Slabby20
Active Member
Saw this topic on another fishing forum and thought some of you might be interested. I asked him if it was OK to share it and he said "not at all". Here is his original post and his instructions on how to install it. I haven't tried it yet but will soon.
Slabby
_________________________________
"I installed a small LED inside the cap of my Scotty Downrigger that is powered off of the hot lead of the downrigger. It works REALLY WELL to light up the depth counter numbers. No more struggleing to read, and no more holding a flash light while trying to lower the rigger. I can send a list of parts and a "how to" if anyone is interested."
Instructions:</u>
LED how to:
Here’s what you need:
1. Super bright 3mm White LED 3.6v typical.
2. 470 OHM 2% resistor
3. Two runs of 25 gauge wire (make sure they are long enough to reach from your depth counter window to what ever 12V power source you are going to use.
4. Some electrical tape or better yet some liquid electrical tape
5. Terminals (Crimp on) for the type of connection you’re going to use.
6. Some shrink wrap to fit the wire. (two strands need to fit inside)
Strip off about 1/2 inch of insulation from both free ends of your wires.
Make a simple DC circuit by soldering one wire end to one lead of the LED. That side is now done.
Next solder one lead of the resistor to the free lead of the LED. (The one that does not have your wire soldered to it.)
Now solder one end of your second wire to the free end of the resistor.
You should now have one wire attached to one lead of the LED, and the second wire to the resistor and the resistor to the other lead of the LED
Place a small amount of electrical tape between the two exposed leads on the LED to keep them from shorting out.
You can now test you light by touching one end of one wire to the positive terminal of your battery and the other wire end to the negative. The LED should now light up. (Note: some LED are current sensitive, so if it doesn’t light, just switch the wires. If you have to switch the polarity to get the LED to light, mark which way they go so you can connect them to your power source the right way.)
You can now run the wires through the heat shrink. Don’t shrink it yet until you have your terminals done.
You can run the wires to your battery, a switch or, like I did, to the hot and ground leads on my down rigger. Once you have connected and tested, you can go ahead and shrink.
I placed my LED under the cap of my rigger and used some tape to hold it in place. Once I was satisfied with the location, I used some silicon to glue it in.
The nice thing about the LED is that it never gets hot, lasts forever, and draws almost no current, so I just wired mine so when my riggers are plugged in the light is on.
Slabby
_________________________________
"I installed a small LED inside the cap of my Scotty Downrigger that is powered off of the hot lead of the downrigger. It works REALLY WELL to light up the depth counter numbers. No more struggleing to read, and no more holding a flash light while trying to lower the rigger. I can send a list of parts and a "how to" if anyone is interested."
Instructions:</u>
LED how to:
Here’s what you need:
1. Super bright 3mm White LED 3.6v typical.
2. 470 OHM 2% resistor
3. Two runs of 25 gauge wire (make sure they are long enough to reach from your depth counter window to what ever 12V power source you are going to use.
4. Some electrical tape or better yet some liquid electrical tape
5. Terminals (Crimp on) for the type of connection you’re going to use.
6. Some shrink wrap to fit the wire. (two strands need to fit inside)
Strip off about 1/2 inch of insulation from both free ends of your wires.
Make a simple DC circuit by soldering one wire end to one lead of the LED. That side is now done.
Next solder one lead of the resistor to the free lead of the LED. (The one that does not have your wire soldered to it.)
Now solder one end of your second wire to the free end of the resistor.
You should now have one wire attached to one lead of the LED, and the second wire to the resistor and the resistor to the other lead of the LED
Place a small amount of electrical tape between the two exposed leads on the LED to keep them from shorting out.
You can now test you light by touching one end of one wire to the positive terminal of your battery and the other wire end to the negative. The LED should now light up. (Note: some LED are current sensitive, so if it doesn’t light, just switch the wires. If you have to switch the polarity to get the LED to light, mark which way they go so you can connect them to your power source the right way.)
You can now run the wires through the heat shrink. Don’t shrink it yet until you have your terminals done.
You can run the wires to your battery, a switch or, like I did, to the hot and ground leads on my down rigger. Once you have connected and tested, you can go ahead and shrink.
I placed my LED under the cap of my rigger and used some tape to hold it in place. Once I was satisfied with the location, I used some silicon to glue it in.
The nice thing about the LED is that it never gets hot, lasts forever, and draws almost no current, so I just wired mine so when my riggers are plugged in the light is on.
