Question about running LED truck light bar in Otter flip

Hey everyone, I am looking at how to do my lighting in my new Otter cabin pro xt1200 and I was thinking about running lights off either the center of my sled in-front of my center console or on the far corners of the sled instead of above me. I will also be running basic Led rope lights on the bottom side of my seat rail to light the sled and those will be on a separate switch. Anyway, if I were to run just one light in the center I was looking at this one: http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/traveller-725-in-36w-bar-light?cm_vc=-10005
If I were to run 2 lights one on each front corner of the sled I was looking at these: http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/traveller-15w-square-worklight?cm_vc=-10005

What would you guys pick? I’m thinking having the lights on the front of the sled rather than above would be nice and would keep the shadows down. Any opinions on this? I have 1 12v 7Ah vex battery, would I need to add 1 more to be able to power these lights? Would like to be able to have 6-8 hours worth of light usage for night fishing. What would you guys do? Thanks

You may find that 36 watts of light is way too bright. I just installed a pair of 18 watt lights for back up lights on a trailer and they light up the whole face of my garage wall.

Remember, the less wattage you use the less battery you will need.

Ebay is much cheaper than stores for light bars for the same quality imo

That lights listed will light up way more than an Otter cabin…even just the square work lights would be very bright for a portable shack. I can’t comment on battery life as I use small strip lights zip tied to my top bar and ran to a Vex battery, it lasts days but it’s only a fraction of the wattage you mentioned.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EHHLD8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ok, so I went a found a 4 pack of single bulb led lights. They are 2″ in diameter and 3 watts a piece and 180 lumens. Do you guys think I will need to tie in another vex battery to get the 8 or more hours of run time I am looking for?

12 watts draws one amp at 12v(rough average). So a 4 amp-hour battery would be good for roughly 4 hours, etc.

iowa_josh wrote:

12 watts draws one amp at 12v(rough average). So a 4 amp-hour battery would be good for roughly 4 hours, etc.

I found a calculator and came up with the same figures that you are stating. I ordered a 12v 20ah battery to link to the 12v 7ah battery. And that should give me 27hrs of run time with all 4 lights on. They will be on separate switches so that I can run 2 at a time. I will also have a 3rd switch that will control a short strip of LEDs that will be tied to the bottom of the seat rail to illuminate the inside of the sled when needed. I will post pics when completed.

I think your flasher will be lit up with zooplankton with that much light.

I do what I can to go dim. And enjoy a headlight that I can dim well.

Seems like total light overkill… But hey, you won’t have a hard time directing your friends to your house….uh hey, yeah just walk to the house that is lit up like a carp spearing boat

404 ERROR wrote:

That lights listed will light up way more than an Otter cabin…even just the square work lights would be very bright for a portable shack. I can’t comment on battery life as I use small strip lights zip tied to my top bar and ran to a Vex battery, it lasts days but it’s only a fraction of the wattage you mentioned.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EHHLD8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

X2

I run a 4′ section diagonally across my 949i hub ceiling and have plenty of light. This picture will give you an idea somewhat of the amount.

The light strip comes with an adhesive backing so I attached to an old piece of wood trim, soldered the wires to the strip, and connectors for power source and was done.

Economical, durable and easy to use.

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Got the lights all in and wired up and working. Tried them out tonight in the dark garage and they work phenomenal. I added a red LED trailer marker light to the bottom of the console to light up the sled. Let me know what you guys think.

Whatever you choose, a simple in line dimmer saves the hassle of trying to get it ‘just right’. They’re quite inexpensive.