LED Festoon bulbs ?

[Refueler]

Question : Would an LED festoon bulb be as good in external light such as mast head anchor light as the normal glass filament bulb. Would the LED version suffer from damp and weather ?

I have a few LED festoon bulbs and the thought of less amps is appealing for my steaming light and the masthead anchor lights - but don't fancy them failing and having to replace ...

??

 

[gregcope]

My initial answers would be yes, but be careful.

Yes because they work well. Careful because quality, especially sealing, varies allot and a better made bulb should be better sealed. Nearly all my lights are LED, often cheap ones from Ebay and few have failed. The lower current draw is very attractive.

My good quality LED masthead bulb has been up there four years.

One other point is that the steaming/deck light fittings are often not well sealed which may not help.

 

[ashtead]

Thinking of a string of led lights for the cockpit - any suggestions for a reliable online supplier ? Want to avoid dodgy eBay suppliers so looking for those who have done this for guidance really . I’m assuming this is led festoon bulbs ?

 

[Stemar]

Would a tape of LEDs do for your cockpit? They're easily available from most suppliers.
eg Waterproof LED Strip Lights
Not the prettiest of things, but they can go in channels. We have them above our stove and the steam from cooking hasn't affected them.

As for an anchor light, I made one from an inch of drainpipe with LEDs poked through and the innards potted with epoxy. It lasted me 10 years and was invariably the brightest light in the anchorage.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

There many threads on here dealing with this. The very first type of festoon replacement LEDs to emerge were for navigation lights due to their low power consumption while sailing. The main problem under discussion was compatibility of the colour temperature of the bulbs with the coloured lenses of existing nav lights. Doubtless there is now a solution for this
If you use the search facility you will discover threads which provide links to well-regarded vendors of reliable bulbs.

 

[duncan99210]

This is a festoon bulb, just to clear up what we’re talking about. An LED bulb will have a series of LEDs instead of the filament. As to longevity, I’ve been using them for years now, never had a problem, mostly sourced from eBay.

 

[Gwylan]

View attachment 90296
This is a festoon bulb, just to clear up what we’re talking about. An LED bulb will have a series of LEDs instead of the filament. As to longevity, I’ve been using them for years now, never had a problem, mostly sourced from eBay.

The led version if festoon bulbs are generally flimsy and altogether unsuitable.
We had them in fittings in the saloon. Absolute rubbish. Un reliable and rubbish light output.
Replaced them with new fitings, much better light and quality

 

[Gwylan]

Regarding filament festoon bulbs more light comes out if bits of your anatomy than out if festoon bulbs. They should be sold as heaters.

 

[awol]

Fine for anchor light but why bother for steaming light? I presume your engine generates more than sufficient electricity to keep a filament lamp going.

 

[duncan99210]

The led version if festoon bulbs are generally flimsy and altogether unsuitable.
We had them in fittings in the saloon. Absolute rubbish. Un reliable and rubbish light output.
Replaced them with new fitings, much better light and quality

To each, his own. You have to make sure that the bulbs have decent LEDs and enough of them to replicate the output of the filament bulb. As I said, I’ve got LED festoon bulbs in both my stern light and in various fitting inside: they’re cheap, provide the right amount of light, use next to no precious electricity and have lasted years, so I can’t accept your characterisation of them as ”Absolute rubbish”. Clearly, my experience is completely different from yours.
I much prefer fittings which use either bayonet or G4 sockets but I didn’t fancy shelling out comparatively large sums to change already satisfactory fittings when I could source satisfactory LED replacements.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I fitted LEDs to my starboard, port and stern nav lights as well as internal ones. I didn't bother with the steaming light as, as awol says, the engine will be running when it's on. However, if my mast was taller, I'd probably change it so that I didn't have to shin up and change it too often (LEDs having a longer life).
As far as suppliers is concerned, I got mine from Boatlamps. Although some eBay sourced bulbs are as good as any, you can never tell if you're using a good or bad supplier so I prefer to play safe and pay slightly more for guaranteed quality.

 

[rotrax]

To each, his own. You have to make sure that the bulbs have decent LEDs and enough of them to replicate the output of the filament bulb. As I said, I’ve got LED festoon bulbs in both my stern light and in various fitting inside: they’re cheap, provide the right amount of light, use next to no precious electricity and have lasted years, so I can’t accept your characterisation of them as ”Absolute rubbish”. Clearly, my experience is completely different from yours.
I much prefer fittings which use either bayonet or G4 sockets but I didn’t fancy shelling out comparatively large sums to change already satisfactory fittings when I could source satisfactory LED replacements.

Exactly the same experience as you.

Our ebay cheapo LED's have worked well, done their job in using less current and have been reliable. We have had some festoons so long that we are going to change to a warm white source now I have located some as the fitted ones were only available in that nasty blueish tint.

Our boat has 22 G4 type LED's bulbs fitted, from ebay, under 45 quid for 30, so I have spares. IIRC, in the four years since installing, four failures, two very quickly.

I found some festoons the correct length with warm white colour and just a single row of LED's, not four rows, adequate for our purpose and less wasted current. In our aplication only the forward facing LED's supply light, any others would be lost in the depth of the rather dep fittings.

 

[Refueler]

Thank you guys ...

Now I've decided to change to LED .. I cannot find the da*** things !!

But I intend to change all Nav lights to LED ......

Just for interest - I like to rummage through camping stuff .. amazing what you find. I have a Cockpit battery operated Cluster light of a ring of LED's ... not enough to read by - but more than enough to have a friendly beer with others .. cost about 3 Euros. Hangs of the boom ..

 

[[163233]]

Fine for anchor light but why bother for steaming light? I presume your engine generates more than sufficient electricity to keep a filament lamp going.

LED's last a lot longer, to the point you could probably seal them in with sika.

The bulbs have a very variable quality though, I've struggled to find anything suitable without spending an arm and a leg.
Many LED festoon bulbs have a flat surface with LED's either side, if that's in a sidelight it might require careful orientation to get the right visibility, and the colour can be much too blue. I tried an LED stern light because that was all I could find, and it was markedly blue.

 

[Refueler]

Was in shop today and we went through loads of different ones.....

What amazed me was when we got to one set and the White was absolutely brilliant WHITE .... no hint of blue .... and bright !

As to life .... all my standard Festoons are about 10 years old ... the only one that failed was the anchor light at masthead ... and it only failed when I took it out .... one end cap fell off !! It was working right up to that point.

 

[Greemble]

LEDs for steaming or anchor lights are fine, if they are properly regulated.
The cheaper bulbs can throw out radio interference. Not necessarily too much of a problem, but can give an annoying background hiss or whine over the radio.

The biggest problem for navigation lights (aside from the possible wrong wavelength/colour) is the focal point of the light source and the lens.
Consider how a lens made to focus the light from a tungsten bulb with its filament at the centre of the light. Replace that with an LED with the lights set around the outside of the 'bulb' - the lens will now be out of focus, causing more diffusion and thus a 'weaker', fuzzier light when seen from a distance.
This may or may not be a big problem, I've not tried to compare an LED against a festoon bulb to see if or how bad the difference might be from a distance of, say two miles, but it does give me pause.
Sounds like it could be an interesting and fairly simple experiment to try some night, out at sea.

The other focal problem with nav lights is the horizontal cut-off on bi-lights or masthead tri-lights.
Again, with the lights set on the outside of the bulb, the 1 to 3 degree cut-off angle may be exceeded.
The RYA has an interesting page on this

 

[William_H]

Festoon bulbs in LED seemed to be a design where individual LED diodes are mounted down one side so light is emitted only in one direction. So great for lights inside a car or cabin lights. No good for steaming or anchor light where you want all round light as in the incandescent bulb pictured above. Reliability seems to be OK with probably more problem with the end contacts than the LED itself. Strangely they seem to be crazy priced on Ebay from China now.
For anchor or steaming light I would suggest a section of LED tape (strip) wrapped around inside the lens so giving all round light. This should be hard wired (soldered) to the old fitting contacts. However these light tapes are not so reliable as individual LED can fail usually taking out the adjacent 2 LED as they wire 3 in series. I would suggest that while these are wired using a internal series current limiting resistor you should have no problem with anchor light but might consider fitting an additional series resistor about 3 ohms or so to limit current when the battery is at 14+ volts for the steaming light.
I have been hugely impressed with so called COB or chip on board LED as being very reliable and to me very efficient. like this 10PC 12V 6W 48SMD COB LED Car Interior Dome Panel T10 Festoon Light Lamp Bulbs | eBay
Now obviously they emit only in one direction so you would need at least 4 facing in each azimuth direction and again hard wired in. They also seem to be resistor current limiting but it is all encapsulated. With 4 current will be around 2 amps quite a lot but brightness will be amazing. Or reduce current further with series resistor. So yes do get rid of the incandescent bulbs. Purchasing from China is very cheap and for me in Oz about 4 week delivery. ol'will

 

[Refueler]

Festoon bulbs in LED seemed to be a design where individual LED diodes are mounted down one side so light is emitted only in one direction. So great for lights inside a car or cabin lights. No good for steaming or anchor light where you want all round light as in the incandescent bulb pictured above. Reliability seems to be OK with probably more problem with the end contacts than the LED itself. Strangely they seem to be crazy priced on Ebay from China now.
For anchor or steaming light I would suggest a section of LED tape (strip) wrapped around inside the lens so giving all round light. This should be hard wired (soldered) to the old fitting contacts. However these light tapes are not so reliable as individual LED can fail usually taking out the adjacent 2 LED as they wire 3 in series. I would suggest that while these are wired using a internal series current limiting resistor you should have no problem with anchor light but might consider fitting an additional series resistor about 3 ohms or so to limit current when the battery is at 14+ volts for the steaming light.
I have been hugely impressed with so called COB or chip on board LED as being very reliable and to me very efficient. like this 10PC 12V 6W 48SMD COB LED Car Interior Dome Panel T10 Festoon Light Lamp Bulbs | eBay
Now obviously they emit only in one direction so you would need at least 4 facing in each azimuth direction and again hard wired in. They also seem to be resistor current limiting but it is all encapsulated. With 4 current will be around 2 amps quite a lot but brightness will be amazing. Or reduce current further with series resistor. So yes do get rid of the incandescent bulbs. Purchasing from China is very cheap and for me in Oz about 4 week delivery. ol'will

There are various designs of LED bulb .... in the shop yesterday I was amazed how many ...

One was like a ceramic rod with the end caps - gave very bright 360 light ...
One was clusters of Diodes in three vertical lines giving 360 light
One was single vertical line of Diodes giving only a 180 light

All of them in different bulb lengths and diameters ! I walked into the shop expecting to find just a few ... to then be presented with a display board covered in different versions !