Hey I’m outfitting my bow fishing boat and need some led lights 12/24 volt 2700 kelvin dedicated bow fishing 200 plus so I’m curious if I can build something like this or better even if I don’t save I think it would be a good way to bond with the kids thanks any advice greatly appreciated
I’m not familiar, what kind of lights are required for bow fishing? Do you do it at night?
It’s nice of you to join us, Jbird5986!
Id say if you want a floody beam choose large,bright leds like the cree xhp70.2 (make sure to choose high density emmitters). Choose a shallow, ideally textured reflector. Consider building a mule (flashlight with no optics). These are very gloody
This is what i had in my mind it may be toataly insane and impossible but i wanted to buy some cheap led bar lights or flood lights 6x6 square then buy some amazing leds that burn at 2700 kelvin no higher than 3000 or it wont penetrate water well and put good led in cheap led housing
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My cuz bow fishes and on his air boat he has a bunch of cheap led pod lights off amazon.
Like these
[img[(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71IMzOyTblL.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg)[/img]
He just buys whatever ones are the cheapest at the time. Something goes wrong with one he just trashes it and replace.
Im not familiar with bow fishing. Is the light submerged underwater, or mounted to a boat, or is it like an attachment on the bow?
There is like 10 mounted around the perimeter of the boat shining in water the cheap led floods work just not very well if i could get some of those around 3000 kelvin most of ones i found are daylight white 6000 or higher i just was kinda hoping i could build some seriously bright budget lights im thinking landing strip bright
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I would say purchasing the cheap lights with housing, and then swapping out the LED’s with some high powered versions in your preffered color temperature would work great, and using a pre manufactured housing means it will be more durable. If you have any soldering experience swapping out the emitters should be straightforward. Just choose ones with the same forward voltage, and similar current as the original or you will need to buy or build a new driver!
I wondered too… I had never heard of bow fishing from a boat, much less lights for doing it. Here is a pic that gives an idea of what the OP is asking about:
Those are 160 watts
I wonder what LEDs those are??
Those lights there is pricey what about budget housing and these chips Amazon.com
Real pricey… especially if you want ten to twelve of them…
The chip I like says 5000 hours with heat sink just gotta figure out that part if it’s workable I would be all in 50 a light but if it will work 500 hours with no heat sink I’m game to try it
On another note I’ve hunted over those lights they are great just not worth 2500 to outfitt a boat that gets terribly abused
I’ve modified some cheap AliExpress flood lights using 6V Cree XHP50 LED’s and a simple voltage/ current regulator circuit from Banggood/ AliExpress. They turn on at night automatically to light up my front yard. They have literally been running like that (off a 12V solar system) for four plus years. I’ve done one XHP70, but that’s hooked up to a motion sensor. You may want a larger bodied light than below for an XHP70.
You could do something similar. The type I’ve bought are like this :
The voltage/ current regulation circuit is like this:
I gut them and use self adhesive heatsink compound to fix the 20mm XHP star to the alloy body and the regulator circuit fits inside. You need to set up the voltage/ current regulator circuit to suit. Putting some sort of paint/ a dob of silicon on the variable potentiometer would be a good idea given a boat would vibrate. You need some high temp insulation tape to cover the wires going to the LED star, in case they short to the aluminium reflector. And wrap the regulator circuit.
You can buy the XHP50 in the required 2700k/ 3000k e.g. Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com
That looks more feasible than the 50 watt chip and the heat sink Amazon.com
Xhp70 looks way more economical from power needed and heat produced
Think I’m gonna order few different ones that are 12/24 volt do I need a regulator for each light or will one do it all and could I buy one that will hook to generator if batteries are dead if yes than anyone got a recommendation thanks
I got a tupac of these
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SY6VH4R/
a long while back on a vipon, but they’re regular price now.
They say “30W” but they draw something like 18W constant above 9V-10V or so. Above that constant-wattage point, as voltage goes up, current draw goes down. Before, I was afraid to drive it with anything more’n 12V, but after playing with it on my “lab supply” and slowly cranking up the volts, I could see that it’s internally regulated.
Pretty bright, definitely floody and not directed. I opened up one to see how it’s put together, and it’s done up pretty well with a sort of gasket to seal out water. Might be fine on land as far as dealing with rain, but marine stuff tends to be Whole Other Level of waterproofing, so just be aware. Or go crazy with some rtv.
You may want to consider submerging the lights, otherwise a substantial amount of light is going to be reflected off of the surface of the water due to the angle of incidence, resulting in glare. It will probably work best if the submerged lights are aimed downward as well.
Mount waterproof light housings onto poles and submerge them, or use floating buoys, or both. With the buoys you could light up large sections of water. The water can serve to cool the devices.
A simple way to test the buoy concept would be to stick a decent waterproof flashlight through a piece of foam or other float, and tie some paracord or whatever to the flashlight to tether it. Toss that sucker out there. For the pole strategy just attach a flashlight or multiple flashlights to a pole and submerge it. This testing is worth doing before deciding on an overall strategy.