LED Replacement Bulb

[psneeld]

Thanks RTF, they have vanity light bulb I've been looking for. Heartland, UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc. have no problem finding us. Presently enjoying warm weather on the Florida Gulf Coast.

psneeld, I carried a oil lantern on my back stay for years but choose to light it with a 12vdc bulb conversion, I did however have a gimbled bulkhead mounted oil lamp below that was fired with candle wax oil that was standard on lots of sailboats and actually not only provided light but dryed out the cabin during foul weather.
I will give a cool white led festoon bulb a test in the port and starboard running lights before ordering the red and green led bulbs.

One thing you do have to be carefull of... is up close, the extra brightness might be fine, but reportedly at a distance, the brightness washes out the color, thus some fixtures may need colored bulbs.

My larger 40 series Aqua Signals seem fine as long as the intensity isn't too much brighter.

 

[rwidman]

WesK, you are correct BUT, depending on the color of the lens and the color of the LED, it is possible that you could could get very little light through that fixture. "Red" is a pretty vague wavelength reference. Is the LED emits light in a very narrow wavelength band, and the lens filters light in a very narrow wavelength band, they better match or you won't see much light at all.

The red and green LEDs sold specifically for use as navigation lights take that into consideration. I'm not recommending cheap LEDs off eBay, I'm recommending actual navigation light replacements from a reputable company.

As for white lights, the cool white is a better choice. It's usually brighter and the cool white color really stands out in the dark.

 

[psneeld]

There are at least a half dozen articles on the Web from magazines describing the use of non colored LED lights.

They fall into 2 groups in the ones I read.

The CYA authors and the just make sure you comply with the COLREGS authors.

 

[Heron]

Some affordable double dimple (the official name...do a search!) LED's here:

2.6W Festoon 44mm the dimple boats Navigation led bulbs, 10~40V [Festoon-44MM-dimple-30-3528-40V] - $6.50 : LED light bulb, LED light bulbs for home use and cars

 

[sdowney717]

re: LED navigation lights:


Some folks don't understand the light from LEDs. The light from incandescent lamps consists of all the colors. The combination looks white to humans and the light contains enough red and green that the light passing through red and green colored lenses looks red and green.


The light from "white" LEDs is quite different. It still looks white to us but the combination of colors is quite different. If you put a white LED in a red or green navigation fixture behind a red or green lens, there will be very little light output because there is very little red or green light from a "white" LED.


All the above leads up to this: For navigation lights you must use a red or green LED as appropriate even though you already have a red or green lens.


White lights (steaming, anchor and stern) don't have this problem, the lens is clear and a white LED is fine. For that matter, white LEDs are a bit more obvious than incandescent lights which have a yellowish tint.

What you say makes sense. BUT, what about the stop light turn light led bulbs for cars, I see them listed as white and they have red or yellow lens of the car to shine through, and I never read of this as an issue as in brightness.

I put an LED in my anchor lights since they need to be on a long time and maybe nothing running to charge the batteries on overnighters.

 

[FF]

While there is lots of talk about the legality of a LED conversion, a more practical (tho not legal) approach might be made.

Install the LED and take a walk along the shore or drive your dink 2-3-5 miles away , whatever the viz requirement for your size boat is.

What you see is what others will see.

 

[O C Diver]

Replaced all my navigation lights during my refit, with the same make and model Aqua Signal as all of the lenses had gotten crazed after 13 years. Considered changing the bulbs to LED. Decided to leave the side lights and stern light incandescent as the power savings wasn't a factor (only on when the engine is running), and likely only use those lights <50 hours per year. The mast and anchor lights were changed to LED to be able to reduce wire size in the mast and power consumption for the anchor light. It's unlikely the incandescent bulbs will ever fail as I now have 4 spare bulbs on the boat.

Ted

 

[Oldersalt]

Be careful about replacing wit LED

A marine electrician whom I trust told me to buy only marine-rated LED replacements--usually the more expensive versions than what Amazon sells, for instance. He said that because the boat's voltage can vary--more than cars for instance, many 12-volt LEDS won't do well at either 14 volts or 11.5, whereas th marine-rated ones don't have a problem with such variable voltages.

Can anyone shed any more light on this, so to speak?

Best,
Oldersatl

"Everything on your boat is broken. You just don't know it yet."

 

[Northern Spy]

A marine electrician whom I trust told me to buy only marine-rated LED replacements--usually the more expensive versions than what Amazon sells, for instance. He said that because the boat's voltage can vary--more than cars for instance, many 12-volt LEDS won't do well at either 14 volts or 11.5, whereas th marine-rated ones don't have a problem with such variable voltages.

Can anyone shed any more light on this, so to speak?

Best,
Oldersatl

"Everything on your boat is broken. You just don't know it yet."

They use integral drivers to keep the current constant during voltage fluctuations. This keeps the light output consistent, the resistive heat lower, and junction temperature lower. This equates to better light, less heat, and longer lasting LEDs.

For me, it's the heat thingy. I don't want my boat or truck to catch fire because of a cheap emiter.

 

[Pgitug]

A marine electrician whom I trust told me to buy only marine-rated LED replacements--usually the more expensive versions than what Amazon sells, for instance. He said that because the boat's voltage can vary--more than cars for instance, many 12-volt LEDS won't do well at either 14 volts or 11.5, whereas th marine-rated ones don't have a problem with such variable voltages.

Can anyone shed any more light on this, so to speak?

Best,
Oldersatl

"Everything on your boat is broken. You just don't know it yet."

I purchased LED's from SUPERBRIGHTLEDS.COM
and replaced all of my tugs lights with led style two years ago. Not one failure so far. Buy from them with confidence

 

[O C Diver]

A marine electrician whom I trust told me to buy only marine-rated LED replacements--usually the more expensive versions than what Amazon sells, for instance. He said that because the boat's voltage can vary--more than cars for instance, many 12-volt LEDS won't do well at either 14 volts or 11.5, whereas th marine-rated ones don't have a problem with such variable voltages.

Can anyone shed any more light on this, so to speak?

Best,
Oldersatl

"Everything on your boat is broken. You just don't know it yet."

Lights that are listed with a compatible voltage range of 10 to 30 volts DC will work fine. Those listed 12 volts DC may not be able to handle the higher voltages of 3 and 4 stage battery chargers that can reach 14.8 volts DC.

Ted

 

[Bacchus]

$26

They use integral drivers to keep the current constant during voltage fluctuations. This keeps the light output consistent, the resistive heat lower, and junction temperature lower. This equates to better light, less heat, and longer lasting LEDs.

For me, it's the heat thingy. I don't want my boat or truck to catch fire because of a cheap emiter.

Lights that are listed with a compatible voltage range of 10 to 30 volts DC will work fine. Those listed 12 volts DC may not be able to handle the higher voltages of 3 and 4 stage battery chargers that can reach 14.8 volts DC.

Ted

I learned the points noted above the hard way - replaced all ER and saloon bulbs w/ cheaper uncontrolled LED's and now having some failures.
After looking at the Marinebeam website I see they not only offer constant voltage drivers on LED replacement bulbs but they also sell a constant-voltage DC/DC Converter that will control output aboard.
I'm wondering if this would be a good approach for controlling voltage for one or more lighting circuits where LED's are used...Has anyone installed / used one of these?

I'm thinking about taking this approach to control voltage spikes for engine room & saloon lighting circuits as it would be a more economical approach than replacing a large # of LED's with their individually V controlled replacements bulbs
At $26 it's about a break even w/ only 2 hi output V controlled LED replacements?
Thoughts, opinions, experiences??

 

[rwidman]

The drivers are "constant current". Rather than controlling the voltage applied to the LEDs, they col the current through the LEDs. In theory, this would have the same effect but it's really the excess current (caused by excess voltage) that kills them.


Controlling the current allows for the most light without the danger of excess current. It's a more elegant solution and unless you are really trying to be as cheap as possible, it's the best solution.

 

[O C Diver]

I learned the points noted above the hard way - replaced all ER and saloon bulbs w/ cheaper uncontrolled LED's and now having some failures.
After looking at the Marinebeam website I see they not only offer constant voltage drivers on LED replacement bulbs but they also sell a constant-voltage DC/DC Converter that will control output aboard.
I'm wondering if this would be a good approach for controlling voltage for one or more lighting circuits where LED's are used...Has anyone installed / used one of these?

I'm thinking about taking this approach to control voltage spikes for engine room & saloon lighting circuits as it would be a more economical approach than replacing a large # of LED's with their individually V controlled replacements bulbs
At $26 it's about a break even w/ only 2 hi output V controlled LED replacements?
Thoughts, opinions, experiences??

Don't know enough about how it works to answer your question. The 10 to 30 range has been a winner for me. Buy my replacements direct from China at hero-led.com. Cost is around $30 for 5 units, so I could tolerate a few failures. Units have exceeded expectations.

Ted