Having your rear LED speaker rings turn off when Navigation lights are turned on. (avoid police)

[zelone]

I had installed LED speaker rings on all the speakers 2 seasons ago, but never hooked the wiring up to the rear swim deck rings, because I was concerned they would draw unnecessary attention from the water police.

It took me a while, but I came up with a solution. I bought a 12v Automotive relay on Amazon, with a "normally closed" circuit, meaning, when power is applied, the circuit opens. (its actually a universal relay, which offers both options, normally open and normally closed, depending on which terminal you decide to use)
Here is the relay name on Amazon: Absolute RLS125 12-VCD Automotive Relay SPDT 30/40A

Anyway, I found the wire on the back of the Navigation light switch, which powers the nav lights, but not the anchor light, and when that wire is powered, it tells the relay to cut power to the rear lights. You will need to be comfortable running wires throughout the boat, as well as soldering. I've attached the crude circuit drawing that I made to get it done. Now, when anchored, rear LED's are on, as soon as I turn on Nav lights, they turn off automatically. No worrying about forgetting to turn them off. The rest of the lights inside the boat are unaffected by the operation of the nav light.

 

[Julian]

Nice idea....if the cops have nothing better to do than pull you over for speaker rings....I guess times are dull....but better safe than sorry.

 

[maboat]

Pretty cleaver, but dang your water police must be super anal to stop you for having LED Speaker rings on while under way.

 

[AndyD]

Pretty cleaver, but dang your water police must be super anal to stop you for having LED Speaker rings on while under way.

If they're blue lights then yes, some can be quite anal about them as it makes your boat appear to be a police vessel and could cause disruption on the waterway. Same thing goes with blue under water lights reflecting off the wake as well.

There's been several discussions on here but it doesn't seem anybody can truly locate what is officially "legal" vs "illegal" including some LEO's.

 

[zelone]

Better safe than sorry. I usually just keep all my RGB lights on a random pattern, so they can be blue at times. Not worth the hassle.

 

[tdonoughue]

There's been several discussions on here but it doesn't seem anybody can truly locate what is officially "legal" vs "illegal" including some LEO's.

I think I can help there.

U.S. Inland Navigation Rules and the International Rules are the same on the point: Rule 20(b): "The Rules concerning lights shall be complied with from sunset to sunrise, and during such times no other lights shall be exhibited, except such lights as cannot be mistaken for the lights specified in these Rules or do not impair their visibility or distinctive character, or interfere with the keeping of a proper look-out." There may also be additional state or local regulations, but those usually do not apply to lighting (per Chapman's).

So, the lack of clarity comes down to this: in any given situation, could the lights you have "be mistaken for lights" in the Rules? Obviously, that is somewhat subjective for the citing officer. However, it would be finally determined by a court, ultimately (e.g. jury or judge) taking evidence and looking at the maritime case laws to see whether that standard was violated or not. Same with "impair their visibility or distinctive character" and "interfere with the keeping of a proper look-out". Of course, most people won't take the issue that far and will just pay the ticket. The safest thing would be to have no other lights visible; then there is no question. So hats off to @zelone for a good solution while running. Anything beyond that (and even while at anchor) you need to look at and evaluate the risk that some LEO will think it violates one of these standards. I have lights in my cockpit only, because I think that will meet the standards and poses very low risk. But, even that, I admit, is some level of risk.

Final point: I am oft surprised at how many people are unaware of the navigation light standards (I mean knowing how many there are, etc.). I won't claim to be an expert in them or have memorized them all, but there are a lot of them, and I review them periodically. Seems like it would be a good idea to review those at least when you are considering whether you might be confused with one of them.