I'm installing an LED tower headlight on our 2018 R21 and want to control it via the touch screen. I've enabled the touch screen to support tower lights but I haven't found the wiring under the dash to connect to the tower light wiring. Is there an empty wiring plug somewhere that I just haven't found? Ideas? Thanks for your help.
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Blue wire tied up on the starboard side. You may be able to reach it from behind the shifter. Lay on the floor and look behind it towards the tower. See if you can see it bundled up. You may get lucky and it's closer to the helm. If you dont want to dig for it and you want to splice wires, its the blue wire on the grey plug on the lower PDM.Last edited by KoolAid; 04-19-2018, 09:30 PM.Oh Yeah! -
Thanks KoolAid. I just found it; mine ended at the gray 6 pin plug and was the solid blue wire feeding into the plug. It is the same plug that feeds two wires (+ and -) through to the nav light. I found the plug by tracing back from the nav light wiring loom. Works great. Thanks again,Comment
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Snowcats, would love to see what light you went with and some install picsOriginally posted by Snowcatt View PostComment
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Pics or it didn’t happen!Comment
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Pics and link to said light?
On a side note, I have read there is a way to plug a Gopro into Touch2 so you can see the video on the screen. True story or false? 2018 R23Comment
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The cameras hook up with single video RCA type jack so if Go pro sells some kind of cable like that I am guessing it is possibleComment
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Here are some details and pics; please excuse the messy shop. This is a 30 inch 8200 lumen single row LED light bar I purchased from Super Bright LED's. There are cheaper light bars around but Super Bright LED's is reputable and Made in the USA. I used the single row to keep as much head room as possible (75 1/4").
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ens/3772/8069/
It's still winter here in Wyoming (snowing right now) so I haven't had this on the water yet. I hope it's bright enough, but it's way better than nothing. The other problem with lights anywhere behind the bow is they light up the inside of the boat which reflects in your eyes and diminishes what you can see ahead of the boat. It's not practical to mount it on top in our 2018 Tige R21 because of the bimini top, so I may fabricate a shroud to go along the bottom of the light if glare is too much of a problem.
Wiring wasn't bad; I drilled a hole in the plastic cover on the inner (unused) speaker mount, removed the driver's side tower speaker, and used the wiring hole under it to stage the wiring pulling job. I also removed the plate half way down the tower and drilled a hole inside (where it doesn't show) to cross from the rear tower leg to the front, then pulled the wiring to the base and into the boat, along side the nav light wire. If you trace the nav light wiring forward under the gunnwale you'll come to a gray six pin plug with the two nav light wires entering from the rear, and six wires going out the other half toward the front. The blue wire in the front half of the plug is for the tower lights.
I thought about some fancy light mounts but the bimini top lays directly over them and it's pretty tight at that location so I didn't want it to wear through. Instead, I wrapped the tower with a few rounds of electrical tape, bent the L-shape mounts that came with the light to match the compound curve of the tower, and used hose clamps. Now that it's all done I plan to pull the clamps and paint them black. The bimini top dips down in the front but it appears the light beam can still reach out far enough in front of the boat to be OK. The alternative is to lower the light bar but that gets back to head room. Compromises...
That's about it. Nothing fancy but it seems to work.
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Nice man! That’s a sweet light bar, love the sleek profile.
You’re right about the glare, it’s gonna be bad, guaranteed. I have a light bar on my tower but it’s above my bimini and with the bimini up the light barely touches the very front of the bow so I get no reflection. Good idea with the shroud, I’m sure you could get that to work.
I used these kind of mounts on all my tower lights. They’re low profile and totally adjustable. You can get them in whatever size this pic was just a quick search of eBay for example.
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Nice install. We typically won't install light bars but do docking lights instead. Our local boat cops will roll you for light bars if on at night and have even come to our shop inquiring about people they have pulled over, glad we can say we didn't install it. Nice clean install, and good work tapping into the PDM so you didnt have a switch hacked into your dashComment
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Wow, didn’t know the fuzz would sweat you for that! I know docking lights are much smaller and less bright but I don’t see the difference between using a light bar and a 5 million candlepower spotlight to get around at night. (Which Ive seen a lot of people do) I’ve only used mine for short periods at a time at the local lakes but have cruised all over lake Powell and flaming gorge with my boat lit up light a disco. It’s pretty rare to see the heat even during the day at those big lakes though.Originally posted by freeheel4life View PostComment
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Spotlights are generally accepted when used sparingly. Turning on a ridiculously bright light bar typically washes out the NAV/ANC lights so oncoming boats cant determine which side to navigate making it a safety issue. Hence the reason docking lights are low mounted and used for just that. Not blasting around the lake with 800 Lumens whiting out other boats, same goes for that 5 million candlepower spotlight being on all the time vs using it to find markers, bouys, landmarks then clicking it off. It seems that if the light bar is just being used around dock they haven't cared. Its when its on and cruising 28 down the lake to get back to the pull out that they get testy
That seems to be our local boat fuzz's take on it anyways and I'm inclined to agree. They have also rolled people for RGB LEDS on at night. Rigid makes a set of flush mounted docking lights that aren't dim at all. I installed a set this winter and was super impressed.Last edited by freeheel4life; 04-21-2018, 04:49 PM.Comment
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All good points man. I’ve only left my tower light bar on when it was late on a huge lake and no one else was out. I guess I just assume people wouldn’t cruise around a busier lake with the “high beams” blasting oncoming boats but not everybody is as much of a gentleman as myself I suppose
I did blast a buddy of mine in a canyon at Powell but it wasn’t head on. We were both navigating back to camp and he was probably 200 yards ahead of me spotting the bank with his light when I lit him up from behind. The light filled up the whole damn canyon, his reaction was priceless! An LED bar is worth its weight in gold on a big lake like Powell. It can be quit treacherous being out at night without it.Comment
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LOL, don't get me wrong, I think part of the LEO beef is light bar jealousy. If they cant a dual row 52 inch no one can
We are just such a "small" community that we have to tread lightly and also not set our customers up for a stop from the LEOs.
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Haha! Light bar jealousy, I had a little when I saw this post. Mine is the highest wattage I could find on eBay in a 32”. It was only $65-75 or something. Does the job nicely though.
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