My DIY Night Fishing Light

I've been doin some night crappie fishing since it started warming up. I have one of those floating lights that shoots the beam down and it seems to work okay. I wanted something that would throw a little more light around and was a little more portable. The cord on those isn't really very long and you can't get it to stay away from the boat.

It cost me a total of 13.00 in parts minus the PVC, I had that lying around. I'm going to use a reducer and get a 2 inch PVC about 5 or 6 inches long to store the batteries in with a screw on cap... That will also be the float. I've put sand inside the main piece so it'll sit down in the water.

Attachment 128448
Attachment 128449

Just curious on opinions, haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Looking good.

It work good in the carport. Now it time to field test that thing

That should work, post some pics after you use it !!

that dog oughtta hunt!

Can you show a drawing or plans how you built and materials needed? Looks real good.

Nice are those the led strips if so are those water proof

They are waterproof LED strips just used the 3M adhesive on the back to stick them to a piece of 3/4" PVC. Drilled holes on either ends. At the bottom I just taped it off and siliconed it in. At the top I ran the wires out the top and siliconed from the sand to the top of the pipe with wires sticking out. 8 AA batteries = 12v. So that's my power source... I suck it in the pond this evening to see what it looks like and didnt appear as bright as I had hoped (of course). Illuminated about a 6 ft diameter around it.

I think it looks great. Where did you buy your led strips?

Nice light makes me wanna do some night time fishing.

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Originally Posted by sontag1

I think it looks great. Where did you buy your led strips?

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eBay for around 9 bucks... They're Chinese but they were cheap and I wasn't sure how exactly this was gonna work... Just bought a bunch of parts and threw something together.

ZT, I use a fishing rod, in a single poleholder to keep light away from boat.I like the light to be weighted, so it stays just under the surface a few iinches.

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

Can you show a drawing or plans how you built and materials needed? Looks real good.

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What he said that looks super good

may have to try this...

I bought a submersible light last year, and it is still on the shelf unopened. Hopefully I will get it out soon and use it. I also have the UV lights to mount on my boat so I can see my line easily at night. It too is still in the box on my workbench. It is good to dream....LOL!

I think your DIY light looks better than the one I bought!

Alright fellas sorry for the late reply.
Parts are listed at bottom of post.

Here is the final product, I should have taken pictures during the build but there's actually not much to it. 3/4" PVC where the LEDs lay down and at the top I used a reducer to bring it to 2".

The 2" inch section houses the batteries and switch and also acts as a float, about 2 inches of mine sits above the water.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/14/uhepe2yz.jpg


The LEDs come with a 3M adhesive on the back, on either end there are solder joints that need to be sealed off so I drilled a small hole and tucked the end of the strip inside the PVC. I then squirted a bunch of silicone in to plug the hole and coat the end of the strip.


http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/14/2ety6ege.jpg



The wiring is very simple, requires a 12v battery supply, and you can do red to red black to black and it will light up. I wired a switch into one leg and it just breaks the leg.

Sorry for the shotty instructions please PM or respond here with any questions you have.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/14/3eju5u8a.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/14/2aganase.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/14/dynynuhu.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/14/2a2edaba.jpg

Now all y'all don't go runnin bids up on each other! Hah

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Originally Posted by Ztkirkpatric

Sorry for the shotty instructions please PM or respond here with any questions you have.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/06/14/3eju5u8a.jpg

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Awesome light. Awesome instructions. I have a question. Why are you wearing a dress?:biggrin

Haha, I noticed that too, actually blue jeans... I knew someone was gonna point that or the fact that i was barefoot out... Not sure why it looks like that.

Looks great. This should be a sticky somewhere.

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Originally Posted by Ztkirkpatric

Haha, I noticed that too, actually blue jeans... I knew someone was gonna point that or the fact that i was barefoot out... Not sure why it looks like that.

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Maybe cause you ain't got no shoes on? love the light.

Cool! That should work.

Looks good and great idea!!! Ill have to build a couple of those. On the lighting the 5050 lighting will have 3 LEDs to every one on the 3528(if I remember correctly). I know I have the red 5050 in my bass tracker and helped put some green ones in a buddies duck boat and they were real bright! May be something to try next time although you may have to add some batteries.

Don't look like blue jeans to me.

Tried the light last night, it actually worked pretty well. Had a big group of shad hang out most of the night, so we got into just about everything. Caught some big crappie, nice walleye, whites, hybrids, even a bream or two. Everything seems to follow those big schools of bait fish.

Took a video of the light in action, you can hear the shad bouncing off the pontoons.

http://youtu.be/1qr__17WckE


Attachment 128766

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Originally Posted by arkansaskiller

Looks good and great idea!!! Ill have to build a couple of those. On the lighting the 5050 lighting will have 3 LEDs to every one on the 3528(if I remember correctly). I know I have the red 5050 in my bass tracker and helped put some green ones in a buddies duck boat and they were real bright! May be something to try next time although you may have to add some batteries.

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Are the 5050 not 12v?

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Originally Posted by Ztkirkpatric

Are the 5050 not 12v?

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Yea they are still 12v. The difference is in the number of lights. Where 3528 has one bulb 5050 will have 3. It may not work on the little battery pack to its full potential but it should run off a 12v deer feeder battery fine. I'm by no means a expert all I can tell you is 5050 is far brighter from everything Iv read.

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Originally Posted by arkansaskiller

Yea they are still 12v. The difference is in the number of lights. Where 3528 has one bulb 5050 will have 3. It may not work on the little battery pack to its full potential but it should run off a 12v deer feeder battery fine. I'm by no means a expert all I can tell you is 5050 is far brighter from everything Iv read.

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I just did a little research, the 5050 LEDs are a little bigger and a little brighter. They're about 15-20 dollars a strip. I'll order a roll and build another using the 5050 to compare the difference. (Was going to build another anyways.

I want to build some lights using these strips, but have a question. Does anyone know the input voltage variance of the 5050 strips? Nominal is 12 volts but, I want to power with lightweight Li-ion cells. 4 cells gives me 12.8-16.8 volts. Electronics being so sensitive to overvoltages I dont want to start popping LEDs with freshly charged batteries.

Heck of a lot cheaper than the one I bought. Sounds like it worked too. Good job. Last year my dad told me about some guys putting out a light and spider rigging around it catching crappie. I wondered how they would power the light now I have some idea of how they might have done it.

Awesome

Good looking lights it's about time for a night stalk on Maumelle and those would work great!