4ft Fishing Lights

**TN Hillbilly** · 06-28-2010, 01:13 PM

After seeing the lights Kevin Mays made, I decided I needed a couple myself. After digging into the details, for better or worse I decided to make a few changes. First of all, I decided two lights would be enough for my purposes, and since I had to buy 10 ft of pipe, I decided to use the four foot bulbs as opposed to the two footers. After researching fluorescent bulbs, I decided to go with the T8 series as opposed to the T12 for a couple reasons. First, the T8's are 20% more efficient than the T12's. The 4 ft bulbs draw 32 watts and put out slightly more light than the 4ft T12's which draw 40 watts. The second reason is that the T8's are 1 inch diameter as compared to the T12's which are 1-1/2 inches dia. This meant I could use 1-1/4" pipe as compared to 2" pipe for the T12's. Doesn't sound like much but it saved me a total of $25.00 for the two lights. The 1-1/4" pipe displaces less than half the water of the 2" pipe, so I was able to get by with half the weight required for them to float at the right depth and attitude. I opted to just glue everything together instead of using threaded fittings, the reasoning being that in the unlikely event that I'd have to replace a ballast or bulb I could just saw the top ballast enclosure in two and then rejoin them with a coupling after doing whatever repair work was required. One drawback to using the 1-1/4" clear pvc was that I had to adapt it up to 1-1/2" pvc at the top to have enough room to slip the ballast inside. Also at the bottom I reduced it down to 3/4" to keep the bulb from slipping down and then back up to 1-1/2" for the canister which holds the weight. Still, it saved quite a bit of money. I was able to make these for about $66.00 each, using some wire I already had.

In retrospect I could have been more careful with the purple primer as far as aesthetics go, but functionally I'm pretty pleased with them. I put them in the pool last night and was impressed with how they lit things up. Time will tell if they are any better than the old sealed beam headlights we used to float on the surface when I was a kid. These are definitely more expensive and hopefully more effective.

**Charger** · 06-28-2010, 02:52 PM

Dang man those are nice. Should work great. Keep us updated!

**kevinmays** · 06-29-2010, 10:24 AM

nice i like em. how much weight does it take to sink em. i threaded mine cause i dont have the exact formula to get the butt end sunk. that way i could uncsrew then add more or less weight til i got them where i wanted. still dont have ther weight right. i also have purple streaks!!!!!!!!:D

i like yours better!!!!!!!nice

**TN Hillbilly** · 06-29-2010, 10:44 AM

Charger,

Thanks. I plan to try them out for a while tonight. The moon isn't right, but I'm anxious to see the lights in action. More of a R&D session than a fishing trip.

Kevin,

I'm not sure exactly how much weight it took. I originally planned to use gravel as a weight but after filling the canisters up I found out I didn't have enough volume for the gravel to work. For each light I ended up using 11 each 3/4-10 heavy structural nuts I happened to have on hand. I just added some weight, put the pipe cap on without glue and put them in the pool to see how they floated, then added/removed weight until I had it right, then glued the caps on.

**Hitek** · 06-29-2010, 11:10 AM

Originally Posted by TN Hillbilly

Charger,

Kevin,

I'm not sure exactly how much weight it took. I originally planned to use gravel as a weight but after filling the canisters up I found out I didn't have enough volume for the gravel to work. For each light I ended up using 11 each 3/4-10 heavy structural nuts I happened to have on hand. I just added some weight, put the pipe cap on without glue and put them in the pool to see how they floated, then added/removed weight until I had it right, then glued the caps on.

I would estimate that to be about 1.5-1.75 lbs. I have my stuff ordered to buils my lights. Hoping my brother (a plumber) can come through with some clear PVC so I do not have to order it. The cheapest I have found is $38 for a 8' piece + shipping.

**Hitek** · 06-29-2010, 04:33 PM

Ok, it looks like I need 1 1/2" PVC for the ballast but can you tell me how long the ballast is? I would like to go ahead and get the PVC tube ready so all I have to do is slide everything inside once the ballast comes in.

**DrJohn** · 06-29-2010, 04:56 PM

Hillbilly...looks like you're going to light up a pretty good sized chunk of the lake!!! Hope you catch a bunch...

**Big Ridge Brewer** · 06-29-2010, 08:50 PM

I have the parts on hand, just haven't had the time to slap them together. If things would ever slow down at work I'll get it done. I did power up the lights the other night for the youngest boy. He liked them.

**Cane Pole** · 06-29-2010, 09:30 PM

Neat..

Looks like an Obi-Wan Kenobi sword.

**kevinmays** · 06-29-2010, 09:58 PM

Scott
if you got the ones i used they are about 6-7 inches long. i cut my pvc at 9 inches and there is plenty of room for wire and ballast

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