Rigging running lights with no generator....

[KIGuy52]

I have a 14' open boat with a small 25 HP. I'd like to rig bow and stern lights so I can go out at night. Since my motor doesn't have a generator, I suppose I'll have to go with a small battery that I can re-charge when I get home. How long will a lawnmower or motorcycle battery run those lights, or is there a better way? I've seen those clamp-on flashlight things, but I don't really like them.<br />Thanks<br />JD

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

I don't know much about small outboards. OK, that's out of the way. Are you saying that this 25 horse is a pull-start ? If it's electric start, then it can re-charge a battery, and support running lights.

 

[AndyL]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

I believe you can get LED nav lights that draw very little current indeed. A motorcycle battery would probably last them for days.

 

[Braxton]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

would a small lawnmower batt. with mabe a small sloar pannel to keep it charged. the small solar pannels to not cost much mabe 25 dollars. just a thought.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

Forget the solar panel. You'd need one about half the size of the boat to "recharge" a flat battery. Small solar panels are used to keep a battery topped off during periods of non-use. A garden tractor battery would be sufficient for a night or two of fishing without recharging.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

A typical marine nav light uses 1 to 2 amps/hr (10w to 25w bulbs). LED is about 1/10th of that. Figure you will need a couple of lights, red+green up front and an all-around white. You are looking at 2 to 4 amps every hr. Multiply that by the number of hours you want to use the lights, and then multiply that by 2. That is the a/hrs of a deep cycle battery you will need.

 

[KIGuy52]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

I think I'll go with the garden tractor battery, since I already have one. I already have the lights too. Can I replace the automotive bulbs that are in them with LED's? Also, I have about 50'of #20 AWG Tefzel aircraft wire. It's pretty thin stuff, but it's low resistance. It'll be easy to hide in the gunwale. Will it be sufficient for running lights?<br />Thanks,<br />JD

 

[gewf631]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

That 20 guage wire might be a little small, but I'd give it a shot, especially if you went with the LED's.<br /><br />Since you're only looking at 2 bulbs, this is <br /> a good source for LED replacement bulbs

 

[Luna Sea]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

Or, you can do like I do and buy those D cell powered nav. lights. Carry spare batterys and or spare lights, I keep a little knapsack with all my night nav. gear in it.<br /><br />Edit: Seems you've already looked at this setup, it is kind of cheesy but it's doable. That's why I mentioned spares, like 2 of each, cause they do go overboard, and break, and...........<br /><br />Little battery may be best bet, but maybe flashlight type as backup if battery dies.

 

[KIGuy52]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

Thanks ED F. That website's cool. Might get some LED's for my truck too. My aircraft expert guy says the wire will work just fine, and the lightweight wire will lighten my boat by nearly...well...one-billionth of a gram compared to automotive wire.

 

[Black69]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

This is also a small convenient babttery to use and it has it's own charger that comes with it.<br /><br />http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?rid=&indexId=cat21402&navAction=push&navCount=2&cmCat=MainCatcat21276&parentType=index&parentId=cat21402&id =0023384

 

[KIGuy52]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

Thanks. The battery setup from Cabelas looks good, but I already bought a new battery for my riding lawnmower and rigged my boat lights to the old one to see how long they would stay lit. After 4 hours, they were still working, with the stock bulbs. That will be plenty of time.

 

[i rowboat]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

Thanks to Dave T for the link, I think that battery setup would work for an electric trolling motor, which I'm thinking of getting as a backup-just-in-case for my 12 footer(I'm getting too old for 'Michael, row that boat ashore..') Might give that some thought, too, KIGuy, I think a lawnmower battery would spin the heck out of one, and worth having at only a few pounds and dollars cost.

 

[KIGuy52]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

For a trolling motor, I'd probobly go with a deep-cycle battery. A car (or lawnmower) battery is designed to provide a very large amount of current for a short period of time.<br />A deep cycle battery is designed to provide a steady amount of current over a long period of time. A deep cycle battery is also designed to be deeply discharged over and over again, something that would ruin a car battery very quickly.<br /> <br />(This info is from "howstuffworks.com")

 

[i rowboat]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

KIGuy52, the trolling motor would just be in case my 5hp quit on me; I sometimes boat where there's some awfully huge barges (elk river near the C&D canal), and I get religion real quick when I even THINK of the motor quitting...thanks for the info!

 

[KIGuy52]

Re: Rigging running lights with no generator....

Yeah, just for an emergency a lawnmower battery would probobly be enough to get you out of the way of them barges. I fish near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and sometimes have to avoid aircraft carriers, so I'd need a deep-cycle.