Lumishore Eclipse SL100 1m Blue LED Strip Light

The Lumishore Eclipse SL100 1m Blue Strip Light is one of those small upgrades that changes how your boat feels after dark. Instead of a harsh overhead glare, you get a soft wash of blue light tucked out of sight. Run it along a gunwale, under a helm dash, behind a ceiling panel, or beneath cabin furniture, and the source stays hidden while the glow does all the work. It's the kind of lighting that makes a cockpit feel finished rather than lit up like a parking lot.

Lumishore builds the Eclipse range for the marine environment first, and it shows. This strip carries 60 blue LEDs per meter, so the light is even and continuous with no obvious hot spots or dark gaps between diodes. The whole assembly is fully encapsulated and potted, which means the LEDs and circuitry are sealed inside a flexible waterproof body. That construction earns it an IP68 ingress protection rating, so spray, wash-downs, and the occasional dunk won't kill it. On an open boat where salt water gets everywhere, that matters.

Installation is refreshingly simple. The Eclipse SL100 is a plug and play strip with a straightforward two-wire electrical connection, so you don't need to be a marine electrician to get it running. It's also cut-to-length, which is what makes it so flexible in real installs. If your gunwale run is shorter than a full meter, you trim the strip at the marked cut point and seal the cut end before you install it. Seal it properly and the IP68 protection carries right through to your custom length. That flexibility is why boaters reach for these strips when a rigid fixture just won't fit the space.

Power draw is modest, which is exactly what you want on a boat where every amp-hour counts. The strip pulls about 0.5A per meter, roughly 6 watts per meter, so you can add several runs without worrying about flattening the house battery on a quiet evening at anchor. It runs on a 12V DC supply and tolerates the normal 10 to 15 volt range you'll see as batteries charge and discharge, so it stays stable whether you're on shore power or running off the bank.

Control is up to you. Wire it to a simple on/off switch and you've got instant blue accent lighting whenever you flip it. Step up to the Eclipse Command Center and you fold the strip into a wider Lumishore lighting setup for more integrated control across the boat. Either way, the strip itself doesn't ask much of you once it's mounted.

Why blue? Blue accent light is easy on the eyes at night and helps preserve your natural night vision better than bright white does. That makes it a favorite for helm surrounds, steps, and cockpit edges where you want to see the boat without blinding yourself or your crew. It also just looks great reflecting off the water on a calm night in the slip.

Because it's fully potted and cut-to-length, the Eclipse SL100 handles the vibration, moisture, and flex of a working boat far better than generic strip lighting pulled off a shelf. Lumishore backs it with a 3-year warranty, so you're covered well past that first season. If you're planning a lighting refresh and you want a clean blue look that stays hidden until it's switched on, this 1-meter Eclipse strip is a smart, low-fuss place to start. Buy a few and light the whole cockpit.

Practical touches make the Eclipse SL100 easy to live with. The flexible potted body follows gentle curves, so it hugs a rounded gunwale or the underside of a coaming without fighting you during the install. Because the whole strip is sealed, there are no exposed solder points to corrode over a season of salt air, which is where cheaper lighting tends to fail first. Pair it with tinned marine wire and a properly rated switch, and you've got an accent light that should keep glowing season after season. It's a small part with an outsized effect on how your boat looks and feels once the sun drops below the horizon.