DECENT replacement G4 LED's (maybe one for JFM?)

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jfm said:
I just noticed there are bargains on ebay from seller cantalupi_usa. Deserts are $16 plus sensibly priced shipping. They might be leftovers, and in nickel not mirror polished frames, but the sellers store is worth a look
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I note they mention Halogen fitting?
 
alt said:
I'm going to send a query to http://nauticled.nl/

For the toilet, i'm wondering should I order 'natural white' or 'warm white' - I have no issue with the toilet being bright, so long as it's not that coldddd white that the naff LED's give
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You're mixing up naffness with coldness! On all my exterior lights I use 4000k and many would call that coooold, but the fixtures cost £70 each and are uber high quality cantalupis. Once you get rid of the ingrained "love" of warm white that we tend to have you would like them! Be brave and fit 3200-3400 to your interior, and avoid 2700 amber at all costs. Just imho though!
 
£10k..... I think that we were looking at it from different ends of the 'spectrum'...!!!

I definitely agree with the 3200K though, as it's a much 'whiter' light - 2700K starts to look very old-fashioned yellow by comparison.
 
Hey Alt,

Not sure what version I got. just took a couple of the marina shop display to try. Jmf has a point on colour but in my case it worked as it fitted in with the normal halogen lights.
It is true what seemed cold blu light some years ago you now accept as normal. To much other jobs to do onthe boat before I get so involved in light. For me the main driver was the kids leaving the lights on in their cabin so I though I try a few to see and was pleasantly surprised by the result. I did take the strongest wattage and their light output matches what was in before. Leds seem good quality as well as I believe there is a coating on the components as opposed to some of the cheapers stuff.

Rob
 
N, if you want the G4 bulb type,
I have some "Dixplay led" bulbs left, their light quality is OK
I use this brand (the round flat model) in some old "Canados" fixtures that I wanted to keep
and I use the 2 coller (White or blue) version for the outside deckfloor lights
I have a few bulb model left, but just a few, you can have them foc if you like

all the rest in BA is Quick Marine lights (only 2 different models) over 120 fixtures
one 3th model that I wanted, light quality was not OK,
checked with Quick marine lights, they agree, its a older design / led type that they use in that fixture
I've put Dixplay led bulbs in these Quick fixtures (go figure ;-) ) I really did !

if you give the size of the holes in the ceiling, I can check if one of the good types from Quick marine fits in there,
I might have a few left, and I have dealer conditions for quick marine lights ;-)
I can check what I've left when I'm at the boat on 1th october
 
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jfm said:
You're mixing up naffness with coldness! On all my exterior lights I use 4000k and many would call that coooold, but the fixtures cost £70 each and are uber high quality cantalupis. Once you get rid of the ingrained "love" of warm white that we tend to have you would like them! Be brave and fit 3200-3400 to your interior, and avoid 2700 amber at all costs. Just imho though!
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Only consideration I would add to this is that especially many older boats with lots of beige and other warm shades in the interior textiles seem more naturally suited to or even designed for amber lighting (only one available at the time). I've seen a few examples where low quality replacement led bulbs have totally messed up the warm, homely feeling.

More modern interiors with lots of white and dark brown, etc. definitely look better with 'colder' lighting with no amber messing up the colour scheme.
 
A friend fitted some cold white leds in his Broom. The affect was not nice.
He has just now changed to some very cheap warm white led bulbs - less than a quid each.
It remains to be seen how long they last.
 
It's interesting how perceptions change.
I was walking back from the marina shower block to my halogen lit up boat last night and thought how dingey it looked.
A couple of years back I would have thought how warm and cosy it looked.
Time for a change!. Useful posting.
 
BartW said:
N, if you want the G4 bulb type,
I have some "Dixplay led" bulbs left, their light quality is OK
I use this brand (the round flat model) in some old "Canados" fixtures that I wanted to keep
and I use the 2 coller (White or blue) version for the outside deckfloor lights
I have a few bulb model left, but just a few, you can have them foc if you like

all the rest in BA is Quick Marine lights (only 2 different models) over 120 fixtures
one 3th model that I wanted, light quality was not OK,
checked with Quick marine lights, they agree, its a older design / led type that they use in that fixture
I've put Dixplay led bulbs in these Quick fixtures (go figure ;-) ) I really did !

if you give the size of the holes in the ceiling, I can check if one of the good types from Quick marine fits in there,
I might have a few left, and I have dealer conditions for quick marine lights ;-)
I can check what I've left when I'm at the boat on 1th october
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Bart,
How very generous of you :) I am only seeing this now as we were on a CiC all weekend on the water so didn't even look at my phone.

I will be on the boat next weekend again so will measure. What I can tell you is that for all the lighting (apart from heads), I fit a disc LED with SIDE 'prongs' / connections which were horizontal. For the heads, I used the discs with the prongs on the back (vertical).

Does that sound like the same type?
 
scubaman said:
Only consideration I would add to this is that especially many older boats with lots of beige and other warm shades in the interior textiles seem more naturally suited to or even designed for amber lighting (only one available at the time). I've seen a few examples where low quality replacement led bulbs have totally messed up the warm, homely feeling.

More modern interiors with lots of white and dark brown, etc. definitely look better with 'colder' lighting with no amber messing up the colour scheme.
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I agree with this. My interior would not be suited to the cooler look and I think I would prefer to stick with it. Remember, we are in the cold west coast of Ireland. Down the med i'd prefer the cooler look, but up here... anything to give the effect of a warmer boat :)

(I'm sure you are similar)
 
alt said:
I agree with this. My interior would not be suited to the cooler look and I think I would prefer to stick with it. Remember, we are in the cold west coast of Ireland. Down the med i'd prefer the cooler look, but up here... anything to give the effect of a warmer boat :)

(I'm sure you are similar)
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I'm very fortunate to have the top of the line cantalupis in my saloon (courtesy of a gentleman on here) and they do look fantastic.

But yes, a friend of mine replaced all the halogens on his boat with some cheapo leds and not only did his saloon look like a fridge, the complexions of those inside took on a shade of green that was reminiscent of a bad case of mal de mer. Also the beige leather sofas looked very uninviting. Halogens would have looked a lot better.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that going for cooler leds adds an extra twist and may not look as nice as expected, especially on older boats and especially if one is planning to use replacement bulbs.
 
jfm said:
If you limit yourself to LEDs that will fit into an existing G4 fitting you are doomed to horrible poor quality light. None of the quality LED makers make bulbs; they make the entire fixture so that they can control the complete light output and manage the heat from the LEDs. They typically use high quality LEDs from Cree or Phillips Limiteds. If you get G4 replacements, you can only get the rubbish stuff made in china with low quality low CRI inconsistent LEDs and invariably the light quality from these is terrible

You say "even" the warm white isn't nice, as if warm white ought somehow better than cold. It isn't. Aim for 3200-3400 kelvins for your interior, to begin the process of getting away from the idea that warm is good.

You need to be aiming for mid 80s CRI, which none of the cheapie G4s will get anywhere near. Cantalupi catalogue is a good place to start for high quality fixtures. I have the Dessert 80mm square units inside but any from that range is exceptionally good. Once you fit these and see what high quality LED light is like, you will think "Wow!" and never go back to the G4 eBay stuff. www.improducts.co.uk are a good cantalupi supplier.

I avoided the bad news till last: think £75+ per light fixture! If you don't want that, take a look at the Quick catalogue. I'm not Quick's biggest fan generally and their LED light fixtures aren't a patch on cantaloupi's, but at much less £££ they aren't too bad - I lived with them for a week on a charter boat recently and thought they were pretty decent, and Fairline fit them OEM on Sq78 and perhaps other models (though not to my boat).
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Interesting but if you can get decent Philips LED replacement bulbs (http://www.lightupgrade.co.uk/shopB...rtmentProductId/71064861/shopGroupId/62295193) what's the advantage of changing the fittings? At the end of the day, you've still got unprotected bulbs haven't you (unlike the bedazzled ones)?
 
Pete, I once tested the back then best philips G4 leds. The trouble was they were too massive to fit into the Cantalupi Dallas fittings on my boat. It was the same with the Osrams so apparently if you want the best, size is the penalty. At 39 mm those look pretty big as well.
 
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Thanks. If they are the same bulbs that cantalupi use then surely the trick is to find a light fitting that allows these larger bulbs? Earlier jfm did say that he no longer needs voltage stabilizers. Does this mean that cantalupi don't use these Philips LED bulbs?
 
petem said:
Thanks. If they are the same bulbs that cantalupi use then surely the trick is to find a light fitting that allows these larger bulbs? Earlier jfm did say that he no longer needs voltage stabilizers. Does this mean that cantalupi don't use these Philips LED bulbs?
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My understanding is that in these replacements bulbs, the bulb has to take care of all the heat management and such (which jfm referred to) whereas eg. Cantalupi manage the whole package and subsequently the led-element is not an off-the-shelf G4 replacement bulb such as the one in your link.

To manage things properly in the bulb, it increases the size which in turn makes it difficult to find an existing halogen fitting that can accommodate this.

The cheap chinese ones do this in a smaller package but the quality (both light and built) is not the same.

I may be completely wrong but as I said, this is my understanding of how this works.
 
petem said:
Thanks. If they are the same bulbs that cantalupi use then surely the trick is to find a light fitting that allows these larger bulbs? Earlier jfm did say that he no longer needs voltage stabilizers. Does this mean that cantalupi don't use these Philips LED bulbs?
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I'm not following your logic. Cantalupi use various LEDs, Cree in my lights. The fixture includes a pcb with an LED driver including voltage stabilisation and a BIG heatsink. And the fixture has a reflector shaped for the LED cluster. If you want decent light you need to buy a fixture, not a "bulb" that you insert into someone else's fixture
 
jfm said:
I don't know about that stock light linked to on the Timage website because there is no data provided. I would expect the 5050 LED version to have a disappointing CRI but I do not know the specs of the "Power LED" version. Timage are a bit annoying in suppressing the data from the source manufacturer. At £35+VAT it is at least reassuringly expensive.
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I have a contact at Timage (and can potentially get Trade prices) so have asked him to confirm the CRI.

Pete
 
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