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Author Topic: Livewell Lights  (Read 29292 times)

Offline Curt

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Livewell Lights
« on: April 18, 2018, 09:56:46 AM »
I'm gonna take the plunge and install lights inside of my livewells!

In light of the fact that I do a ton of night tourneys, I figured this would be a worthwhile investment.

I opted for white lights, instead of colored lights, since colored lights would remove the ability to see the colors of the cull tags. That would require me to use a flashlight, defeating the purpose of having the livewell lights, even though colored lights might look cooler and not be as bright on my eyes.

I had considered connecting them to some kind of switch that would turn them on automatically when I open the lids, but opted to go for a simple rocker style switch for each livewell.

I'll be sure to get pics of the installation process.  (yes)

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Offline JackJ

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2018, 11:05:05 AM »
You will be really glad you added them!
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Offline Curt

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2018, 11:16:29 AM »
You will be really glad you added them!

I have no doubts about that at all. Holding my flashlight in my mouth while I pull fish out of the livewell has gotten really, really old  :rolleyes:

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Offline JackJ

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #3 on: April 18, 2018, 11:52:01 AM »
You will be really glad you added them!

I have no doubts about that at all. Holding my flashlight in my mouth while I pull fish out of the livewell has gotten really, really old  :rolleyes:

Yep I used to do the same, and even though I have lights in mine, I still use a hat that has built in LED's as well.
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Offline Jig Man

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2018, 04:23:30 PM »
My Champion had them.  They were great.  My Nitro doesn't but I rarely night fish as my regular partner has arthritis really bad in his spine.  Way before dark he is done for the day and in his house.
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Offline Curt

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2018, 09:21:34 PM »
Hearing you guys talk about how good it is just makes me look forward even more to getting mine installed!

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2018, 02:41:33 PM »
I got my livewell lights in the mail, along with the switches that I ordered. I will be getting them installed sometime during the next two weeks, so they will be working before my first night tourney in mid June.

I will get pics of the install and the finished job and post them here.

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Offline Curt

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #7 on: May 22, 2018, 03:33:22 PM »
During the past week or two, while I had my boat in various stages of disassembly for the transducer installation and the LED lights installation, I did some poking around to see what kind of work will be involved to install the two livewell lights.

I can't get direct access to the sides of the livewells, but I can get indirect access by way of removing the two rear deck storage units and then cutting a hole in an aluminum plate inside of each of those two areas.

Once I cut through those two panels, I can then drill/cut the proper size holes in the livewells themselves and mount the lights.

Then it'll be a matter of mounting and wiring the switches.

Because I have two individual livewells, I will be installing two lights on two separate switches.

I will get pics of the process and post them here when I'm done. This will probably take place sometime in the next two weeks or so, in order to have them installed and working prior to my first night tourney in June.  :nod:

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Offline Curt

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2018, 10:14:53 PM »
I finished up the livewell light installation tonight!

I ended up doing just one switch for both livewells. Doing two switches just seemed like overkill, so I squished my OCD and did just one  (giggle)

Here's where I mounted the switch.



And here are the lights.



Port Livewell



Starboard Livewell



It was a lot of work fishing the wires through the hull and figuring out the best way to connect everything. But I have no doubt at all that it will be well worth it.  :thumbup:

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Offline JackJ

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2018, 02:55:42 PM »
Nice!
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Offline Curt

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2018, 02:59:52 PM »
Nice!

Thanks Jack! I will be giving them a trial run sometime this weekend with actual water in the livewells.

My only concern is that I ended up mounting them at or slightly above the water line in both livewells. I did this for the sake of simplicity. It saved me from having to do a lot of cutting in order to access the sides of the two livewells.

My original plan was to mount them about halfway down the side of the livewell in order to keep the light under the water and not shining on the surface of the water. My concern is that having it above the water line might cause the light to reflect/glare on the water's surface. Not sure if that concern is legit or not. But I will know soon  :nod:

These lights are very small, so I was a bit concerned that they might not be quite as bright as I wanted them to be, but once I got it dark in the garage, I could easily see that they will be more than sufficient.

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Offline JackJ

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2018, 04:36:19 PM »
I dont think the brightness will matter too much in the livewell, but I think your right it could be a problem being above the waterline.   Maybe it wont be though.
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Offline Curt

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2018, 11:14:32 PM »
Quote
I think your right it could be a problem being above the waterline

I'll know very soon!  (giggle)

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Offline Curt

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2018, 05:42:42 PM »
I got to try my livewell LED lights last night. The verdict?

They are fantastic!!  (woohoo)

Seriously, this was one of the best updates I have made to my boat! I caught a fish, flipped the switch on and the livewells lit up perfectly, allowing me to grab a cull tag, hook it to the fish, put the fish in the livewell and then grab the fish I needed to cull out, without ever having to grab a flashlight.

There was no problem whatsoever with the light glaring or reflecting on the surface of the water in the livewells.

I am so glad I installed these  :nod:

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Offline Jig Man

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Re: Livewell Lights
« Reply #14 on: June 19, 2018, 09:32:01 AM »
That is good news Curt.  I was afraid that the light would glare.  I'm glad it didn't.  My old Champ had them they were really nice at night.
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