Another Light Thread. The Awful Mast Mounted Deck/Steaming Light.

Mine hasn't got any sort of cover over the decklight, but it doesn't work anyway. I found a replacement Aqua Signal for £60 in the Chandlery Barge but in the end just changed the front bit (old lens was crazed) and remade the connections - it worked.... for 2 days! Think I'm going to replace the body of the thing.
 
eddystone said:
Mine hasn't got any sort of cover over the decklight.
Click to expand...

Same with mine. I always wondered wether it was supposed to be like this (without cover) or if some previous owner had just lost the cover.
I have replaced the bulb of the decklight with this LED, very bright:
http://www.boatlamps.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d180.html

Works ok, I just fear I might lose the LED since there's no cover...
 
The Aquasignal Steam/Deck Light combination is comnplete **** indeed. Both lights never seem to work simultaneously. This is not a good example for German engineering.
Worse are even the Chinese copies of this lamp, sold in discount marine internet stores.
Just replacing the bulb and the halogen with LEC will not fix the Problem, corrosion will return everywhere in and around the lamp.

I have seen a newer version competely with LED at the METS in Holland in autumn. Don't know yet if this can be a permanent fix ?
 
Totally agree, the new one I have just bought is rubbish, presumably made in Asia. To wire it up is like a Mensa challenge. Even Lucas would have rejected this light fitting.
 
prv said:
I've got some brilliant deck lights under the spreaders - LED strips (but rigid, with an aluminium frame, not the flexi strips) sold as aftermarket daytime running lights for boy racers. Self-adhesive, but I backed that up with some sikaflex. They light up the whole deck area, fore and aft, and with two of them out to the sides you're not working in your own shadow so much.

Pete
Click to expand...

I have fitted a pair of them on the underside of my mizzen spreaders. £4.50, or thereby for the pair. They light up half the boatyard.
 
On my first boat I just bolted 2 car reversing lights to the spreaders. Worked well & lasted 10 years
The fitting like the one that the OP shows fell apart when hit with the snuffer head ( Another reason to dump the snuffer) & I now have the bulb held in with a cable tie
 
I replaced the deck light reflector with one of the 12v kitchen down lighter sealed beam units. Had to solder some push on connectors to the wires to enable connection to the light terminals but it has worked OK for 4 years.
 
A flat LED festoon lamp has a beam angle of 120 degrees which is inadequate for a mast top light (steaming light) which needs to be visible over an arc of 225 degrees. LED festoon lamps are available with three segments that can just cover the 225 degrees but these need to be fixed in place between the power supply contacts with a dab of silicon. Without that the lamps can turn due to vibration and subsequently move out of position, which is of course undesirable. We generally recommend using a 360 degree LED lamp in festoon fixtures, space allowing. This ensures that the correct angle of light is shown at all times and no need to fiddle about fixing the lamp in position with silicon.

We always recommend using a 360 degree, 33/34mm festoon as these fit into both 42mm spring contacts whilst also meet the extra length requirement needed for the ubiquitous AquaSignal type 25 fixture which use a proprietary, slightly longer, dimple ended festoon.

A good practice when changing the exposed deck lamp to LED is to ensure that the lamp is suitable for use on boats where the supply voltage varies considerably. I see with interest that a post makes reference to lamps available on Ebay at one tenth of the cost of a UK supplied high quality lamp. The implication is they are pretty much the same. In fact the low cost product will differ considerably as it's designed for use in a motor vehicle. It will contain a generic Chinese LED with its working current controlled by resistors. If that lamp is used when charging batteries, 50% more current will flow through the lamp, resulting in a significant reduction in it’s working life. It’s important for boat owners to understand what they are buying; For good reason many Ebay vendors tend to supply pretty thin descriptions of their products.

In my experience it’s a real pain to change any mast mounted lamp, particularly, if it fails prematurely. I would argue that it's well worth the extra money to purchase a good quality, reliable lamp with a constant current regulator built in. Good quality lamps often will contain highly efficacious LEDs manufactured by Cree, a company that produces, in my opinion, the best LEDs available on the market.

When changing the deck lamp, clean up the contacts and place a dollop of Contralube 770 in the lamp holder, smearing it around liberally. The Contralube will stop corrosion reoccurring and protect the contact from water contamination.
 
Adrian Jones said:
A good practice when changing the exposed deck lamp to LED is to ensure that the lamp is suitable for use on boats where the supply voltage varies considerably. I see with interest that a post makes reference to lamps available on Ebay at one tenth of the cost of a UK supplied high quality lamp. The implication is they are pretty much the same. In fact the low cost product will differ considerably as it's designed for use in a motor vehicle. It will contain a generic Chinese LED with its working current controlled by resistors. If that lamp is used when charging batteries, 50% more current will flow through the lamp, resulting in a significant reduction in it’s working life. It’s important for boat owners to understand what they are buying; For good reason many Ebay vendors tend to supply pretty thin descriptions of their products.

In my experience it’s a real pain to change any mast mounted lamp, particularly, if it fails prematurely. I would argue that it's well worth the extra money to purchase a good quality, reliable lamp with a constant current regulator built in.
Click to expand...

In what way is charging the battery on a boat, different from charging a battery on a car?
I assume that you are referring to the use of daylight driving lights, or similar, which are available on ebay for the princely sum of £4.70 (a pair). If these lights can stand the charging voltage from a car alternator, why shouldn't they be able to stand the same charging voltage from a boat alternator? They are working fine on my boat.
 
NormanS said:
In what way is charging the battery on a boat, different from charging a battery on a car?
I assume that you are referring to the use of daylight driving lights, or similar, which are available on ebay for the princely sum of £4.70 (a pair). If these lights can stand the charging voltage from a car alternator, why shouldn't they be able to stand the same charging voltage from a boat alternator? They are working fine on my boat.
Click to expand...

You make a fair point about charging voltage, however, daylight driving lights are designed of to be in use when driving. The supply output voltage of the alternator is around 13.8 volts. The driving light will have its optimum output at that voltage. The rub is, at anything less than 13.8 volts, the light output will be less than optimum. At 12 volts it is very much less than optimum. If you decide to change your marine battery charger and or sell the boat and the new owner changes the battery charger things become a little more interesting!

The latest type of battery chargers being installed on boats are very different to a boat alternator charging the battery. Things have changed over the years and smart battery chargers are now common place, I presume your boat isn't equipped with one. One of the cycles of a smart battery charger is that of auto cell equalisation cycle. In essence the charger applies an increased voltage, often above 16 volts, for a programmed period, the period varies from one manufacturer to another. The tests I have carried out show current through resistor controlled 12V lamp will actually double at 16 Volts, the LEDs tend to become rather unwell when passing double the rated current. So even a 13.8V rated lamp will be damaged by the use of a smart battery charger. A constant-current controlled lamp, by comparison, will take voltage variation in its stride with lamps remaining consistetly bright at all voltages within the expected range.

Have a read through my previous posts you will see I often comment on the reason resistor controlled lamps have no place on our boats. The photos and video links posted clearly demonstrate the effect of applying over voltage to motor vehicle and household LED lamps when used in the marine environment.
 
I am sure you are correct in what you say, but-
The lights in question have only been in place, (on the undersides of the mizzen spreaders) for a few months, while the boat is ashore. I have a multi-stage charger, but with sealed batteries, the max voltage from the charger is set to about 14.4. I have not detected any appreciable difference in light output between 12.6v and 14.4v. The light output is excellent. As the boat is ashore, the alternator has not been in use yet since these lights were fitted, but it won't be giving more than 14.4v.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top