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Legality of LED lighting

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lakebum

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Serious question.... I want to add LED rope lighting down both sides of the boat, blue, under the floor to shine down on the toons and water. I am in the process of getting an answer in Arkansas but if it's legal elsewhere it might help my argument. Due to cost and labor involved, I would realyy like to know ahead of time. If the blue LEDs are not legal I will check on using the red and green down the correct sides as a safety feature. Steve
 
It CT, auxiliary lights which are "visible" externally (meaning another boater can see if from their boat) is illegal due to the possibility of confusing/interfering with the stock/mandatory navigation lights. Your smart to check with your local regulations as well as use common sense. If the lights look great but in any way impede the ability of another boater to see the expected and standard navigation lights it would not be a good idea to run those. I know in many states the auxiliary lighting rules are also different for stationary VS under power use. Some states allow rather flexible use of lighting when the boat is anchored, much more strict when in motion.

I was boating last summer when a ski boat with some very impressive lighting was on lake after night fall. As nice as the lights were (we were anchored near by during a 4th of July show), he motored off with his multitude of mood lighting still running.....and frankly it did make it very hard to see the rather small/stock navigation lights on his boat.
 
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I can tell you in California blue lights are a No No.

I have been stopped and told (no ticket) that Blue light's are reserved for law enforcement. And that you and I displaying them give other boaters Mixed signals. Example! When you see blue lights you’re supposed to give way and it’s a No wake zone for certain amount of feet around the person/law enforcement displaying the blue light.

I have a friend that has been given a ticket for his Blue lights. He has a wake boat and he had blue lights on his tower speakers. His ticket was for (get this) impersonating a law enforcement officer! It was a simple fix it ticket but still it was a pain in the butt and a buzz kill for the night.

I have RGB or multi color Leds on my wake boat. I have been stopped while displaying "Red” the reason I was told I was stopped was "conflicting navigation lights" the cop said Red lights are reserved for forward navigation. And I had red lights going backwards. (and all directions lol)

Bottom line I still like and will run the lights "but not while under way" to avoid a (Free Safety Inspection) its best to not run any other lights other then the standard nav lights.

Save your fancy lights for when you’re parked and not underway. Depending on where you have your interior lights and what color you’re running the interior lights can make it hard to navigate at night. Another reason to keep them off while under way.

Here is a link to the lights on my wake boat so you can see what Im talking about.

 
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Grant.....YOU'RE A DOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Makes an old man wish for younger days!

So, I am assuming that with common sense, using the lights only when moored in a cove, they "might" be alright. I am checking this week with the locals. Steve
 
"So, I am assuming that with common sense, using the lights only when moored in a cove, they "might" be alright" I would say that would be a accurate statement. It's all how and when you use them.
 
I asked a buddy of mine who is US Coast Guard about this issue. He says USCG, Marine Patrol, Fish and Wildlife, and Sherriff must stop you per USCG rules if interfering with navigation lights. He says this would only apply while underway or if floating in a main waterway. Your red/green lights could be mistaken for a channel marker and cause damage to another vessel.

It will be up to the individual officer/state regarding limiting blue/red lights to just LE while at port.
 
Here is a Video of our 2275 with underwater lights.

I don't understand how anyone could confuse these lights with the cop's <<<LOL J/K

DSC04691.jpg


DSC04676.jpg
 
Those underwater lights are awesome....however even just moored up , running them in quick flash mode would likely get my local water enforcement issuing a ticket. They take a dim view of flashing red or blue lights due to the association with law enforcement use. Steady on I think i would be ok if not moving. Did you post any other info (Install, where to get...in another thread ?)
 
dcmtruby: Here is a link to some pictures of our boat and the install of the aftermarket underwater LED lights.



Im using Shadow Caster underwater lights. The ones I have are called SC-10 Im pretty sure they are to big to mount in the factory location. They make smaller ones called SC-4 and SC-6 Im pretty sure they would fit in the factory location (fish finder mount)

http://shadow-caster.com/

About 3 years ago I did some testing of underwater lights I got a bunch of LED underwater lights and tested them head to head and found the Shadow Casters were the best in MY test. Here is some pic's of my test boards.

The last pic is what our pontoon looks like when it's comming at you. The blue light wraps around the boat and you can even see it in front of you.

light test1.jpg

light test2.jpg

light test 3.jpg
 
Gee,

That's some serious swag to buy all of those lights to test them!
 
My friend who is a lighting contractor helped me with "THE TEST" the number that the companies we giving us made it very hard to figure out what light were better then the next. Some company's would use Lumens to say how bright their light was and other would use LUX. It was confusing at best. I decided to contact the different like makers and see if they were interested in a heads up show down. All the light's I got for the test I didn't keep. I tested them and returned them to the company's. I have done a few of these "Tests" to figure out what works best "FOR ME" I’m not promoting one company or another I’m just reporting what I found. Here is a Picture of the under water test Pic's Disclaimer. Taking pictures of Lights is an art in itself. The camera will adjust down at times and some times make all lights seem the same brightness. If you look at the pick’s you can see some have a wider beam and some seem just a bit brighter. That little you see in the photo, is huge in person.

lighttest.jpg
 
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