LED Swim (Transom) Lights

[fever5]

Hi guys,

I have a few questions:

1) Does anyone have the Malibu transom (Swim) lights? If so, how do you like them?

2) Anyone know the difference between Abyss 1205 blue light vs the Ocean Led 1520 series light?

3) Anyone know the manufacturer of the Malibu transom lights?

I am thinking of putting swim lights on the Bu. The OceanLed (www.oceanled.com) lights are very impressive but $1200 or so per light, while the Abyss lights are 1/3 that. I'm not really into bling, but I can't seem to shake this fascination with swim lights!

Thanks in advance!

[Bill_AirJunky]

I've been looking for a less expensive way to do this on my Vride too. I'm having a hard time choking on $600, much less $1200. There are a ton of submersible LED pond lights available, but not very many 12volt, and even less surface mount.

Anyone have a descent submersible LED for a reasonable price?

[onamission]

I have the lights from Malibu, considering that they ran less then $100 they work great. Light shines down about 4 feet and back about 10 depending on the water conditions.

[dalt1]

Are the Malibu lights actually submerged or mounted above the water line and shine down into the water?

[Bill_AirJunky]

I got word back from my dealer that the 2007 kit goes for about $250. He's looking into whether or not he can get the 2008 kit yet.

Seems like I read in a previous thread here that the 2008s are LED & the 2007s were halogen or something higher voltage.

[fever5]

Are the Malibu lights actually submerged or mounted above the water line and shine down into the water?

they're submerged.

the 2007s were halogens. it'd be interesting to see how the LEDs do. The Abyss lites at $400/light project about 50 ft depending on water quality...probably far enough to add some nice color to the prop wash. probably would be cool for wakesurfing at dusk/night (when it probably shouldn't be done ;-) )

i'm definitely looking at getting it done for the spring. I'll put pics up if we decide to go forward with it.

[larrys]

I think the '08s are LED. Here is a pic.

[winddawg]

I am not an expert on this application but I spoke to a friend of mine that is in the business of LEDs (different market from this) and he told me the following off the top of his head.

You want to get at least 40 Lumens/watt ( I do not want to insult anyone's intelligence so if you want to know more ask I will write about otherwise this should be clear.

Make sure the LED manufacturer is reputable. I am talking about the actual LED device not just the entire assembly.

You want to get "in hand" REAL manufacturer life time testing results, not just what is stated on the website. I know this will be hard to get.

Little known in the LED business by purchasers is the fact that the light color changes over time. Put a couple of LED light assemblies near each other and run for them for hundreds of hours and the colors change. Think like burn in on the old CRT monitors. So you will get one LED assembly that is say warm white and the adjacent one is more yellow. It may not sound Ike much but it is a huge issue in the business, and two kinds of people will notice it almost immediately engineers and the artistic designers.

I hope this helps and if you want to know more just pm me. I work for a company that has a division that is the world's largest lighting manufacturer (the one who sponsored the ball in Time Square...). I am not in the lighting division and not pushing our LEDS.

Happy New Year!

-Dave

[fever5]

Thanks for the explanation. It was very helpful! Do you know how many lumens an average xenon bulb puts out? One company (oceanled) advertises one of their lights as putting the equivalent ligt out as a 35 w Xenon bulb.

[onamission]

All of the Swim lights I have seen from Malibu have been LED. Now docking light are another thing, they used to be halogen but are now LED too. 2 light pods and 2 SS covers for under $100 from the dealer without install. I mounted mine a little lower and to the side of the exhaust tips, they do light up the prop wash pretty good.

[tru-jack]

All of the Swim lights I have seen from Malibu have been LED. Now docking light are another thing, they used to be halogen but are now LED too. 2 light pods and 2 SS covers for under $100 from the dealer without install. I mounted mine a little lower and to the side of the exhaust tips, they do light up the prop wash pretty good.

Nice, so was the install simple or did you have to remove a lot of stuff to get it to fit? thanks

[vette-ski]

All of the Swim lights I have seen from Malibu have been LED. Now docking light are another thing, they used to be halogen but are now LED too. 2 light pods and 2 SS covers for under $100 from the dealer without install. I mounted mine a little lower and to the side of the exhaust tips, they do light up the prop wash pretty good.

This sounds like a nice little project. I may give Skiers Pier a call. I assume they will integrate into any boat model.

[onamission]

All of the Swim lights I have seen from Malibu have been LED. Now docking light are another thing, they used to be halogen but are now LED too. 2 light pods and 2 SS covers for under $100 from the dealer without install. I mounted mine a little lower and to the side of the exhaust tips, they do light up the prop wash pretty good.

Nice, so was the install simple or did you have to remove a lot of stuff to get it to fit? thanks

Took about an hour for the install. You need to drill three holes for each light, 1 for the wires and 2 for the mounting screws. Used the wire from speakers a bought a couple of years ago, (never throw anything away). Ran the wire up the gunnel to the dash for the power at one on the spare switches and to the grounding block. Hardest part is always taking a drill or saw to the fiberglass, other then that I had to remove the back and bottom of the truck to run the wires. I ended up mounting them lower then what Malibu shows in there pictures so the light would not be blocked by the wedge. If I could have justified spending $450 I would have gotten the blue lights from Abyss, but where only out at night a couple of times a year at best.

These ones from Overton's kind of look like the ones Malibu is using, but smaller and less LED's. I think they would work just as well, but you would need to mount at least 2 per side.

Edited October 20, 2008 by onamission

[Gordo]

I fabricated a DIY swim platform light and it works great. Total cost was around $25. I used a 12v halogen 50w mini bulb with prong connectors (Home Depot), and used standard issue pvc pipe couplings to fabricate a housing. Mounted it in the center of my teak platform and it makes for a very nice glowing light to swim off of at night. I did not want to cut through my transom to run power, so I removed the brass drain plug from my transom (never used it anyway), went to the plumbing supply store and found a brass fitting that threaded into the the old hole- then I ran my wiring through the open hole, and bought some killer polymer glue to permantly seal the hole. I recall posting some pics some time ago and will see if I can find them. While not as slick as an LED lighting installation, it works great and the 50 watt bulb puts out plenty of light. I do have to be carefull to use only 1 battery to run the stereo and the stern light at night.....that 50 watt bulb and the stereo running runs a battery down in a couple of hours

I found it - - http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....24&hl=light

About half way down is the picture of my light under the transom. I have a more detailed description of the fab job, too.

Edited January 4, 2008 by Gordo

[onamission]

I've gotten a number of PM's about the underwater LED light that I got form Malibu last spring, so to stop some of the confusion about what they look heres a quick picture of them. Sorry for the bad picture bad but its cold outside and I could only move the boat away from the wall of the garage about a foot.

Edited October 20, 2008 by onamission

[curtisco24]

so i take it that to install you just screw them into the hull they don't fit flush? And you would have to drill one hole for the wires?

[Bill_AirJunky]

so i take it that to install you just screw them into the hull they don't fit flush? And you would have to drill one hole for the wires?

Surface mount. And you do have a 3rd hole for the wire. Plus a gasket around the whole thing. And I'd fill the holes with silicon.

[onamission]

Very easy install, three small holes are some silicon. For less then $100 I've been very pleased with the lights.

Bill, Hope any info that I had helped.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Very easy install, three small holes are some silicon. For less then $100 I've been very pleased with the lights.

Bill, Hope any info that I had helped.

I think it will be a lot of help, Larry. Thanks to you & SmoothwaterPeter for the details.

I ordered the lights from my local dealer..... p/n 4131014. Cost was a bit over $100 each..... two lights in the stock setup.

No idea when it will be here. But it should be a pretty easy install, especially since my boat's previous owner setup a bunch of interior LEDs already. I'll just tap these into the same circuit.

I was told the 2008 LEDs are about 5 times brighter than the 2007 LEDs. Hard to judge from the pics I've seen but I'm looking forward to getting it in.

I'll send some pics of it all when it arrives.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Got'em...... p/n 4131014. Thanks to Rocky at the CdA Yacht Club.

Also received the Globe impeller thanks to DGoose.

Just need to swing by Napa for an oil filter. And I've got a few things to do on the boat to get ready for spring.

.............as soon as the 2' of snow & 8" of ice on the lake melt off. We're not going to have problems with lack of water this year, thats for sure.

[SFD]

I've been looking for a less expensive way to do this on my Vride too. I'm having a hard time choking on $600, much less $1200. There are a ton of submersible LED pond lights available, but not very many 12volt, and even less surface mount.

Anyone have a descent submersible LED for a reasonable price?

It was rex marine or something but I did see leds cheap - under or at 100.

[07vrideblue]

try this site www.superbrightieds.com

[07vrideblue]

can't spell www.superbrightleds.com

[onamission]

Here's a pic from the Detroit show of there new 08' LED's. Look up in the left corner.They where by far the brightest I've seen.

[onamission]

The blue ones from Abyss on th Mastercraft looked nice, but not as bright as l would have thought.

Edited February 18, 2008 by onamission