LED Light strips and their uses.....

[malone1956]

Ok.... So I am new to the Pontoon boating, but I can really see me using these LED strips for a lot of things. I have seen the obvious lighting where they are placed under the seat edges, etc. for lighting the boat in general. My question is has anyone looked at using the light strips in places light "inside their submersible tail light housings"? My boat is used mostly in saltwater and since the submersible lights are really "kinda submersible", my lights acted up after about 6 weeks. I did notice the bulb socket had hard wires sealed into the compartment. I'm thinking about cutting a couple strips of LEDs and wiring them in place of the bulbs. Them silicone the connections. Any one try this? I've found 15 ft of LED's for like $10. Seems like a win win situation to me.

Anyone use these for other things in the pontoon? Curious.....

[BobG]

Anyone use these for other things in the pontoon? Curious.....

I guess you could put them around your stripper...er...deep sea fishing pole.

[badmoonrising]

Yeah standard trailer tail lights will get at best 1/2 or one season around here. I use my Starcraft in the middle and lower Chesapeake and a lot of the locals (my self included) mount the tail lights up high on PVC trailer guides.

LED tail lights have come WAY down in price, that would probably be easier than putting LED strip light inside the housing. Our local Wal-Marts all have them in stock.

[guy48065]

Tail lights are designed to meet DOT specs. Tampering with the inside will likely negatively affect performance.

[tuned]

You can get 1156 and 1157 LED replacement bulbs that will simply fit into the bayonet socket on your trailer fixtures. After popping 53,000 regular bulbs over the years because I forgot to unhook the harness before dunking the trailer, it was a welcome relief. The LED's don't run hot enough to pop like the old school bulbs.
Just a word of advice if you go this route. Buy the US made ones, not the cheapies from China. For some reason they don't make them to the same size spec for the bayonet fixture. They say it will work, but they lie. I found out the hard way. The Chinese bulbs fit, sometimes they make contact, sometimes they don't. After getting pulled over for intermittent, blinking run lights, the nice policeman agreed with me.

[badmoonrising]

You can get 1156 and 1157 LED replacement bulbs that will simply fit into the bayonet socket on your trailer fixtures.

Problem is, he is in salt water. Around here, the sockets dissolve in a few months.

[tuned]

You can get 1156 and 1157 LED replacement bulbs that will simply fit into the bayonet socket on your trailer fixtures.

Problem is, he is in salt water. Around here, the sockets dissolve in a few months.

What is this 'salt water' that you refer to? Alien concept to me.
Seriously, tho. I hear you about the corrosion issues. But how do you get a 'fully sealed' fixture? I haven't seen one yet that didn't leak sooner or later.

[Chris.and.jamie]

OFF TOPIC, just curious if yall have a quick opinion on the salt water corrosion, as someone who is thinking of making a rare coastal run is it the repeated salt abuse or does it start after the first trip. Not really interested in rewiring my lights for one or two redfish runs.

[malone1956]

trailer light.jpg (75.49 KiB) Viewed 5092 times

Well, saltwater isn't the best for anything. If your trailer is galvanized, you're generally ok. Most of us know, or have found out the hard way, there are NO submersible lights that are good, unless they are sealed. The components they use for the bulb sockets are usually the worse. I take my boat and trailer through the car wash after every saltwater trip. I rinse the boat good, but concentrate on the trailer mostly.

If your trailer is not galvanized, I wouldn't think about it even once. There are so many little holes and crevices for the salt to lay in that you will see rust start up soon after.

Here is a picture of my new lights after 6 trips in saltwater. The lights were new "submersible" lights......

trailer light.jpg (75.49 KiB) Viewed 5092 times

[curtiscapk]

holy hell!

[malone1956]

What's hard to find is "sealed" lights. They had them for my bass boat trailer. But those are mounted in cutouts on the trailer with rubber gaskets. I may try and make brackets to hold those on my trailer. But the LED thing seems like something easy to try. Maybe even seal the wire connection in epoxy.

"Salt Life" is great, but it has it's consequences.......

[redbeard]

Man that sux glad I don't have to deal with that. I've got tail lights that are 20 years old that don't look that bad.

[Mrtoler]

I boat in fresh and saltwater but normally saltwater because of the fishing. I have a galvanized trailer and haven't had any problems there yet and also have the same brake lights I started with...no problems there either! I'm very picky about stopping by the lake for a quick rinse and trailer soaking followed by washing the boat from top to bottom with soap and water when I get home... I haven't had any problems other than changing a few rusty screws here and there that must have not been good stainless steel quality.

[malone1956]

You can get 1156 and 1157 LED replacement bulbs that will simply fit into the bayonet socket on your trailer fixtures.

Problem is, he is in salt water. Around here, the sockets dissolve in a few months.

What is this 'salt water' that you refer to? Alien concept to me.
Seriously, tho. I hear you about the corrosion issues. But how do you get a 'fully sealed' fixture? I haven't seen one yet that didn't leak sooner or later.

These are the only ones I have found. I'd have to manufacture a way to mount them....

IMG_20130705_093032.jpg (76.32 KiB) Viewed 4919 times

[badmoonrising]

As long as you also install a light for your license plate, you would be legal. Up here cops pull you over for non-illuminated tags.