Anyone out there?/Fiber optics?

[Joe Schwab]

Any of you out there inventor types?

Been thinking about this a long time now. Salt water continually eating navigation lights. Could fiber optics be used to replace running lights? Run the colors to the bow. Voilla!

No wires, no bulbs except one for a source light.

Just think of the possibilities. [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]

Or are they already out there and I just haven't seen them?

[ 01-02-2004, 09:59 AM: Message edited by: Capt. Hook ]

[Small Fry]

It would take a piece of glass the size of the light you would want to display. EDITED or a bundle of glass fibers. I would guess you would need about 25000 fibers to make a bundle 1 1/2 in dia

So yes it would work but not cost efective.

[ 01-02-2004, 12:34 PM: Message edited by: Small Fry ]

[ampersat]

I think the way to do it would be a really powerful central white light source. The fiberoptic wouldn't have to be that big to get the light where it's going. Once there, the end of the cable hits a refractor to spread the light out in a "lens" made of colored solid plastic that could be mounted using the plastic equivalent of a rivet. By making the nav light a solid piece of plastic, you avoid having it fill with moisture. By using different colors (red, green, clear) you could provide all of the light your boat needs from one central location. The problem then becomes turning off the lights you don't want.

My first thought on this was that fiber optic is overkill for this problem. What you really need is a better way to protect the wiring from corrosion. Perhaps embedding the connections in clear epoxy or hot glue.

[STGRule]

But you would still have the problem of hair-thin bundles of glass thumping through the wakes. Drop a glass on the deck of your boat and it probably won't make it through the first contact. I think a better idea would be sealed LED. You almost couldn't run your batteries down even if you left the running lights on when you put the boat up for a couple months. You could maybe even run them all off a 9 volt for 3 or 4 months at as time. Sealed, virtually unbreakable, and hardly any power to run.

[Silver Hilton]

I'm no expert, but I play one on TV...

I think fiber optics are a bit vibration sensitive. The pounding might break the fibers down over time. Traditional wire has it's flaws, but it's cheap and easy to route, and generally pretty durable. Sounds like the lights you are using have some issues, that may simply be the price of admission.

[Joe Schwab]

Like I said, it was just an idea. I know nothing about fiberoptics but looking at my daughters fiber optics Chrstmas tree gave me the idea. I really don't have that much problem with corrosion since being away from the salt water. I didn't think they were that fragile due to their flexibility. Thanks for the response.

Shelve that idea!