LED bulbs in masthead tri-coloured lights

Being an LED fan, I did the conversion - and the results were far from satisfactory. The coloured segments actually changed to unrecognisable colours, the cut-offs were poor and the visibility disappointing.

On the other hand, I do have an LED all round white bulb conversion at the masthed, and its terriifc.

I guess that you either buy something like the LopoLight or wait a while until an effective bi/tri-colour conversion can be effected.
 
I received the 25w equivalent LED bulb today and am pleased with the effect in the tri-colour lantern. It’s bright and, as for the colours, I can’t tell the difference over conventional bulbs other than the white is probably less yellow than normal. The sectoring cut off point is fuzzier but viewed from 50 meters away is much less noticeable. The bulb can be seen fitted in the tri-colour lantern on the firm’s web site www.mastproducts.com so may be it is something new. Anyway, at 3.5w I’d rather have something that’s maybe not 100% perfect than have nothing at all because the batteries flat. Just one point, I will have to take the combination lamp apart to get the all round white in because the bulbs a bit too big.
 
To get the cut off right you would need to design a new fitting. The reto fit lamps ought to be banned as they will never comply to the regulations, they would need to change the regulations to make them legal. It is possible that in future a dedicated led tri-colour light with the correct cut off could be designed.

At the moment LED's give between 20 and 40 lumes/watt depending on colour and factory. An incandescent will give around 20 lumens/watt so there is some slight advantage to using LED's however if there is a substantial reduction in load then it must follow that there will also be a substantial reduction in light output. the problem with LED's is that the light is emitted in a very narrow beam and so gives the impression of being very bright, but it is misleading because as son as you stray off the direction of the source there is very little. I suspect that if you were to measure the light produced by these retro fit lamps through 360 degrees they would produce a sine wave like curve.

I believe that LED's are the future but I do not believe that retro-fit is the way.
 
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An incandescent will give around 20 lumens/watt so there is some slight advantage to using LED's however if there is a substantial reduction in load then it must follow that there will also be a substantial reduction in light output.

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I would hesitate to get into an argument with someone who is in the lighting business, but isn't the incandescent load largely wasted as heat?

One type of retro fit currently on the US market (see above) is an array of 27 coloured LEDs in what looks like a sophisticated and accurately sectored arrangement.

Think I'll check on what the US Coastguard have to say, as the manufacturers seem to imply their approval......
 
Re: Seriously, not quite yet.

I have just shone a white LED cluster onto a CD, to get an idea of their spectrum.. They appear quite good from red to green, but then only show a single shade of blue. So they should be ok behind red and green filters.

I did see a report some time ago, of the early white LEDS that showed problems with the spectrum changing with age. This has probably been corrected by now.

The light output from LEDS and filament bulbs drop off quite steeply if there is a voltage drop. There are special voltage regulators made for road vehicles, that maintain voltage levels, even if the battery power is exceptionally low. This would be better than using resisters to drop the voltage.

Clear cut off is probably important, to avoid mistakes. The eye can be fooled. I am not sure whether this is true if coloured lights are viewed at a distance, but red and green light shone on a white surface will appear white. Blue and yellow also appear white.
 
Got this reply from the US manufacturers (in Seattle) by email this morning:

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Does the Tri-Color Polar Star 40 have USCG type approval as a retrofit in the Aqua Signal Series 40 lamp?

Here in the UK there is widespread reluctance to accept that these LED bulbs can meet acceptable standards for colour and accurately defined sectors.

No, only the White Polar Star 40 has that BUT then non of any other third party replacement bulbs have any USCG type approval. We are working on USCG COLREG approval on all our nav bulbs.

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So, looks like I misread the specs for that one.

However, I see that there is plenty of marketing effort going into similar products on this side of the pond, so maybe we will progress to some official type approval before long.

Cheers
 
Re: Seriously, not quite yet.

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<<<<The only reason automotice bulbs might be ok in mobos is if they are using separate port, starboard and steaming and stern lights. If you use a bicolour on the bow, then a proper 'vertical filament' bulb is much better as it gives much better defined arcs for the lights.

I don't think its got anything to do with heeling. >>>

I'm quoting information given in one of the magazines within the past six months or so. Naturally, I can't find the piece now.

[/ QUOTE ]Having thought about it a bit more, I suppose that if the LED's are spread over a bigger vertical distance, then the lens in lightfitting might not be as efficient at some angles of heel? In other words, the brilliance of the light at various angles of heel might rely on a better 'point source' which is not achieved by a cluster of LED's.
 
Re: original question

One thing I’m not clear on. If these Mast bulbs are not approved in tri-coloured lanterns (which is how they’re advertised) how come they have the Pittman Innovation Award 2007 and been nominated for the DAME Award? Am I just easily impressed?
 
Re: original question

[ QUOTE ]
One thing I’m not clear on. If these Mast bulbs are not approved in tri-coloured lanterns (which is how they’re advertised) how come they have the Pittman Innovation Award 2007 and been nominated for the DAME Award? Am I just easily impressed?

[/ QUOTE ]Goodness knows. Sail magazine (who makes the Pittman Award) is usually pretty reliable - although others have commented about the lack of a unified response from different nations over the legality of LED nav lights.
 
Re: original question

I work for a commercial boatbuilder. We have used the Lopolights on a few boats now. We first used them at an owner's request but scince have made them standard on most of our boats.

The quality appears to be excellent and they are fully approved for use in most countries (including UK).

They are made up of arrays of coloured LEDs arranged into their sectors. There are no coloured filters in front of the LED's but there are some colured @vanes' presumably tohelp diffuse the light.
 
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