Converted deck lighting to LEDs

Toxarch · Aug 25, 2009

I have a '92 Skeeter and it has a deck light in the front and the rear. Both are made by Perko and both contain lights that apparently can not be replaced. Plus they are halogen lights and will eventually burn out again. LEDs can be bright white and hardly use any electricity at all. So I wanted to put in something more long term for a low cost. I ordered some 4 chip waterproof LEDs from Oznium. I've ordered a couple of things from them in the past and they offer a decent price and ship quick, even with the cheap shipping. This is easy to do and doesn't take long. The hard part was getting the bulb in the right spot.

Tools, the only thing not pictured is the soldering iron:

Here's what the lights look like:

Toxarch · Aug 25, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

Cut the old wires off and then push them through the back. That will release the bulb and wiring.

Here's the LED that is going in its place:

Drill a 5/16 hole in the back. You have to ream the hole out a little. I think an 11/32 bit would work, but I didn't have one available. You want a snug fit around the smaller diameter of the LED housing. The hole pictured is actually too high. You want it lower than this. I made the other one lower and will show those finished pics.

Toxarch · Aug 25, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

Make sure you wired it up right. It's a diode and only works one way. Solder and liquid tape the connections. You can wrap electric tape over that if you want or if the liquid tape was too thin.

Silicone up the back to hold the LED in place.

And here's the finished pics. This one has the light mounted lower than above.

flargin · Aug 25, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

Nice work!

I have been changing some of mine out with LED's. Have to check out Oznium.

crazymadbastard · Aug 26, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

Cool project! Do you think this conversion would work well for anchor and running lights?

Toxarch · Aug 26, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

crazymadbastard said:
Cool project! Do you think this conversion would work well for anchor and running lights?

You could do it, but I don't think you would need to. You can find direct replacement LED bulbs to fit in the sockets already there. It's as easy as changing a bulb.

Try the following website:
http://www.v-leds.com/

A lot of car/truck guys buy bulbs from them to replace their interior and exterior light bulbs. All you have to do is figure out the bulb size that you need. Let us know what you find.

Toxarch · Aug 26, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

Pull one (or both) of the bulbs and see what kind they are. Pay attention to the position of the poles on the sides. Here's an Australian website with the correct bulbs. Maybe using their bulb part # will help to find a US website with the right bulbs.

http://www.ledshoponline.com/marine_led.htm

Bifflefan · Aug 26, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

just a side note, those bulbs (old ones) look just like the 70's to mid 90's dome light bulbs from trucks i have owned.

But i like the new ones better.

werthert · Aug 26, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

EXCELLENT POST and thank you for picturing out the work! Awesome! I learned tons from this, thanks fella's!

Toxarch · Aug 26, 2009

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

bifflefan said:
just a side note, those bulbs (old ones) look just like the 70's to mid 90's dome light bulbs from trucks i have owned.

But i like the new ones better.

These are the same bulbs. Finding replacement bulbs wouldn't have been hard, putting them in would have because of the way the old ones were installed.

werthert said:
EXCELLENT POST and thank you for picturing out the work! Awesome! I learned tons from this, thanks fella's!

No problem. I always try to document with pictures and share. Makes it easy to explain and helps others. Hopefully others do the same with their ideas and I can learn from them.

jamaicabraden · Apr 9, 2011

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

I have a different problem with deck lights. I have four monted above the rod holders, and below the gunnels. But when I turn the lights off the light closest to my battery turns on & the other three off. Just wondering what causes this of.

_____________
Kichler Lighting

LippCJ7 · Apr 9, 2011

Re: Converted deck lighting to LEDs

Toxarch very nice work please follow up on how they work in the field

jamaicabraden you would be better served posting your own thread to get an idea of where to start diagnosing your issue

Converted deck lighting to LEDs

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