Can anyone suggest a led light for flounder gigging?I’m thinking of getting these… If you have used them I would love some reviews of this particular light or any led you would recommend. Thanks.
I could help you build your own high-power LED rig from individual LEDs if you’d rather. Would be significantly brighter than those SMD LEDs they use. I suggest Cree XGP or Luxeon Rebel ES LEDs, they are insanely bright for their energy consumption.
As for building a waterproof housing, PVC with acrylic lenses could work.
Thanks very much bud! I sent you a message. Sounds like a incredible idea to me.
Email responded to. I almost helped a buddy up in Raleigh build one of these, we sat down and drew up a few schematics. The easy part is rigging up the LEDs. Just ask OhioNavyNuke what I can do with 3 LEDs for night fishing. The hard part (which probably isn’t all that hard) is devising a way to keep the LEDs from getting wet and destroyed.
We have used the lights you pointed to in the link. A novel idea but not really effective. Have also played with a lot of ideas for building our own with out having to go the generator route. PM or email me - I’d like to get in on the design discussions and have some ideas that might help.
Horsefly
If you want to build your own, you can go to some place like www.dealextreme.com and look for any 12v input LED driver that puts out 600-1000mA current, just wire them up to your boat battery.
For example, here is a 5-pack of drivers that will run directly off of your 12v marine battery, they run around 600mA, and will drive 3 Cree XPG white LEDs. For your flounder light you will probably want to use 6 Cree XPG, get something around 4200 or 5000K white color temperature (neutral white).
http://dx.com/p/3w-3-led-power-drivers-■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■-66273
Cree XPG’s are pretty cheap online nowadays, usually $3-5 each.
You also need a heatsink but any cheap aluminum bar stock will work just fine… .something minimum 1/8" thick, the thicker the better. Glue the LEDs to the heatsink using thermal epoxy (do NOT skimp on this, a very low cost necessity).
There are cheaper LEDs out there for sure but they tend to be less efficient, meaning you end up using more of them to get the same amount of light, which means more drivers for the same light output.
For what it’s worth, 3 Cree XPG will easily put light up a 12-18’ circle for night fishing visible light. Probably a 3-4 foot reasonably bright spot for flounder gigging but you’d have to test it.
I have 4 of the 6" x 2.5" underwater led’s from Chris. I started with two a couple of years ago and added two more least year. IMHO they’re bright enough and last multiple trips. Mine are mounted on a pvc contraption that floats in trolling motor mount.
I use the lights in the link and they work great, not hot to the touch and water proof. I have two four footers and one two footer running off one battery. Battery last two trips or so before needing a charge
Local Boy, Just having fun.