[Kayakfish1]

Well I got my boat out at night for the first time Friday night, all went well except for having slightly murkier water than normal where we went. The places I fish typically fish have murky to muddy water about 90% of the time and my leds just aren't cutting it, 9 30w leds and 1 50w all purchased off craigslist cheap.
Would it be worth it to purchase some yellow tint or just go ahead and pick up some hps? I'm thinking about doing the tint since it would be way cheaper than going hps but if I'll end up going hps eventually I might as well go that route now. And what size hps would I be best with? I use my dad's 2k honda whisper generator and I'd rather not have to go out and buy another one unless it's necessary.
I found some 250 hps lights for sale locally that seem to be a decent deal but I've never messed around with anytjing other than leds so I really don't know what size I should try to get.
Any info is greatly appreciated

 

[20prima10]

TRY AND FIND SOME 400W HPS

 

[Kajun]

10 - 150w HPS's will give you approx 3x the light and that genny shouldn't have any trouble carrying them.

 

[BigSwole]

Won't the Honda run 4 400s with digital ballasts with 2 being slightly dimmed

 

[BlackBeard]

Won't the Honda run 4 400s with digital ballasts with 2 being slightly dimmed

Yes. Run 2 at 400w on the front and 2 at 250w on the sides and you'll be golden

 

[Kayakfish1]

What's the best/cheapest way to get 400s? I'd rather not spend an arms and a leg on lights

 

[SoDakSlayer]

e-conolight.com

 

[BlackBeard]

e-conolight.com

X2. Not the best looking lights out there but better than the huge street lights and come with everything you need. Just buy some of these and you can upgrade to custom housing later.

 

[20prima10]

Econolight will be your cheapest. i belive they are 99 a piece. i have 160 a piece into custom housings with digital ballast. the benifit here is that you can move the ballast anywhere in the boat to remove weight from the front. and my housings are smaller. this is not a big deal on a big boat but on a 14' boat room and weight is essential

 

[amsugg]

It has been proven that the cheap LED's aren't as good as the name brand ones. so that combined with incorrect color for the water could be the issue ..... but there is no comparison between LED and HPS

 

[BigSwole]

Take it from someone who bought the halos. Then more halos. Then econolight 400s then custom 400s..

Buy the digital ballasts. Buy the housings. And be done. I would of saved hundreds of dollars by doing it right the first time or even little by little. Not even including the time and money spent rewiring every time I got new or added more lights.

Plus. Once I got 400s I started shooting more fish. Because I could see more fish. It really is the best way to go. Just spend it one time and be done.

Even if you do 2 now. And use some of your leds. Just buy them correct the first time.

 

[20prima10]

Take it from someone who bought the halos. Then more halos. Then econolight 400s then custom 400s..

Buy the digital ballasts. Buy the housings. And be done. I would of saved hundreds of dollars by doing it right the first time or even little by little. Not even including the time and money spent rewiring every time I got new or added more lights.

Plus. Once I got 400s I started shooting more fish. Because I could see more fish. It really is the best way to go. Just spend it one time and be done.

Even if you do 2 now. And use some of your leds. Just buy them correct the first time.

I would agree with this. i started off with 140$ worth of 12v leds. shot them for several years and then made the switch to my custom 400w hps. huge difference. went from shooting 50 fish avg to well over 100 fish avg on a small boat. id imagine on bigger boat higher off the water those numbers would be even higher.

 

[Phillips_211]

6x 250 watt HPS on Digital ballast and I run them off my 2000 Honda, Always fishing murky water and hands down the best coverage.

 

[MONK]

I was the same started with halos then the big street lights should have done digtal ballast and custom housing the first time would have saved a lot of money in long run

 

[Realtree555]

I started with LEDs. Switched to 400s. Should have done that a long time ago. Way more light, less weight, less expensive = more shots at fish.

 

[Kayakfish1]

Well made part of the switch, traded a bow and some cash for 3 250w hps lights on a rail this evening, I thought I had read somewhere about making some home made housings for them out of putty trays? I'll keep searching, trying to spend just enough to get by with them for now, I don't like having a rail and I'm not to sure I'd want them just mounted to the top of the deck so any ideas are welcomed

 

[amsugg]

Think your gonna have to get used to a rail ..... i guess the hps guys can chime in on how much vibration they can handle

 

[BigSwole]

I had some 400s I mounted like this. Cheap. Easy. And it worked

 

[BigSwole]

Your going to love the difference

 

[Decisions]

We run 4 custom 400 watt HPS lights and 5 100watt RPM LED lights.
Running ours off a Honda 3000 watt whisper. The mixture of the lights works great and no issues with vibration, yet.