[dariem]

We use two Starfire II lights on our rig. I read somewhere on a forum that the Starfire II can handle a 100W bulb, so I put a 100W bulb in one of our lights to see the difference. When we got home that night and I was putting the light rig up I noticed that the fuse holder containing the 100W was melted quite a bit; the fuse was not blown, but one of its end caps was no longer attached to the glass tube. A couple of times that night the light went off. We thought it was just a bad connection of the wire to the battery clip, wiggled clip, light came back on both times; I didn't even look at the fuse holder so don't know when it started melting.

My first assumption is the Starfire II can't handle 100W, but I've read of other people using them without a problem. Anyone know for sure? Any ideas, theories, suggestions, etc will be appreciated.

 

[BuckWild]

The socket will most likely handle the 100w. if its at least 18ga wire you can just change out the bad fuse holder and add a higher amperage fuse to compensate for the extra draw. Most likely it wasn't the new bulb causing the problem(as the fuse should of blown if it was), it was those cheap fuse holders making a bad connection which caused it to overheat and eventually melt. .

 

[mmmmflounder]

I USE STARFIRElights all the time . only prob is with clips .when thay give troble i cut them off and hook to the wing nut on my bat. mmmmflounder.

 

[Flounderpounder]

I don't know about the Starfire 100W. I DID have their fifty watt, and switched to the AquaStar 100W. BIG difference....never a problem (at least yet).

 

[X-Shark]

only prob is with clips .when thay give troble i cut them off and hook to the wing nut on my bat.

Yes...I would get rid of the gator clips right away and install Ring terminals.

Less stuff to be falling off out in a dark area.

 

[dariem]

Thanks,all!

 

[FishWalton]

Reading the posts about lights got me to searching for info. Here is a good source.
http://www.fishinglightsetc.com/index.html Click on the "ours vs. theirs" tab in the left clumn learn about the pros and cons of each type of light.

I have a green 12V 4 ft flourescent that uses a ballast. Bought a couple of weeks ago off Craigslist (brand new never used) for half the original price. Just tried it out last week in local freshwater lake for the first time. Was on a dock in about 4 ft of water. The top of the light was sticking out of the water about 6 inches.Was absolutely astounded on how this thing worked. My first time ever using a light since I'm mostly a river guy looking for bream, shellcrackers, and cats. Now I'm anxious to trythis thing one night on the river.

 

[fishenwishen]

I just ordered two 100 watt bulbs from the website mentioned above which is Aquastar and put them in my strarfire II sockets. I test ran them for on hour in a bucket of water in my garage and they seem to work fine. I plan on actually using them this week up to 5 hours a night and will post back if I have any problems. The fuse holders do look cheap on the starfire II, Im not too surprised they melted.

 

[fishenwishen]

The 50 watt starfire II socket worked fine with the aquastar 100 watt bulbs. I ran them for several hours about a week ago. The bulbs are only like 6 dollars a piece. Not too bad for the upgrade. I ran two in bayou Texar but only needed one at the pass.

 

[HAG 90 10]

double the amperage

Do you run your setup off of a generator? I'm concerned these will drain my Deep Cycle Marine battery too quick.

 

[jigmaster]

Tried

The new www.Gogreenfishlights.com seems they are more durable than the starfire they also sell the bulbs and replacement globes which i believe also adapt to the starfire base.

 

[fishenwishen]

Hag,

I used two lights and two deep cycle 12 volt batteries and they outlasted me. You can tell how long your battery will last if you know the amp hour rating of your battery. First, find the circuit current using the formula current is equal to power divided by voltage. In this case if you use one 100 watt bulb current will equal 8.33 amps. 100 watts divided by 12 volts = 8.33 amps. My battery is rated at 80 amp hours. Divide 80 amp hours by 8.33 and we get 9.6 hours before the battery will be drained. If you use two 100 watt bulbs on one 80 amp hour battery it would run for 1/2 the time or about 4 hours. Hope this helps.