LED Light Bulbs

[AnneW]

As some of you may recall I bought some LED light bulbs from the States and was having difficulty getting them to function. I did eventually manage to sort out the polarity. The long and the short of it being that although they were dual socket bayonet fittings they wouldn't function in a normal dual socket so I had to purchase some new light fittings which have negative polarity attached to the casing. Anyway several of you asked me to feed back on the volume of light given by a 12 cluster LED light as opposed to a normal 5 or 10w bulb. They do not give off anywhere near as much light (about a third) and the light is a lot more concentrated, giving a pool rather than diffused light. (That is partly because the only fitting I could get with the right wiring was a spotlight). That being said, they only use about a 10th of the electricity so you could install more. I am going to put a couple of double lights in the front and rear cabins instead of the current lights (particularly as these are the ones the kids forget to switch off) and maybe one in the main cabin for making a cup of tea when everyone else is asleep. But for main cabin lighting there is still a little way to go yet. I'm glad I didn't pay the £44.00 for one that they were advertised at in an English chandlery recently.

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[tome]

Thanks for the update Anne

How did your exams go?

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[jimi]

I presume that they might be quite good for a chart light?

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[AnneW]

The LED lights would be fine for chart lights and in fact are available in red. I have one for my chart light which I bought as a whole unit which gives a much broader light and works very well. I have also noticed that since I purchased my bulbs which are 12 cluster bulbs they now also do 19 cluster bulbs which presumably will be brighter again.

My partner by the way thinks I have lost it, he can't quite see why I would converse with people on the net about light bulbs!!

The Yachtmaster exams are going fine. two down one more to go!!

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[poggy]

Hi,

As LED's are pretty cheap and if you used them with a good lense and perhaps filter to improve the lighting, they should be a good alternative.

I think I may have to look into making some.

Poggy

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[Idlerboat]

Hi greetings from peacefull australia, (most of us ) I have had a lot to do with LED boat lighting. I now run both nav lights and internal lighting with super high intensity LEDs. The internal lights are the original brass and glass, domed type that I have added two more switches on the side of each lamp. The original globe and switch is untouched if I ever need it. The two new switches run either a bank of red or white LEDs.These LEDs have the apropriate resistor so that the whole system can drop to about 9 volts before they cut out. The LEDs are held against the reflectors with a small piece of double sided tape. The Nav lights have been done in much the same manner and the whole lot works very well.Hella now sell LED nav lights but they are very expensive. I have no doubt that within the very near future all boat lighting will be LED technology. I first became interested in them because my engine will run a prop or an alternator but not both!! So I use the alternator for as smaller time as possible while Im sailing to top up the batteries. A solar pannel also helps to cope with the radios and autohelm.

regards Martin
Idler

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