# Driving Lights Install - UPDATED W/MORE LIGHTS!!



## BigTerp (Dec 15, 2013)

Needed to add some sort of driving lights to my boat. I run pretty shallow areas of the local river and really needed some extra light when heading to hunting spots before dawn. A hand held spotlight wasn't nearly enough and made me really uncomfortable when running the sketchy areas. I ended up following a thread on another site that took a halogen off road light and converted it to HID. I ended up converting a pair into 35 watt HID. Here are the lights I used.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0029ZCEEY/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used Xenon HID conversion kits for both that I got off of ebay. Here are some pictures of the project.

















Had to add another switch since all the ones on my control panel were taken up.





Here they are lit up at night. I'm VERY impressed with the amount of light they put out. Can't wait to see how well they work on the water once dialed in.


----------



## T Man (Dec 15, 2013)

Got a link for you HID conversion? Right now my lights pull 55 watts each...and I have 4. Anything I could do to save some power would be great.


----------



## BigTerp (Dec 16, 2013)

Here are the conversion kits I used.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/300742481822?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_6710wt_1109

Here is the thread I followed.
https://www.mudmotortalk.com/mmt_v2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12884

Not sure what lights you currently have, but the HID kits I used just BARELY fit into my light housings without having to make any modifications. The Vision X lights I used are made with HID conversion in mind. So basically all I had to do was cut and splice some wire and change out the bulb. They pull 35 watts and 3.5 amps per light. They put out about 3200 lumens per light. All around a much better deal than halogen. Looking at the picture I posted, it doesn't really do it justice how bright these lights are. I have a cut up basketball over my winch bracket to protect my boat cover from getting tore up. It looks to have blocked some of the light. My neighbor was walking her dog up the street when I turned them on last night. The street is a good 50 yards away and I had to put my hands over the lights because I was afraid of blinding her. Can't wait to try them out this coming Saturday morning.


----------



## DanMC (Dec 16, 2013)

I prefer LED (VisionX) because they draw so little power.


----------



## BigTerp (Dec 17, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=336658#p336658 said:


> DanMC » Yesterday, 8:32 pm[/url]"]I prefer LED (VisionX) because they draw so little power.



LED's have there place and definitely save power. My nav lights and interior lights are all LED's. But for driving lights HID's are the way to go, IMO. There are a nice compromise between LED and Halogen. I have about $80 wrapped up in both lights. To get LED's that would be even close to the light output I'll get out of my HID conversion, I'm looking at well over $100 per light. The amp draw isn't as good as LED, but 3.5 amps per light isn't bad at all, especially when compared to halogen.


----------



## turbotodd (Dec 24, 2013)

After riding with a buddy that had HID's.....then riding in a boat which had LED's, the LED's by far get my nod. Low profile and plenty of light, with low power draw.


----------



## huntinfool (Dec 24, 2013)

Congrats, looks good.


----------



## BigTerp (Dec 26, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=337119#p337119 said:


> turbotodd » December 24th, 2013, 8:50 pm[/url]"]After riding with a buddy that had HID's.....then riding in a boat which had LED's, the LED's by far get my nod. Low profile and plenty of light, with low power draw.



I agree LEDs are nice, but my biggest reason for going with HIDs was cost. To get LEDs that had the same amount of lumens as my current setup I was looking at a minimum of 3x the cost. For me, HIDs are a nice compromise between halogen and LED.


----------



## BigTerp (Dec 26, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=337122#p337122 said:


> huntinfool » December 24th, 2013, 9:51 pm[/url]"]Congrats, looks good.



Thanks. They worked really well last weekend while running to a hunting spot before dawn.


----------



## panFried (Mar 3, 2014)

That's awesome! When I first viewed the pic of the lights in action on my mobile I thought you were running up the icy Potomac until I zoomed in and realized It was your driveway.


----------



## BigTerp (Mar 4, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=343556#p343556 said:


> panFried » Yesterday, 5:07 pm[/url]"]That's awesome! When I first viewed the pic of the lights in action on my mobile I thought you were running up the icy Potomac until I zoomed in and realized It was your driveway.



Thanks man.

HA!! If the Potomac were that narrow and icy, I'd be staying at home!!

Happy with the lights though. They got a good bit of use this winter. Work well on days when there is now fog laying on the river. Makes it easy to see whats ahead and to be able to pick my lines through the shallows. Foggy days....forget it. But I guess fog doesn't play well with any sort of lights.


----------



## BigTerp (Nov 6, 2014)

Added 2 more lights to get ready for the upcoming duck season, which opens up Saturday!! The 2 we used all of last year worked great, but more light is always better, right? The 2 that are already on the boat are the euro beam pattern. Basically a sort of combo flood/spot beam. I mounted 2 more lights in between the original 2. The 2 new lights are a horizontal flood beam. We sort of rewired the lights using some relays. They now pull power off my trolling motor battery and with my switch in the "up" position all 4 lights are on. With my switch in the "down" position just the 2 center flood lights are on, which I'm thinking will work nicely for setting up decoys. Snapped a quick picture last night to show how bright they are. This was taken with my NO flash.


----------



## TexasLoneStar56 (Nov 6, 2014)

WOW! Now that's what I call some lights! :mrgreen: 
Looks like airplane landing lights! :lol: 

Thanks for sharing.

Keith
Texas


----------



## borntofish (Nov 6, 2014)

I really feel sorry for anyone coming directly toward you! Will probably think it's a UFO. Nice set up. Your right, you can never have too much light. You never know when you might have to do surgery! :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## turbotodd (Nov 6, 2014)

I had HID kit in my F250, in the stock headlight lenses. Came with it when I bought it. In 2014 January I put a double row 20" LED bar in the bumper opening. The LED bar completely utterly drowns out ALL of the HID's light output, so much so that you can't tell any difference between the bar only and bar w/HID's on. During the install, I had to remove the factory fog lights, which were also HID swapped (it was like that when I bought it). Amp draw with only the fogs was 8.1A at 14.2v. The single 20" LED bar draws 7.8A at 14.2v and puts out 15,000 lumens. And it's a cheapie 20". If I'd have gotten a Rigid brand light bar, it'd have been closer to 18,000 lumens, IIRC. But the price.....Mine was $197 plus tax, the Rigid closer to $600 plus tax. But Rigid stuff is top notch in quality, and built here in the USA; where mine is chinese.

BTW, I removed all of the HID junk from the truck and put silverstars in (I had them left over from when I sold my old F150), and the light isn't any worse or any better. But oncoming drivers aren't flashing me nearly as often.

I also like the fact that the light bars are lower profile, for the most part. I have one for mine, just a single row 10". I can't imagine needing any more light. When it's midnight and you turn that thing on, it takes about 10 minutes after turning it off for my eyes to re-adjust to the darkness. Really in that sense it is too much light. If I was up at 0400 and heading out to hunt as the sun rises, it wouldn't be such a big deal. 

LED is getting better and better every day. I don't know if HID is ever going to replace LED, especially since the pricing of LED is coming down. Cars are even coming with LED headlamps now; and you can buy LED bulbs to drop into your original housings...though...I have not tried them (yet). One great thing about LED, is that you don't have to wait for them to warm up which was always a gripe I had with my truck. Dim at first, but after about 20-30 seconds, they'd brighten up. Additionally, HID's will suffer from lumen depreciation rather quickly, which is not a problem with LED.

I wonder. How well does HID work with vibration and/or bouncing, jarring, and the "normal" operation of a boat (which has no suspension to dampen them)?


----------



## BigTerp (Nov 7, 2014)

turbotodd said:


> I had HID kit in my F250, in the stock headlight lenses. Came with it when I bought it. In 2014 January I put a double row 20" LED bar in the bumper opening. The LED bar completely utterly drowns out ALL of the HID's light output, so much so that you can't tell any difference between the bar only and bar w/HID's on. During the install, I had to remove the factory fog lights, which were also HID swapped (it was like that when I bought it). Amp draw with only the fogs was 8.1A at 14.2v. The single 20" LED bar draws 7.8A at 14.2v and puts out 15,000 lumens. And it's a cheapie 20". If I'd have gotten a Rigid brand light bar, it'd have been closer to 18,000 lumens, IIRC. But the price.....Mine was $197 plus tax, the Rigid closer to $600 plus tax. But Rigid stuff is top notch in quality, and built here in the USA; where mine is chinese.
> 
> BTW, I removed all of the HID junk from the truck and put silverstars in (I had them left over from when I sold my old F150), and the light isn't any worse or any better. But oncoming drivers aren't flashing me nearly as often.
> 
> ...



Like I said before, my reason for going with HID over LED was primarily cost. But the ability to individually adjust each of my 4 lights is also a big plus. I have about $150 wrapped up in my current setup. $80 for my first 2 and $70 for the 2 I just installed. Together I get almost 13,000 lumens at 14 amps. I highly doubt a 15,000 lumen LED bar would drown them out. And I don't see the need to spend twice as much for a low end LED light bar to gain 2,000 more lumens and have half the amp draw. Not worth it, IMO. And if your saying that silverstar bulbs aren't any worse or any better than the HIDs that were in your truck, then those HIDs must have been junk!! Silverstars put out about 1,300 lumens, at least the ones for my '07 F-150 do. So that means the HIDs in your truck were around the same output. Not a fair comparison against a 15,000 lumen light bar. 

Not sure on the lumen depreciation, but I haven't noticed any in the almost year I've had the original 2 on my boat. Just as bright as day one. I have H3 bulbs with XenTec ballasts in 5000K that are advertised as 100% Water, shock, dust, and rumble-proof. The original 2 have been on my boat for 20 or so hours and no problems so far, and I run my boat HARD.

LEDs are certainly nice, and I run them for every other light on my boat. But again, HID running lights for me are a great compromise between LED and halogen.


----------



## BigTerp (Nov 7, 2014)

TexasLoneStar56 said:


> WOW! Now that's what I call some lights! :mrgreen:
> Looks like airplane landing lights! :lol:
> 
> Thanks for sharing.
> ...



HA!! Thanks.


----------



## BigTerp (Nov 7, 2014)

borntofish said:


> I really feel sorry for anyone coming directly toward you! Will probably think it's a UFO. Nice set up. Your right, you can never have too much light. You never know when you might have to do surgery! :lol: :lol: :lol:



Yes, they are nearly impossible to look at head on. We rarely see anyone on the river when running to a hunting spot. If we do I'm always courteous and shut my lights down until they pass. The river I run is rocky, shallow and fairly narrow. These lights will light it up like daylight and make it easier to pick my lines through the nasties.


----------



## RiverBottomOutdoors (Nov 7, 2014)

I like it. I would need some type of brush guard cause I know I would end up ripping one off.  I'm hard on sh--.


----------



## TexasLoneStar56 (Nov 7, 2014)

We run the Sabine River with shallows and rocky shoals. When the river is down, we have to get out and pull at times. Nice to have lights so we can see what's in the water lurking at us....alligators, cotton mouths (water moccasins).....

Our son-in-law built a removable deck with 8 lights. He has to run a generator. He looks like a UFO coming at ya! Funny on the lake when he is bow fishing; looks like a car guiding across the water. (He, too, turns lights off when meeting someone on the river, and we do too. Mannerly.)

You will enjoy those lights. Thanks for sharing.

Keith
Texas


----------



## huntinfool (Nov 28, 2014)

I have 2 55w 10 led flood lights that is use when going up river. I prefer the brightness of the floods as I don't get to haul butt up river. We sell these at my work for $100 each. But I've seen them cheaper.


----------



## TexasLoneStar56 (Nov 29, 2014)

huntinfool said:


> I have 2 55w 10 led flood lights that is use when going up river. I prefer the brightness of the floods as I don't get to haul butt up river. We sell these at my work for $100 each. But I've seen them cheaper.




Do you hold these or are they mounted? How much battery do they use? Or, rather, how long will a full charged battery last?

This is what we need on our little 14' flat bottom, for traveling up river on the Sabine.

Thanks!
Keith
Tyler, TX


----------



## huntinfool (Nov 29, 2014)

I mounted them to the aluminum strap so I can clamp them anywhere on my boat. 

As far as draw, I don't know yet. I've left them on all night and never noticed a dent in battery power. I'll try and get a multi meter on them.


----------



## BigTerp (Dec 1, 2014)

Those look nice huntinfool!!


----------



## huntinfool (Feb 1, 2015)

I've been planning on using these to do some Bowfishing.


----------



## BigTerp (Feb 2, 2015)

huntinfool said:


> I've been planning on using these to do some Bowfishing.



The ones you posted, or HID conversion like mine? I've been really happy with mine. Once we get to our hunting spots I turn off the spot beams and leave the 2 floods on and then either spin the boat around or just swing the lights around to light up where we are setting decoys. I also spin my lights around when backing my boat down the ramp. Really helps me to see what I'm doing.


----------



## huntinfool (Feb 2, 2015)

The ones I posted.


----------



## moqwack (Feb 2, 2015)

I used these kawell led spotlights. About $50 off amazon. They are bright and draw very little power. They come with the brackets ans are easy to install.


----------



## huntinfool (Feb 2, 2015)

moqwack said:


> I used these kawell led spotlights. About $50 off amazon. They are bright and draw very little power. They come with the brackets ans are easy to install.


Those are basically what I have. Super bright and very little power draw.


----------



## paper (Feb 3, 2015)

I electrified my boat between Christmas and New Years and installed a 35W front LED, a 15W rear LED, and LED Daytime running lights on the inside and outside.. The DRL are easy because they're waterproof and self adhesive.. I put 6 on the inside (3 per side) and 1 on the outside on each side of the boat to see what I'm catching at night, or to pull up to a dock.

The 35W front makes for daylight when you flip it on at night and the rear is amazing, too... All were cheap on eBay..

I'm powering everything through an Overtons control panel mounted to a project box.

















And I even added a couple DRL's to the post on my trailer to aid loading at night.. 






The LED stuff is bright white light, and draws very little.. A pair of the DRL's on eBay are about $3.50 and work great!! 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-Super-Bright-White-Car-COB-LED-Lights-DRL-Fog-Driving-Lamp-Waterproof-/271758173744?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f460ca630&vxp=mtr

They work so well I'm mounting them inside my saddlebags on my motorcycles, too..


----------



## MakeItHappen (Feb 4, 2015)

paper said:


> I electrified my boat between Christmas and New Years and installed a 35W front LED, a 15W rear LED, and LED Daytime running lights on the inside and outside.. The DRL are easy because they're waterproof and self adhesive.. I put 6 on the inside (3 per side) and 1 on the outside on each side of the boat to see what I'm catching at night, or to pull up to a dock.
> 
> The LED stuff is bright white light, and draws very little.. A pair of the DRL's on eBay are about $3.50 and work great!!



Paper, can you provide a link to the lights you used on the inside of your boat? They appear to be the Atwood 4 LED lights, but I'm not sure and I'm wanting to do the same to my boat.


----------



## paper (Feb 4, 2015)

They're COB Daytime Running Lights.. I ordered them from China on eBay..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-COB-LED-Daytime-Running-Light-DRL-Xenon-White-Fog-Interior-Driving-Lamp-IP65-/131417330116?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e991551c4&vxp=mtr


----------



## huntinfool (Feb 4, 2015)

I added LED lights to the inside of my boat to see what I was doing inside. Hadn't thought about the outside. 
Mine do many different colors. Should help a bunch. I've got a green LED light under my dash that comes on with the ignition. I've got three more I've been thinking about putting on the back as a fishing light.


----------



## huntinfool (Feb 4, 2015)

First and last are "white"


----------



## BigTerp (Feb 5, 2015)

I used these LED's for my interior lighting. Went with red. Work really nice and are only $2 a piece.

https://www.oznium.com/rectangle-led-module

Might be a little hard to tell from the picture, but this is why I went with red for my interior lights. All of the bugs in the below pictures are attracting to and swirling around my green nav light. Not a single one was interested in the port side red nav lights. Don't have a good picture of mine installed on my boat though.


----------



## MakeItHappen (Feb 5, 2015)

Awesome, thanks paper!


----------

