Converting Fluorescents to LEDs

[angus99]

Our engine room has four 110-VAC 48” fluorescent tube fixtures (8 bulbs). It’s really bright in there when we’re on shore power or running the genset. Besides the raw lumens, the long bulbs reach every corner so almost everything I need to work on has plenty of light. The downside is that the 110-VAC wiring external to the fixtures has several dangerous looking taped-up splices, is fed by extension cords and looks like crap.

There are also four original 12-volt dome lights that are totally useless mounted very close to the fluorescent fixtures. I’m thinking of ripping out the AC wiring, removing the 12-volt dome lights, converting the fluorescents to LEDs with something like these LED Replacement for 18" 12v Tube Lights and powering them with the wiring that used to power the dome lights. (The link has a misprint, but takes you to the right place.)

Has anybody done anything like this?

I know there are also strip lights I could run the length of the ER; not sure I’d get the level if brightness I want (like below) or how the strip lights hold up to ER temps and voltage fluctuations.

 

[Portage_Bay]

I'd clean up the AC wiring mess but I would not get rid of the 110 V AC lights. I'd add 12 V LED. That way you've got light no matter which electric system you're needing to disable for the task at hand. For example I just replaced my house bank and cleaned up a bunch of wiring. I had to do it by drop light and head lamp. Far from ideal.

 

[Bacchus]

In a previous motorhome I replaced 12V fluorescent tubes with inexpensive LED strips but had flickering & failures after awhile. I finally replaced them with LED tubes by bypassing the ballast. They worked much better. I didn't find them on SuperBrightLEDS website
but I do see these complete fixtures that look comparable and decent cost.
Specs list 12-36V so higher charging V shouldn't be a problem, Oper temp up tp 130* F and output of 500+ lumens / ft seems plenty bright. Some of the positive reviews are for boat ER lighting

https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ights-12v-4000k3000k/3654/#tab/specifications

Nice looking ER - I am envious!!!

 

[angus99]

I'd clean up the AC wiring mess but I would not get rid of the 110 V AC lights. I'd add 12 V LED. That way you've got light no matter which electric system you're needing to disable for the task at hand. For example I just replaced my house bank and cleaned up a bunch of wiring. I had to do it by drop light and head lamp. Far from ideal.

Appreciate your thoughts. To me, it would make sense to keep the 110-V fixtures if that’s the only way to get really bright lights in there—and when the boat was new, that was probably the case. But with 2000-lumen 12-volt LEDs available now, I think I can simplify and remove the higher voltage system.

In a previous motorhome I replaced 12V fluorescent tubes with inexpensive LED strips but had flickering & failures after awhile. I finally replaced them with LED tubes by bypassing the ballast. They worked much better. I didn't find them on SuperBrightLEDS website
but I do see these complete fixtures that look comparable and decent cost.
Specs list 12-36V so higher charging V shouldn't be a problem, Oper temp up tp 130* F and output of 500+ lumens / ft seems plenty bright. Some of the positive reviews are for boat ER lighting

https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ights-12v-4000k3000k/3654/#tab/specifications

Nice looking ER - I am envious!!!

Great! Good to know you’re happy with the fluorescent tubes.

Thank you both.

 

[catalinajack]

One of the first changes I made to our DeFever 44, same as angus99's, was to replace the flourescents with LED tubes from Marine Beam. It required bypassing the ballasts, a simple rewiring. When I removed the coover to expose the ballast on one of the three fixtures, I found it to have been badly melted from overheating. Not good. Anyway, it is now very bright in the engine room and a lurking hazard was removed to boot.

Ian (angus99), I would fix the bad 120VAC supply and consider the Marine Beam product.

 

[angus99]

These would do the job nicely . . . But yikes!

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=4299717

 

[FoxtrotCharlie]

Our boat had 6 12V dome lights in the ER. Replaced them with LED light bars (about 20") and have much more light. Might still add a few more. And I love the Defever 44 ER's - had a friend with one on the Gulf Coast. And we saw Stella Maris this fall when we stayed overnight at your marina on the fuel dock wall, on our way up river.

 

[angus99]

Our boat had 6 12V dome lights in the ER. Replaced them with LED light bars (about 20") and have much more light. Might still add a few more. And I love the Defever 44 ER's - had a friend with one on the Gulf Coast. And we saw Stella Maris this fall when we stayed overnight at your marina on the fuel dock wall, on our way up river.

Thanks, Charlie. I’m afraid you saw her at her absolute worst! Cosmetics start in a month or two, once we finish all our winter projects. Sorry we missed you.

 

[bayview]

Just replaced 48"tubes with LED tubes that work with old ballasts. Very bright and simple install. No new fixture or rewiring needed just put then in place of the old tubes. Inexpensive as well. Got them at Lowes.

 

[Sea Q]

in the process of doing the same thing now
installed one 48 inch Flor. 2 weeks ago and 'wow' talk about bright
we will be doing the other 9
With the emergency lights we will replacing the old 24 Dc lights with LED also.
No need to change out the wiring just fixtures.
in your case I would just clean it up

 

[rslifkin]

I just added a pair of the less bright (model E-360 I think) Scandvik LED fixtures to my engine room for more light outboard of the engines. They're pretty bright, although not to the level shown in the original picture.

Having 120v engine room lighting might be nice at times. Mine are all 12v and I've had a couple times of working with a drop light, flashlight, etc. or having to do some power re-configuring to keep the lights on while doing electrical work that required some or all 12v power to be turned off.

 

[syjos]

I've been slowly replacing my 110 VAC fluorescent bulbs with 110 VAC LED replacements in the engine room and boathouse.

I buy the kind where the ballast is bypassed. More efficient.

The bulbs are available from electric contractor supply stores not HD. The led bulbs are available in several brightnesses and color temperatures.

The ballast bypass LED bulbs are less expensive than the LED bulbs that work with ballast.

 

[catalinajack]

Four-foot LED tubes from Marine Beam are $29 each. That comes to $174 to replace the flourescents in three double-tube 48-inch fixtures. Ian, in your engine room I can assure you the result will be a very brightly-lit place. By-passing the existing ballasts is well within your skill set.

https://store.marinebeam.com/120vac-t8-t12-fluorescent-replacement-led-tubes/

These would do the job nicely . . . But yikes!

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=4299717

 

[Beaverlake]

In an amazing coincidence I just stumbled onto these replacements while making an Amazon purchase:

https://www.amazon.com/Hyperikon-Si...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

 

[FoxtrotCharlie]

Yep, if I had had old fluorescent fixtures in the ER I wold have just replaced the old tubes with the new LED 'tubes'.

 

[Rusty]

I just replaced the 48 48" flourescent tubes in our garage with Hyperikon LED tubes from Amazon. About $10 each. https://amzn.to/35volng I pulled the ballast out of all the fixtures and rewired them. It took about 5-8 minutes per fixture.

I have four remaining tubes to replace on the boat. That's one of my projects for this weekend.

 

[bayview]

Iirc it was about $10 for two tubes at Lowe’s

 

[Shrew]

I'm in the "Get rid of the AC wiring and go with DC lighting in LED". I'm all for redundancy where redundancy is needed, but parallel circuits in differing currents really is a "Belt and Suspenders" solution.

To me that would look like a sloppy retrofit and visions of a TV sitting on top of a TV analogies start popping in my mind.

 

[stephenvalliere]

great ideas, i also would keep both systems but thats me...... i have used this brand in several boats .....awesome products

love your picture that is great lighting in the current configuration

Lumitec Lighting Home - Lumitec Lighting

good luck

 

[angus99]

Thanks for the ideas and links, all.

I’m going to give a couple of these a try.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ear-led-task-lights-12v-4000k3000k/3654/7651/

They have high light output, operate on 12-36 volts DC, have an aluminum base, draw 1.23 amps per fixture and up to three of them can be linked together end-to-end. Also, they have a very small footprint, which will increase headroom in the ER. Finally, they’re cheap compared to some of the boutique brands I’ve priced.

If they work, I’ll order up to six more. If they don’t, I’ll return them and keep looking.

 

[syjos]

Sandpiper's lighting is 90% 110 AC.

It still has 12 volt dome lights throughout but I am slowly removing them and patching the holes.

Advantages to 110 VAC LED bulbs are:

AC LED bulbs are less expensive

AC LED bulbs can be dimmed with dimmers that are less expensive than 12 volt dimmers

AC bulbs are available in a multitude of brightness, color temperature, size, shapes and wattage

AC bulbs are available everywhere

 

[Flatswing]

My 49 RPH came with ordinary 110v big box store fluorescent fixtures. Sharp edges on the fixture edges always left a crease somewhere on my head but I loved the light output but hated having glass tubes aboard. I replaced mine with 110v big box LED fixtures -lower profile, no tubes, no need for spare bulbs. I bought good 12v LEDs from Moonbeam for the 12v lights to avoid radio interference & don’t run with the 110v ER lights on. Since the original cheap painted steel fixtures had no significant corrosion issues, Couldn’t see the point of buying expensive marine fixtures. You can easily clean up the wiring as you replace yours.

 

[Boat]

Replaced 12v fluorescent with LED strips, bypassed ballast. Cheap lights from automotive dept at Walmart. Not sure of the safety rating compliance. Not a high confidence product. Easy installation, very bright lights. I'll probably replace them again for comfort and peace of mind.

 

[JDCAVE]

Angus: I would go to the local Home Depot and look for solutions where the LEDs use a 12 VDC power source. I found something discounted at Home Depot that fit my needs for the galley lights and under the cabinet lights and we are very happy with the results. No flicker and no VHF interference. The Admiral is very happy and they are super bright.



Listed here at $50 Cdn, we actually paid $20 each. They may not be available in the US.

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/illume-led-accent-task-light-white/1000747273

Jim

 

[angus99]

Thanks very much, Jim. If the light bars I ordered (post 20) don’t work out, I’ll give these a look (assuming, as you note, they’re available down here). They look nice under your cabinets.