LED Speaker Ring Question

[StevL]

Has anyone installed led speakers rings around their Kicker speakers (on their Bennie)?

I was thinking about using them in a S series for interior lighting at night. I was thinking about some other led's then I saw the speaker rings; Idea, I thought they would make a very clean install. Anyone using them? Are they bright enough to use as interior lighting?

Thx,

Steve

 

[Butchkid]

They are bright, but by themselves they may not be enough. I have the speaker lights and also the cup holder lights. The combination of both creates a nice mood lighting for the entire boat. It is amazing how dark it gets in the middle of a lake.

 

[archangel]

What type of speaker lights and cup holder lights are you using? Are they hard to install?

 

[StevL]

Not sure what Butchkid used but I have been think of these.

I like that these rings are only 1/4 inch thick (most are 1/2") they also have 42 lights per ring. They seem to be a little more expensive but they may very well be worth it

Steve

 

[matthew]

i have all 6 of my speakers and 5 of my cupholders lit up and it's pretty bright. perfect for nighttime in my opinion!

 

[archangel]

How did you wire them? On my Bennington the underneath is skinned from the foward to the aft. I guess you could use a snake to pull the wires, but I was hoping there is another easy way. I think the blue lights would look great when I have the bimini's blue LED lights on as well.

 

[StevL]

Disclaimer; I don't have my Bennie yet so this is pure speculation of how I plan to run the circuit.

You should be able to run the wire over the starboard pontoon (you may elect to run it in the furniture). From memory I don't think the very front underneath gets skinned, it stops a foot or two before the bow rail. Cross over to the port side where there is no skin. You are only running a positive(+) loop (one wire around the underneath, then tapping that wire for each LED ring). Each ground wire from the LED ring can be grounded to a furniture bolt that attaches to the aluminum underneath. Or use a self tapping sheet metal screw and ground off a cross member under the furniture(this is my plan).

If someone has a better idea or has done it differently please post up!

Steve

 

[spinzone]

Steve,

On cars, the wire to a bolt works fine as all bolts are grounded to the frame. On these boats, the ground needs to be connected to the battery negative post, which is typically grounded in the motor. I know because I tried the bolt to pontoon trick and it didn't work.

I ran my amp power wires and the led wires underneath my skinning. It's a snake process. A long wire, looped over the ground harness from the battery to the helm is how I was able to accomplish this. It was like following a roller coaster track.

 

[StevL]

That's very interesting. My thinking was the engine is connected directly to the battery and the engine is hung on the aluminum transom.... maybe time to rethink.

Really not a big deal to pull two wires.

Thanks!

Steve

 

[spinzone]

I thought the same thing. 3 trips to lowes later, I figured it out.