Help sourcing 12V LED cabin lights?

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by High Wire

I have fixtures throughout the boat that take 1156 single contact bayonett bulbs. I bought a bunch of cheap LED replacements that were not as bright as the original incandescent. Then I bought a set of these for $16.
Wow what a difference!!! Easily twice as bright as the incandescent bulbs. Maybe 3X the cheap LEDs. No need to replace the fixtures.

It took me a few tries before I settled on a bulb I liked from Amazon, too. The first few attempts were too dim, too harsh, the wrong color tone, etc.

CAUTION: I found some that were bright enough, and the right color, but one of them overheated. Filled the whole cabin with the acrid smell of burnt components and left a burn mark on the (thankfully) metal reflector inside the fixture. I'm sure the boat would have burned to the waterline if I hadn't been there to turn it off. Checking around, I found two others from the same batch with burnt spots on them.

Not surprisingly, they were no longer available. The seller replaced them with a different model that was OK, but not quite as bright. I tried another batch. This time I'm pretty happy with them. But I have a box full of "tried and replaced" LED bulbs.

Moral of the story: don't expect the first batch of LED bulbs you buy to be your last. Better yet, buy one or two of each of a few different types before you invest in more. And never, never leave them on unattended until you're sure of the quality.

[Mkeller]

Originally Posted by MVDarlin

Try ebay

Be careful with Ebay sources. I’ve bought them for house, cars and boats. Had a lot of failures. On my third set of Ebay lights in my kitchen at home in under a year.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by Mkeller

Be careful with Ebay sources. I’ve bought them for house, cars and boats. Had a lot of failures. On my third set of Ebay lights in my kitchen at home in under a year.

Never mind the sources, be careful with eBay! They removed the seller before he shipped my order. But eBay had already put the payment through PayPal. eBay refused to refund me, and sent me to PayPal. PayPal said I had to contact the seller (who, remember, no longer existed) or they couldn't help me for 30 days, after which I could submit a claim. I waited the 30 days, but then could not get anyone to answer the phone at PayPal.

The dispute is now going through my credit card company.

Never again!

[caltexflanc]

All of which makes dealing with someone like Marinebeam much cheaper in the end when you factor in time spent and total cost of ownership.

[C lectric]

Looks like OLD TOBY has given up on us.

[Martin J]

Put these in the bridge a couple of years ago, worked fine. They were $30 but now 40+

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[john61ct]

http://faroutride.com/led

[foggysail]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

Never mind the sources, be careful with eBay! They removed the seller before he shipped my order. But eBay had already put the payment through PayPal. eBay refused to refund me, and sent me to PayPal. PayPal said I had to contact the seller (who, remember, no longer existed) or they couldn't help me for 30 days, after which I could submit a claim. I waited the 30 days, but then could not get anyone to answer the phone at PayPal.

The dispute is now going through my credit card company.

Never again!

Gees, I use Ebay all the time for numerous purchases. All purchases paid using PayPal via direct payment from my checking account. And yes, I had troubles with sellers a couple of times but never ever got stiffed. Many years ago PayPal would not stand behind a purchase that didn’t arrive. They claimed they would refund my payment AFTER they collected it from the seller.

I gave up and forgot about it until a couple of years later I was notified of a class action suit against PayPal which I joined. My purchase price for the item was about $115. About 6 months after joining the class action suit I received a check for $175 from PayPal. I HAVE NOT HAD ANY PAYPAL PROBLEMS since the class action. Further, never had trouble contacting either Ebay or PayPal by phone.

[john61ct]

I do over a thousand eBay transactions per year as a buyer. Maybe four problems, all refunded within weeks whether the seller cooperated or not.

Basically a 100% NQAMBG, both eBay and PayPal take the buyer's side even when they are the scammer (please don't abuse this!).

As a vendor, eBay is my very last choice of platform, for exactly the same reason.