Let there be light - adding a light to the Motorguide Wireless Trolling Motor

[donberry]

Love my new Motorguide W75 wireless trolling motor. Only thing I did not care for was there wasn’t a light on it so when fishing at night, I did not know which direction it was pointed until I started going that way or shined my head lamp on the motor. Forget about seeing it if I was using it from the back of the boat. I was putting on a longer column so thought it would be a good time to add a light to it. Only problem with using the existing wiring was it only has 12v when the motor is on and I thought it might be nice if I am fishing in close to something to be able to see where the motor is pointed before I applied power. Fortunately there was plenty of room under the cover. So I ran to Radio Shack and bought a 3V Blue LED (only color they had in stock actually) and a 2 AA battery holder. I thought their toggle switches were pretty cheap so I ran to my local hardware store for that. Just epoxied the battery holder in place, drilled the holes for the LED and the toggle switch and then siliconed the heck out of it. It’s not too pretty inside the cover, but I put silicone on a few places on the wires themselves to keep them from moving around plus on the end of the LED so there wouldn’t be any stress on the wires coming out of it. Of course I also put it around the toggle switch and the LED so water can not leak inside. I let it dry and tested it under the sink, then wired her up. I am pretty happy with the result. I would guess 2 AA batteries will run one LED light a pretty long time but to change the batteries I just have to remove the 6 screws holding on the cover. Let there be light.

[jimp]

pretty slick idea, nice work

[donberry]

forgot - I do have a rubber boot that goes over the toggle switch. It screws on, effectively making it waterproof.

["G"]

Thats a great idea