LEDs for Interior

[duramat 462]

Thats fandamtastic! looks clean, cant wait to try on mine.

[wakeupnride 0]

Looks real nice WakeVB! So the mosquito-nat thing has me thinking... I didnt think the blue with the red dash lights looked bad at all, but I was hopin to attract a different species if you know what I mean.... I've seen almost every color, but white. I know mikeski on ww was going to change to white after the legal problems he found out about, but I havent seen it. Maybe a mix between blue/white or red/white is what I'm contemplating. Anybody have any pics of that?

[WakeDoc 471]

Looks real nice WakeVB! So the mosquito-nat thing has me thinking... I didnt think the blue with the red dash lights looked bad at all, but I was hopin to attract a different species if you know what I mean.... I've seen almost every color, but white. I know mikeski on ww was going to change to white after the legal problems he found out about, but I havent seen it. Maybe a mix between blue/white or red/white is what I'm contemplating. Anybody have any pics of that?

 

This is a mod I plan to do in the future, I am going to change to red, it is easier on the eyes at night and harder to see from a distance, plus it will match the gages and eq.

[WakeVB 0]

Tough call for sure...

 

As for the mosquito issues...you know its hard for me to believe everything that I read. Although I have read a few times online that the blue attracts, I am not sure I have seen any real scientific evidence. Maybe I will find out a few nights this summer. But still though, who's to say that white or any other color wouldnt be just as bad. Unless you had three boats with three different colors tied up together on the same night, in the same wind...all conditions consistent...I just dont know if I can believe the hype. Happy with my blue, wouldnt have it any other way.

 

The other thing is that I think there is a difference between decking out your boat to look like the local bar, or setting the mood so to speak. I have seen some boats with INSANE amount of lighting...and to be honest, its got to get annoying, especially if trying to navigate at night. I chose to start light...and add on if needed. Its enough to impress my passengers, and hopefully set the mood. This blue install I did couldnt get any easier on the eyes in my opinion. Never seen Red in real life, but for me....just my opinion, I would think it could be worse than blue. No?

 

BTW, I dont claim to be an expert at this stuff...its just my $.02 .

[wakeupnride 0]

Yeah, I'm guessing it wouldnt matter what color the light is. Some areas on the river I go to these pests can be a problem, I just don't want thousands of dead bugs all over my interior when the sun comes back up. I'm gonna stick to blue and if they are a problem where we happen to be, I'll just leave them off.

[mibliss 0]

Just my .02 cents but i was thinking that bug lights that we have in Texas that are designed to attrack bugs to kill them are blue.

[WakeDoc 471]

Red is used in night time environments it does not dilate the pupils of the eyes. I have raced sailboats offshore for years and it is always what we use, we also have a lens cover for a q-beam that is red.

 

Just $.02 worth if that much.

[WakeVB 0]

Hey, I would have give you $5 for that answer. I did not know that man! Learn something new every day.

[WakeVB 0]

BTW, I guess more of my comparison was in regards to white lights. I know when I walk outside at night and look at my lantern lights that are white, there are freakin tons of critters swarming around. What gives with the yellow lights that you can buy at home depot that deter these critters? Maybe yellow is the color to go with if it becomes an issue:) Just not sure how much difference white vs blue would make, however the blue bug zapper point is an awesome one. Got me second guessing myself now!!!

[wakeupnride 0]

I recently replaced the bulb on the front of my shop with a green-ish light (still white light) but its designed to not attract the bugs. Its early and cold in the season so I don't know how well it works but maybe green.....

[Angry Mike 0]

Check this... My father had mentioned something like this when I was discussing the light color / legal ramifications of blue... ( its the blue on the tower thats the no-no, not in the boat...)

 

http://amos.indiana.edu/library/scripts/insectvision.html

 

"The spectrum of colors visible to insects is a little higher in frequency than what we humans can see. The lowest frequency of color we see, red, is invisible to insects. Conversely, while violet light is the highest frequency of color humans can detect on the electromagnetic spectrum, many insects can see a higher frequency of light invisible to us, ultraviolet light."

 

I'm guessing this is why bug lights are blue...

 

And after learning all this due to everybody's wonderful posts,

I think I'm going red in my avy... Too bad there weren't silver lights to match the color scheme! hahaha!

 

Interesting nevertheless...

[duramat 462]

yes the critters are attracted to the UV light. Thats why the bug Zappers use the Black light flourescent. Where I live our city bird is the mosquito and it can get bad some nights. I have several high output flourescent strip lights in my garage and when the garage door is up at night it is unreal of the amount of bugs buzzing my lights. It also makes for a mess the day after.

I suppose they could be attracted to the LED blue light if there is enough UV emitted from them, however that I dont know. Best if someone posts with the experience to back it up. I would recomend some "OFF" just to keep from getting eatin alive though.

[Angry Mike 0]

WW posts have mentioned the bugs from experience to back it up... One was in a curent post referred to some "gnats", and I had gotten the other example from Mikeski himself. I had asked him about whether he removed just the tower blue lights, or was doing them all and he mentioned the bug attraction as another deterrent from blue... His boat was side by side with Grants for a few hours with lights on, and he had bugs, while G's boat (red lights) had none..

Thats probably as close to a "real life" experiment as we're liable to find...

 

Wow.. City "Bird" as a mosquito? that sucks!

[CoreyP 1]

This weekend I put in red LEDs. I am really happy about the way it came out. Here are a few pictures.

[Angry Mike 0]

Cory,

Those look cool. What lights did you use?

Did the ones over the cupholder fit the same as the single LED you were replacing?

Thanks!

[WakeDoc 471]

Looking good CoreyP, I think I am going to do the red myself. How hard was it to convert? Do you still have the original white lights hooked up?

[CoreyP 1]

I got them from superbrightleds.com. I used the clusters with 4 LEDs above the cupholders and in the front. They were the same sizes as the white LED above the cupholder that came with the boat. I used the same screws to install the new cluster. I replaced the lights above the step and under the back seat with red bulbs i picked up at autozone. It took us about 3 hrs to do the whole thing. The hardest part was installing and wiring the wront LEDS, but they weren't that bad.

[VaBeachBum 0]

With the help of WakeVB, we got 10 lime green LEDs installed last night. It was a little too bright in the shop where we worked so it was difficult to get the full effect, but it looks super!!

 

Only a few issues, maybe you guys know a little something about it.

 

After turning on the switch to light them up, one of the clusters got really hot and within 2 minutes it had burned out. None of the other LED clusters got even warm. They all stayed quite cool to the touch. Not sure if that was a faulty light or if it was the wiring.

 

We noticed that one of the lights we installed is a different color green and much brighter than the others. SuperBrightLED.com didn't suggest that there were different color greens, so I'm not sure if it's just defective.

 

I plan on taking these issues up with the company to see if they have any insight as well.

 

It looks great, only a couple more to install. I didn't take any pictures, but worked almost non stop for about 5 hours. My favorite placement was under the steering wheel pointing at the sub. That one turned out awesome. I will definitely grab a photo of that as soon as I can.

 

Thanks for your help, WakeVB. you da man.

[WakeVB 0]

Yeaaaaah man. Good times. Hopefully we dont find that the burn out was caused by my faulty wiring. If we go back and replace it where I spliced in, it should remedy any potential issues anyway. Looked awesome for sure!

[duramat 462]

Doug, WakeVB and anyone else.

 

Have you got pics of your LED's in your storage compartments, rear vents, and engine compartment? with installation pics and with them on? Im really interested in gettin this project on. I do have to say all of your installs look good. I did go back to Checker Auto and buy another LED replacement lamps for the courtesy lights up front.

thanx.