My Boat Light [Need help!]

[Flashanator]

Hi,

I have a boat & want to make a light for it. I came up with using four 4inch lights that can be mounted on the roof or on the back area of the boat. Im using these (I think there called) Xelogen bulbs that draw 55watts at 12v, but put out 100watts. [A=w/v] so alltogether they would draw just over 18 amps. I want to run them all in one circuit with one switch. But i'm stuck on what my battery setup shoulb be. Would I just need a high amp 12v battery? Or would I need a few 12v batteries?

plz reply, ty.

 

[scott.cr]

What are the lights illuminating? The deck of your boat or ???

Don't give those "55W = 100W" ratings any credance; look for a lumen output spec instead. A crappy 55W halogen will easily match the output of a 100W carbon filament, heh.

If you're not using any type of backup generator your batteries will have to be deep-cycle type (such as any marine battery).

Depending on how custom you want to get, I think a lot of CPFers would be inclined to go for LEDs for deck lighting and then of course some uber-powerful searchlight, plus whatever pleases you for lighting when you tie your boat to a slip.

 

[BR549]

As stated above it really depends on what you are doing with them and what king of boat you are running. If you are in a boat without a generator then you probably want to paraell wire two deep cycles for max run time. If you only run them while the engine is running or have an onboard generator then you can hook then up to one battery. For example on my bass boat I have two spotlights mounted up front under the cap that are wired into two group 27 deep cycles. For the larger cabin boat I have a dedicated remote spotlight that I only use while the engine is running - it's hooked up to one group 31 deep cycle that is being charged from the main engine. All the other lights and electronics are running off another group 31 deep cycle that is also charged while the motor is running.

 

[Flashanator]

I just wanted them mainly for emergency lighting, when I need a lot of light. Even an hours runtime would be perfect, then later I would recharge the battery.

thx

 

[Ken_McE]

For emergency lights my preference would be to get a string of cool-white LED rope lights and run it all the way around the boat. You'd have light everywhere, no filaments to break, and you won't blind yourself if you look the wrong direction.