Running Lights

Ben M

Ben M

Active member
I've read here of some of y'all using the battery powered led running lights in lieu of permanently wired in lights. Pros/cons?

I can run wire now if I'm gonna....
 
on my current boat, I use an LED battery powered lights. 3 years, same set of batteries, not problems.

My previous boat had hard-wired lights, they too worked well for years.

IMO, if you are already considering wiring the boat, why not put in hardwire? Still go LED though. They are worth the extra money.
 
Will you have an electric start motor? If so you already need to have a battery and there is no reason not to hardwire in your lights. Otherwise the pros of using battery operated LEDs over permanent lights would be you save the space and weight (both are typically limited in a duck boat) of a battery. If you have an electric start motor and are already going to have a battery in the boat then having them hard wired is worth it just for the ease of flipping a switch to turn your lights on and off instead of having to attach and detach the lights at the start and end of your day
 
Ben~
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As others have said, the real benefit to "portable LED nav lights" comes when you do not already have a battery for the motor.

I remain,

Without e-start.....

SJS
 
Hard wired LED's with fuse and switch. If no electric start then all you need is a 7amp SLA battery data:image/jpeg;base64,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
 
I refuse to get all sweated up trying to pullstart a motor at O dark thirty. My Broadbill has 2 batteries, one for electric start and the other for the things I hard wired in to spoil myself. But they are small batteries, garden tractor size. Plenty big for both tasks and there is the "belt and suspender" theory at work here. My motor also is a recoil start so there would be my plan C
 
Definitely in the pull start boat...pardon the pun.

Hard wired would let me put a couple floods on the bow...hmmm...
 
I never had an electric start motor on any of my duck boats until recently and I must say it's pretty nice! I now have hardwired running, cockpit and light bar as a result.
 
My Nissan was electric start, my current Merc 25 is not.

The Merc is easy to start but I still wish I had electric start again.
 
Wire it, buy yourself an ATV battery and you are set. I used an ATV battery in my duckboat for years and it was awesome. Compact and vibration resistant with enough power for all the lights I wanted to run.
 
I'm partial to the battery-operated LED's. They're so simple to install. If one goes bad, you can get a new set for $30. Its worth $30 not to have to fiddle with bulbs, heat shrinking wires, etc. As I get older, I increasingly value simplicity.
 
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