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Jan 18th, 2008
OceanLED underwater boat lights product review receives great acclaim
Marshall Solomon, Marsh Marine, SC
The bottom line reason we have a boat is to have fun, so this month I want to review a product that literally radiates fun.
Most of the time my job is solving some problem with fuel or AC cooling, but now and then I do get to do something different. Recently, Marsh Marine was asked to install underwater lights on a SeaRay Sundancer transom. My customer’s criteria were quality and performance. As I set about doing my product research, it came as a bit of a surprise to me to discover there were a number of varieties of underwater lights, each with different properties. Having waded through the process of selecting the right product for my client, I thought an article about underwater lights might be a beneficial time saver to readers.
Before you dismiss the idea of underwater lighting as a frivolity, do yourself a favor and read on. My first inclination about underwater lights was that they were merely a novelty too, but by the time I’d completed the installation and witnessed these lights in action, I became a pleased supporter whose opinion had changed 180 degrees. Of all the devices I’ve installed on boats over my 40 plus years in the marine business, nothing has given me such pleasure and pure fun than seeing these lights do their thing at night.
Before I get too far ahead of my story, let’s begin by sorting out how underwater lights are used and the types available. As you might first conclude, these lights add effect to the water surrounding a boat, much like a pool light adds ambiance to your yard. For those of you who need more practical benefits, they make a most dramatic way to locate a vessel in trouble from aloft. For you fishing guys, they attract bait fish like you would not believe! Fish are drawn to the light like steel to a magnet. At anchor with these lights on, it is both entertaining and awesome to view the scene in what amounts to a private aquarium right off your stern. Sit back with a cool one and soak up what boating is supposed to be all about...fun!
There are basically four types of underwater lights: Halogen, Xenon, HID, and LED. Halogen is the least bright, Xenon is the next step up and HID bulbs are the brightest of the three, all have been around for at least 50 years and suffer from major faults. They use too much electricity (amps) and produce significant heat and therefore pose potential hazards. In the case of Xenon and HID bulbs, they will lose, on average, 50% of their light output by the time they have reached half of their life. Just for life expectancy alone, compare: Halogen lights have a life of approximately 500 to 1,000 hours; Xenon has some 1,000 to 3,000 hours; and HIDs have about 3,000 to 5,000 hours if you use them in optimal conditions, which we all know you don’t have on a boat! LEDs are the light bulb of the future, here today. Take a look at car tail lights and most traffic signals. All are moving to LEDs. The new Audi A8 will be the first road car to have LEDs as headlights this year and Volkswagen, Porsche and Lamborghini are to follow suit! It would seem the move in technology will be similar to the television revolution from tube to LCD and plasma. The far and away leader in marine underwater lighting is OceanLED, an international company with its U.S. distribution center located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. OceanLED lights will last 40,000 to 60,000 hours! Heck, you could run the things constantly, 24/7, for more time than most people will own their boat! Additionally, these LED lights will shine fully bright throughout their entire lifespan. Cutting right to the bottom line, LED lights use the least amount of electricity, produce the greatest amount of light output, run far cooler and last tremendously longer than any other underwater light. OceanLED meets all of these criteria while also offering a variety of colors, mounting options, and materials.
Depending on the vessel’s size and the light model, these lights can be mounted anywhere beneath the waterline from 6 inches to 600 feet if needed!! Spacing between lights is a matter of preference and budget! Larger yachts often have them every few feet completely around the vessel. Smaller to mid-sized boats generally have two or better still, three or four of them across the stern. OceanLED offers colors of white, blue, and green. In clear waters like those of Florida or the Keys, white is best with blue a good second choice. For more opaque waters like those of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, blue followed by green works best. In areas such as the Great Lakes the best color seems to be green as the color doesn’t get washed out by the murky water. However it’s all down to personal preference and OceanLED has lots of pictures and some very exciting videos of the lights in action on their website, www.oceanled.com.
The quality of OceanLED’s products is impeccable and installing these lights is relatively easy. OceanLED offers several light sizes, mounting options, and materials. I prefer their Thru-Hull models which are made of heavy bronze and require only a small one inch hole. Electrical connections are made using supplied waterproof, snap together plugs which integrate into a transformer which OceanLED calls a Driver. This unit is in turn connected to a fused, switched power supply generally located on the dash panel. These Drivers are available in 12 & 24 volt DC or 110 volt AC. Since they are kept cool by the surrounding water, all their lights have a built in automatic overheat cutoff which protects the light should any condition occur which might cause them to overheat. This clever safety simply shuts off the light until the proper temperature is restored which makes them the ONLY lights on the market you can safely leave on when the boat is running. The picture above shows the OceanLED Rooster Flame that you get and the videos on their website showing the boats running really are amazing. OceanLED even provides a removable plastic cover over the light lens to make bottom painting a snap. The actual lens has a special optical coating which OceanLED calls Tritonium. This space age material provides fantastic light dispersal and sea growth resistance which literally outshines all competition. All OceanLED lights carry a two year warranty.
The real thrill, as I’ve said, is running with these lights illuminating the wake behind the boat! The OceanLED Rooster Flame will stretch out behind the moving boat as if you are trailing the blast of some Atlas rocket. It is truly a rush to see. If you want to add something fresh and exciting to your “ho hum” boating experience, check out OceanLED’s underwater lights. You will not be disappointed, I promise you.
For more information on OceanLED underwater lights contact them at 954-523-2250 or see their website www.oceanled.com.
The future’s bright, the future’s OceanLED.
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