Let there be light

LED arrays Just to get started again with the ship I built the "lighting subsystems", three small boards with LEDs. I started with the mast. An Actimel bottle will provide cover for the electronic compass, three white LEDs (lighting for left, right, and aft), and three blue LEDs (purely decorational for the front, mid, and aft sections of the ship). A round plywood disk keeps the cut-off bottle in shape. Then I created a tiny array of three white LEDs for the turret cam (serving as front lighting), pointing dead ahead and slightly to the left and right.

Underwater cam I began building a mounting for the underwater cam, essentially three wooden struts which suspend the cam board over the plexiglass window. I soldered three white LEDs in a triangle, and cut a round opening in the board for the lense.

Unterwater cam with lightingThen I cut some foam pieces to isolate the LED board from the web cam board, to keep the three LEDs in position, to optically insulate the LEDs and the lense, and to provide a cushion/spacer between the cam/lighting assembly. I'll have to see whether the light from the LEDs will interfere with the cam.