# newbe. My 12V flounder light rig.



## bbb (Jun 18, 2008)

I'm just now going into my second year of giggin.I'm over in the Tallahassee area so you don't have to worry about seeing me on the water. It is nice to find a forum that is willing to talk about giggin. Most fisherman look down on us forgiggin on the fishing sites,but everyone has their ownhobby that takes them away from their work.

I have a 18x60 aluminum boat with a 31hp go devil motor. I run 4 underwater lights that are built into a pvc bracket I designed for my boat. The bracket goes into a fixed mount trolling motor bracket. I bought my lights from www.fishinglightsetc.com Basically they are like the starfire lights except with 100 watt bulbs. I enjoy the quietness of my setup and it takes about 20 seconds to get everything going once we get to the spot. With clear water, I have a 20 ft radius of visibility. In murky water its more like 10 feet.

I may go to the darkside of the generator next year. I usually carry 3 deep cycle batteries and they do weigh the boat down some but I can still work in 8 inches of water easily. We use the gigs to move the boat along the shoreline.

Here are a few pictures. Hope you enjoy them. 

My Boat










My light rig










In the water










Our best flounder night last year










Winter sheephead giggin










Peek-a-boo


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## Gnwdad (Oct 14, 2007)

Looks good and seems to do a good job!


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## Midnight Rider (Sep 30, 2007)

I see you have a 6 volt battery in your truck. You ever tried putting 18 volts to those lights??? I used to run 1-12 volt 100 watt bulb and put 18 volts to it. It worked like a champ and man was it bright. Nice boat. Welcome to the forum


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## bbb (Jun 18, 2008)

Actually that battery had just come out of my lawn mower. It was dead.

I did read another topic talking about bridging batterys like you do with a 24v trolling motor. Would this blow the 100watt bulbs? Would you really get more run time this way or is it best using each battery to run 2 lights?


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## Telum Pisces (Sep 27, 2007)

> *bbb (6/19/2008)*Actually that battery had just come out of my lawn mower. It was dead.
> 
> I did read another topic talking about bridging batterys like you do with a 24v trolling motor. Would this blow the 100watt bulbs? Would you really get more run time this way or is it best using each battery to run 2 lights?


Here is a basic way to determine/estimate the run time for a setup. This is based on a typical 12V battery having a round about figure of 100 amp-hours

Run Time (hours) = 10*(battery capacity in amp-hours) / Load in Watts

So your setup would give you about 5 hours of runtime per battery. With one 12V battery and two 100 watt lights hooked up.

Now when you put two batteries in Parallel you double the amps but keep it at 12V. With that setup it would give you still the same result. Putting batteries in series giving24 vollts to 12 volt lights will make them bright as hell for just a while till they go dark as hell.:doh


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## Midnight Rider (Sep 30, 2007)

If you will take that 6 volt battery and tie it into a 12 volt battery you will have 18 volts. You can run a 12 volt bulb with 18 volts. Keep the light in the water. This one 12 volt 100 watt bulb is much much brighter with 18 volts than two 100 watt 12 volt bulbsjust running 12 volts to them.


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## FlounderAssassin (Sep 28, 2007)

i used to run a 18v setup on my boat and compaired to 12v its MUCH brighter!!! but definatly dont take the light out of the water with it on.


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

I really like the Peek-A-Boo pix. 



I bought those lights you have for the 2nd time that I rigged my boat. The 1st night one of them leaked and blew the bulb.



I found that with all the hype on that website, that they were no brighter than the Starfires that I had been using.



That's when I decided to go to a generator.


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## bbb (Jun 18, 2008)

> *X-Shark (6/20/2008)*
> I bought those lights you have for the 2nd time that I rigged my boat. The 1st night one of them leaked and blew the bulb.


I've had 2 light blow in a year of use. Not bad for 30-40 trips. I'm probably gonna go to the dark side of the generator, but not until I can afford the Honda. I enjoy the peace and quiet as much as the giggin.

Here are a few more underwater pics I took that night.


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