repairing a removable pole type anchor light

[netmaker]

hi all. well after my last attempt at getting my all round led to last longer than a year i reckon i've got it right::). got one of those pole lights that mounts onto 2 electrodes. no amount of wd, duralac or lanotec seems capable of preventing corrosion of both the male electrodes and also the connections between the female sockets and the regular copper wire running inside the pole to the leds. started getting that tell-tale flicker on my last trip a few weeks back:(. today i reckon i have sorted it.
i was lucky as the corrosion had run up the wires to about 10 inches shy of the leds.
so i have replaced the inner wire with insulated tinned copper. cut out the bottom of the mount and just feed the wires down through the hole where they are joined to power supply by connectors. pole still sits in mount but much more reliable as connections are now external and easily inspected. the pole is still removable too.
reckon it's nailed this tiime;)

[deckie]

As far as i'm aware most of those removeable pole lights have a constant current driver encased in epoxy that shouldnt be taken out...but these are just another piece of junk in the cheapo ones that fail miserably. I took one apart a yr or so ago and their "epoxy" wasnt even encasing the connections, just there for looks probably. Plus the supposed flap cover on the base wouldnt stop a drop oif rain let alone a washdown.
The CCD isnt so important if you just make sure nothing else is on the same circuit, could make it suddenly stop working for seemingly no reason at all....except maybe the red n green running lights which (if led too) would only draw maybe 0.4-0.7A. Just that u cant just cut it off and feed wires direct and still expect the led to work in all cases.
On many the wire is like spider web and would be lucky to rate 1A itself.
Obviously sounds like u identified corrosion from what u found, and so many now are cheapo junk out of china...if there's a 1c production cost saving by using crap wire/connectors they'll do it.
If it was a name brand such as a narva/hella type i'd be mighty pissed though.

Hate those plug in types. Probably find many guys have them and dont even work, but never go out after dark so they dont realise they're already rooted after 6 mths. Just re did mine and did a DIY job with a pole clamp to attach to bimini tubing. Can get proper 12v IP66 connectors with encased wire tails cheap...just leave in cabin until needed and connect up....nothing outside to corrode. Water always finds a way.

[Fed]

Have you seen these netmaker?
http://www.iboats.com/Innovative-Lighting-Extend-A-Light-Manual-LED-Stern-Light/dm/cart_id.645806993--session_id.794507991--view_id.38737
Flush mounted, hard wired, 6' high above gunnel 20" below gunnel.

Not many legal allround white light setups, they sure are a pain.

[netmaker]

Have you seen these netmaker?
http://www.iboats.com/Innovative-Lighting-Extend-A-Light-Manual-LED-Stern-Light/dm/cart_id.645806993--session_id.794507991--view_id.38737
Flush mounted, hard wired, 6' high above gunnel 20" below gunnel.

Not many legal allround white light setups, they sure are a pain.

no. haven't seen those. BUT if my latest fix doesn't turn out to be as good as i think it is, one could well be on the wish list.

[Noelm]

strangely enough, I was looking around for an all round white light on the weekend, I wanted one that had a fitting to suit pipe (I am moving it to the top of my Ttop) and bugger me, I went to both boat places near me, and looked in the catalogues and it seems no one makes a pipe fitting anchor light, or even some sort of pipe mounting thing that I could modify, and seeing as I have 30mm pipe, it makes it even worse/harder to find anything, going to have to get something made I guess.

[Fed]

Here's one Noel.
http://www.iboats.com/Boat-Tower-Arch-Folding-All-Around-Light-Perko/dm/cart_id.645806993--session_id.564053509--view_id.167300

Someone should make a battery powered LED one that clamps to the back of a bimini or canopy, I never go out in the dark anyway.
I'm seriously thinking about removing my navigation lights just to get legal.

[Noelm]

that kind of looks like it will be OK, wonder how it actually clamps to the pipe. I kind of thought a rechargable anchor light would be good, as soon as it gets dark, it turns on, (like your garden lights) so no one can forget to switch it on, and it could be a secruity (albeit a small one) light at home when the boat is left unused.

[Fed]

I'm using Larry the Lobster as my security.
Bloody cats, you can see the gentle paw marks the the giant skid marks when Larry started singing & dancing.
(Larry is movement activated)
There was even paw marks on the outside of the transom going downhill!:D

[Chamelion]

Fed - That's classic.