DIY Green Light

• Sep 20, 2011

• #1

truittsosebee

Senior Member

I just couldn't pony up $150 plus for a submersible green fishing light so I made my own 48" one for about $60.
Ordered the inverter/ballast online ($20), bought the bulb at a light bulb store in Atlanta ($12), 48" of clear PVC from McMaster Carr ($25) and a couple of PVC fittings and some wire I had lying around. Very easy to build. Used it this weekend and it works great!
I put a 28 oz chunk of steel in the bottom end and it floats just right.

 

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• Sep 20, 2011

• #2

tonyf

Senior Member

Looks great. Can you post the part numbers for the items you used?

 

• Sep 20, 2011

• #3

truittsosebee

Senior Member

Thanks and sure..
The ballast is made by Thin Lite and it's an OIB-153. A few solar power places sell them online.
The bulb is an F40/T12 GREEN and I got it at Atlanta Light Bulbs (don't ask why I had to go back and get a 2nd one, these things are fragile before they're inside the tube).
The clear PVC from McMaster Carr is 49035K27 (1 1/2" clear schedule 40, 48" long).
The rest of the PVC fittings are just 1 1/2" fittings from Lowes or the hardware store.
If your interested in building one, pm me and I'll sketch a wiring diagram and send it to you.
Me and my buddy both built one. It was a very easy and fun project.

 

• Sep 21, 2011

• #4

truittsosebee

Senior Member

For anyone interested, I put together a sketch of how I put mine together:

 

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• Sep 21, 2011

• #5

fulldraw74

Senior Member

How "battery friendly" is it?

 

• Sep 21, 2011

• #6

geaux-fish

Senior Member

Very nice illustration, thanks!

 

• Sep 21, 2011

• #7

truittsosebee

Senior Member

The bulb pulls about 3 amps. I run mine off of a 7 amp-hour lithium ion battery and should get about 2 1/2 hours per charge. I carry several batteries with me in my kayak for backup.

 

• Sep 21, 2011

• #8

BigBubbaBass

Member

Very cool; but what's the purpose of the green light?

 

• Sep 21, 2011

• #9

truittsosebee

Senior Member

The green light wavelength travels further in water than white light attracting plankton and baitfish and thus bigger fish. Oh yeah, and they dont attract bugs.A lot of striper fishermen use them to catch threadfin shad, crappie fishermen fish under them, etc. Check out Hydro Glow and Green Monster for commercially available units. Mine uses the same ballast and bulb as the 48" Hydro Glow unit.

 

• Sep 22, 2011

• #10

Gunsmoke

Senior Member

I bought one at Academy for 19.99
Works great

 

• Sep 22, 2011

• #11

Bust-A-Hawg

Senior Member

Thanks for the great diagram. I got all my parts a couple weeks ago but light was not working...now thanks to your wiring instructions I see what I was doing wrong. Cant wait to get home and fix it.

 

• Sep 22, 2011

• #12

truittsosebee

Senior Member

Gunsmoke said:

I bought one at Academy for 19.99
Works great

Click to expand...

Glad you're happy with your light, but you cannot buy a 48 inch/40 watt light for $19.
I also have one of the less expensive, smaller lights that works well for what it is, but these larger, more powerful units are a different beast.

 

• Sep 23, 2011

• #13

Gunsmoke

Senior Member

Yes i think mine is about 24" i didn't even look at the wattage

 

• Sep 23, 2011

• #14

caver101

Senior Member

I have one of the 24" lights from academy. Its a decent light, but I can tell from the pic that your DIY light is a monster! This is definitely going on my to-do list! Thanks for the info!

The green lights bring shad in like a fat kid to the buffet!!

 

• Sep 24, 2011

• #15

T

Teambuckslayer

Senior Member

Does the bulb fit tight in the tube does it move around? Just wondering how carefull you have to be after you get it in the pvc. It looks like a good light to have and a lot cheaper.

 

• Sep 24, 2011

• #16

truittsosebee

Senior Member

Bulb fits pretty tight. Bulb diameter is 1.50" and tube ID is 1.590", so there is only 0.045" between the bulb and the tubing. With the wire in there that runs to the bottom there is hardly any play at all.

 

• Sep 29, 2011

• #17

Cricket Chunker

Senior Member

Here is a GON thread on the same subject from 2008. Has a few more photos. That guy did not use the sch 40 PVC but used the lighter bulb protectors (I would go with sch 40 PVC IMO).

GON 2008 thread on how to build a green fishing light

 

• Nov 8, 2011

• #18

RockyS

Senior Member

Thanks guys I just ordered enough pvc and ballasts to do 2 of them. I let yall know how it turns out. Anyone got other pictures of their home made ones. What did everyone use for the wiring and attaching the wire to the pipe?

 

• Nov 8, 2011

• #19

Lake_and_stream

Senior Member

sticky this ?

 

• Nov 9, 2011

• #20

basser

Senior Member

I use 28 watt T-5s for the last ones I made. The smaller tubing makes them a lot less expensive. The only down side to them is it is easier to break the bulbs since the tubing flexes. $8.40 for the pvc tubing, $3.00 for the bulb, $12.00 for the ballast. and $6.00 for pvc parts and wire.