I saw a couple boats this weekend that had a long strip (maybe 40-50 LED) on the backside of their long stern lights.

Can someone tell me if you can just tap the wires inside the light pole itself or are there other mods that need to be done to get power to the strip?

tap

WHY???? it has to be seen 360*...other that bringing in MORE bugs..what is the purpose??

Purpose?... safety. Brighter lights = more visible to other boats. And just on the rear as to not be blinding while fishing.

Almost got ran over while fishing by a ski boat (with no lights at all) the other night.
When I confronted him he said my light blended in with the lights on the boathouses...?

LED do not attract bugs the way conventional bulbs do. If you attach the strip to the rear of the light pole, you cant see if from the decks of the boat while fishing.

Without going into the argument of legalities and such, just tap...LOL
(you could add a flasher module to make them strobe...that might help)

The front (green and red bow) lights are the ones that aren't legal. The strip on the back pole back in fine, as long as the light on the top of the stern pole is legal.
I have seen the strobe lights also. They work as too.

bow lights are legal, look at the new boats coming out with them. ask any gw too.

the law says they have to be visible in a certain arc not what light is legal or not. same with the stern light, it must be one meter (3') above the gunnels.

All other manually driven vessels may exhibit sidelights and a sternlight, or shall exhibit at least one bright light, lantern, or flashlight from sunset to sunrise when not at dock. In vessels of less than 12 meters (39.4 feet), white lights shall be visible at a distance of at least two (2) miles. Colored lights shall be visible at a distance of at least one (1) mile. "Visible" when applied to lights, means visible on dark nights with clear atmosphere.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/boat/safety/vessel_requirements/

scroll down to 25 for all of it.



For power-driven vessels less than 39 .4 feet (12 meters) in length, the
masthead or all-round white light must be at least 3 .3 feet (1 meter)
above the sidelights .
In a vessel of less than 65 .6 feet (20 meters) in length, sidelights may
be displayed in a combination light as shown in Figure 2

http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/workflow_staging/Publications/420.PDF

The lake patrols down here didn't get that memo yet....they are not being very receptive to the new style of lights

This is something a lot of people over look and I have the same experience before I started running the NightFishion lights.

to answer the question, led are stupid easy to rig. i have mine rinning off a 9 v battery for my white 360 light. its only 9 leds long son not much draw. i got a 9 v connector i had laying around, connected it to the led red and black wires and when i want it on i plug in the battery. disconnect to turn off. leds come.with a red and black wire attached. you can cut them to length and solder new wires to the + &- spots that are marked and make another strip. they are about as hard to operate as a $3 flashlight. if you need help rigging a light pole and are in the ft worth area give a shout dude!

Check out bluewaterled.com. Just ordered some from them.

Mudbone are you saying the new 8 inch led strips green and red are not legal?

You can also check out Super Nova Lights at www.supernovafishinglights.com Good Luck!
JR