Moonstruck
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LED light bulbs . . .
- Thread starter jwnall
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Not just funeral directors. Food stores, butcher shops, beauty and makeup shops, etc. While incandescent lamps produce a broad spectrum of light, florescent and LED lamps produce light that has peaks and valleys in the spectrum. I have florescent lamps in my kitchen and bathrooms at home. I use warm white. In the shop and storage areas I use cool white.
loafs and fishes
Senior Member
I have purchased two sets of replacement bulbs from Lowes with the standard household bases to replace the bulbs in my cabin fixtures and neither set has worked. I tried reversing the polarity, because I know that can affect the function of the LEDs, but still the LED bulbs won't work. Any suggestions?
OP
OP
jwnall
Moderator Emeritus
Hmmm. Interesting. I have the same problem. They work at home, but not on the boat. I just said to heck with it, since it was not important and I had other fish to fry. But plan to get back to it. What I will do is to check the LED bulb out in a lamp at home, and then take the lamp down to the boat (with the LED bulb still in there) and plug it in to an A/C socket and see if it works. If it does not, then it has to do with the A/C on the boat. If it does, then it has to do with the fixtures on the boat.
John
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jwnall
Moderator Emeritus
There are both 12V and 110V fixtures. The ones that I am talking about are 110 volts.
I do have a theory (which may or may not be valid). And that is that because an LED bulb draws such a small amount of current, any resistance between the tip of the bulb and the nipple in the fixture is going to be a problem which might not show up with a larger current draw. Therefore, if there is some corrosion in the fixture (not unheard of on a boat) that may be the problem. If so, cleaning out the fixture with a circuit cleanser should do the trick.
John
loafs and fishes
Senior Member
My fixtures are for sure 12v. But so are my dome lights and I replaced those bulbs (two pin bayonet type) with LEDs
1142 LED Bulb - Single Intensity Dual Contact 36 LED PCB Lamp | BA15 Bayonet Base Bulbs | Boat/RV/Other LED Replacement Bulbs | Boat, RV, and Other Lighting | Super Bright LEDs
One I had to unplug, rotate it 180 degrees, and replug it in - switching the polarity.
So, are there 12v LED bulbs with stabdard bases, that I should be looking for?
1142 LED Bulb - Single Intensity Dual Contact 36 LED PCB Lamp | BA15 Bayonet Base Bulbs | Boat/RV/Other LED Replacement Bulbs | Boat, RV, and Other Lighting | Super Bright LEDs
One I had to unplug, rotate it 180 degrees, and replug it in - switching the polarity.
So, are there 12v LED bulbs with stabdard bases, that I should be looking for?
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Wxx3
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Yes, I got them on Amazon. Just type in e27 base, 12v led
come in warmish white and bright white. The warmish is almost as yellow as the incandescent they replaced.
I also got new cabin light fixtures with led bulbs (12v) for like 1
$14 each. I love them. I would post picture but can only figure out from my phone, since I can't seem to determine path on computer anymore.
Richard
loafs and fishes
Senior Member
Thanks Wxx3. Already ordered some from "superbrightleds.com" I was going to replace the bulbs in my running lights too, but as someone pointed out, they will only be on when the motor's running so - no drain on the battery.
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jwnall
Moderator Emeritus
OK. True confession time, and my face is red. I went to the marina today and checked, and my boat fixtures are 12 volt! Now, in my defense, they are turned on by a switch which says "cabin lights" and which is in the A/C section of the panel. There is also a "cabin lights" switch in the D/C section, and so naturally I assumed that the A/C switches were for 110 volt lights. But not so. They are indeed 12 volt fixtures. I do not know if it came from the factory that way, or if some previous owner wired it that way. It is, after all, a 40-year old boat, and has had several owners.
So now, I just need to get some 12-volt bulbs with E26 bases. No problem.
Thanks for that hint, even though I do feel kind of stupid.
John
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I just added these 1141 LEDs to my ER lights. These new generation bulbs have 36 LEDs per bulb as a cost of $10. I have a bad habit of leaving the ER lights on overnight and draining the batts unnecessarily. At 0.15 A each, this should greatly reduce that draw down.
OK, that picture is a little larger than life, but it's all I got. I chose the cool white for the higher lumens, but they're also available in warm white for $2 more.
OK, that picture is a little larger than life, but it's all I got. I chose the cool white for the higher lumens, but they're also available in warm white for $2 more.
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loafs and fishes
Senior Member
42mm festooned in my case.
Hi All,
There isn't much point in replaceing fluorescents with LEDs. The fluourescents give much more diffuse light while the LEDs are quite directional but both have about the same total light output. If you want harsh (some would call it exciting) lighting go with LEDs. If you want uniform diffuse lighting go with the fluorescents. But either way you're going to use about the same amount of power. Both types have various color temperatures available although most people don't know about the fluorescent color temperature selection. I use the warm white phosphor rather than the cool white because it gives a warmer more home like appearance. Cool whites are what you find in most hospitals and offices. And unfortunately many boats.
Pete37
There isn't much point in replaceing fluorescents with LEDs. The fluourescents give much more diffuse light while the LEDs are quite directional but both have about the same total light output. If you want harsh (some would call it exciting) lighting go with LEDs. If you want uniform diffuse lighting go with the fluorescents. But either way you're going to use about the same amount of power. Both types have various color temperatures available although most people don't know about the fluorescent color temperature selection. I use the warm white phosphor rather than the cool white because it gives a warmer more home like appearance. Cool whites are what you find in most hospitals and offices. And unfortunately many boats.
Pete37
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Hi Flywright,
I had the same problem of forgetting to turn off the engine room lights. It burned out a lot of bulbs and used a lot of power. The engine room originally had four 100 watt incandescents enclosed in hurricane lamp fixtures mounted to the ceiling.
I replaced that with six lamps with 40 watt CFLs in six hurricane lamp fixtures. They produce about the same as a 150 watt incandescent. Don't remember the exact lifetime of the bulbs but I think it was about 10K hours. Not as long as LEDs but longer than I will ever use them.
The engine room is much brighter than it was before and the lights never burn out. I've had them in for about five years and have never had to replace a bulb. I could probably easily use 100 watt CFLs but that seems like overkill. The bubs cost a couple bucks each at your local hardware store.
The hurricane lamp enclosures protect the bulbs from mechanical damage and water accidentally splashed on them. The hurricane lamp fixture can be obtained at Home Depot for about $25 each and install easily.
Pete37, 11/18/2013
I had the same problem of forgetting to turn off the engine room lights. It burned out a lot of bulbs and used a lot of power. The engine room originally had four 100 watt incandescents enclosed in hurricane lamp fixtures mounted to the ceiling.
I replaced that with six lamps with 40 watt CFLs in six hurricane lamp fixtures. They produce about the same as a 150 watt incandescent. Don't remember the exact lifetime of the bulbs but I think it was about 10K hours. Not as long as LEDs but longer than I will ever use them.
The engine room is much brighter than it was before and the lights never burn out. I've had them in for about five years and have never had to replace a bulb. I could probably easily use 100 watt CFLs but that seems like overkill. The bubs cost a couple bucks each at your local hardware store.
The hurricane lamp enclosures protect the bulbs from mechanical damage and water accidentally splashed on them. The hurricane lamp fixture can be obtained at Home Depot for about $25 each and install easily.
Pete37, 11/18/2013
FF
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Don't remember the exact lifetime of the bulbs but I think it was about 10K hours.
The lifetime is shortened a great amount IF they are not on long enough.
A quick look at the ER a min or two would be hard on them.
But still if it shortens bulb life by 9/10 , 1000 hours is a LOOOONG time.
The lifetime is shortened a great amount IF they are not on long enough.
A quick look at the ER a min or two would be hard on them.
But still if it shortens bulb life by 9/10 , 1000 hours is a LOOOONG time.
Hi FF,
Most of my ER inspections are at least 5 to 10 minutes and many a lot longer. Anyway in the 5 years or so they have been in none of the bulbs have burned out. With the old incandescents I was replacing several every year.
Pete37
Most of my ER inspections are at least 5 to 10 minutes and many a lot longer. Anyway in the 5 years or so they have been in none of the bulbs have burned out. With the old incandescents I was replacing several every year.
Pete37
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jwnall
Moderator Emeritus
This is just a tad off-thread, but it is close enough. Not seeing as well as I would like, I have several pairs of reading glasses scattered around the boat (as well as around my house). I have now added to both those locations several little LED flashlights, about 4" long and about as big around as a quarter. These sell at Lowe's (and probably lots of other places) for $2.00, and since they include the AAA batteries, are dirt cheap. They put out a dazzling white light, and I have found all sorts of uses for them, both at home and on the boat.
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Pete, I like your idea, but it seems that you're using 110v lights vice the 12v that are usually in the ER and around the boat.
Do you run the genset constantly, or have another 110v source (inverter) to power your lights?
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Thanks, Pete. My ER lights are 12V, as are all the lights on my boat. No need for shore power or an inverter to power lights.
With these replacement bulbs, it's a simple matter of swapping the bulb in the existing fixtures and takes about 15 seconds. The amount of light cast in the ER is much improved. Brighter light and broader, more uniform coverage. And I'm consuming 85% less power with the LED. (12W per bulb to 1.8W per bulb).
I like the brighter 6000K cool white in the ER and the 3000K warm white in the cabin.
FF
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With the old incandescents I was replacing several every year.
Probably from vibration.
Probably from vibration.
Wayfarer
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Hi Natalie, welcome to the forum. I just bought a bunch of LED bulbs from Superbrightleds.com and they were very helpful. I didn't know what I was looking for, so I called them, and told them what I knew about the bulbs I was trying to replace, and they recommended replacements.
I have no affiliation with them, but they treated me right. Give 'em a try if you like.
Yeah! Thank you so much but I also found some information related it. what do think about this information. Is it useful?
https://www.listatrailer.com/how-to-replace-rv-light-bulbs/
https://www.listatrailer.com/how-to-replace-rv-light-bulbs/
If you are looking for RV info a sister forum to TF is iRV2.com They are both run by the same organization and look very similar. Very active and well run.
