move to LED's in the future, I plan on just wiring them in to my trolling motor hook up since it already has two 29 series batteries wired for 24v.

I currently have 2x400w metal halides and a genny. It's super bright but I'm sick of listening to the generator drone all night. I'm looking at upgrading to LED's one of these days as well. I'm think that 3x50w on the front and then one 27w pointed to the side will give me plenty of coverage for my 52 wide rig. I gigged with a guy last year who had a 1648 with five 27w LED's across the front and they were plenty bright. We killed a good pile of fish out of his boat that night and the water visibility was about 6'. His lights were the cool white color. For our clear waters, I think thats the best color for us. The bowfishermen who are usually in dingy water say the warm white make fish glow better in those conditions though. I've never used a warm white type of light before so have no first hand experience with them.

CustomFitz has good prices on lights, but I hear it takes a while to get them in unless you get lucky and he just happens to order a big shipment right before you place your order. American Airboats is another vendor that carries the 50w lights but they cost more than CustomFitz. AA does seem to get their products out a lot faster than CustomFitz as well.

Here's a link to each of the sites.
CustomFitz 50w
https://www.customfitzled.com/apps/webstore/products/show/2976437
American Airboats 50w
https://www.americanairboats.com/accessories/50w_led.htm

 

[Ranchero50]

Using Wattage as a gauge of brightness is confusing since you should be able to get a lot more light per amp of power draw with LED's vs. filament style bulbs.

Brightness is measured in lumen's. Figure out the lumen's of your current setup and the color temperature (k) that you want the new led's to project in. You should be able to run a lot of light on one deep cycle.

 

[semojetman]

Thanks guys.
I will have to look at the lights on the bowfishibg boat.
I like the brightness and color of light they put off.
I know they are 50watt but no idea on anything else.

 

[Seth]

The 50w LED's have a len rating equal to a 300w halogen which is around 5000 lumens. As for run time, here is an example.

Lets say you have a good, fully charged battery with a 125 amp hour rating. A 50w light pulls about 5 amps. If you have six lights for a total draw of 30 amps, you be should be able to run those lights for about 2 hours before your battery is at 50 percent discharge. Add one more battery and you should last 4 hours which should be plenty for gigging. We are usually only out for a few hours at a time.

 

[semojetman]

Thanks Seth.
I think im deffnetly going to use leds and batteries.
Gotta get to work on it.
The sucker will be out there waiting on me

 

[semojetman]

https://www.fishinglightsetc.com/FlounderPro2600.html
These are 48" bars and only 30watts but they are designed for gigging

 

[semojetman]

They have green and white lights.
Ive been looking all over the internet at light setups.
Flounder giggers have several different setups.
I dont know which, if any would transfer over to our world of gigging.
They have alot of underwater led bars. And adjustable height rods,etc.

 

[Seth]

Personally, I think you would be better of just getting the 27w or 50w flood and mounting them just like would mount any other flood light for gigging. From what I've read, the 50w does best on 2 foot centers. Guys also recommend mounting them up as high as you can to give the light more area to spread out.

 

[DanMC]

I'm a big fan of LED made by VisionX....,check them out on youtube !

 

[Wildcard]

www.FlareAlertLighting.com they have a great 900 lumen light in LED 12 volt or 120 volt ac . we use 4 of them on our gigging and bowfishing set upwith great coverage . we have no trouble gigging in 15 to 16 feet of water on the gasconade . they draw 1.5 amps per light . we will gig or bowfish with them then clean fish on the gravelbar with them for light on averge 6 hours per night and still maintain 80% charge on our bateries when running on 12 volt . they are weather proof and compact mount just like a hallowgen shop light .

 

[rockdamage]

I've been testing leds for about three months ... the best bang for your buck is the single chip led
I have a couple dozen built with the right color temp and spectrum. they should be here friday.
the lights will cost 112.00 each or set of 4 for $400.00

not all lights are the leds are the same.....blue light gives off horrible glare. YOU MUST MATCH THE SAME WAVE LENGTH AS NATURAL SUN LIGHT! Ive bought over 20 different lights to test. some good some bad some .......well, pathetic
I finally decided to have one built.....

 

[Seth]

What is the temp rating on those lights Rockdamage? Most guys seem to recommend the warm white in the 3000-3500k range. Ive used halogens and white coated metal halide bulbs and i think they were pretty close to that 3000-3500k color range. The white coated Mh definitely work better than the non coated bulbs due to less glare like you mentioned.

 

[rockdamage]

I use a maximum of 7000k but with a filtered lens...
the lens removes all unwanted light rays.... the spectrum #'s will remain a secret

 

[Ranchero50]

Seth » Today, 19:19[/url]"]What is the temp rating on those lights Rockdamage? Most guys seem to recommend the warm white in the 3000-3500k range. Ive used halogens and white coated metal halide bulbs and i think they were pretty close to that 3000-3500k color range. The white coated Mh definitely work better than the non coated bulbs due to less glare like you mentioned.

Honestly I think this Rockdamage guy is just trolling the forum. On pretty much all of his posts he acts like every bit of info is a state secret. Pretty darned pathetic since he represents himself as a boat shop employee... Check out his posts for clarity. I don't think he's here to help the community.

 

[rockdamage]

ouch LOL ........

 

[semojetman]

Im looking at a light bar that is 180w
13,500 lumens
6000K-6500k clean white daylight

 

[rockdamage]

nooooooooo you can try mine first... they are not what you want
awesome for driving but not fishing. but what do I know , Im just a troll that pretends to work at a boat shop