Lighting? Suggestions.

[swampu]

I've been using the search and found lots of great links to suppliers of lights. I will be purchasing about 15-20 lights for the exterior of the Rose. I would like to go with the hockey puck style led that are flush mount. I have about 3 1/2" of space for the light to recess into. I have a main area in the stern were all the cooking and hanging out will be so I was thinking about 5 or 6 white lights with a few multicolor lights for the blue or red light effect and then about 40' of walkway on each side that I was thinking about ever 10' of so having one light. In the bow maybe 3 or 4 white and 2 red/blue. Is that over kill, I have zero experience with casual lighting of a boat. All my boats have had spreader lights that were super bright for fishing at night. There are lots of voltage choices. 12v vs. 110v. dimmer vs. on/off. Do you set it up like a house, switch by the door controls the lights buy that door? I would hate to do the lighting wrong. Thanks all for your input.
Paul

 

[stubones99]

I would only do 12vdc lighting, since that way it works whenever you need it, no shore power or gennie needed. LED's have such a low draw that there is almost no battery load.

If you went with AC, then you would need to convert it to DC anyway. There are lots of LED sources with 1" puck lights on up. Do you have space to pull / fish wiring back to where you would want to control it?

 

[swampu]

Right now all the areas that I mentioned are wide open. I will be running wire for the lights and wire for the speakers. What about rope light around the whole edge of the roof?

 

[Capt.Bill11]

You need to use the proper dimmers for LEDs. And there are light fixtures that you can switch between two colors.

Look at some of the Hella products.

D. R. Smith has some nice stuff too.
http://www.drsa.com

 

[caltexflanc]

Suggest consulting with Marinebeam, give 'em a call they are helpful and knowledgeable and sell a great product.

https://store.marinebeam.com/

I liked having switches where they made intuitive sense for anyone coming on board, which includes in some locations having the light switchable from two locations. Big fan of dimmers too.

 

[Phil Fill]

For night vision some of the lights should be red. Many marine fixture have red and white bulbs. On the eagle all areas and rooms have red and white bulbs. The ceiling is wired with 12 volt dc. However some of the fixtures are AC domestic with 12 volt bulbs.

The 120 volt AC wire is run thru the walls, so the 120 are hanging or wall mounted accent mood lighting. Easy to remember ceiling is 12 volt, side wall is 120 volt. Its the bulb that's important, not the fixture.

 

[eyschulman]

For night vision some of the lights should be red. Many marine fixture have red and white bulbs. On the eagle all areas and rooms have red and white bulbs. The ceiling is wired with 12 volt dc. However some of the fixtures are AC domestic with 12 volt bulbs.

The 120 volt AC wire is run thru the walls, so the 120 are hanging or wall mounted accent mood lighting. Easy to remember ceiling is 12 volt, side wall is 120 volt. Its the bulb that's important, not the fixture.

Newer research debunks red light theory. Just use good dimming.