LEDs

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
:banghead::banghead:

Me and XS had the same disagreements with me on my last LEDs thread when I put the Chinese ones in. I guess he thought I forgot.

The thing is I don't Want to make the mistake TWICE. We have around 60 lights and changing them involves pulling all the ceilings down which is PITA, so I'd like this to be the last time I pull them down. Don't even try to pull the wealth card...

Also to further add to that, I DO value my time because I only get around 2 months out of the year to go cruising ( not talking little 3 day trips) so I'd not want half the boat apart fixing some half a$$ cheap workaround when I could be cruising. Don't have the the luxury to cruise full time yet, but up ahead I will. Otherwise it's a 2 month limit.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Also as a side note I have 4 BA15 dual contact bulbs from super-bright leds that have been working flawlessly.
 
What type were they? Ours were little potted diodes with a lens glued on with a cylindrical shaped heatsink.

They were mostly G4 bi-pin discs. Some were festoons, some were card type. Some were light bars under cornices, etc. On the G4 we has some side pin, and some back pin for reading lamps. The RV were mostly 1156 base.
 
Maybe I was subject to a bad batch. What style were yours?

Simple question, but not simple to answer until I checked! Turns out I can only find 2 Superbright orders. Here's the embarrassing bit - although I bought 5 x AR111-x36SMD and 5 x G4-xWHP15-DAC, I discovered that none of them have been installed! So I have no idea whether they get hot or will last! I should test them I guess.

But I can say the work lights from Superbright, AUX-10W-SxB (some 60º and some 120º spreads), WL-24W-O80 and ORBX15-72WD-SP were installed and are great. All came in aly housings and are mounted externally.

I have bought LEDs from a number of places, right back to when Fisheries Supply first stocked them. First pic is of a big fail - the plastic mounting must have been close to melting. They have no circuitry on the back at all.

Second pic ones are marked DoctorLED.com (sourced from Fisheries) and these run cool and are in most of my cabins. These have been great and the reason the 10 Superbrights noted above remain uninstalled.

Then there is the 4-pack from IKEA, fairly soft lighting, cover removed. I have quite a few of this style of light, which were originally festoon bulbs. I modified half of them to the Ikea style but used LED festoons in the rest.

Final pic is lamp replacement bulb sourced from an electrical wholesale shop quite a while ago at great expense. They are labelled 'Verbatim Model 97583', and are 120VAC 50/60Hz. These will sometimes flicker - drives me nuts. They will get ditched if they get into the flickering habit again.
 

Attachments

  • 9 LED fail.jpg
    9 LED fail.jpg
    70.8 KB · Views: 100
  • Dr LED 9 bayonet.jpg
    Dr LED 9 bayonet.jpg
    79.9 KB · Views: 103
  • IKEA 4 pack LED.jpg
    IKEA 4 pack LED.jpg
    130.2 KB · Views: 90
  • Lamp LED flkr.jpg
    Lamp LED flkr.jpg
    48.5 KB · Views: 106
Last edited:
My experience with MarineBeam has also been excellent and the stuff stands the test of time. The guy really knows boats and the issues involved. I tried some bargain and semi-bargain units from others and just gave up. I always think of "cheap" in terms of total lifetime cost of ownership for the same quality of experience. Now, yes, I do value my time at something north of zero and on complex things factor that in, but changing a light bulb... not so much.
 
Sorry you got cheesed off Oliver. This forum is supposed to be an exchange of ideas and just because we don't agree is no reason to lose your rag. I thought some of my stuff might be useful if not for you but for the rest of the thousands on here who own boats and might want some other info. For all I know, that rumbling you hear in the background might be a stampede of people following you. Or the slamming of lids on computers when they read me. In any case, I'm buying a new fridge.
 
Sorry you got cheesed off Oliver. This forum is supposed to be an exchange of ideas and just because we don't agree is no reason to lose your rag. I thought some of my stuff might be useful if not for you but for the rest of the thousands on here who own boats and might want some other info. For all I know, that rumbling you hear in the background might be a stampede of people following you. Or the slamming of lids on computers when they read me. In any case, I'm buying a new fridge.


Yeah I guess... Good luck with the fridge install! :thumb: Now what kinda light does have inside it? :confused::)
 
Have been using "Hero" LEDs which you buy direct from china. They use a power supply on the 24 volt models that will allow you to imput 10 to 30 volts. The 30 watt equivalent of the 1st post is about $8. In the G4 pin configuation they have a wide selection or 24 volt bulbs in both warm and cool color temperature. They also carry a large selection of adapters and bulb sockets. Have been very happy with everything I have gotten from them so far.

hero-ledstore.com

Ted
 
This is a repost and update. After a year plus with 10 of these, zero failures.

We found these at Lowe's for G4 replacement at less than $10. It's the equivalent to a 20 watt bulb (190 Lumens). They also had replacements for 10 watt G4s.

This site gives some pretty good performance values when changing from incandescent to LEDs

http://www.lightingfacts.com/Downloa...ance_Scale.pdf

Attached Thumbnails
 
This is a repost and update. After a year plus with 10 of these, zero failures.

We found these at Lowe's for G4 replacement at less than $10. It's the equivalent to a 20 watt bulb (190 Lumens). They also had replacements for 10 watt G4s.

This site gives some pretty good performance values when changing from incandescent to LEDs

http://www.lightingfacts.com/Downloa...ance_Scale.pdf

Attached Thumbnails

Larry, Nice! I think i would have a problem with those fitting in my fixtures, as my light funnels are quite long.
 
...I think i would have a problem with those fitting in my fixtures, as my light funnels are quite long.

Trying to find the right LEDs has been hard as you know. Through the years we bought a lot of "experiments". Here's a partial collection with only one success. Hopefully as time goes on, the standards and quality will continue to get better.
 

Attachments

  • 003.jpg
    003.jpg
    91.9 KB · Views: 86
I forgot to mention (easy there big fellow) that if you are using open array bulbs, you can buy a spray called "Conformal Coating" which is used to waterproof circuit boards. My friend, who built the Olympic Welcome Sign out of LEDs at Vancouver airport a year or two ago, sprayed all circuits and circuit boards with same. Try not to spray the lenses of the LEDs but get it everywhere else. It is particularly useful if you spray those used outside, like in your nav lights. Available at fine electronics stores everywhere.
 
My boat has the original 50 year old fixtures and I was in no mood to rewire and replace, yet the old style bulbs ate battery power and generated enough heat that it concerned me. Took a bulb out and walked into a store in Portland OR and they sold me Source LED warm white replacements. They slide right in and run very cool. Definitely mess up FM radio reception, but with the quality of most broadcast content, that is no real loss. They are spendy little buggers, but my little boat only has 6 light fixtures. I put a nifty red light in the fixture in the pilothouse for better night vision. The store said they would guarantee them as long as their doors were open.
Source Led - led light bulbs, lighting, led replacement bulbs
SL-42-27L360-WW
 
I purchased some LED's from Marine Beam.

The
UN-DOME-15-RWW is for replacing in the bayonet mount overhead lights and have a very nice red/white feature. So if running at night they will burn red to preserve night vision.

The
ED-E26-4W Edison base bulbs are nicely made, but give off interference with my GE Superadio, this is a very sensitive superhetrodyne radio. So I have to decide if I will keep these bulbs. I will be checking how the interference is with my Sony ICF-SW7600GR shortwave.

I also bought some red & white 31mm Festoon bulbs for my nav lights.

Cheers
 
Back
Top Bottom