Anchor light

VicS

VicS

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No idea what its visible range and suitability will be but this LED hurricane lantern rather appeals

g12go114500s.jpg
http://www.houseofbath.co.uk/shop/l...etails/show.action?pdBoUid=9337#colour:,size:
 
An anchor light is a very nice project to experiment with LEDs at very little cost. This LED hurrican lamp to my mind is just a gimmick and waste of money if you just want an anchor light. I doubt it is very bright having one LED to a reflector to give 360 degrees illumination.
This little guy http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-C...arm-White-Light-Bulb-Lamp-DC-12V-p-25841.html from China would provide far more light at low current off the boats 12v system. Just mount it in a small glass jar and hoist ona halyard when you need it. You can get brighter LEDs from the same site slightly more expensive.
You could experiment with a light sensor circuit to switch it off and on. If you prefer you could run it on 8AA batteries in a battery holder. Or 10 NiMH recharebale AA in a holder.
One thing you can do with this little liight is to carefully unsolder the end LED. This will give more ower to the side LEDs and ona 12v battery not being charged ie 12v or less will not overload the remaining LEDs using the same current limiting resistor.

For who are good at fine solderingand fiddling I have removed some of the 5050 LED from these bulbs and mounted 4 to give 360 degree illumination. Each 5050 has 3 leds in it and are usually wired in series for 12v witha resistor. By wiring them in parallel they can be run off 3x 1.5v cells. PM me for details olewill
 
William_H said:
An anchor light is a very nice project to experiment with LEDs at very little cost. This LED hurrican lamp to my mind is just a gimmick and waste of money if you just want an anchor light. I doubt it is very bright having one LED to a reflector to give 360 degrees illumination.
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You must have missed the bit that said it had 15 led's.
 
Just thought a "hurricane lamp" with LEDs looked "the part"

Probably not bright enough although with 15 LEDs it could well be .

Probably not weather proof

Not seen them before but clearly someone more "on the ball" like Pete knew about them.

At the e-bay price I might get one to see what its like. It can only be much, much better than the paraffin one I used for years.
 
Bought one last year as a cockpit light. I drilled the side of the base and added a plug to allow it to run from 12V socket in absence of internal batteries. I works very well and is reasonably bright. Light on my super cheap version is slightly bluish and did once attract every bug for miles. Fine apart from that though.
 
I bought a packof these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D93MGYI/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for emergency lights at home if we have powercuts and another two later from Wal-Mart that were better quality and cheaper(!) haven't tried them in anger as anchor lights yet but will do as well as having the masthead one on in case the 2 d-cell batteries don't last the night. for years I had in the UK/france paraffin lanterns that worked just fine and their flickering gave no doubts that they were an anchor light not summat that could be easily confused with background shore lights
 
I tried a very similar one as an anchor light. Coming back to the boat after midnight convinced me that it was simply not bright enough and the 2 x D cells could keep it up all night. I still use it as an 'extra' deck light but am looking for something better. I may resort once again to modifying a 12V car inspection florescent tube light. The last one died in a nasty storm.
 
RAI said:
I tried a very similar one as an anchor light. Coming back to the boat after midnight convinced me that it was simply not bright enough and the 2 x D cells could keep it up all night. I still use it as an 'extra' deck light but am looking for something better. I may resort once again to modifying a 12V car inspection florescent tube light. The last one died in a nasty storm.
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The other one we used to use and still have for really windy nights when the paraffin light would blow out is a Davies mega light, see herehttp://www.amazon.com/Davis-Utility-Low-Current-Mega-Light/dp/B00144BCYY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400081438&sr=8-1&keywords=davis+mega+light
pretty good too.
 
dave_gibsea said:
Garden lamp from the pound shop ...with built-in solar panel - no batteries, no rust and if it breaks throw it away
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I've never yet seen one of those lights that is really good enough for use as an anchor light. They may be OK in a deserted spot with no other lights around but if you need something to stand out they just don't cut the mustard.
 
Rigger Mortice said:
I've never yet seen one of those lights that is really good enough for use as an anchor light. They may be OK in a deserted spot with no other lights around but if you need something to stand out they just don't cut the mustard.
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Our condo overlooks an anchorage in the Atlantic USA ICW. Last night there were several boats anchored out there, one had a selection of those silly garden solar lights mounted all around the guardrails, by 3 am all but one was 'out'. Boats with the usual masthead anchor lights were pretty well invisible against the multiple shore lights set into the backdrop of Daytona Beach city lights. one had a light at both ends too so you could not tell front from back. I should add that the deepwater channel here is not hugely wide and that large vessels, sometimes barges with tugs pulling or pushing do travel up/down the waterway in the dark hours. Boats anchor close to the channel, understandably, and as most are on long string rodes can and do wander into the channel itself as the wind or current chooses..
 
Lazy Kipper said:
Gosh - one of those is currently for sale in the YBW for sale section, I'm not sure but I bit the seller would accept an offer ;)
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BUY it quick before I do as a spare!:D

Is that the one like mine no light sensor but comes with a variety of different light sequences ranging from pretending to be a port buoy to a knocking shop via a plain white cockpit light.:D:D
 
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Or-

Take one led car 'running' light bulb given to you by your son 'cos it won't focus.

One orange lead (which you creatively removed from your hedge clippers before binning them) attached to a cigar lighter plug.

One screw top glass jar (pesto is perfect)

Two cable ties large enough to make loops top and bottom for hoisting/downhaul

Two SS (no expense spared-) jubilee clips to secure ties and stress relief on cable

Dollop of pound shop 'poxy to make water proof cable gland in screw top lid piecing to IP 'quite a lot'

Sorry- it's on the boat so no pics- dazzling as anchor or deck light and <300mW....

N
 
Salty John said:
A Mega light, or the cheaper Chinese copy, makes an excellent anchor light when fitted with the appropriate LED cluster, and when suitably waterproofed:

http://www.saltyjohntheblog.com/2013/12/anchor-lights-buy-with-caution.html
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I bought mine (the Daviesgrey version) years ago from west Marine USA and used it extensively on our boats back then in the UK, but I still liked to use the flickering paraffin lantern which in my case was a German made brass one that I had owned for many years and spanning three boats. I will look in West next visit to see if they have the led versions yet
 
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