LED Cabin Spotlights

emsworthy

emsworthy

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Hi,

I am hoping that your collective expertise will help me with a sourcing problem.

We are about to replace the headlining in our Sadler 26 and I feel that whilst we're about it we should replace the power hungry strip lights and carbon filament lamps with LEDs. What I am after is something that looks like a standard halogen spotlight fitting but with an LED. They need to be invidually switchable of course. I've searched the local caravan shops and swindeleries but no joy as yet.

Any leads as to where we might source something like this are most appreciated.

Cheers.

Tim
 
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Force4 do a direct replacement LED bulb that is good. We have 2 as our reading lights in our cabin. Not cheap but good product. I have purchased some really awful blue light and dark LED's in the past. There's a company called Sailors Solutions in the US that do excellent LED direct replacement bulbs. I bought 2 for the main cabin spotlights. I'm looking to add more LED for both spotlights and reading lights with the combination that seems to work for us.
 
Searush said:
Can't help with your sourcing problem, but I don't think that 12v flourescents are much more power hungry than the equivalent LEDs. halogen & tungsten are a different issue - very power hungry.
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Fluorescent lights are very good in terms of light for power, but still seem power hungry compared to LED bulbs.

I use both in my boat - Fluorescent 16w bulbs give about the same as a 75w domestic bulb, and are great where you need a good flood of light - In the galley for example.
I now have LED's in many places, replacing spotlights, and the 2.6w are about the same output as a 25w standard bulb.
So on a (very) rough comparison, I could get as much light from LED's as the fluorescent bulb for half the power consumption.
Having said that, the light is not quite the same, and I see a place for both types - especially given the cost of LED bulbs.
 
Thanks guys,

All really useful stuff. I agree about flouresent, I intend to keep the strip light above the galley for cooking but quite like the idea of spots in the headlining. The lack of heat generated by LEDs is another reason for going that way.

I love the cheap B&Q idea but would ideally like to have individual switches on each fitting, I don't recall ever seeing a domestic fitting with an integral switch.

Cheers,

Tim
 
emsworthy said:
I don't recall ever seeing a domestic fitting with an integral switch.
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Probably something to do with where they are normally fitted in domestic situations... :rolleyes:

You will either need to modify the fitting if you can fit a small push switch in, or change your wiring to include more circuits.
 
Replaced the aft cabin halogen and florescent lamps with some LED's from IKEA. Just bin the transformer. The light is warm(ish), they look great and use about 1amp a year.
 
emsworthy said:
I love the cheap B&Q idea but would ideally like to have individual switches on each fitting, I don't recall ever seeing a domestic fitting with an integral switch.
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I've got 14 of them in my main cabin. I just have 3 switches by the main hatch, galley, middle and seats each turning on the appropriate group of lights. The middle one is a 2 way to my cabin. Easy to do and works really well. In my cabin the switches are on the headlining, looks fine and works fine so wiring totally straightforward if you're renewing it.
 
emsworthy said:
Hi,

I am hoping that your collective expertise will help me with a sourcing problem.

We are about to replace the headlining in our Sadler 26 and I feel that whilst we're about it we should replace the power hungry strip lights and carbon filament lamps with LEDs. What I am after is something that looks like a standard halogen spotlight fitting but with an LED. They need to be invidually switchable of course. I've searched the local caravan shops and swindeleries but no joy as yet.

Any leads as to where we might source something like this are most appreciated.

Cheers.

Tim
Click to expand...

Tim, why take out the most efficient lighting there is - the strip lights. For the amount of light given by them they are supposed to be more efficient than LEDs. By the way, have you tried to read in light totally supplied by LED's - it horrid. It have 2 on the boat, I hate the light from them. Get some lovely oil lamps - much nicer.
 
In certain place on the boat we have replaced 12 volt filament bulbs with the automotive equivalent led bulbs ( white) from Ebay, which are fine for general lighting but not for reading etc. We also have led festoons in the heads and in cupboards which actually give more light than their old counterparts, but use 1/5th power and produce no heat
 
Bit confused here. The flourescent bulbs say 8w - is that their start up current draw because 8w = about three quarters of an amp which is way more than an equivalent LED draws.
 
Chris_Robb said:
Tim, why take out the most efficient lighting there is - the strip lights. For the amount of light given by them they are supposed to be more efficient than LEDs. By the way, have you tried to read in light totally supplied by LED's - it horrid. It have 2 on the boat, I hate the light from them. Get some lovely oil lamps - much nicer.
Click to expand...

each to their own, I hate strip lights. OK in the engine bay and the heads, no where else.

But have you tried the latest LEDs? The warm ones as halogen replacements in a frosted fitting are nigh on impossible to tell apart from tungsten. I actually had half and half for a while as I was worried I would hate them, and the only way I knew which was which was they came on and went off instantly instead of fading up/down over 1/4 sec or so. I now don't have anything other than LED in the cabins.

Gas lamps are nice like a log fire at home. Nice when you can be bothered but I wouldn't be without the central heating for everyday use.
 
pasta_simon said:
Bit confused here. The flourescent bulbs say 8w - is that their start up current draw because 8w = about three quarters of an amp which is way more than an equivalent LED draws.
Click to expand...

That is the power they consume while running.
Unfortunately you cannot compare different types of bulbs by wattage, only Lumens, but that is rarely quoted.
For example, my 16w fluorescent tube gives the light equivalent to a 75w domestic filament bulb.
My 2.6w LED's give the same as a 25w filament bulb (so about 7.8W to match the 16w fluorescent output).
You need to be very careful with LED spec's as some are less that 1W with a very low light output.
I find the 2.6w warm white is great as a reading light over the bed (we have one each side) and the six in the saloon give a very good spread of light.
 
pasta_simon said:
Bit confused here. The flourescent bulbs say 8w - is that their start up current draw because 8w = about three quarters of an amp which is way more than an equivalent LED draws.
Click to expand...

But it gives SIGNIFICANTLY more light. So Lumen for lumen....

People used to hate strip lights- but then LEDs came along... The light is horrid - even the warm white - which I have.
 
Excellent advice as always.

Chris - thanks for your help. We're going to keep the flourescent over the galley and I really want to have at least one oil lamp. I am a firm believer we should be totally independent if the battery should die, in all aspects including nav etc.

Elessar - I like the idea of a set of switches to control zones of the cabin and will look at options. Are you happy that the additional wiring doesn't suffer a significant voltage drop?

Many thanks to you all again.

Tim
 
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