12volt fluorescent lighting 3

[JW]

Ok so I finished work on the lights by friday afternoon.

This link is a continuation from my diary.

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/11/14/234435/08

Here are some pictures.

This is where I have the ballasts protected from the marine enviroment.

This is a picture of the housing before paint and final wiring.

Otherside of the ballast box showing switches.

Heres what the fluorescent bulbs look tike in the poycarbonate tube assemblies.

Picture of the boat docked at the marina with the lights on at night. This was after a 6 hours of running.

These are the batterys im running on the boat. There great, they can tip over and wont leak.

   Well, there was no shrimp to be seen this trip. But I was encouraged to see a couple of 30foot shrimp trawlers tooling around in the area. Generally the shrimp dont start to run until late december. But there have been years when they have run this early.

Anyhow, here's a picture of me heading out the channel saturday evening about 5:30pm.

JW

[2dumb2kwit]

 "A couple of 30 foot shrimp", holy crap!.................oh...a couple of 30 foot shrimp trawlers.(hehe, just messin' with ya) Nice work, cool set-up,...throw in some good eatin', I gotta say you da man!

[JW]

Hey Dude, seriously man, CHANGE YOUR USERNAME.

Just a suggestion, I mean this in a kidding type of way...

 2d2q, how 'bout that, I just made you a new user name or at the very least a handle.

So anyway 2D2Q,

 Ya, what I really got out of this project, was learning about 12volt fluorescent ballasts, well all ballasts actually. If that wire running down along the tube of the fluorescent bulb is not sheilded by some thin gauge sheet metal that is grounded. It can cause problems for the bulb.

  Now what "I've" learned is that there may be some type of polarity indicator on most standard ballasts output. Such as, for the dc ballast there was a long and short wire of the same color, to go to the bulb.

 However with the ac type ballasts(the type I worked with) had 4 independant circuits with two separate commons to illuminate 4 separate bulbs. 2 red wires 2 blue wires, and 2 yellow wires that were branched to make common on each red and blue circuit(it did not matter which of the to yellow wires went to either red or blue circuit.

 With the ac fixture and ballast there was a 'grounding plane' in the form of sheet metal. I could reverse the bulbs with no conseqence.

 With the dc ballasts one of the output lead wires was running along the bulb, since there was no fixture, the wire running along the bulb could cause some problem for the bulb, because it had no ground plane, sheiding the 'supposed wrong' output wire from the ballast.

 I left the bulb stationary(with the dc ballast, no fixture)(in its orientation :ie the lable facing the same direction) and switched the output leads from the ballast to the bulb.

This immediately seemed to correct what ever was happening to the bulb.

 Apparently if the correct output lead from the ballast is running along-side the bulb, with no grounding plane, it doesnt matter.

I sure wish this possibility was nailed down somewhere in the directions, it would have saved alot of work. Just to know the grounding plane was even useful, for whatever reason, would have made the job easier.  

  The shrimp are the reason, I was motivated, to follow thru with this 12volt fluorescent lighting scheme of mine. I hope to get four 5gallon buckets full, this season. A 5gallon bucket is the max you can take in shrimp per day. Last year, I got one and a half 5gallon buckets worth, for the whole season.

JW

[JW]

There's one additional level I can take this too, such as 12 fluorescent lighting 4.

 It is an possibility that the 40watt 60inch fluorescent tubes are too bright, to get shrimp. As the 'shrimp trawlers' were circling around, I had a chance to observe there lights. They were simple incandecents about 60watt, strung out with outriggers about 3 or 4 on each side. They were running a gas ac generator, you could hear it running. I was anchored.

 I use a silver coating on solar applications(and others). Its basically a simple silver re-dox that has been used for years for mirror making. I have coated lightbulbs before with this stuff, it makes one hell of a fullmoon-light color when the bulbs are lit. Or a one-way mirror. Since its 99.99999 pure AG(silver) only a couple of microns thick. I could coat the fluorescent tubes very easily. Just as simply as coating a piece of glass to make it a mirror. But I must stress the silver coating is translucent. And it does not hold up well at all, to anytype of weathering. This is why I think it might be ok in the poly-carbonate tube assemblies.

 I was thinking, not only would this make a fine grounding-plane, when coated on the fluorescent bulb, it would dim the light in such a-way, that the bulbs would become shrimp magnets.(if there not all ready)

 Its funny, because I turned the lights on as I was traveling with the boat at speed(20mph), when I went out last saturday nite. As I hit certian areas, 40 or 50 fish would jump out of the water next to the boat while traveling at speed(whats called a plane).

 Needless to say, this startled the hell out of me. I slowed the boat down to almost a stop at one point, turns out they were needle fish. several swam straight up to the lights, I got a good look at them, could have netted them if I wanted too. Perhaps some were ladyfish, these were easily 2 feet long.

 Well, we'll see how well the lights work for the shrimp as they are, if it turns out the lights are to bright(can you imagion me getting this far with this?) I will do a part 4 with the silver coating on the bulbs.

jw

[2dumb2kwit]

 O.K., I've got one of those "out there" ideas. What if you got some of those different color gels, like they use for stage lighting, and rig it so you can change colors, at will. Then you can experiment to see what color attracts more shrimp.(You know, red sky at night.....)

 On the subject of my name..........It tells a story.(haha) On a racing forum, that I'm on often, the guys now just call me 2dumb. I'm not sure how I should take that.LOL  

[JW]

2d2q,

 Yes thats correct. People have gotten good results using different color tints on the shrimp lights. Ive heard red, green, and blue will work well. Its just such a pain in the ass, for me to r&r my bulbs, that I, most likely, wont get to the silver coating for a while... But it does cast a bluish gold hue.

 Meanwhile, I bought some multicolored electrical tape rolls today, that I can stick on the outside of the polycarbonate tubes,(if the need arises) and shouldent be too much trouble to remove, it not left on more than a week. I figure I can wipe-off any sticky glue residue with prep-solvent.

"On the subject of my name..........It tells a story.(haha) On a racing forum,"

 You wouldent believe the crap ive gone thru with my propeller selection. It was either hop-up the engine(4stroke honda 20hp) or figure out the proper diameter&pitch.

 I came to a compromise with this, some 104 octane boost added to the fuel, and a 9 1/2 by 8 5/8s prop, that I had modified by a local propellers shop to 10in diameter and left the pitch at 8 5/8s. The factory props available, are generally 9 1/4 dia by either 7,8,9 or 10 pitch. But I found this oddball prop available from the factory at 9 1/2in dia by 8 5/8s pitch, and had it modified to 10in dia.

 Needless to say it works perfect for my application, it pays to do your homework.

Consider your self broken-in, 2D2Q, and welcome to the board. Ive been here for several years its a cool place.

JW

[2dumb2kwit]

 I'm not sure we are talking about the same stuff. The stuff that I'm talking about is like very thin plastic, that comes in different translusant(sp) colors. I was thinking along the lines of a small frame made of alum angle (or channel) so that you could slide the color you want under the light.(between the light and water)

 I had another idea; You could use a 12v stereo with an underwater speaker, and play a recording that says...."Here shrimp.....Heeerrrree shrimp!"LOL I'm sorry, I could just picture myself in the boat, trying to call the shrimp, and thought of that.LOL

 Thanks for welcoming me to the board, but I don't think I'll feel like one of the gang, until the guy with the flying combine, throws a smart remark at me.(I mean this in a good way)(and I'm sorry, I can't remember his name right this second)LOL. Just playin'!

[vawtman]

The combine doesnt fly.He is a fan of the movie"$#|+ty $#|+ty bang bang and thinks it can.

 Good guy normally though.

[vawtman]

JW

What about eliminating the ballast alltogether and stringing(paralell)a bunch of the c9(christmas bulbs)led guts within the tube?120v though.

Ive had thoughts on this.

[2dumb2kwit]

 I hope nobody takes what I said the wrong way. As I said, I meant it in a good way. From what I've read, on here, he calls it like he see's it.....I LIKE THAT! I was reading this site for awhile before I ever posted. It really seems to be a good bunch of people on here.(Some just more colorful than others, and those are the ones I enjoy the most.)

[2dumb2kwit]

 JW, this is a little off subject, but I was nosey and read your diary, and looked at your web site, and thought you may enjoy reading a thread that I was reading awhile back, on another forum. www.speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7431

[vawtman]

Laughter is the best medicine.

 If you make a mistake, laugh about it and move on.Its much better than crawling in a hole and pouting.Ron keeps pokin his head out of the hole a good thing.Lots of knowledge built up.

 Sorta likes Havin Fun :>)

[JW]

Vawtman,

 Im sure that a string of the small lights would work. I cant run them at 120volts ac or dc. The 12volt ballast for my fluorecents needs no invertor.

2d2q,

 Thanks for the link, I will check that out. Neat, you read my diary. Anyhow I am just popping in real quick, can only leave a short reply tonight. If you really want to fit in around here, im sure that you can, change your user-name it will help bunches. I call you 2d2q becuase its easier for me too reply that way. I dont like to call anyone dumb, even if im forced too, well maybe by accident

 But Wasdaq/Ron, he is pretty smart. Uknow he doesnt watch television

JW

[JW]

Vawtman,

 Oh-yaaa, I remember the 4watt string of led chistmas lights. At such a low wattage that is an idea. My wife's not going to be happy about this, your giving me ideas.

JW

[coldspot]

Well,

For 12 VDC fluorescent lights I used-

Little 6" CFL battery powered ones from the dollar store,(I bought about $25-$30 of them), each one used 4 AA's,(1.5 X 4=6 Volts),so I hooked two together for 12 volts and they work great, only set thats failed so far was a set I sold to my girlfriends brother and he pulled hard on the wires and the solder joint came apart inside and he couldn't figure out the Neg to Pos from first light to second light.

 Here I learned to just start with Pos from power to Pos on first light and then Neg from this to Pos on next, and on until whatever you are building and adding the voltage to reach your power source volts.

 I just picked up last week some little clip on your hat 3 LED's lights at the same dollar store,(But now it's a $1.05 USD store).

 These each use 3 button cells, package states to use "3X Ag13 Battery", but they came with 3 LR44's taped to the back of package. These are 1.5 VDC but meter shows about 1.62 on new un used ones. I'll be testing them soon to see if using three is cutting the volts down to far and if so maybe they won't blow out to fast if only two are used splitting the 12 volt source.

 I know CFL's draw less than regular bulbs but LED's are even less than that, I have one light kit I built that is 120 VAC and has 272 LED's that just about blind you and you can't look straight into it.

This light was rated at 14 watts and I checked with my "Kill-O-Watt" meter and it tested equal to its rated draw. I now have another long couple of hours worth of soldering to do, light #2 is waiting.

$0.02

[2dumb2kwit]

 Dude, it's ok to call me 2dumb2kwit. Just think of it as calling a big guy "tiny". Besides, it just wouldn't sound right to call myself 2smart2start! LOL

[zeusmorg]

  If you are interested in changing the color of your fluorescents they make gel tubes for doing exactly that, gel film does take well to heat so there's no worry of it melting on a fluorescent light.

 http://www.stagespot.com/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=GEL-SLEEVES

easier than anything else, and an added benefit of holding the glass in place if a tube gets broken.

[JW]

Zeusmorg,

Thank-you for the link.

" and an added benefit of holding the glass in place if a tube gets broken."

yaaaa,

 Actually when 2d2q left this posting-

"O.K., I've got one of those "out there" ideas. What if you got some of those different color gels, like they use for stage lighting, and rig it so you can change colors, at will. Then you can experiment to see what color attracts more shrimp.(You know, red sky at night.....)"

   In my mind, I figured sometype of metering pump, flooding the polycarbonate tube that houses the fluorescent bulb. That way I could just drill a coupla holes and be able to effect the lamps shine

But then when 2d2q left this posting I was confused-

"I'm not sure we are talking about the same stuff. The stuff that I'm talking about is like very thin plastic, that comes in different translusant(sp) colors. I was thinking along the lines of a small frame made of alum angle (or channel) so that you could slide the color you want under the light.(between the light and water) "

 This is innitally why I was thinking some 'translucent' colored electrical tape stuck to the outside of the poly-tubes would be less of a hassle.

Coldspot,

"Well,

For 12 VDC fluorescent lights I used-

Little 6" CFL battery powered ones from the dollar store,(I bought about $25-$30 of them), each one used 4 AA's,(1.5 X 4=6 Volts),so I hooked two together for 12 volts and they work great,"

 Thru the link I have posted in the intro,

I paid about 40bucks for a 12volt high watt IOTA ballast, from-

www.store.solar-electric.com

I was able to illuminate 30watt and 40watt T8 bulbs with no problem, although the current draw will depend on the bulb. If you use one of these, take care to run the longer of the to output wires from the ballast, along the bulb, if you are using no-grounding plane, for the bulb fixture.

I must say im very impressed with this ballast.

I will keep trying to catch shrimp with the bulbs as you see them in the picture above. But it will take an actuall encounter with some running shrimp to determine which way to go as far as bulb tinting.

 For now, when the water is calm in the bay and Im traveling at like 23mph the lights will make enough light, to light the bottom in 10ft water depths. That part of these lights performance is so good I really dont want to change much.  

JW

[JW]

http://store.solar-electric.com/iohipo12vodc.html

I see there 44 bucks now, I bought 4 last month for 39.95

JW