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Ever on the lookout for useful things for subs in the not so usual areas, I happened on an item that may very well answer the burning question "How do I add LED lights to my boat?"
My wife came home one day with these nifty bathtub toys made by Little Tykes (if you have small kids you probably know the name) that float in the water and have two small contacts that complete the circuit to turn them on. When they are dry the lights go out, pretty simple huh and no channel to sacrifice! Upon opening the toy up I found a circuit board with an attached LED that according to a friend will support two and still give at least a full season of run time. The LED can be cut from the board and relocated to a more convenient location and I’m assured that if you accidentally resolder the wrong wires together (cross the positive and negative leads) it wont hurt the LEDs. Just reverse them and they should work just fine. Inside you’ll also find two wires leading to a battery compartment that holds two watch type batteries, now the thing to remember is that none of these components are water proof so you will have to work out some type of dry enclosure for them and still incorporate the pin feature that completes the circuit to allow the lights to come on, my thought was to cut out the battery compartment and extend the wires and place this into the WTC and then cut out the area with the pins and circuit board and making a simple sealed dry box and securing this into the wet space of the hull, the LED will as stated earlier be located in a more convenient area. These are just my thoughts, let you own imagination run wild with this one and let everyone know how you make out! The best thing about this neat toy is the cost, my wife found them at a local department store, Benny’s for those of you that live in southern New England (actually any store that sells Little Tykes toys) for only $5.00 U.S. I’ve included some pictures to go along with this to make it a little easier to follow. Good Luck and Good Sailing.
Don
P.S. Sorry for the picture size, a bit larger than I intended. Also a note that no ducks were hurt during the production of this tip! LOL!!
Showing the ducks before and after cutting the top off.
The black dots are the pins to activate the circuit
This one show the board, battery compartment and the round silver thing is only a counter weight
My wife came home one day with these nifty bathtub toys made by Little Tykes (if you have small kids you probably know the name) that float in the water and have two small contacts that complete the circuit to turn them on. When they are dry the lights go out, pretty simple huh and no channel to sacrifice! Upon opening the toy up I found a circuit board with an attached LED that according to a friend will support two and still give at least a full season of run time. The LED can be cut from the board and relocated to a more convenient location and I’m assured that if you accidentally resolder the wrong wires together (cross the positive and negative leads) it wont hurt the LEDs. Just reverse them and they should work just fine. Inside you’ll also find two wires leading to a battery compartment that holds two watch type batteries, now the thing to remember is that none of these components are water proof so you will have to work out some type of dry enclosure for them and still incorporate the pin feature that completes the circuit to allow the lights to come on, my thought was to cut out the battery compartment and extend the wires and place this into the WTC and then cut out the area with the pins and circuit board and making a simple sealed dry box and securing this into the wet space of the hull, the LED will as stated earlier be located in a more convenient area. These are just my thoughts, let you own imagination run wild with this one and let everyone know how you make out! The best thing about this neat toy is the cost, my wife found them at a local department store, Benny’s for those of you that live in southern New England (actually any store that sells Little Tykes toys) for only $5.00 U.S. I’ve included some pictures to go along with this to make it a little easier to follow. Good Luck and Good Sailing.
Don
P.S. Sorry for the picture size, a bit larger than I intended. Also a note that no ducks were hurt during the production of this tip! LOL!!
Showing the ducks before and after cutting the top off.
The black dots are the pins to activate the circuit
This one show the board, battery compartment and the round silver thing is only a counter weight