	Old Glory's UltraBright Eyes
Rinorino*	Old Glory's UltraBright Eyes	Rinorino*

Installing LED Lights Into a Power Boat

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Hi Michael, I got your lights, along with the colorful stamps and the postcard. Way cool! I hadn't had a chance to implement the lights until now. I had a bit of difficulty with using the pin-type, drop-in replacement units in the manner suggested. While it's true that they plug in to the existing halogen bulb socket, most of these reflector/bulb assemblies seem to be mounted by the reflector itself, not by the socket. Thus the LED assembly kinda floats there. What's worse, when the boat bounces up and down, the mass of the LED assembly can cause the thing to become unplugged, dropping to the floor of the cabin! I used a Portfolio Model 145666 mini spot lamp, commonly available at Lowe's for approx $25. It's a very attractive and well finished lamp that dressed up the boat cabin very nicely. In this unit, the halogen reflector is held in place in the front of the lamp with a wire snap ring. I found that a 1 1/2" PVC plug is ideally suited to fit the same space.
Lamp In Its Semi-Disassembled State: The PVC plug is hanging from the front of the lamp. I drilled two holes in the back end of the plug to attach wires and to expose the FET (the little square black thingie -- not visible in the photo) for better heat dissipation. To cement the LED unit into the plug, first scuff-sand the "bottom" of inside of the plug (thinking of it like a drinking cup) and the sides of the LED unit. Then place a small amount of thickened epoxy inside the "bottom", and carefully position the LED unit so as to avoid getting exoxy on the pins (if you didn't get the variety of LED unit with wires). Once the epoxy has cured, pour unthickened epoxy carefully around the LED unit to fill the remaining gap, making sure not to cover the LEDs in epoxy. Allow to cure. Then solder wires to the exposed pins. Use the wire provided with the lamp.
Strain relief is achieved by (1) lashing the wire to the inside of the fixture with a wire twist tie and (2) tying a knot in the cord just prior to its exit from the lamp housing. After stringing the wire from the lamp housing to the base, mount the PVC plug into the end of the lamp housing as shown.

		Wire Retaining Clip To make the wire clip, use an ordinary paperclip. Straighten it, and then bend it around the PVC plug. Insert one end between the PVC plug and into the groove in the lamp housing. Then, moving towards the other end of the paperclip, push the clip into the groove with a flat-blade screwdriver. The clip provides a good, firm fit and retains the rim at the "base" of the PVC cap, the same way it would retain the lens of the halogen reflector. Caution: Test the assembly before you assemble it, as disassembly can be difficult. If necessary, you can pick one end of the clip from the groove with an ice pick, or if the fit is slightly loose, you can actually give the PVC cap a very firm twist to remove it. Further caution: The PVC cap WILL rotate in the lamp housing. If fidgety 3-year-olds might start twisting the thing around and around, you might want to secure the thing in place with screws.
Now complete the electrical wiring as desired. In my own lamps, I removed the cord from the base and installed a miniature toggle switch in its place. (Note: No drilling required!) I wired the + wire directly to the LED unit and switched the ground (-), just in case the switch should somehow short to the base.

This is my finished product. I'll be hanging the assembled units on the walls of my cabin. A screw hole can be seen in the base in the left of the photograph, and there is another on the opposite side. The base disassembles by unscrewing the screws that were once in those holes. To mount the light on the wall, screw the base plate to the wall, make the electrical connections, and then mount the top part of the base (seen in the photo) to the base plate with the two little screws.
Ed. Note: Sarah, as you can tell, is a phenomenal photographer. If you would like to see more of her fabulous photography work, you can visit her site, www.graphic-fusion.com. For those who have a curiousity about her setup for these pictures, she says: These shots are the first of my test shots with my new Canikon setup -- the legendary Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 lens, adapted to my Canon digital for portraiture work. It's 100% manual, of course. I'm really tickled with it, because it's one of the best lenses ever made. Peace, Sarah

By the way, "Old Glory" is a Broadwater 27 that Sarah is in the process of restoring. We're not sure what that white stuff is, but Sarah assures is that it is perfectly normal during certain parts of the year.

*Rinorino is a Fijian firefly from the East Cakadrove area of the island of Vanua Levu. You will likely never see the word in a Fijian-English dictionary, as the dictionary's usually only cover one dialect of the Fijian languages. On the south shore of Vanua Levu alone, there are four different pronunciation/spellings for the poor little bug, none of which have we seen in print. Rinorino also means 'blink', as the Fijian firefly blinks on and off at night.

Old Glory's UltraBright Eyes

Installing LED Lights Into a Power Boat