ECS LED Tricolour replacement bulb

[Peter]

Further to any previous posts on LED lights, here's another one.
Has anyone tried these as repalcement bulbs, ref below, and if yes are they any good. I do not do a lot of night sailing so not looking at the cost of a complete new LED tricolour fitting. These seem a good alternative. Or suggest another bulb to try.

http://www.ecs-marine-equipment.co....placement-bulbs-three-colour-item-100167.html

Thanks

Peter

 

[bbg]

I do not do a lot of night sailing so not looking at the cost of a complete new LED tricolour fitting. These seem a good alternative.

If cost is your deciding factor, I would suggest you DO look at a new LED Tricolour fitting. I just fitted a NASA Marine Supernova Tricolour. Cost was almost exactly what you were looking at - £50.

You will have to fit it, which will mean a bit of electrical work, but the difference in brightness is absolutely stunning. I had a white LED in a tricolour lens and it was really dim. When I tested the NASA (put it on for a few minutes at the marina one night), I had someone come up to me the next day and remark on how bright it was.

If convenience is your guiding factor then maybe buy the bulb you have shown, but if you don't mind doing the fitting, go for the NASA.

 

[VicS]

Trouble with the Nasa light is the narrow vertical angle of visibilty. Heel a bit and it's lost. At least that's what is reported.

May equally apply the the replacement bulbs that the OP mentions ... I dont know ( Slightly cheaper from Seamark Nunn BTW)

Something not quite right about the one pictured in the OP's link

 

[webcraft]

If cost is your deciding factor, I would suggest you DO look at a new LED Tricolour fitting. I just fitted a NASA Marine Supernova Tricolour. Cost was almost exactly what you were looking at - £50.

You will have to fit it, which will mean a bit of electrical work, but the difference in brightness is absolutely stunning. I had a white LED in a tricolour lens and it was really dim. When I tested the NASA (put it on for a few minutes at the marina one night), I had someone come up to me the next day and remark on how bright it was.

If convenience is your guiding factor then maybe buy the bulb you have shown, but if you don't mind doing the fitting, go for the NASA.

Why oh why don't NASA do a combined Tri / Anchor light - that is all that is stopping me from getting one.

- W

 

[VicS]

I had a white LED in a tricolour lens and it was really dim.

Yes you must use the correct LEDs for the job. They do not emit a continuous spectrum like an incandescent filament bulb.

Your white LED probably did not emit much light of the frequencies that corresponded with the coloured sectors.

White LEDs for white lights but the special red and green ones for the coloured lights or with special red and green LEDs for the colored sectors of bicolours and tricolours

 

[VicS]

Why oh why don't NASA do a combined Tri / Anchor light - that is all that is stopping me from getting one

. It is possible to piggy back them. There was an article not long ago, either in PBO or a post on these forums, describing how it could be done.

 

[G12]

Why oh why don't NASA do a combined Tri / Anchor light - that is all that is stopping me from getting one.

- W

Someone here converted one by piggybacking it. There was a whole thread on it....

I thought about doing it but then decided not to as they're very narrow and would appear hard to see when heeled which would be all of the time if sailing thus rendering me invisible.

To the OP, If you want to go to town then these guys make the weapon of choice....

http://www.lopolight.com/

 

[Martin_J]

It was possible to piggyback the NASA units... although not for the faint hearted!

It probably invalidated any warranty but it looked better than one mounted fully on top of the other...

 

[earlybird]

...

I thought about doing it but then decided not to as they're very narrow and would appear hard to see when heeled which would be all of the time if sailing thus rendering me invisible.

http://www.lopolight.com/

The criticism about the NASA Tri-colour regarding the effect of heeling is, IMHO, somewhat unfair.
It seems to have been made originally in YM's published test results. There was indeed a noticeable reduction in brightness at angles >25 deg. or so, but this was from a very bright initial level. When heeled to this sort of angle, it was still as bright or brighter than most of the competitors. IIRC, only the Aquasignal, costing ~£250, was significantly better in performance beyond this angle of heel.
Call me a wimp, but I tend not to sail with lee-rail awash at night.
I think the NASA seems to be excellent value. Mine's now lasted a year, maybe good for a NASA product. Fingers crossed!

 

[Dipper]

Further to any previous posts on LED lights, here's another one.
Has anyone tried these as repalcement bulbs, ref below, and if yes are they any good. I do not do a lot of night sailing so not looking at the cost of a complete new LED tricolour fitting. These seem a good alternative. Or suggest another bulb to try.

http://www.ecs-marine-equipment.co....placement-bulbs-three-colour-item-100167.html

Thanks

Peter

I bought one from Marinescene for £35 plus postage and a white anchor light bulb for £12.76 from Ultraleds. I haven't fitted them to the boat yet but I wired them up to my boat battery in the house to see how well they worked. The white anchor light is excellent. The tricolour bulb looks OK colourwise but the cut-off between the colours is not crisp. I would like to fit some baffles to improve this but I'm not sure how. As an experiment I shone the white LED bulb through the tricolour lens. The red and white sectors were fine but the green sector turned blue so a standard white LED bulb would not work in the starboard sector.

The tricolour LED bulb came with an adapter. I had to remove the normal female bayonet fitting from the light and replace it with the one supplied. The LED bulb and adapter takes up more space than a standard bulb and may not fit in some lights. Mine was a cheap tri/anchor light from Force 4.

I would have bought the NASA unit if it had an anchor light.