How to light a Windex at night ?

sarabande

sarabande

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There must be better ways than pointing a torch at the masthead intermittently.


An all-round white is going to get me in trouble with Capt Sensible and John Morris, so I am looking for ideas for illuminating the reflective patches on the arms and tell-tale.


I do have a TacTic system, but sometimes it is pleasing to have an absence of LEDs on meters in the cockpit.
 
sarabande said:
There must be better ways than pointing a torch at the masthead intermittently.


An all-round white is going to get me in trouble with Capt Sensible and John Morris, so I am looking for ideas for illuminating the reflective patches on the arms and tell-tale.


I do have a TacTic system, but sometimes it is pleasing to have an absence of LEDs on meters in the cockpit.
Click to expand...

The manufacturer sells lighting kits (Davis Industries).
 
They usually have reflective bits underneath, so the masthead light should do the trick.

White ribbon telltales on the shrouds show up in all but the worst conditions - when you can feel what's happening anyway or say ' sod the regulations ' and use a head torch or something.

Shroud telltales are usually much better than a Windex anyway, they're in line of sight like a fighter aircraft's Head Up Display; the only time I find a Windex really useful is in locks where the boat is sheltered but the Windex tells what the wind is doing outside.

Anything is better than an electronic wind display, I've had two NASA units ( given as presents so I felt obliged to fit them ) and been on boats with the most expensive kit - they're all unreliable carp in my opinion, a waste of 12 volts ! :)
 
A white LED sealed in epoxy or hot melt glue, taped/tyrap'd to the backstay might be an option.

I've always used the tricolour.
So long as the windex has decent reflective material on the arms and tail, it does not need much light.
 
I would say that a single bright LED, pointing upwards from the rear of the mast would do it. Ideally this would be pretty well shielded so that even at a good heel angle it would not be directly visible. This could be on the same circuit as the tricolour (no need for another wire up the mast).

Alternatively if the white segment of your tricolour doesn't adequately illuminate the windex, could you redirect some of its light upwards? Perhaps a strip of fresnel lens glued onto the housing somewhere, or a small mirror.
 
A Windex is, quite literally, a pain in the neck!
Any boat I have ever sailed on in the dark had, AFAIR, a tricolour light, which cast enough illumination to suffice, onto the windex, not that I referred to it all that much.
My current boat, which used to belong to Glenans, came to me without a wind instrument of any description. I didn't miss it, as I had become accustomed, while sailing Glenans 5.70s around Baltimore, to using telltales on the shrouds, generally a bit of wool yarn, or sometimes a strip of J-Cloth from the kitchen! On my own boat, I find white or yellow ribbon works well at night. An ensign over your head, on the backstay can also be useful when sailing downwind.
The real, rufty-tufty sailors will tell you that you need none of these visual aids; you should be able to feel the wind, on your ears or on the side of your nose, etc.
 
Yes a windex is a pain in the neck but I find the best indication of wind direction when running and a gybe is imminent.
Yes I have tried incandescent bulb in the past but did not last long now I have no wiring in the mast. Saves a lot of trouble. Now I just use a flashlight.
LED on the backstay or vertically from the mast top base, seems like the best arrangement. Just beware LED bulbs come in tighter or wider beam pattern you want wider. LED bulbs have iron wires so rust quickly through if not protected. They are cheap enough but not so easy to replace up there. You can connect up to 3 bulbs in series with a 100 ohm resistor to run on 12v system. Need a higher resistance with less bulbs. good luck olewill
 
sarabande said:
There must be better ways than pointing a torch at the masthead intermittently.


An all-round white is going to get me in trouble with Capt Sensible and John Morris, so I am looking for ideas for illuminating the reflective patches on the arms and tell-tale.


I do have a TacTic system, but sometimes it is pleasing to have an absence of LEDs on meters in the cockpit.
Click to expand...

I made up a windex light by mounting a 12 VDC MR16 LED ceiling down light bulb in a IP65 plastic box with a policarb lid with the bulb pointing upwards under the windex.

s-l225.jpg


Mine is square and just big enough to fit hes MR16 bulb in.

MR16-18SMD-1224-LED_1024x1024.jpg


I glued a short length of 50mm dis PVC pipe to support the bulb to point upwards
 
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Just thinking laterally here, rather than the bother of illumination at the top of the mast, why not use something like a laser pointer strapped to your backstay (cockpit level) pointing upwards?
I think I might try it, as I also have dispensed with any lights up there.
 
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I checked the lighting at the top of the mast. The tri lens is for'd, mounted on a flat ali plate, and for some reason (? VHF aerial) doesn't illuminate the Windex arrows.


Which begs the question: is the stern light obstructed... ?
 
William_H said:
Yes a windex is a pain in the neck but I find the best indication of wind direction when running and a gybe is imminent.
Yes I have tried incandescent bulb in the past but did not last long now I have no wiring in the mast. Saves a lot of trouble. Now I just use a flashlight.
LED on the backstay or vertically from the mast top base, seems like the best arrangement. Just beware LED bulbs come in tighter or wider beam pattern you want wider. LED bulbs have iron wires so rust quickly through if not protected. They are cheap enough but not so easy to replace up there. You can connect up to 3 bulbs in series with a 100 ohm resistor to run on 12v system. Need a higher resistance with less bulbs. good luck olewill
Click to expand...

Best indication of a dead run, gybe imminent is the collapse of the genoa.
 
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