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Underwater Light Recommendations

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by Reelin Time, Apr 19, 2015.

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  1. Reelin Time

    Reelin Time New Member

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    I have a Westbay Sonship 58, 63ft6in overall length with a 17ft beam. Looking at installing some underwater lights at the rear and maybe rear sides and would like some recommendations of what to look at and what to stay away from. Manufacturers, how many to install, pricing, all experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.
  2. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I first installed some Abyssilites and after a couple of them failed I went with Lumitec SeablazeX. 3 of them on the transom (70' johnson, 19' beam) and one on each side almost near the transom.

    So far so good.
  3. Reelin Time

    Reelin Time New Member

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    Thanks Pascal, how far back do they illuminate? I am in the Pacific Northwest in Vancouver, BC and have been told to go with Blue lighting.
  4. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    I've had good luck with Ocean LED lights. Very bright.
  5. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    The ones I installed can be switched to blue or white They put out a nice ring of light, hard to measure. 70 to 80 maybe...
  6. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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  7. Reelin Time

    Reelin Time New Member

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    Thank you, I had already looked at that thread but as it was from 2012 I thought would be good to start a new one given the advances in technology.
  8. Reelin Time

    Reelin Time New Member

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    Thanks Bill, do you remember the model # ?
  9. Reelin Time

    Reelin Time New Member

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    Thank you!
  10. SMR-PILOT

    SMR-PILOT Member

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    I installed 3 oceanled A12s on my sea ray 54 SD. Great lights, good quality, great power. Then I sold that boat and bought an ocean super sport 66, someone recommended the Lumitec Seablaze lights, (they also switch between white and blue), so I installed a total of 6 (4 on the transom and 1 on each side). I've had the boat for about 8 months and so far, 3 lights have given up. Plus they were not even half as bright as oceanleds. On the other hand, my previous boat still has its oceanleds workinf fine after 4 years. I guess oceanleds are called amphibian, as most of theor models are designed to work in and outsiude of the water without overheating. Whereas lumitecs won't last long if you keep them on while the boat is running. So my advice is, stay away from Lumitecs, oceanleds are way much better. There's a Cabo boat next to mine at the marina with the lumitecs as well, the owner says they lasted about 4 months or so.......
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2015
  11. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

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    How much do you want to spend?
    My experience is this: within a short period you will find that today's best quality and operation will cost you twice what next years last generation underwater lights cost. Think of what has happened to flat screen television. As for how far back the lights will have an effect, that depends greatly on water quality, so take note to choose for the environment you will be in, even the strongest ray will have a reflection that dampens penetration. Then there is serviceability, heard some bad stories about getting support and replacement on even the most expensive lights.
    Colours: White equals fish and squid etc. attraction. Blue has the nicest effect for the boat. Both in the same light equals half the power per light per colour.
    IMHO, don't go overboard on installing todays "best and latest", treat these like an early generation technology that is getting cheaper yearly.
    I have installed very good low cost underwater lights with very little hull intrusion that can be changed cheaply and easily when I decide to upgrade. As far as I am concerned they reach out as far as my nieghbours U/W lights that he has paid at least 5 times more for and that needed considerable time to install. The only difference is that I must turn mine off when the boat is hauled, his can and do stay on.
    Easy to study on Google what is available,
    Good luck.
  12. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

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    BTW, Like that model size, layout, design of Sonship, I am envious!
  13. Reelin Time

    Reelin Time New Member

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    Thanks Kafue, and by the way, I have two of them, one a 1999 is for sale :) They are a great boat!
  14. Scallywag

    Scallywag Member

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    Nice boat.

    I went with four "Ocean LED Amphibian A16 Pro Xtreme (colours)". Thats gotta be the worlds longest name for a light.

    I installed mine 5 months ago and so far I'm very happy with them. The video doesn't show how far the light projects behind the boat, but about 70 feet out I'd guess. I get tired of seeing all the boats with blue underwater lights, so I like the ability to change color or pick a specific color, even weird ones like orange, purple, or yellow.



    Heres a product link:
    http://www.oceanled.com/underwater/amphibian-xtreme/a16-pro-xtreme.html
  15. jfm

    jfm New Member

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    Long time no post from me, though I lurk sometimes
    I have installed Lumishore uwl on my last 3 boats. They're nice quality and- afaik at least- offer the highest fixture lumens on the market (unless someone knows of newer offerings with higher fixture lumens). So I'd recommend them strongly.
    As regards colour, my $0.02 opinion is that blue is too dark. White is white close to the boat, but water sucks out the red wavelengths and so white turns to cyan the further away from the boat it gets (which is quite a nice effect). Cyan = blue+ green. I have RGB lights and generally set them to cyan anyway.
    Below is a drone video I shot last month of my boat anchored off the Lerins islands, in the French Mediterranean (it's a UK built Fairline Squadron 78, btw). This shows the pretty large lumen output of the Lumishores - they throw a heck of a long way from the boat. For most of the video the lights are set to cyan not blue. The lights are 6x Lumishore thru hull THX 1501 ccp, I think around 18k lumens each. Each light is pulling about 4 amps at 24v. These have Philips LEDs, but for 2016 Lumishore have switched to slightly brighter Cree LEDs with RGBW. I'll upgrade when I get around to it.
    I'm not connected with Lumishore btw; I'm just a customer. I know their CEO and their chief tech guy due to having bought 3 boats worth of lights from them. They are smart guys and the tech guy is one of the leading LED engineers on the planet.



    And if you have the time, check out the below video too, also my video and my boat. Fast forward to 2:05 - it shows my stewardess and her buddies nightime swimming in the lights. In my book, the fun of night time swimming is the main reason to buy these lights. They are set to "sound to light" for much of this video