Underwater LED's

[jkw24]

I dont see no video link?

Sorry

[Earmark Marine]

Now that is an impressive video!

Worth noting is that 'red' is one of the poorest colors for underwater transmission, especially in inland lakes that are less than clear water. 'Blue' is brighter and 'white' is the brightest.

David

Earmark Marine

[old skool malibu]

We surf a lot at night. You are better off with something like these

http://www.bakesonline.com/detail.aspx?ID=1789

With that said, the Shadow Casters are nice and make a surf wake look really cool.

Been thinking about those. I am curious if you can get away with the smalls or do you need that bigger ones for surfing? 06/ Paul - comments?

[Bobby Light]

Been thinking about those. I am curious if you can get away with the smalls or do you need that bigger ones for surfing? 06/ Paul - comments?

I've got the large ones on my boat, even the large ones aren't much bigger than the titan lights but they put put about 6 times the light. They are bright and you don't want to stare at them but I'm not staring at the tower lights when I'm night surfing either... The pics are blurry as hell but they were taken at night with the Go-Pro.

Edited January 30, 2011 by 06vlx

[martinarcher]

Looks pretty good. Do you have a forward facing one for spotting the rider for pickup? Spotlight?

[old skool malibu]

I've got the large ones on my boat, even the large ones aren't much bigger than the titan lights but they put put about 6 times the light. They are bright and you don't want to stare at them but I'm not staring at the tower lights when I'm night surfing either... The pics are blurry as hell but they were taken at night with the Go-Pro.

Thanks. You woud recommend the larger ones then? I will only be going with rears this time, find the forward facing lights hinder my vision more than help!

[Bobby Light]

Thanks. You woud recommend the larger ones then? I will only be going with rears this time, find the forward facing lights hinder my vision more than help!

As for surfing only the smaller ones would be fine since you don't need them to project as far, plus that would save you some scratch. I have the large spot beam facing forward that spreads the light at the front of the boat, and the flood beam facing the rear. I can and was (in those pics) lighting up houses 500+ yards away like it was a million candle spotlight with the forward spot lights. The rear flood lights spread the light fast and don't project very far. I'm not exaggerating, you can ask Paul about that one. As far as driving at night at any speed tower lights are no good for that.

Edited January 30, 2011 by 06vlx

[Bobby Light]

Looks pretty good. Do you have a forward facing one for spotting the rider for pickup? Spotlight?

Here's how we did it.

Made a glowstick necklace that the rider wore on them at all times.

Taped (with medical tape) more glowsticks to the surfboard so we could see that as well.

We had a guy using an LED flashlight to spot the rider when he went down. Could actually see the rider really well with the glowsticks. Tower lights would not work well for spotting a rider at night.

[arrydjay]

Has anyone got any photos of where they have mounted their LED's on the transom? Particularly if you have a current shape boat... I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out where to put these things...

[martinarcher]

Here's how we did it.

Made a glowstick necklace that the rider wore on them at all times.

Taped (with medical tape) more glowsticks to the surfboard so we could see that as well.

We had a guy using an LED flashlight to spot the rider when he went down. Could actually see the rider really well with the glowsticks. Tower lights would not work well for spotting a rider at night.

Cool.

We have talked about making a night time lifejacket as well as decking the board out with IP67 rated LED rope lights that are submersible. My buddy owns an LED business and has lots of them that could work. If night surfing was legal here we would have done it already. Just sucks you would have to risk a big time fine to try it out. Your pics and vids make me jealous!

The glowstick idea is simple and I agree - it would work way better than spotlights. Spotlights and "headlights" on the water are a whole different ballgame.

[Bobby Light]

In hindsight I would not mount them like this again due to the hull curvature like Ronnie was talking about earlier in the thread. The light ends up going several directions and not just straight back. Lesson learned.

Edited January 30, 2011 by 06vlx

[martinarcher]

Has anyone got any photos of where they have mounted their LED's on the transom? Particularly if you have a current shape boat... I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out where to put these things...

I have pics, but don't think they will help you as my transom is as flat as a board and I has the Malibu OEM lights. You could use the same set-up Ronnie used. He made his custom shaped "shim block" to translate the curved surface of the boat to a flat surface for the Shadow Casters as well as get them pointing parallel with the water's surface.

[jkw24]

If you guys are interested, here is a link to how he mounted them. Now that I went to the actual thread, I dont think those are the ones at Bakes (but I think that are about the same brightness). It wont be helpful for you guys with the new Bu tower, but if you have one of the old Metcraft towers should work.

http://www.centurioncrew.com/index.php?showtopic=3047

[Chia]

not worky

edit...that centurion site sure does look like it was copied from somewhere very familiar....

Edited January 31, 2011 by Cervelo

[Ronnie]

I took pictures of the process of making the spacer/mounting blocks for my Shadow Casters. I can put it all together in a post if it will help you make some. It's not that hard to make them. I'm mounting mine under the swim platform bracket.

[Chia]

Here's how we did it.

Made a glowstick necklace that the rider wore on them at all times.

Taped (with medical tape) more glowsticks to the surfboard so we could see that as well.

We had a guy using an LED flashlight to spot the rider when he went down. Could actually see the rider really well with the glowsticks. Tower lights would not work well for spotting a rider at night.

we use glow sticks as well, last year i bought one of these and it works great. you can set the led's to strobe or solid on.

http://www.niteize.com/collections/led/products/led-sport-vest

[Bobby Light]

we use glow sticks as well, last year i bought one of these and it works great. you can set the led's to strobe or solid on.

http://www.niteize.com/collections/led/products/led-sport-vest

That vest would have been nice to have, way more hightech than what we were using.

[jkw24]

not worky

edit...that centurion site sure does look like it was copied from somewhere very familiar....

Sorry, I guess you have to be a member to see the link. And you are correct, the new Centurion site looks very similar to the Malibu site. Must be using the same company.

[martinarcher]

Sorry, I guess you have to be a member to see the link. And you are correct, the new Centurion site looks very similar to the Malibu site. Must be using the same company.

Plagiarization is the highest form of flattery. Heck they even named it the Centurion Crew.

[arrydjay]

I took pictures of the process of making the spacer/mounting blocks for my Shadow Casters. I can put it all together in a post if it will help you make some. It's not that hard to make them. I'm mounting mine under the swim platform bracket.

Thanks Ronnie, but I think Im going to put that one in the "Too Hard" basket.... for now anyway. I cant see it making much of a difference, if shadowcaster says they can handle the slight curve, Im going to trust them. Im sure your way would probably be better but I dont think I have the skill to shape those blocks properly.

I drilled the holes and installed my ones this afternoon, turned out alright. I dont know if I trust the screws they provide, as I think the holes I drilled were slightly too big as the screws went in pretty easily, I think Im going to get some bolts and put nuts on the ends to really clamp them down.

Here are some pics.

[Earmark Marine]

We do offer the KingStarboard contour blocks pre-fabricated and polished to remove any fine machining grooves. All you have to do is take a contour gauge or make a template, mark the blocks and sand the slight curvature into the backside of the block. An underwater poly sealer does the rest if you get it close (consistently within 1/32nd for example).

Don't tighten any fixture down too tight to a curved surface regardless of what the manufacture may allow in their instructions. Warping the fixture could crack the polycarbonate lens and break the seal allowing water into the fixture.

There is nothing wrong with using spacers/washers behind the mounting holes to level the fixture. Use nylon rather than a dissimilar metal like S.S. against aluminum. The key is that the center of the fixture seats flat against the transom for a quality seal. This will work if the transom has a slight positive radius. A contour block would a necessity with a slight negative radius, which is something rarely encountered.

David

Earmark Marine

[Earmark Marine]

Btw,

Pertaing to the above contour blocks...if you're trying to provide an angle correction of several degrees then we can pre-cut this into the contour blocks in advance. We just can't do a variable contour radius without having the boat. Again, its a soft material making the sanding go relatively quick. Its just getting a precision match that slows you down a bit.

FYI, on another note, for anyone who has transom obstacles then 'spots', versus 'floods', are available so that all the light clears the transom fixtures (plates, outdrives, etc.) instead of light being shaded and lost. You lose some dispersion but gain penetration without any losses.

David

Earmark Marine

[Ronnie]

The install looks great. My boat (23LSV) must be a little deeper in the transom. I have enough area under the brackets to mount them straight across. I really don't think it will matter though, these things really throw the light out there. I plan to mount mine with through bolts and nylock nuts on the inside. I don't want someone to pull up to my lift and take them off easily. I'm with David on the fixtures bending. That looks like a lot to bend those lenses on the lights. If Shadow Caster is stating they will bend 3/16", they should stand behind them if the lenses have a problem. Can't wait to see them in the water!

[Earmark Marine]

I agree in that the slight vertical lift to the outside should have absolutely zero impact on the light distribution. Looks great as is.

David

Earmark Marine

[arrydjay]

Those nylon washers sound like a good idea, I'll give them a go..

I did notice on my boat that where I put them was pretty much the only place you could put them on the transom.

There was a slight amount of adjustment left or right, but you couldn't move them anywhere else really on the transom without the swim step brackets and the recess in the transom getting in the way, also for anyone else doing this, the way you access the holes on the inside is through the little ballast pump access hatch which is only 3 screws to get out... Then I just found the swim step bracket bolts on the inside and drilled between the bottom one and the floor..