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Cabin Sole LED Strip Lighting

kapnkd

kapnkd
A few friends kind of chuckled skeptically when I mentioned adding indirect cabin sole lighting using LED strip lights.

Now that all our other MAJOR refit stuff is finished finally comes the FUN ITEMS!!

...Still need to figure out how to work/adjust the controller better so I can get solid red in all areas for night sailing in the cabin - but DARN!!! ...It’s sure got some potential!!! (Here it is shown with the various color options.) AND ...YES, it also has a dimmer ability to control the brightness.

B761A63D-B452-40A9-8286-56DEC3F7D17C.jpeg

How I did it was to add a section of baseboard modified to hold an angled piece of aluminum the LED strip adheres to and the reflects indirectly on the vertical fiberglass just below the wood trim.
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eknebel

Member III
Looks cool! I like the blue, the heck with trying for all red. I have read that the color red was defaulted because of film dark rooms at the time. According to the USAF, blue, or blue green, has a slight advantage, but being dim is what matters. I vote for some led strobing during cocktail cruises so the guests can see where their going, and dim it all down for night vision.
 

kapnkd

kapnkd
Looks cool! I like the blue, the heck with trying for all red. I have read that the color red was defaulted because of film dark rooms at the time. According to the USAF, blue, or blue green, has a slight advantage, but being dim is what matters. I vote for some led strobing during cocktail cruises so the guests can see where their going, and dim it all down for night vision.

Thanks! ...One sailing friend we race against mentioned our PHRF rating should now be changed to either “R” or “X”. :egrin:

...I do like the blue a lot and will be experimenting with all the colors once I figure out the temperamental programming of the controller.

85A0BA60-B8E3-4972-8D53-D25A6D1F9F5B.jpeg
 

wynkoop

Member III
I would stick with red. On the big iron boats we used red in the chart room at night with a tiny dim white light if we needed to see colors on charts. I never had night vision issues.

Now I am thinking on how I can do the same on Silver Maiden when the rest of the refit is done.
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
Looks cool! I like the blue, the heck with trying for all red. I have read that the color red was defaulted because of film dark rooms at the time. According to the USAF, blue, or blue green, has a slight advantage, but being dim is what matters. I vote for some led strobing during cocktail cruises so the guests can see where their going, and dim it all down for night vision.
Maybe a mirrored disco ball too.
 

Sailingfun

Member III
Going in the same direction but I gonna put on the ceiling. Accent light is a good idea but I like direct light.
LED is the way to go with accent and direct light but be aware of noise over the VHF or any other electronic due spurious electronic noise
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
"Kinky" and "spurious" in the same thread.

It would be much more difficult to survive isolation at home this year without this site and these people!
Thank You, Vikings !!

Wry humor, LED lighting, and expansive vocabularies....
:devil:
 

wynkoop

Member III
Going in the same direction but I gonna put on the ceiling. Accent light is a good idea but I like direct light.
LED is the way to go with accent and direct light but be aware of noise over the VHF or any other electronic due spurious electronic noise
The noise tends to come from the pulse width modulators used as dimmers on these things. An LED operating on pure DC will not generate noise. If you are using a PWM dimmer there are steps you can take.

1. Add a bypass capacitor between hot and ground at the input and output of the PWM.
2. Add ferrite core chokes at both the input and output of the PWM dimmer.
The best way to do this is several turns around a toroidal ferrite core.

This video is very instructive:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMlM8zWQFk
 

wynkoop

Member III
I will also note that motors can generate lots of noise on the DC line. I found that a couple of fans and my electric fuel pump each generated enough noise that a digital thermometer I installed would not work when any of them were engaged. A 1 farad electrolytic capacitor across my DC bus at the panel took care of that issue.
 

kapnkd

kapnkd
I would stick with red. On the big iron boats we used red in the chart room at night with a tiny dim white light if we needed to see colors on charts. I never had night vision issues.

Now I am thinking on how I can do the same on Silver Maiden when the rest of the refit is done.
Intended to respond sooner but first wanted to create a more detailed drawing/illustration for you of what I did. Hopefully this will be of help to you when/if you take on your lighting project.

...For my added wooden trim, I used standard trim/molding from Home Depot then cut the width down slightly and re-routered a curved edge. I used a dado blade to create the needed inside channel space to fit the extruded aluminum sections.The wood trim was then stained with Min-Wax "Gunstock" color and then varnished.

The aluminum LED strips used can be easily found & purchased online along with a host of connectors and other accessories you will probably want/need. I chose the 45 degree angle to better reflect downward the lighting. It worked great so as not to see individual led units and instead create more of a smooth neon glow.

Good luck and would love to see photos when you complete your project.
 

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wynkoop

Member III
Thanks for the drawing. That really helps!

This will probably be a next spring project. After the deck/painting is finished.
 

kapnkd

kapnkd
Thanks for the drawing. That really helps!

This will probably be a next spring project. After the deck/painting is finished.
Glad to be of help...any questions as you get into it, I'll be happy to share my own experiences. I found making good connections with the led connectors offered online to be difficult to solder being they're so small. (I'm no wizard at all when it comes to soldering!) Some offerings looked and sounded great but didn't really provide perfect connections like I had hoped for.

BTW...I also left the screws that attach my wood trim open and accessible instead of plugging the holes just in case of a need to remove the strips for servicing of any sort.
 

kapnkd

kapnkd
And a pole for some kinky stuff....just kidding, couldn't help it after Bolo's post!
Just to spark your imagination a bit MORE!!

....TRUE STORY....Alas, I was young (early 30's) and had recently become single again shortly after buying my boat back in the mid 70's to the early 80's.

Working for a major airline, every time I opened the door on an arriving aircraft..5 to 10 BEAUTIFUL single flight attendants would step off for a day or two layover in Miami, where I then lived. (There was also a bevy of single girls working for other airlines as well that I met daily.)

Most CERTAINLY, I took FULL advantage of taking them out sailing in Biscayne Bay be it day or moonlight sails!! It WAS THE VERY BEST OF TIMES!!! I drove a pristine '67 Corvette and where I kept the boat (Miami Yacht Club), then had THE most fantastic New England cook who made the BEST seafood dinners to be found! ...It WAS FANTASTIC and those youthful memories still fondly linger yet today!!

In all seriousness, I inevitably/eventually met THE one that completely settled me down and we've been together ever since. :egrin: My life has been TRULY blessed and the Ericson has certainly been a BIG part of it all.
 

1911tex

Sustaining Member
Whew, kapnkd you were really the man about town! Glad you didn't get caught up in Miami Vice......
 

kapnkd

kapnkd
Got to admit it was THE ...ABSOLUTE time to be single - Attitudes and behavior (with BOTH sexes) were SO different, open and relaxed on all levels back then than they are today!! I’m now old ...but with NO regrets ...having enjoyed the times I Did!

My annual Bahamas sailing vacations are also at the TOP of my list and a series of other stories/memories retained fondly in my memory banks!!

...I was perhaps the “Wild Child” ...but not near that of so many others I knew (male & female). The airline crowd, being able to travel for free, escaped the bounds of local neighbor’s scrutiny to party like crazy!!! (Like sailors in distant cruising ports.)

As you mentioned, the Miami Vice styled disco scene was THE in thing and, my today still, bride and I would then hit those multiple hot spots from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale as well.

Passé as it is now, it was/is a great memory still as she wore this gorgeous satin/silk cocktail dress that actually looked just like “a watercolor running in the rain” ...as Gordon Lightfoot once sang about.

Here’s my now bride’s photo from back then: ...She had just flown a NYC trip, met a professional makeup artist who offered her and two other attendants a free “Makeover”. On her return, THIS is what/when I met her on opening the aircraft door!

3DAB327B-9BB8-4079-AB1E-83945E865264.jpeg


Life certainly settles down after marriage to the reality - and absolutely more IMPORTANT things - like family life and, still of course, sailing.

That wild life was fun for sure but never ever has held a candle to being a husband and father. The Ericson also became THE PERFECT common denominator as a mutual communication tool for my son and I growing up along even with his young friends! It has ALL endured and they still crew with him today on his own boat to be a very very competitive racing crew on Lake Erie as well as in National S2 7.9 events!

YES!! ...Life has indeed blessed me many times over!!!
 

1911tex

Sustaining Member
Whew...all I did back then was fight in a stupid unpopular war, come home with a minor Purple Heart flying (meaning I lived) and struggle making a living. You are one lucky dude and she is beautiful! Be so thankful.......I am for my wonderful family and able to own an Ericson like all those on this terrific forum.
 
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kapnkd

kapnkd
Whew...all I did back then was fight in a stupid unpopular war, come home with a minor Purple Heart flying (meaning I lived) and struggle making a living. You are one lucky dude and she is beautiful! Be so thankful.......I am for my wonderful family and able to own an Ericson like all those on this terrific forum.

Give me a break!! “ALL YOU DID”!!!

...Damn!!! ...Thank YOU for your service back when we had no choice but to serve other than desert our self respect, country and national required duty!

I was also again VERY lucky while serving in the USAF from ‘66 to ‘70 ...but only serving in West Texas my complete tour of active duty. Many friends from high school and who I was honored to have served with regrettably have their names on our eternal wall of heroes in DC.

You and I still live today with the responsibilities to honor, remember and insure the best of respect for those others of us still alive or that have passed away having given so much back then while being disrespected by wimpy peers of a brainwashed college “education”.

Sailing has always been my best medicine to help me make sense of it all, and it sounds like for you too!!
 

Sailingfun

Member III
Glad to be of help...any questions as you get into it, I'll be happy to share my own experiences. I found making good connections with the led connectors offered online to be difficult to solder being they're so small. (I'm no wizard at all when it comes to soldering!) Some offerings looked and sounded great but didn't really provide perfect connections like I had hoped for.

BTW...I also left the screws that attach my wood trim open and accessible instead of plugging the holes just in case of a need to remove the strips for servicing of any sort.
Use scotch phone connector for wires below 14... 16, 18 and all way to 22 are easily crimped with scotch connectors

 
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