Navigation lights !!

[willk]

Originally Posted by 9D280

but one thing I am also looking at is instrument light dimming.... biut that's another thread for the future!

Too late - JWalker has done just that - he has a nice wee wiring diagram and everything - Linky

[BruceB]

Originally Posted by willk

Firstly, I can personally confirm that his RIB isn't that fast .

I used to think I liked you..............

When I get home at the weekend I'll take a pic of the lights on at night in the driveway. They are far from hard to see even with the small sector painted out.
I also have all instruments dimmed right down at night, in fact so dim that they cannot actually be read in daylight but are still bright enough to see in the dark.
Night use is something I do regularly for various reasons so obviously have the boat set up to do well, the night vision thing is important when you are out in the real dark of night.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by BruceB

the night vision thing is important when you are out in the real dark of night.

I totally agree. There have been occasions on really tricky bits of pilotage that I've briefly turned off my nav lights so that I can either see the marks or use the beam of a torch more effectively. By definition this is when there are no other boats around. No one else would be stupid enough to leave my drying harbour in pitch black

[BruceB]

Pics as promised, bear in mind the part of the ARW facing forward has the blacked out bit and its quite bright in the driveway.
With all the other lights on the boat other than the floodlight, I can thnk offhand of at least 5 LED lights other than the nav lights, its quite easy to spot at night.
That and the fact it isn't moving fast

[captnjack]

Originally Posted by BruceB

Pics as promised, bear in mind the part of the ARW facing forward has the blacked out bit and its quite bright in the driveway.
With all the other lights on the boat other than the floodlight, I can thnk offhand of at least 5 LED lights other than the nav lights, its quite easy to spot at night.
That and the fact it isn't moving fast

You need to back up just under a mile.

[9D280]

Originally Posted by willk

Too late - JWalker has done just that - he has a nice wee wiring diagram and everything - Linky

Cheers Mr K. I was thinking along those lines already, but as always the thought of a module that might be able to decode the Lowrnacenet signal form the plotter & move the whole lot "as one" did act as a distraction..... WhenI get round to it I will no doubt decide it's too muich hassle & solder up that circuit!

I also was toying with a 2-way switch (dim-off-bright) using a couple of preset pots inside the console on grounds that I have yet to find an IP rated variable resistor that isnlt going to double the value of my boat or some other clever way of waterproofing a standard one...

[BruceB]

The lowrance signal doesn't work well. When you dim down it all goes up and down as advertised but the brightness levels are all different.
I ended up switching it off and setting each one individually to get the best effect.
As far as diming is concerned I put a normal resistor in line with my compass light and shrinkwrapped it to protect it four years ago and its still going strong. The resistors are pennies so you can try a few ratings to get the best one.