I was waiting until I sold my boat to go showing the secrets of the trade, so to speak. I restored an already pretty-new boat from a neglected cosmetic condition to show-room clean and added some ‘extras’ to help it sell, but I really didn’t want the ‘before’ pictures on here until I sold it.
Anyway,
Here’s how, for $12 and a couple hours of work… I added a Blue LED Deck light install to my boat that places around here charge $400+ for.
First, you need the lights.
[url="http://www.amazon.com/Hitlights-Flexible-Ribbon-Adapter-included/dp/B005GL55IU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371422135&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+led+strip"]-Waterproof Blue LED Strip[/url]
You'll also need the following: -Razor Blade
- Light Gauge Wire (14-22 AWG)
- Electrical tape or Spray
- Splice Connectors
- Soldering Iron (or wood burner)
First, remove the old lights but leave the leads exposed so you can tie back into them later.
On the LED strip, cut IN BETWEEN contacts on the light strips. Some 12v strips come with little 'scissor' marks, others don't. DC is DC, it's all the same. There's a POS and NEG. The contacts allow you to add leads (strips of wire) to the strips so you can make as many strips as you want from one long strip. This is where the money is saved. If you buy the strips already pre-cut to the length you want, you'll pay 3or400% markup. It just takes a little creativity to do it yourself :smiley:
After you cut in between the contacts, use your razor blade to peel back the rubbery plastic and
Nice work. I love DIY LED stuff, I use them over reef aquariums. I have a 24" cube tank that has about 140 watts worth of Cree and Luxeon emitters over it.
Moral judgment under girds the entire structure of laws and is necessary for the rational structure of any significant statute. The idea that our laws can stand independent of moral foundation is senseless.----- Albert Mohler.
Very neat, so with the 12vdc led’s, you dont need any fuse or adapter or driver to go with them? Just pos/neg and add a switch? Thanks for the details on this!
