Cabin Lights MT 34DC

[Hutch9900]

Wondering if anyone could tell me the type of lamp to use to replace the existing bulbs from a 1982 MT?

 

[koliver]

By now all of those light fixtures will have been replaced, some more than once, so you need to specify what bulbs you have, in what fixtures.

 

[Comodave]

We just installed over 20 LED puck style lights in our boat I wouldn’t replace bulbs in lights anymore but rather go with LEDs due to the longevity and power savings.

 

[Hutch9900]

They appear to be the original fixtures still. Round, silver trim with glass lens.. The previous owner did replace some of the bulbs with retrofitted LED but it looks like he spliced the 12v wire to do so. He then glued them to the top of the inside of the fixtures.

 

[Comodave]

What condition are the original lights in? A lot of times with older boats the plastic turns yellow and really shows it’s age. I usually replace the whole light to make it look nicer. I also paint the plastic with 2 part polyurethane paint and then it never yellows. In fact whenever I buy something plastic like loudhailer speakers I paint them with 2 part poly before I even install them so they don’t yellow.

 

[Barking Sands]

Not sure what you have or what you want to keep. I refurbished a few of my original 1985 units with light discs from Amazon. Like $12 for 5 light discs, very bright. Halfway through this video you can see the LED part number and how it looks and how bright

 

[Hutch9900]

Not sure what you have or what you want to keep. I refurbished a few of my original 1985 units with light discs from Amazon. Like $12 for 5 light discs, very bright. Halfway through this video you can see the LED part number and how it looks and how bright

Thank you for this video! That is exactly what a few of the fixtures have been fitted with. I have a few more to do but need to know how you made the socket work with the two pin light. Did you solder the wire leads to the wire coming off the switch? On mine, it looks like he cut out the socket as you did and then the lamp he used had the black and red wires coming off of them. I will be replacing those too because they are cool white and I would prefer warm white on those and the new ones to match.

 

[ranger58sb]

Those two-pin things are called G4 "bi-pin" -- the pin spacing is 4mm.

There are sidepin discs (pictured above) and backpin versions too... In the backpin versions, the pins literally stick straight out the back of the disc.

Boat DC power isn't all that constant, so LEDs marked 12V (only) don't usually do as well as those marked 10-30VDC (and latter work on both 12V and 24V systems).

FWIW, I've had good luck with LEDs from marinebeam.com -- not inexpensive but they work well, good customer service, and less expensive options I've tried eventually showed signs of heat damage on the back side.

-Chris

 

[Barking Sands]

On the initial one I did for the closet I just eliminated the base and soldered direct to wire and use shrink tube and then used a dab of silicone on the backside to hold it in place. On the next ones I ordered G4 sockets and used a dab of 5200 to hold the socket. They are working fantastic and have no flicker or any other issues. I expect them to last a very long time.

 

[sbman]

The sockets in the video are BA15D and the circuit is from one spring pin to the other, with one filament in the bulb, power on one pin, ground on the other. This base uses an 1142 single filament bulb and is the bulb type you want if you want direct replacements in either LED or incandescent.

There is also a 1376 bulb that will physically fit the BA15D base, but has two filaments needing power at each pin and ground at the base. These will plug in but will not light in a typical marine wired BA15D base.

This is quite different from the more common BAY15D which looks the same but has two filaments with ground flowing through the bulb base and each filament powered by each individual pin. BAY15D has the two pins offset so you can only insert the bulb one way and uses an 1157 bulb, at first glance it looks like they would fit, but on closer examination, they won't. 1157 was a common taillight/stoplight bulb on cars before cars became giant plastic creations.

 

[RedRascal]

If you are looking for warm color temperatures you may want to check out what superbrightleds has to offer. They are usually really good about providing detailed specs for their bulbs. It's tough on Amazon and ebay to know what the truth is on color temps and lumens. Lighting is a great upgrade, you may want to consider adding dimmers on a few lights.