Cockpit light
- Thread starter cmedsailor
- Start date
pvb
Well-Known Member
LEDs are the way to go, and there's a huge choice. If you just want a gentle red glow for safer moving about in the dark, you could recess some individual LEDs into the chartplotter pod.
Jabs
Well-Known Member
I have a stainless bolt with an embedded LED.
Very bright, vert low current, one hole and easy installation.
Provided it's not on a circuit you use at night when underway, it is such a low current, it can be 'always on with that circuit.
I have it on the bowthruster!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-1-5W-LE...-Light-Lamp-/370931944800?hash=item565d444d60
Tony.
Very bright, vert low current, one hole and easy installation.
Provided it's not on a circuit you use at night when underway, it is such a low current, it can be 'always on with that circuit.
I have it on the bowthruster!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-1-5W-LE...-Light-Lamp-/370931944800?hash=item565d444d60
Tony.
jwilson
Well-Known Member
I'm minded to do something similar, and have been looking round at light fittings. The snag I can see with the one shown on Ebay is that it's possibly not a very 'nice' light - most car LEDs are very blue-white rather than a softer yellower light.
pvb
Well-Known Member
When I replaced some soft yellow incandescent tube fittings (oak kitchen downlighters) with fluorescents, I found the light quality was unpleasantly stark. Solved by painting the diffusers with dilute staining varnish. Same thing could be tried on an LED.
prv
Well-Known Member
The problem with cool white LEDs is that the light they emit is only at a few particular frequencies. Coloured filters can only remove frequencies from light, not add them (a blue filter strips out everything except the blue wavelengths, for example) so for filters to work you need a full range of frequencies emitted in the first place (incandescent bulbs and flames are particularly good at giving a smooth continuous range, hence why they look "natural"). This is the same reason cool white LEDs aren't good as red or green nav lights - there's very little red or green in their output and a filter can't magically insert it.
The answer for interior lamps is to buy warm white LEDs. They produce a more continuous range of frequencies and look a lot nicer. Also note that even within the "warm white" category, some types are better than others. So don't dismiss the whole lot on the basis of one cheap and nasty example.
Pete
Scotty_Tradewind
Well-Known Member
When do you wish to use it?
If its for general use in port to clean and tidy at night, then something like this may do.....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/3207...1=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0
If you wish to see into your cockpit lockers at night or to fit it snuggly up behind that smart plotter casing then perhaps something like this ?.....
http://www.boatelectricals.co.uk/ma...100198-stepcourtesy-light-cool-white-led.html
S.
cmedsailor
Well-Known Member
Sitting at the cokpit at night, having dinner, you know things like this.
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
Tilly style light hung from boom?
James_Calvert
Well-Known Member
We find votive candle holders work quite well.
If you really must use artificial light, it seems you can even get ones with leds in them.
slipknot
Well-Known Member
I use bicycle lights like these below from eBay. They wrap around the stainless rails. The white 'front' light does the cockpit table. The red 'rear' light is on the grab rail over the galley. Worth a try at £3 ?
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=400592389113
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=400592389113
demonboy
Well-Known Member
I tried those bike lights in my cockpit. They're pretty rubbish at giving a wide-angled, diffused light as they're designed to be directional. Also they're cool white, not warm. Since you said they're to be used whilst eating (and I guess drinking, entertaining etc) you want something that offers a warm, even glow that's not going to get in people's eyes, so avoid spots if you can. If you do use spots, mount them below eye level.
Scotty's suggested Nasa cabin lights are the sort of thing you want and they'd mount nicely on the back of your plotter box; it's the perfect angle too. Just check that they are waterproof though. If you're mounting outside then look for something that's rated at IP68, which basically means fully waterproof (submersible, even). IP65s are dust proof, and anything else with neither rating will be a waste of money in the long term.
Just personal opinion but finding a cheap £5 solution might work for a season, but a cockpit light for eating is essential and worth spending a bit more cash on. With that chart-plotter box at that angle, it's ideal for mounting a permanent solution.
geem
Well-Known Member
We use a G4 led mounted in jam jar and attached to a wire that plugs into a cigar lighter. The jam jar allows you to cut out a small piece of paper to make a shade that just tucks inside. You leave the bottom of the jam jar unshaded and you get direct light downwards onto the cockpit table. Looks nice and can by adjusted until you get the perfect light intensity you want. Also very economic to operate.
Searush
Well-Known Member
Neat & cheap, I like that. I have just ordered a pair to fit at ankle height in the sides of the lockers to provide basic safety illumination without destroying night vision. Depending on how they go I may just use them when anchored if they affect night vision.
Ruffles
Well-Known Member
Be aware that many of the exotic coatings used to re-emit warm white light are not terribly UV stable.
