Drain Plug LED lighting

20captiva08

I have a 2008 rinker 192 captiva and I am considering buying a LED drain plug light but I dont know what size the drain plug is and even if it is a good idea...i would love to get some input back.

Dream_Inn

Well, I never knew there were different sizes, but I guess there could be.  I'd first ask, how clear is the water you boat in?  The drain plug is a good ways down there to light much up.  I have a light on the transmom, about half way between the plug and the platform.  Does just ok and with the beautiful murky water in the chesapeake, not worth much.

The concept of putting it where the plug is a great idea.  No holes thru the transom, not much to lose except the cost of the product if it doesn't work well.  If my boat was in the caribbean (oh, how great that would be), the light would be really cool!

Roadrage

I installed a liquid lite on my 192 last yr

It was the 6 led one with 1/2'" plug ,

ez to install just tie it into lite in the engine compartment & lite will be on when u have the floor lights on .

Dont expect it to light up the lake , But for $200 I was pleased with effect ..

20captiva08

the body of water i am on is really very clear for the most part...there may not be different sizes I was just worried there might be...@Roadrage do you by chance have a picture in and out of the water and possibly a link to the website you picked it up from? I am not looking for a great amount of light just something to look cool when swimming at night...i am considering blue as the choice of color but i would like maybe an orange color to go with the boat

20captiva08

also I am wanting to install a subwoofer in the boat (12 inch Alpine Type R) and if anyone has an idea of a good place to have the sub that would help as well as how do I get the RCA cables from the rear of the stereo to the rear of the boat?

20captiva08

my final question is what light bulb do the docking lights/head lights take?

Babyboomer

20captiva08 said:

also I am wanting to install a subwoofer in the boat (12 inch Alpine Type R) and if anyone has an idea of a good place to have the sub that would help as well as how do I get the RCA cables from the rear of the stereo to the rear of the boat?

Go to Lowe's or Home Depot and but a 25' electricians fish tape to run the cables

Roadrage

I think that I ordered liquid lite from their website?
Or Iboat ? Can't remember?
I ordered the clear lite as my lake is quite turbid
Gives a nice green glow to the transom under the swimdeck
And a meter or so all around it. I like it
I'm sure with clear water it wud b even better.
Go for it u will like it.

Roadrage

Where RU installing yor amps?
That's my project this yr on my 192
I was planning on stickin a couple 8 or 10"
Subs right in ft of each ft seat on the vertical surface
Above the angled footrests ?
Amp location I am not sure yet as I havent pick any yet.
Seen a vid on youtube with amps installed upft on a 192
Not too keen on givin up that storage.

MarkB

I bought this light too. Installed it this week.  Can't wait to put the boat in the water now.

Babyboomer

This is what the Electricians Fish Tape looks like

Cableguy Greg

For underwater lighting, I used these:

http://www.coastalnightlights.com/orders.html

I used the "DS" version in blue. Lights up the water really well.

20captiva08

@Roadrage I am thinking i will mount both the sub and amp in the transom by the motor...I think I'll take out my tub or storage bin or whatever it is and place them there and then just run my RCA's up to the radio...my biggest concern is obviously humidity and water but I am unsure what the final location will be

@Babyboomer thank you for the info and the picture that helps a lot!!!

now I just thought about this...I have a boat lift with a canopy and I will be storing it on that during the summer but I need help determining where I need to place the bunks...can anyone help me out? is there a website or specs to set the bunks to? also how far forward should i pull the boat forward so that i dont hit the lower unit on the lift?

Dream_Inn

You should set the bunks around the same place your trailer holds. There are a lot of lifts in my marina, and on all of them, including mine, they sit in the cradle pretty much the same.  As far as pulling forward, the back of the cradle should be within a foot or two of the back of the boat. Here is a picture of my last boat on a lift:

 

20captiva08

@Dream_Inn thank you very much for your help I greatly appreciate it!!

Dream_Inn

@20captiva08 - no problem!

20captiva08

alright so I installed the liquid lite pics will come soon i wired it into the cockpit lights but i didnt like it when they came on with them at night.

i ended up wiring them to the aux switch that is hot and the panel will light up but the underwater liquid lite will not all other lights work as well cant anyone help explain or send me a youtube link to see how its done...the light does work because it was wired to the cockpit lights and worked well like i said but since i have an open switch i wanted to run it to that

i also ran the subwoofer wires and have them installed pics are coming soon with them as well

MarkB

Maybe it's because you can't mix LED and halogen lights on the same circuit?

Now or never

I mounted my amp under the sink in the compartment were the water heater is bolted to the wall behind the bolster seat .make sure your subs are infinite baffle so they can handle no enclosed out her size they will bottom out and sound bad I used JL marine 10 inch just one will do great .I have a 250 feista vee can't leave stuff setting on a flat surface it will viberate off on the floor lol

20captiva08

@markbellino could you please explain more about how LED and halogen lights cant be run on the same curcuit? is this known or is it an educated guess?

20captiva08

markbellino said:

I bought this light too. Installed it this week.  Can't wait to put the boat in the water now.

how did you hook up your led light? what switch is it ran to?

20captiva08

@Capt_Steve do you have any information on my liquid lite led drain plug light to the aux switch?

Capt_Steve

Hey 20captiva08...sorry, lost track of this thread. So you need to know if you CAN connect an LED drain plug light to the aux switch? 

MarkB

20captiva08 - I hooked it up to the cockpit lights which are the tiny LED lights near the floor. In the engine compartment there's two of them and you can  pull power off one of those lights.

20captiva08

Yes @Capt_Steve I need to know of I can hook up a LED liquid lite drain plug light to my aux switch on the dash I tried hooking it up to the cockpit lights and it did work but I want to have the option to have one or the other on or off at any given time so I disconnected it from the cockpit lights and ran it to the aux switch but I don't know how to hook it up

mvn

If you look at the other switches in your switch bank, you will see which terminal is the switched +12 vdc output.  Use a standard blade-type connector (female) on the wire.  As for a ground, you can use any number of ground points in the engine compartment or you can run it up to the helm as well (if you're using a 2-wire cable).

If it bugs you that the switch says ACC, see this post.....

 http://rinkerboats.vanillaforums.com/discussion/724/descriptive-switch-caps#latest

 

 

Mark

mvn

This may (or may not!) help.

 

Mark

1agofst

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-BOAT-DRAIN-PLUG-LIGHT-3-LEDs-one-Underwater-Brass-Garboard-Stern-BPL-3-/190765843946?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item721e23170e

20captiva08

If you look at the other switches in your switch bank, you will see which terminal is the switched +12 vdc output.  Use a standard blade-type connector (female) on the wire.  As for a ground, you can use any number of ground points in the engine compartment or you can run it up to the helm as well (if you're using a 2-wire cable).

If it bugs you that the switch says ACC, see this post.....

 http://rinkerboats.vanillaforums.com/discussion/724/descriptive-switch-caps#latest

 

 

Mark

@mvn would you by chance be able to explain more in depth or have pictures or something else because I don't understand the diagram...thanks @mvn do you have a step by step on how to do this or a

Michael T

My personal opinion would be to buy led lights that require only a small hole for the wiring to pass through and two holes (usually #8 screws) to attach the led units. Wiring inside is simple - easiest is two wires one fused to a switch and hooked to battery terminals or run all the way to the dash to an acc switch. In my opinion no matter what you do you will have brass and s.s. in absolute contact which is bad anywhere but really bad if you keep your boat at a marina. Teflon tape will do zip. The way teflon tape works is that it creates friction and some sealing in the valleys of the two joined units while the ridges bite into each other. I can't think of a good way to keep the two metals apart. In my opinion it would be a little more work initially to install two transom mounted led lights but a lot less work if you have to deal with a corroded drain plug housing. Want to guess how much work that might be?  Two dissimilar metals, water and electrical current. Hmmmmm.

20captiva08

The drain plug light is installed so I'm gonna stick with that my only question is how to wire the light to the aux switch already located on the dash which is currently running nothing