LED alternative to labcraft saloon light

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pcatterall

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One of the 2 labcraft strip lights has failed completly. I was just going to buy the same again but guess that (with 3 tubes) this will consume a fair bit of juice.
Is there a similar looking LED alternative or at least is there one that has the same output and light quallity?
Suggestions appreciated also an idea of power consumption would be interesting.
 
pcatterall said:
One of the 2 labcraft strip lights has failed completly. I was just going to buy the same again but guess that (with 3 tubes) this will consume a fair bit of juice.
Is there a similar looking LED alternative or at least is there one that has the same output and light quallity?
Suggestions appreciated also an idea of power consumption would be interesting.
Click to expand...

LED Tube

T5%20x%20300mm%20Tube.jpg

http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/12v%20&%2024v%20LED%20TUBES.htm
 
I have had the same problem:

a) Buy a cheap fluoro unit on eBay and cannibalise the electronic unit. Worked fine and was perhaps a bit brighter than the old unit.

b) Convert the whole twin tube unit to LED using 2 x 48-LED modules from eBay, at ca £1.40 each.

I've now converted all the lights and they consume about 50% of the power of the fluoro and are significantly brighter. They'd be a good move from 24w fluorescents.
 
I would suggest that the only useful part of any flourescent light fitting is the box and lens. Rip the electronics out and fit inside one or more strips of LED strip. here is an example from China $11 for 5 metres 300 actual LEDs 18 watts for 5 metres. You can cut it up into lengths in multiples of 3 LEDs just solder to the copper pads.
http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-5...28-SMD-LED-Strip-Lights-300-Leds-p-27384.html
good luck olewill
 
Olewill,
G'day. I just bought a strip or two (on your recommendation) - I have lots of flouros to replace as you suggest.
1) would you suggest 3 or 6 LEDs per internal flouro replacement?
2) How waterproof is the strip - could you hang it from a halyard for extra visibility / party boat effect?
Cheers, Andrew
 
That's what I am in the process of doing to all in fluorescent lights.

The ones in my cockpit area I have included both worm white and red so I can switch to red on a passage.

If I need a bright light like in the engine room I use cold white to make it easer to see (eyes starting to go)
 
hello Andrew. the strip I have bought was quite water proof as one piece with lead out wires molded in. Once you cut it to length of course I imagine it would not stay water proof as you have to solder to the copper pads. Still for decoration it might only be temporary and if it does fail from water getting in it is not so expensive.
They do colured strips with a colour changer controller. I have seen at least one large boat with this stuff stuck on the sides of the boom. Very flash. good luck olewill
 
Be a bit careful with buying off-the-shelf LED strips, they usually don't have a stabiliser built in to the supply, which will cause increased current when the voltage is higher than 12V. This in turn causes a lot of heat to be generated by the LEDs, which significantly shortens their life, not to mention causing a potential fire risk. I've ordered quite a few LED bulbs from Adrian at boatlamps.co.uk, and I've found him to be very helpful and informative. They specialise in marine LED replacements and have also just started stocking LED replacement "tubes" for replacing fluorescent. I have fitted a couple of these to my boat, one in the galley and the other in the heads and the light output is brilliant. They fitted perfectly and all that was needed was to remove the ballast circuit and re-solder the wires directly to the bulb holder.
 
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