I replaced my incandescent engine room lights last year with LEDs. Love them. Bought them on Amazon. I used 3 seperate fixtures instead of strip lighting.
Yep... It's a thing. I was sooooo tired of not being able to really see what was going on in a place where you NEED to see what is going on! These are outdoor sealed strips I bought from SuperBrightLEDs.com I am very happy with the results, This video was taken before I finalized the install, so not peanut gallery comments on my unfinished wiring neatness.
**I guess my video doesn't want to be seen**
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2000 Navigator 4200 Classic
(NOT a trawler)
I've had problems with running unstabilized 12V strip lighting on the boat, where the charger float for the house bank is about 13.5 volts. They eventually overheat and begin to fail. There are numerous comments in this regard for these lights in the (negative) comments section on Amazon. I tried a cheap Buck converter on my home built strings and that failed in short order. (The same strip lights are long lasting when run on a constant 12V power pack in our home kitchen under counter arrays).
This problem is also showing up on old cars where owners fabricate LED arrays from unregulated strip lights. The simple fix in that case seems to be installation of silicon diode(s) in series with the power wire. These diodes typically have about a .7V drop. Two of them (1.4V) would bring the voltage for an LED string on the boat down to the 12V spec. Still have an issue with higher charging voltages, but I leave them off in that instance.
I've had problems with running unstabilized 12V strip lighting on the boat, where the charger float for the house bank is about 13.5 volts. They eventually overheat and begin to fail. There are numerous comments in this regard for these lights in the (negative) comments section on Amazon. I tried a cheap Buck converter on my home built strings and that failed in short order. (The same strip lights are long lasting when run on a constant 12V power pack in our home kitchen under counter arrays).
I think that's where LEDs rated from 10.5-30V serve better... at least all ours do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bgillroy
String leds not an answer IMO for engine spaces.
Why do you think that?
FWIW, I've added one 5m string of LEDs to our ER, made a big improvement. I'm also planning to add another identical string down there, too...
Look at product specs and compare also did. For my 2 engine 14x16 ER 5 ten inch lights provided far more illumination than any led string I looked at. Once again do your own DD ... Not cheap lights but optimum illumination.
We did a similar upgrade to out engine room. It looked great and went in easy originally. I don't know if it's the voltage variations or the occasional high temps but we're starting to loose some of them now. It's been a year or 18 months. They were so easy and cheap, I'm tempted to just do the same thing again
Scandvik 41388p. My engine space is now so bright have to use subglasses. Really nice product.
Thinking about some of these. Scandvik’s site says they’re ABYC-approved for ignition protection, but the only voltage spec I see is 12. Wonder how they handle voltage fluctuations?
We replaced the 2 original rinky-dink incandescent light fixtures with 8 cheap Ebay 6" LED strip lights,4 on each side of the engine hatch framing looking downwards. What a difference they made! Then, I gave the entire ER compartment a fresh coat of bilgecoat paint in white instead of the Mainship gray floors & reddish brown stain they used on the wood. Between the lights & the white paint, the difference is like night & day, no pun intended. No flashlight is needed 90% of the time now which is very convenient.
Sorry, but the before & after ER pictures I have are on my other computer & we're out of town for the weekend.