Underwater LED's

[arrydjay]

Hey guys,

Looking at ordering some underwater transom LED's, just wondering which ones are best?

I had a look on Bakes and found a few, I am tossing up between the OEM malibu 9 LED's, the Attwood 6 LED's. and the Ocean LED A6.

The Ocean LED's are twice the price of the OEM ones, are they really worth it?

Obviously I want them as bright as possible, but dont want to waste money if there is not much difference....

Anyone had any experiece with them?

[Ronnie]

I am in the process of installing two of these Shadow Caster SC10 lights in Bimini Blue. I got them from David at Earmark. Right now I am playing around with some mounting spacers. The area where I want to mount them is on a 10 deg angle and curved. I want the lights to shine straight back not angle down. I am going to test the angle first to see if it makes any difference. I plan on process pics.

Grant over at Wakeworld has a test they did Here.

[Bobby Light]

Hey guys,

Looking at ordering some underwater transom LED's, just wondering which ones are best?

I had a look on Bakes and found a few, I am tossing up between the OEM malibu 9 LED's, the Attwood 6 LED's. and the Ocean LED A6.

The Ocean LED's are twice the price of the OEM ones, are they really worth it?

Obviously I want them as bright as possible, but dont want to waste money if there is not much difference....

Anyone had any experiece with them?

The 9 LED malibu lights are alot brighter than the 6 LED malibu lights. Bakes has 15% off right now, better hurry.

[martinarcher]

I am in the process of installing two of these Shadow Caster SC10 lights in Bimini Blue. I got them from David at Earmark. Right now I am playing around with some mounting spacers. The area where I want to mount them is on a 10 deg angle and curved. I want the lights to shine straight back not angle down. I am going to test the angle first to see if it makes any difference. I plan on process pics.

Grant over at Wakeworld has a test they did Here.

Those look like killer underwater LED's Ronnie! I can't get over the pics on their website. They look unreal! Looking forward to hearing what you think of yours.

That LED review the guys on WW did is awesome too.

Edited January 11, 2011 by martinarcher

[Ronnie]

Check out the test I linked to on Wakeworld. That's a real world test. Our water here isn't snowmelt so it's not as clear as some other areas in the nation. With white lights here it turns out to be more green than white. The blue is more of a pleasing color in our water IMO plus my boat is Vapor Blue. I'm going to recreate the mounting area of the back of the boat out of lumber so I can test it off the dock. Shadow Caster tells me the 10 degree down angle will not matter with the way the light lens spreads the light. I want to see that for myself first. They also tell me the light can mount on a curved surface and will bend 3/16" across the fixture. I am making the mounting blocks on a cad mill so I can recreate the angle and curve for the boat side and flat on the light side of the block.

[JDubya]

Check out the test I linked to on Wakeworld. That's a real world test. Our water here isn't snowmelt so it's not as clear as some other areas in the nation. With white lights here it turns out to be more green than white. The blue is more of a pleasing color in our water IMO plus my boat is Vapor Blue. I'm going to recreate the mounting area of the back of the boat out of lumber so I can test it off the dock. Shadow Caster tells me the 10 degree down angle will not matter with the way the light lens spreads the light. I want to see that for myself first. They also tell me the light can mount on a curved surface and will bend 3/16" across the fixture. I am making the mounting blocks on a cad mill so I can recreate the angle and curve for the boat side and flat on the light side of the block.

Holy Crap! Those damn lights are $599 a piece thats INSANE!!!

[arrydjay]

fark......why do they have to be soo expensive....guess im going to have to contact David....haha wish i never asked....

[jkendallmsce]

Holy Crap! Those damn lights are $599 a piece thats INSANE!!!

Thats cause bling always costs money.

Look on bakes....the LEDs with 9 bulbs (LEDs) generates 1080 lumen. They are about $200/pr I have 2 pair, and I can see 50-75 feet. The lake I'm on is pretty clear, if I were on the CA delta, i'd be able to only see 10-15 feet because its soo dirty. WHatever set you go with, ask for the total lumens. That is really what you are paying for.

They really help if you like to surf after hours.

[Bobby Light]

fark......why do they have to be soo expensive....guess im going to have to contact David....haha wish i never asked....

I doubt that will alleviate your sticker shock.

[Ronnie]

Grant's setup with three Shadow Casters.

[martinarcher]

Grant's setup with three Shadow Casters.

I saw some of those pics on their website. That is a sick set-up. Wouldn't work so well on a boat with the wedge though. I think one or two on the flat of the transom would still rock out. Those are incredibly bright!

[Ronnie]

Looks like they are going to mount under the swim platform brackets on the LSV.

[martinarcher]

Looks like they are going to mount under the swim platform brackets on the LSV.

Cool. Are you running two of them?

[Living the Dream]

Looks like they are going to mount under the swim platform brackets on the LSV.

Ronnie, Do you already have the LED's on the 2010 and just replacing them with these?? Or is this first time LED's are going to be on the back of the BU.

Thanks

[arrydjay]

Has anyone used Lumishore's ? They look pretty bloody crazy.....they have RGB as well.....

[Levi900RR]

I just looked through Grants thread on WW. That is the most insane underwater lighting I have ever seen. WOW.

[Earmark Marine]

arrydjay,

Pertaining to the Lumishore, Sport Cruisers/Motor Yachts tend to use a "thru-hull" light that has a solid brass threaded shaft that passes through the transom. On a towboat you would want a surface mount fixture with only the cable passing through the transom. Abyss has such a product in a multicolor RGB including controller and remote control. Its a big boy so check the dimensions relating to a large enough flat surface on your BU transom. Btw, we regularly install underwater lights so we can provide all the installation procedure tips. We supply the correct underwater poly caulk that never dries out and never fully hardens or shrinks, thus providing a permanent seal and still allows for servicability.

David

Earmark Marine

[Living the Dream]

arrydjay,

Pertaining to the Lumishore, Sport Cruisers/Motor Yachts tend to use a "thru-hull" light that has a solid brass threaded shaft that passes through the transom. On a towboat you would want a surface mount fixture with only the cable passing through the transom. Abyss has such a product in a multicolor RGB including controller and remote control. Its a big boy so check the dimensions relating to a large enough flat surface on your BU transom. Btw, we regularly install underwater lights so we can provide all the installation procedure tips. We supply the correct underwater poly caulk that never dries out and never fully hardens or shrinks, thus providing a permanent seal and still allows for servicability.

David

Earmark Marine

David, Do you sell the Shadow Casters...dont appear to be on your website??

[Earmark Marine]

Living the Dream,

Yes we do offer the ShadowCaster products. We tend to update our store in bulk and with the new year we have alot to update now. The Crew discount does apply. Shoot me a PM. Thank You.

David

Earmark Marine

[Ronnie]

Ronnie, Do you already have the LED's on the 2010 and just replacing them with these?? Or is this first time LED's are going to be on the back of the BU.

Thanks

Yes, I am installing two lights.

No, I don't have any LED's on the back from the factory. I didn't want white lights and from what I understand the factory LED's are white. Someone with the factory lights can supply the size/info for those lights. The Shadow Caster lights are 10" X 2.25". They are pretty long and IMO should be placed in an area that they will fit horizontally and not block the light with the wedge etc. To some extent you have to watch where you mount them and not get in the stringers etc.I like the idea of a longer horizontal light instead of a round light. I think it will spread the light more and more light is what it's all about. Shadow Caster does offer smaller lights. As soon as I can get this pair in the water I will post pics. I plan on testing them before they go on the boat.

Link to SC-10 LED info.

[arrydjay]

has anyone installed the shadowcasters on a current shape VLX? or any transom LED's on a current VLX? anyone got any pics to show where they installed them?

Im a bit worried about doing this install myself...

[arrydjay]

Im thinking of using some kind of plastic angle piece to angle the lights slightly outwards....does anyone have any ideas?

[Ronnie]

I have that idea also. Just waiting until I can get the lights in the water. Probably next Tuesday or so. I didn't want there to be much overlap of the light beam in the middle. From the pictures it doesn't look there will be much overlap with the width of the mounting locations. Will know more then.

Here is my thinking on the mounting block to angle the lights back up the 10 degrees that the transom angles back. Again, Shadow Caster tells me this will not matter with the lens they have on the light. We'll see. On these drawings you can see the angle correction and the curve on the boat side of the mount. The light will recess into the mount 1/16". It will be easy to set the angle outwards on this design before machining if needed.

[martinarcher]

Im thinking of using some kind of plastic angle piece to angle the lights slightly outwards....does anyone have any ideas?

Love the sig pic! Last time I was in Sydney I visited the marina in your pic. I was thinking it would rock to wakeboard there.

[Earmark Marine]

Arrydjay,

Ronnie will undoubtedly machine his wedges. But keep this in mind. We regularly use marine King Starboard contour blocks to correct for downward transom angles and the soft radiuses found on the transom. We cut out the exterior pattern with a router using a template. Very simple. Because this is a soft polymer it is very easy to form. We don't have much time during a procedure and we have to get it done quickly so we use some rather primative methods to create the backside curves or contours to match the boat's minor radius. We may use a drum or spindle sander in conjunction with a belt sander. We can also tape a sheet of sandpaper to a drum of sorts by using various diameters of PVC piping and do the shaping by hand. It's easy and it goes quickly because the KS material is so friendly to modify. This is something that you can definitely do yourself. KS is impervious to the marine elements and is commonly used as fairing blocks for sonar transducers on large cruisers.

David

Earmark Marine