Dougal
Well-Known Member
I see a lot of discussion about LED's for Tri-lights, and I 'THINK' they seem to refer to LED's with 3 colours??? Can I not then, simply replace my awful 25watt bayonet bulb with a white LED?
Confused - Am I Completely Misunderstanding LED Trilights?
- Thread starter Dougal
- Start date
VicS
Well-Known Member
Mine is a three colour array but yes you can use white provided it is a warm white ( although for best visibility a cool white is better for a white light)
If I was replacing it now i would use a warm white and save a loadofcash
See Boatlamps website for advice and suitable LEDS for Nav lights
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Dougal
Well-Known Member
Ta Vic
elton
Well-Known Member
The spectrum of a white LED is completely different to that of a white filament lamp, so what comes out may not be what you expect or want.
VicS
Well-Known Member
Which ITYWF why a warm white is satisfactory for the red and green sectors of a tri or bicolour, while a cool white is not
elton
Well-Known Member
I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but I'd want evidence that it did. regarding viewing angle and distance, with a specific lamp, before fitting one. There've been threads on here on the subject, which weren't all positive reports.
William_H
Well-Known Member
It seems to me that a white LED bulb will have actual LED emitters around a circumference perhaps 2 cms in diameter. Probably stacks about 2.5cms high.
This is fitted inside a 3 or 2 sector coloured lens about 5cms diameter.
Now the original incandescant bulb had a vertical filament meaning the source of light in azimuth is very small so gives sharp delineation between the sectors. Now you fit a bulb with a light source near 2cms across as seen in azimuth. It must therefor confuse the delineation between sectors.
This is the reason why bulbs are made for tricolour with 3 different coloured LED emitters to amtch the lens colour and hence improve the sector sharpness.
I guess much depends on the size of the LED bulb in terms of number of emitters and spread of each emitters light. So a smaller bulb with less emitters will give better differentiation of sectors but not so bright.
So is my theory right or does it not matter in practice? I have no practical experience as I use cabin side mounted LED individula nav lights. olewill
This is fitted inside a 3 or 2 sector coloured lens about 5cms diameter.
Now the original incandescant bulb had a vertical filament meaning the source of light in azimuth is very small so gives sharp delineation between the sectors. Now you fit a bulb with a light source near 2cms across as seen in azimuth. It must therefor confuse the delineation between sectors.
This is the reason why bulbs are made for tricolour with 3 different coloured LED emitters to amtch the lens colour and hence improve the sector sharpness.
I guess much depends on the size of the LED bulb in terms of number of emitters and spread of each emitters light. So a smaller bulb with less emitters will give better differentiation of sectors but not so bright.
So is my theory right or does it not matter in practice? I have no practical experience as I use cabin side mounted LED individula nav lights. olewill
VicS
Well-Known Member
I think because the angle of max brightness of the emitters is limited you will only see the light from one or maybe two stacks at a time so in effect a light source at most 1/2 the diameter of the assembly.
also the lens of a tricolour ( Aquasignal series 40 ) is i would guess between 3" and 4".
So your theory needs modifying to take these factors into account. In practice because of the variable nature of the course that can be held by a small sailing yacht it wont matter.
rogerthebodger
Well-Known Member
Thats what I have done Warm white in Tricolour and bicolour. cool white in anchor. steaming and stern.
If you look at the cutoff of a incandescent bulb even with a vertical filament the refracion of the light in the lens will increase the viewing angle. The viewing angle will in fact depend on how far you view the light from.
IMHO the main difference in the appearance is due to the higher light output of LED, brighter. At normal, at sea, viewing distances the viewing angle has lesser effect but the increased brightness gives a larger viewing range.
prv
Well-Known Member
Bebi used to provide such data for their lamps, in an AquaSignal housing, including one of those weird colour gamut graphs that showed the output was within the space specified by the colregs. Unfortunately when they closed down they deleted most of their website so it's no longer available.
True in theory. In practice, having checked by walking up and down a pontoon crossing 50m in front of Ariam's bow, the effect is barely noticeable even from a static position. With both boats moving, as Vic says, it's no problem at all.
Pete