Galveston canal night run

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TxAquatics
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Galveston canal night run

Post by TxAquatics »

Gonna make a run for the Galveston canals for a bit of night therapy tonight 8/16 and work tomorrow morning. Am I crazy or what!! Anyone wanna join. Not sure if Pirates cove or Sea Isles. I'll decide once I get on the island. I'd like to try Lafitte cove but gonna wait until I have a partner. Prob do Sea Isles. Wish me luck :dance:
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Reefmonkey
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Re: Galveston canal night run

Post by Reefmonkey »

I own a house in Pirates Cove, you’re going to find a lot fewer underwater lights than there used to be. We got tired of replacing ours when they went out a couple of years ago, just got too expensive, and my guess is that’s the same reason so many other’ lights went out recently. It felt like everyone got them around the same time in the 2000s, and all got tired of maintaining them around the same time over the last few years.
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impulse
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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Reefmonkey wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 5:52 pm I own a house in Pirates Cove, you’re going to find a lot fewer underwater lights than there used to be. We got tired of replacing ours when they went out a couple of years ago, just got too expensive, and my guess is that’s the same reason so many other’ lights went out recently. It felt like everyone got them around the same time in the 2000s, and all got tired of maintaining them around the same time over the last few years.
That's why I started making my own after the second $400 invoice in a year. That, and I don't like the idea of high voltage where the kids are swimming, even on a GFI.

Here's one of mine after a prop strike... Didn't make a bit of difference.
N21_0430 35pct.jpg
Not that I recommend hitting them at full speed, but in a no-wake zone the prop hit is obvious, but no damage to the epoxy encapsulation... I found the ding when I pulled it for a pressure wash.

The only disadvantage of the 12V lights is they're LED and don't get hot enough to burn off the barnacles and algae. So I pull them by the cord a few times a year to pressure wash them, then throw them back in. So far, almost the only in-water failures I've had are cable failures when people catch them on hooks. Then, I cut out a foot of cable, resplice and throw them back in. And about 5% of the 12V power supplies fail in a year, but that's not even $50 to fix.

They also draw 1/5 the power for about the same light. About 50 watts instead of 275 watts (measured) for the old style ones I replaced when they broke. Mostly hardheads and minnows in this photo, with some nice reds a little lower in the water.
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SWFinatic
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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Impulse do you mind sharing the method you use to effectively splice your cable together so that the splice is completely waterproof?
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impulse
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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SWFinatic wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 7:29 am Impulse do you mind sharing the method you use to effectively splice your cable together so that the splice is completely waterproof?
I use a 3 step process, starting with heat shrink butt connectors:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092J82XVR

On top of those, I use adhesive lined, heat shrink tubing. The key element is the adhesive lining that's basically hot melt glue:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084GDLSCK

Finally, I use several wraps of plain old electrical tape. It's important to start the wrap close to the connectors, and each successive layer gets longer and longer. That way, if one layer fails, the other layers under it will still hold.

I'd also point out that no insulation is completely waterproof. The plastic/rubber itself is slightly permeable to water. The key is to keep water intrusion down to a minimum and have enough insulation to keep current leakage to a minimum. When it's only 12V, it's not that difficult unless someone snags the wire and pierces the insulation with a hook. After that, I've had wires continue to operate for months until corrosion finally breaks the copper wire. That's another advantage of 12V lights. Even a tiny pinhole will cause enough leakage to trip a GFI on the high voltage lights.

BTW, anyone who messes with boat wiring should keep some adhesive lined heat shrink around. It's also great to use for abrasion resistance on rudder wires, SST shark leaders, etc. And one caveat: Buy a $10-20 heat gun at Harbor Freight to melt the heat shrink. Doing it with a match or a lighter usually ends up with burnt tubing.
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Reefmonkey
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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That’s a pretty cool setup, impulse. Although I think we’re going to stay with no lights. We live at the end of the canal, and the lights tended to attract people in pickups or golf carts who would drive on our lawn and rut up the grass and break our sprinkler system to fish over them.
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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impulse wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 7:56 am
SWFinatic wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 7:29 am Impulse do you mind sharing the method you use to effectively splice your cable together so that the splice is completely waterproof?
Finally, I use several wraps of plain old electrical tape. It's important to start the wrap close to the connectors, and each successive layer gets longer and longer. That way, if one layer fails, the other layers under it will still hold.

I'd also point out that no insulation is completely waterproof. The plastic/rubber itself is slightly permeable to water. The key is to keep water intrusion down to a minimum and have enough insulation to keep current leakage to a minimum. When it's only 12V, it's not that difficult unless someone snags the wire and pierces the insulation with a hook. After that, I've had wires continue to operate for months until corrosion finally breaks the copper wire. That's another advantage of 12V lights. Even a tiny pinhole will cause enough leakage to trip a GFI on the high voltage lights.
One last point on the splicing. I use electrical tape for the final wrap because it's hard (and expensive) to find 3/4"- 1" adhesive lined heat shrink tubing in lengths long enough to cover the whole splice plus a few inches on each side for a good seal.

I started using dual wall (adhesive lined) heat shrink when I lived in China and bought it for peanuts, direct from the factories. It's so good that water well drillers often use it for splicing 480V connections to domestic deepwell pumps.
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impulse
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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Reefmonkey wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 10:11 am That’s a pretty cool setup, impulse. Although I think we’re going to stay with no lights. We live at the end of the canal, and the lights tended to attract people in pickups or golf carts who would drive on our lawn and rut up the grass and break our sprinkler system to fish over them.

Don't feel alone there. Lots of my neighbors either pull their lights when they're not fishing, or keep them turned off. I can't blame them, for the reasons you've noted.

The issue is that the barnacles and algae grow unless you keep the high voltage lights on for at least 8 hours a night to burn them off. I've got a guy a couple of doors down that has a $250 bulb he can't use because he can't get the barnacles off without breaking the bulb. His GFI flipped off during a storm and he didn't notice for a couple of months because he's a weekender. Ouch.
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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impulse wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 7:56 am
SWFinatic wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 7:29 am Impulse do you mind sharing the method you use to effectively splice your cable together so that the splice is completely waterproof?
I use a 3 step process, starting with heat shrink butt connectors:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092J82XVR

On top of those, I use adhesive lined, heat shrink tubing. The key element is the adhesive lining that's basically hot melt glue:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084GDLSCK

Finally, I use several wraps of plain old electrical tape. It's important to start the wrap close to the connectors, and each successive layer gets longer and longer. That way, if one layer fails, the other layers under it will still hold.

I'd also point out that no insulation is completely waterproof. The plastic/rubber itself is slightly permeable to water. The key is to keep water intrusion down to a minimum and have enough insulation to keep current leakage to a minimum. When it's only 12V, it's not that difficult unless someone snags the wire and pierces the insulation with a hook. After that, I've had wires continue to operate for months until corrosion finally breaks the copper wire. That's another advantage of 12V lights. Even a tiny pinhole will cause enough leakage to trip a GFI on the high voltage lights.

BTW, anyone who messes with boat wiring should keep some adhesive lined heat shrink around. It's also great to use for abrasion resistance on rudder wires, SST shark leaders, etc. And one caveat: Buy a $10-20 heat gun at Harbor Freight to melt the heat shrink. Doing it with a match or a lighter usually ends up with burnt tubing.
Gotcha thanks! I use most of these steps cept for the adhesive heat shrink tubing but I'll start using it. I also add dielectric grease in the butt connectors before inserting the wire. I get the small tube by Permatex and the tip is small enough to squirt the grease into butt connectors up to I believe 16 gauge. https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-81150-D ... 1674&psc=1
TxAquatics
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Re: Galveston canal night run

Post by TxAquatics »

Interesting on the pirate cove canal lights. I started my first night run there back in 2018. I have noticed less and less lights on when I would go the following years. I recall catching nothing but sandies there. Also the occasional spec. Thanks for the fyi.
Btw, I did make it out last night, got 2 hours sleep, and back to work... hooah :dance:
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Reefmonkey
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Re: Galveston canal night run

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I pull reds out pretty regularly, but yeah, a lot of sandies in our canal, which suits me; when fresh they taste just like specks.
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shoffer
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Re: Galveston canal night run

Post by shoffer »

BTW, anyone who messes with boat wiring should keep some adhesive-lined heat shrink around. It's also great to use for abrasion resistance on rudder wires, SST shark leaders, etc. And one caveat: Buy a $10-20 heat gun at Harbor Freight to melt the heat shrink. Doing it with a match or a lighter usually end up with burnt tubing.
Good advice. Harbor Freight has small boxes of precut Marine Grade Heat Shrink Wrap for 6 dollars a box.
Screenshot 2022-08-18 070320.jpg
I use it all the time to replace connections for my trolling motor and light set up in my kayak. For my boat, though, I let the pros handle it unless it is an easy fix. And the 15-dollar heat gun from Harbor Freight is still going strong after 6 years also!

Impulse, what do you plug your 12V lights into? Some sort of power inverter hooked up to your 120V on your house?

Finally, thank you Impulse for keeping your light set up rolling. When we night fish his area, his lights are the first and last we hit, and they are the best spread out there - bar none.
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impulse
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Re: Galveston canal night run

Post by impulse »

shoffer wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 6:59 am
Impulse, what do you plug your 12V lights into? Some sort of power inverter hooked up to your 120V on your house?
Here's what I use. Brand name changes because of availability, and there are several vendors out there. My lights pull 50 watts, but I use the 150W power supplies so they run cooler and last longer. They're potted (completely encapsulated) so they hold up well in the weather. The downside of potting is that I can't diagnose the 2 that have failed (out of over 30 that I've installed)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Q2TWYRJ

Edit: If you do buy one, make sure it comes with the plug for your outlet. Pay attention to the photo on Amazon or EBay. Some of the less expensive models don't include a plug and you'll waste time and money cutting up an extension cord to add one.
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