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LED sight gauge back lighting.

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by Capt Bill11, May 29, 2015.

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  1. Capt Bill11, May 29, 2015
    #1
    Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    Sarasota/Ft. Lauderdale FL
    I got tired of having a hard time reading my fuel tank sight tubes between the old dis colored vinyl tubing and the fact that the metal surround protecting the tubing was not open in the back to let light in.

    So I put in new tubing and added a strip of LED lights to the back of the surround for back lighting.

    The LEDs came from Home Depot. The come with a dimmer/transformer but the LEDe are 12v and encased in clear plastic with 3M adhesive on the back of the strip.

    So I just dropped the voltage down off one of my near by 24v engine room lights to 12v and hooked the LEDs up with out the supplied transformer.

    [​IMG]

    Came out pretty good I think.
  2. olderboater, May 29, 2015
    #2
    olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Looks great. I think rapidly we're going from the must replace incandescent with LED stage to the awareness of how much LED can do additional for us. We have a garage (long story but not the one in our house) converted into a work room. The man who did the build out is an old timer been doing every kind of build and maintenance all his life type. Fortunately though he's always touring the stores and reading for new ideas and the work areas he's created with LED light a key part are incredible.

    You've just done a great job and shown that there is no reason to have one of those "sure is hard to see" or "let me pull out my flashlight" spots below deck anymore.
  3. Chasm, May 29, 2015
    #3
    Chasm

    Chasm Senior Member

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    Germany
    Nice.
    There are also 24V strips. OTOH dropping the voltage with a power supply to 12Vis not bad either, the simple LED strips with resistors really dislike over voltage. (aka charging the batteries.)
  4. Capt Bill11, May 29, 2015
    #4
    Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    Location:
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    True. But I had the power supply on hand and the strips were easy to pick up at HD. So since I was changing one of the ER lights near the sight gauge any way and was getting into the wiring, and I've been going to HD almost every other day for other projects, this was an quick and easy way to go.