Lighting up a flip-up shelter

Ok guys, I’m looking for ideas on how to light up my portable. I like to keep things convenient and out of the way.

I was thinking about rope lights wrapped around one of the supports. Any other ideas? Thanks.

I use a UFO style light for quick lighting at night I run a green 18″ submersable hooked to a flasher or spare battery.

When I had lights in my otter, I rigged up four 15 bulb led lights. They were on swivels, and toggle switches rigged to a flasher battery. Worked really slick!

Snowmobile/ATV, the weight disappears

I saw this while on a little shopping trip…

It secures to the shelter with a D-ring. Runs on four AA batteries..There are three light settings (white, green, or white and green)and it is 5-1/8″ diameter.

I use an emergency light with radio. It has a florescent light and flashlight. I just use a piece of velcro and attach it to the center support. Plus the radio allows me to listen to football. I use to use a lantern, but this is way better.

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I use an emergency light with radio. It has a florescent light and flashlight. I just use a piece of velcro and attach it to the center support. Plus the radio allows me to listen to football. I use to use a lantern, but this is way better.

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Yeah, I’ve got a long history with lanterns. I have no desire to ever go back to lanterns.

I got these slick flexible led strips from a place on the web called besthongkong. I got one of the 48cm and one of the 96cm lights in my Otter Lodge and it’s more than enough light.
They’re water proof and ready to hook up to 12vdc. I love’em.

I also use the best hongkong led lights.Here`s a couple pictures showing how well they light up the porty.

I purchased a led rope light last year that would hook up to a 12V battery/vexilar and I didn’t care for it too much. It wasn’t very bright and didn’t put off enough light for me.

I have been looking at Cabelas and they had a Led unit that would hang up on the aluminum tubing and it runs off of AAA batteries. Hopefully the link works.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0038267517271a&type=product&cmCat=froogle&cm_ven=data_feed&cm_cat=froogle&cm_pla=1510304&cm_ite=0038267517271a

I picked up a couple of these LED lanterns for use in the boat while fishing after dark. They have hooks on the bottom, allowing them to hang from the tubing in your portable as well.

VERY bright, 3 light settings, and at ~ $15 each they provide very economical lighting.

I use the LED strip lights. These are not the rope lights that you often see, these are much brighter. You can get them from besthongkong… or save some money on e bay by searching for 12v led strip. I like these because I can easily hook them up to a vex battery in the house and they last forever. You can zip tie them to the poles in your portable and dont have to worry about ever taking them down, just wire a 12 volt toggle switch and turn em on. You can also keep the wires out of the way by drilling a small hole in the conduit and running the wire through the poles to the battery

I agree with the Best HongKong led lights. I added these to my one man Otter last year. I built a box to hold my battery and mounted it to my Otter sled then added led switches to turn on/off the seperate lights. Makes it easy to switch them on and off when needed. I’ll post pics once I get my canvas on. I can tell you they are very bright and well worth the $. I am adding them to my Otter Mag for this season. No more lanterns for me. Get them ordered soon because they do take a few weeks to get here from Hong Kong. That way you will have them before Ice season starts…

They are without a doubt the best lights.Mine are also on 3 toggles switches because having all 3 strings on at the same time is way to brite.I have 2 48cm strips and 1 96cm strip.I also used red electrical tape to fasten them to the poles because tie straps leave a sharp edge where you cut them.Here`s a picture of of the ice holes at night showing how brite.This picture is with just the 96cm strip on my center pole.

Here are a few pics from my setup:

Just one of the two 48cm light strips I have in this house. It’s nice to have them on separate switches because both on at the same time is way too much. It is nice to turn them both on when you hook a fish.

Last one with one of my LED strips on

I use the BHK lights too. 2 48cm strips light my scout up like daytime. I just wish the wires were a little heavier.

RyanK, the pics I posted are from my Otter cabin one man. Pulling it by hand is pretty easy. It only added about 5 lbs. including the battery.

I agree the only thing I don’t like about the BHK lights is the wire is thin. Really you could swap it out with heavier wire by cutting it close to the lights, heat shrink the ends together and wrap with electrical tape.