LED rope lights

[HodakaD]

I'm rebuilding an old shack and would like to put some error lights in it. Can someone recommend a LED rope light that I can wire into a battery with a switch?  Preferably an affordable one.  I would really appreciate it.  Thanks.

[hardwater diehard]

Lot of IS members have been getting them via Amazon/Ebay  through China ...lot of sifting through .

[HodakaD]

Are they getting the rope lights in the plastic tube or the strip lights? Is the plastic tube necessary to diffuse the light?  I want to run it along a wall to have dimmer lighting other than the overhead led lights. I don't want a blinding bright light. More mood lighting if you will.

[3300]

i use led strip that's rolled onto a reel so they call them reel led strip. 16.4 feet long 5050 water proof smd and use a remote controlled in-line remote on/off/dimmer controller from amazon. i found the strip needs to be about 4 foot minimum for the remote to work. maybe it needs that length as a load for it to be seen.
all of it is about 15$ plus wire and connectors. you choose how bright you want them and the remote has 100%, 50% and 25% and then infinite up/down to the maximum brightness down to maybe 10%.

led's
https://www.amazon.com/SUPERNIGHT-5050SMD-Waterproof-Flexible-Version/dp/B00U5Y24QO/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1473473356&sr=8-15&keywords=5050+led+lights+waterproof

wire
https://www.amazon.com/EvZ-Extension-Strips-Single-Colour/dp/B009VCZ4V8/ref=pd_sim_60_12?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TW1G9AKMMC5AHTG7SED9

fasteners for hard walls. i use velcro one wrap for pole mounting. the tape backer it has is junk and you should leave the paper on it always to help protect the circuit from shorts.
https://www.amazon.com/SpiritLED-Mounting-Bracket-included-Waterproof/dp/B01F4U2K4E/ref=pd_sim_60_52?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TW1G9AKMMC5AHTG7SED9

in-line on/off/dimmer and can be found cheaper
https://www.amazon.com/Controller-Dimmer-Sinlge-Color-DC12V/dp/B016W9AA4I/ref=sr_1_106?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1473473732&sr=1-106&keywords=Mini+Remote+Controller+for+Single+Color+LED+Strip+Lights

remote controlled on/off/dimmer. i bought them cheaper, but these are cheap
https://www.amazon.com/Remote-Controller-DOITOP-Wireless-Control/dp/B01I92JPZ6/ref=sr_1_55?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1473473683&sr=1-55&keywords=Mini+Remote+Controller+for+Single+Color+LED+Strip+Lights

[HodakaD]

Thanks 3300! This is exactly what I needed. Do people recommend the warm or the cool white as far as color goes?  I was going to go warm, but since you can dim the strip's maybe the cool white is better?

[3300]

cool white always in every thing lights for me, even flash lights. it makes things seem to pop, like HD with that color where as the warm white looks subdued and dull looking. great for the bars womens bath room lighting tho and bar lighting where you want that smoked stained look/feel.

the cool white helps in the shanty to see the florescent indicators too. i use florescent fingernail polish on the indicators and rod tips for low light and night time fishing.

be careful where the leads are wired into the strip(s). i use hot glue to build up a strain relief after i solder new wires to the strip.

i use these in my pop ups and flip over shanties. i use two 4 footers in the flip and one 7 foot for the pop up.

heres what they look like in the flip over. when using velcro, you can point most of them down and out of the eyes on the front bar.

[HodakaD]

OK, thanks a lot for all this. I'm in the process of rebuilding my grandfather's 30 year old shack. It's going to be updated a little bit!

[3300]

glad to help.
sounds good!

i use a small ammo box for the batteries. i fish about 6 hours a day or more and have extra batteries. a small sla like 5 amp hour is fine. charge them after each outing.

[HodakaD]

I'm planning on having a deep cycle battery in the shack, I bought 2 double LED lights for the ceiling and a single for over a table. I also bought a LED porch light.  The shack is 8x12. I won't run all the lights at once, but when I need light I want it available.

[buuddy]

I'm planning on having a deep cycle battery in the shack, I bought 2 double LED lights for the ceiling and a single for over a table. I also bought a LED porch light.  The shack is 8x12. I won't run all the lights at once, but when I need light I want it available.

That is my setup exactly. I have the two sets of ceiling lights on separate rocker switches and a dimmer for the longer light string.
I went with the 3528 size diode, they put out less light per diode and therefore have less glare, also use less power.
I think the cool white (bright white) is a good choice, it is more of a task oriented light, the warm white is more suited for something like a living room light.
If you have fishing holes in your shack I highly recommend putting some under the floor next to the holes. You won't need much lighting there, with the 5050 size, one set of three lights should be more than enough. Also these lights should be the waterproof type that have the immersion protection number IP65, they are considered waterproof in regards to splashing and would work well there.
My underfloor lights are counter sunk into the floor joists so as not to get snagged during transport if things got rough. The wires are also countersunk.
Having underfloor lighting lets you see the line better when you are playing out a fish.

[HodakaD]

Hi Buddy, thanks for the input. Did you put your two overhead lights on the center on your ceiling, or did you put them towards the edges?  I thought about putting them near opposite walls thinking it would help with my wall mounted rattle reels.

[buuddy]

Hi Buddy, thanks for the input. Did you put your two overhead lights on the center on your ceiling, or did you put them towards the edges?  I thought about putting them near opposite walls thinking it would help with my wall mounted rattle reels.

I have the longer string running directly above the seat (8' length), the two fishing holes are in the same line as the seat on the two end walls.
The shorter string is directly over top of the table. I find that a little bit of light here stops the shadow created by your body when you are standing there cleaning fish.
I think you have the right idea, put the lighting where it is needed most.

[AdverseCity]

I recommend multiple lights but if you're puting them in a central location don't put them directly overhead. When you lean over something your head will cast a shadow and make it difficult to see. I put 3 strips of LED lights, one over each bench and one down the middle, no shadows at all this way.

[Caseman2]

i use led strip that's rolled onto a reel so they call them reel led strip. 16.4 feet long 5050 water proof smd and use a remote controlled in-line remote on/off/dimmer controller from amazon. i found the strip needs to be about 4 foot minimum for the remote to work. maybe it needs that length as a load for it to be seen.
all of it is about 15$ plus wire and connectors. you choose how bright you want them and the remote has 100%, 50% and 25% and then infinite up/down to the maximum brightness down to maybe 10%.

led's
https://www.amazon.com/SUPERNIGHT-5050SMD-Waterproof-Flexible-Version/dp/B00U5Y24QO/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1473473356&sr=8-15&keywords=5050+led+lights+waterproof

wire
https://www.amazon.com/EvZ-Extension-Strips-Single-Colour/dp/B009VCZ4V8/ref=pd_sim_60_12?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TW1G9AKMMC5AHTG7SED9

fasteners for hard walls. i use velcro one wrap for pole mounting. the tape backer it has is junk and you should leave the paper on it always to help protect the circuit from shorts.
https://www.amazon.com/SpiritLED-Mounting-Bracket-included-Waterproof/dp/B01F4U2K4E/ref=pd_sim_60_52?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TW1G9AKMMC5AHTG7SED9

in-line on/off/dimmer and can be found cheaper
https://www.amazon.com/Controller-Dimmer-Sinlge-Color-DC12V/dp/B016W9AA4I/ref=sr_1_106?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1473473732&sr=1-106&keywords=Mini+Remote+Controller+for+Single+Color+LED+Strip+Lights

remote controlled on/off/dimmer. i bought them cheaper, but these are cheap
https://www.amazon.com/Remote-Controller-DOITOP-Wireless-Control/dp/B01I92JPZ6/ref=sr_1_55?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1473473683&sr=1-55&keywords=Mini+Remote+Controller+for+Single+Color+LED+Strip+Lights

I run the same lights.  But will buy that remote thing.    My switch I mounted with double sided tape won't stay taped to the sled. So this will work great.

Thanks!

[banders731]

so new guy here, especially new to adding things to my Frabill Commando.....    One thing ive wanted to do for sure is add some of those strip LED lights to at least a bar or two in the flip-over.  First off I just purchased the strip lights, some wire and the inline on/off dimmer switch from Amazon (the ones listed above)  I figured i'd get the lights attached to the bars like mentioned with velcro or whatever, but my main question (since ive never done this - and this is super newbie) what do you do to get them wired and hooked up to say a flasher battery?  Do you just solder the strips to some wire, then to the dimmer, then to some alligator clips?  Again this is something new to me.......thanks in advance 

-b-

[cwavs1982]

so new guy here, especially new to adding things to my Frabill Commando.....    One thing ive wanted to do for sure is add some of those strip LED lights to at least a bar or two in the flip-over.  First off I just purchased the strip lights, some wire and the inline on/off dimmer switch from Amazon (the ones listed above)  I figured i'd get the lights attached to the bars like mentioned with velcro or whatever, but my main question (since ive never done this - and this is super newbie) what do you do to get them wired and hooked up to say a flasher battery?  Do you just solder the strips to some wire, then to the dimmer, then to some alligator clips?  Again this is something new to me.......thanks in advance 

-b-

That really depends on what you are comfortable doing.  If your good at soldering, then that is a good way to go.  The dimmer vendor may offer connectors that you can wire to.  If you want to see a lot of different options, do a search on this site here for "Flip Over Power Box".  This thread has a ton of advise from guys who have done what you are talking about and will give you a lot of ideas.  How far you want to take your design depends on what you are looking for.  Clipping the leads to the battery is a simple way of getting power to the lights.  Adding switches to the lights will give you the option to just switch them on with the power already connected. 

I did LED lights wired to connectors, then brought that wire to a DC jack.  This would then allow me to connect to the power box that had my switches.  I did not use the dimmer.  One area to look at is are your LED waterproof or indoor rated?  If they are waterproof, you have to remove the silicon covering to expose the terminals on the LED's.  Just take a razor blade and cut down, but don't cut all the way thru.  Just peal the covering off and you can then either connect or solder to the light.  I think all this is covered in that thread.  Gave me a ton of ideas.  You can see here, alot of guys have already thought out a lot of this. 

[banders731]

hopefully the pic works (first time pic poster)........anyway got the LEDs installed inside of the Frabill today.  I'm glad I spent the extra $5 on the inline dimmer for them cuz wow are they bright!!

come on ice!!!

-b-

[cwavs1982]

Looking good! Yah, its amazing how bright they are, but you will enjoy it. 

[4x4Dad]

Excellent LED  teaching thread guys . Thank you . I'll be trying this in my new hub shelter .