homemade underwater led light pod

Kracker Jack

Kracker Jack

God
So im gonna take this build to the next extreme. I have been studying leds for the past couple weeks and Ive decided to make my own underwater light pod. I just ordered 3- 5 led assemblys and im gonna put these light together and build a acrylic housing around them. If you buy the led lights seperate they are pretty cheap. At work we have been using white 3/8 acrylic and clear 1/4 inch acrylic on some of our projects. We have a special kind of glue that we were sold by NORVA plastics that actually water proof and structually weld joints its applied to. the unfortunite thing about the light housing is that once glued together it can not be accesed, which really isnt no big deal beacause your 300 and 400 dollars units cant be maintenenced either. It will be transom mounted and maybe glued on using the same technique the transom saver product uses that MJ posted earlier. I feel like this pod can be very easily made to be durable and last a long time. Give me som opinions fellas!! It not that I cant afford to buy a base line led pod, its the fact that I made it.


This pod pictured was made by a guy on THT he has had this light mounted on his boat for almost 3 years with no issues. You can purchase just the leds for about 20.00 dollars. I will get the acrylic from work
 

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Kracker the whole time i's readin' yer post I's thinkin' about the guy on THT...I think he's sellin his now and turning a nifty lol profit on 'em...

Pete's got lights on his...awesome sight runnin across Charleston Harbour last year at night...:clap:
 
Looks like a nice project. Just curious, are the LEDs functional at all, or is it just aesthetics? I mean, are they useful for certain fishing techniques or just a look good thing?
 
awthacker said:
Looks like a nice project. Just curious, are the LEDs functional at all, or is it just aesthetics? I mean, are they useful for certain fishing techniques or just a look good thing?
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I fished on a 25' foot Gradywhite drum fishing at night one time. It had transom lights and it was the coolest thing and very useful for boating the fish. I also do some overnight shark trips here out of va beach. One night my buddy brought his cheap float light just for the hell of it and within 2 hours we had spanish mackeral buzzing through the light eating small baitfish. With the bio- luminesence that night it was cool to seem them green streaking through the water. So yea it has fishing uses. And of course it looks good at the dock. My leds are cool white color so they will be a conservative white instead of all them crazy colors some boats have.
 
Looks cool. And on the stern the white light would certainly be legal. Not sure how much I'd use it, but I cannot deny that it looks really nice. :clap:
 
a couple more pics of his design. He used a high output led with a plug. He could not cut the plug off because that contained the electronics for the led.
 

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what has me intrested in all this underwater light stuff was a boat I seen from miami about 8 years ago before this led marine thing was really popular. This boat was fishing the same tournament my brothers boat was fishing out of pirates cove,NC. We walked by this boat on the way back to the big tent to grab some more food and beer. This thing was lit up like a christmas tree and looked awesome and I remember seeing the stack of money on the table inside the salon where they were playing poker!!!! I always told myself I wanted a boat that had atleast one underwater led fixture.
 
Love the bling, love the do it yourself mindset. It sounds like something I want. Wonder if it could be mounted temporarily on a skiff for lobstering with a bully net?
 
Kracker, I just saw this thread today. I have been planning to build some underwater LED lights for some time now. It is crazy what some of those lights sell for, $400 for one LED underwater light, really?

I have been thinking of various ways to make a bezel for the lights. I have come up with making a plug from wood to make a fiberglass bezel. I would then assemble the lights inside and pour a clear epoxy resin in the assembly. The epoxy would harden making the entire contents waterproof. My method would also be non-repairable but with the amount of hours LED's last I do not see where it would be necessary plus it wouldn't cost too much to make a new one.

If I get mine going soon I wouldn't mind sending a bezel your way for you to finish with lights and resin.
 
That would be awesome, lets keep this going I refuse to pay that much money for that crap half of them are made in china for about 20.00 dollars. Just one question? what kind of refraction does epoxy cause? Its crystal clear so I dont think it would effect the light at all. I even thought about using round pvc pipe the make the housing. Im gonna do numerous types of material. This is'nt rocket science!!LOL!!! I simply want functional.


I also just ordered my strip lights for under my gunwale. Everybody else wants 70 to 80 dollars for a 16' foot roll of waterproof LED'S with 3m sticky back adhesive. I just found some after 2 hours of research on Ebay for 13.50 a roll!!!!!!!! They are the exact same product other guys are selling as "MARINE LED'S". I ordered direct from China so I will get them in about 2 weeks. I will be the guinea pig for everyone else.http://www.ebay.com/itm/221000007825?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
 
I ordered my 16" LED strips off of ebay from China also. The shipping was quite a bit faster than I expected. I planned to see them in a month, got them in about two weeks. I have a two piece hull so my LED's will just be under the gunnel rod holders. If I had a 3 piece like yours I would definitely run them all of the way around.

I do not know about the refraction, the epoxy I have found for the project is "crystal clear" so I guess it would be negligible.

Scarab Chris on THT sells underwater lights at a pretty reasonable price but it is still more than I want to spend on them and I feel I can make a better bezel than he offers.
 
I haven't ordered the led's yet. I have only gotten as far as research. I am thinking about three or four multi led lights in each. Each one gives about 150 lumens each. It has been a little bit since I have looked into the matter so most of the info is not fresh on my brain.
 
Well I have decided to go a different route with my underwater transom lights. Im gonna do the same thing CURAPA is planning on doing, Im gonna completely incapsulate the LED lamp by laying it in a mold and then potting it with a uv resistant epoxy. My LED lamps have changed also, Im gonna beinng using a 2 "high output" LED lamps that contain 30 LEDS per lamp for a total of 60 LEDS per light (I will have 2 light fixtures on my transom) Im ordering the materials tonight. The LEDS will come from Superbrightleds.com (g4 side pin 30 LED lamp) and the uv epoxy is coming from eco epoxy systems. I will have a total of 120.00 dollars for bothe lights. The LED lamps are 16 dollars a piece and the epoxy is 24 dollars for a pint. I might call eastern burlap in norfolk tomorrow to see if they have a comparible epoxy product for cheaper.
 
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