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dock lighting
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I am considering dock lighting above water and/or below water. Any advice?
First pic is some home depot dots laid out on my old dock. Second pic is underwater lighting off the web. |
We have all solar lights on our topside ... for underwater, I've tried two different options, neither was great so far, but I went cheap. While in FL we rented next to Billy (don't think he is active here anymore), but he had a string of very bight lights underwater that did a great job of lighting up his property... but that was years ago, so I'm sure LED has replaced that.
The closest thing to a "good" cheap option I've found was 5m LED strips on the bottom side of our pier shooting down towards the water, didn't really light up the water, but gave the pier a nice glow and made docking at night easier. |
I wonder if some high powered pond lights would work.
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I just had my dock re-surfaced and I was looking for some lighting options for the top as well. It would have to be solar because I don't want to run electricity out there. I was thinking of something simple like this, but would love to hear what people have had success with.
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David, those hockey pucks work well. I got mine at Costco. They were $20 for a box of 4 at Costco. Batteries last 2 to 3 years. Now that I have power near my new dock I am looking for something more.
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I attached green LED rope lighting underneath the decking on my dock. Looks great. Its on a switched GFCI protected outlet. Only been in place for 8 months but looks great
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Bevostein, would you have a picture of that?
That is a nice low cost solution but I am somewhat afraid of 120V over the water. 12V or 24V is much more comforting. |
I don't have any pics. Electricity near water is nothing to be taken lightly, for sure.
My dock already has 120v power run through a conduit out to a storage room and that is the norm for my lake. The docks sit 2 1/2 feet above the normal lake level and the electric panel is 5 feet above the deck of the dock in the storage room. All of it is GFCI protected and when the lake gets up I kill the power up at the shore just to be safe. The rope lights are actually 12v. They plug into a 120V outlet inside the storage room but there there is a rectifier inline on the rope lights that converts it to 12V. So really the only portion that's 120V is the first foot or so and in my case that rectifier is 7-8 feet above the lake and on a GFCI outlet in an enclosed storage room. In addition the rectifier has two fuses in it. Not saying it works in all situations but for my application I think its plenty safe and looks great. I strung up 150ft last summer and I am waiting to see how it holds up. If it makes through winter, I have another 300 I am going to add. Also I went with green in hopes of attracting fish for the kiddos. |
Yes, that sounds good. My garden lights are on 12V. Rope lights under the dock on 12V would be fine. Where do you buy your 12V rope lights?
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David I have those "hockey puck" lights too on my pier and they work well (got them at Lowes). Be sure you have them installed where they get maximum sun, I have a few that get afternoon shade from my boathouse and those lights always go out around midnight where my other ones stay on just about all night.
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Under dock (rope lights) or under water (pond/boat lights) lighting seems most appealing to me. It would be neat to have the water below the dock lighted.
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Neat but too expensive...
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These marine LEDs on Amazon look neat. 600 lumens for $20 seems pretty fair. Thinking about mounting a bunch of these underwater on my hoist legs.
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Check www.jellux.com on dock lighting. They have LED strips and backlit dock bumpers, all can be wifi controlled so full color capability. IP68 rating (full waterproof connections). Some underwater light connections corrode after a year or two...be careful if you go that route.
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