LED Nav lights

[Talbot]

For those interested in LED Conversions for NAV Lights, I have 2 bits of news:

IrisSoft who have been lauded on this forum before as the cheap end of LED conversions, have not been able to supply me as their supplier has stopped making the LEDs. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif/forums/images/icons/frown.gif/forums/images/icons/frown.gif

AquaSignal have stated that "we are working on LED navigation light, that meet the requirements of the European authorities. However it will not be possible to just put in LED lights in already existing navigation lights, because the approvals are always given for the complete navigation light. So if you change only one
small feature of your light the approval is lost. "

- call me cynical, but this probably should be translated as - We have seen the large amounts of money that deepcreek are making on their LEDs and believe we can make even more by making people buy new nav lights as well as the LEDs!!!!!!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Joe_Cole]

Having worked with approvals systems in the past I can well imagine that what Aquasignal are saying is correct.

FWIW I'm mucking about with LED's for my boat at the moment. I'll be working on the basis that if they look OK then I'll use them, and b****r the bureaucrats!

Joe

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[mldpt]

I have posted this question also and have been looking at Irisoft and their replacement bulbs look good although I am not sure about the output etc. As far as I can see it is only the all round white that is needed for masthead nav lights and all round Anchor light. The rest of the nav light on board are only used when motoring and then power is not a problem, it only when sailing at night or at anchor when we want to conserve battery power. I am afraid I know little about LED's, how many LED's would I need to produce sufficient light to conform to the regs on amount of light and distance visible, I guess also they would have to be positioned in such a way and at varying angles so as to give the correct spread of light, but then again if they are inside a plastic nav light would this not diffuse the light and be visible from any angle horizontally as well as all round. Mike

<hr width=100% size=1>www.sailingforfun.co.uk

 

[qsiv]

More to the point I dont think that there is any requirement to fit lights that are 'approved', only to have lights that comply with the regulations. Of course, by buying 'approved' lights you should be reasonably certain of complying with the regs.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[steffen]

I just received some LED's (green, red, white) from superbrightleds.com in the US. Ordered last week wednesday, received yesterday.
I still have to check them out, but they are supposed to be 8000mC with a 30degree opening. Plan to sacrifice a bulb to obtain a fitting and mount the leds (6 per color) in a piece of plastic 3/16" pipe. I will get back with results. I think i have to make some sort of physical separation to prevent the red/green leds from showing through the white sector.

As said, b....r the approvals, if they can be seen far enough as required by the regs its OK for me.

Happy sailing, Steffen

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[dickh]

Interesting about approvals, does this mean if I do not use a genuine Aqua Signal lamp inside the enclosure, my lamp does not conform? The cost of Aquasignal lamps is extortianate - £6.50 each if I remember.....
Neither of the lamps fitted in mine or my spares are genuine Aquasignal.

<hr width=100% size=1>dickh
I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[Talbot]

I dont see the point in going for the different colours, the glass on the nav light should provide that. The more important aspect is getting the angles right so that the light sector of one LED is met by the next. IRISSOFT used 9 to provide 360 degree cover so LEDs with better that 30 degree cover must be available.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[bumblefish]

They are available, but there is an inverse reationship between the power and angle.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Joe_Cole]

Yes. A fair point!

Joe

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AlanPound]

I'm a bit confused about this. The COLREGS give specifications in terms of visibility at certain ranges - there may be other sources that give guidance about how this may be achieved, but surely the ranges are the operative issue. Other than this, are there actually any approvals requirements? (I haven't seen any identified so far).

Second, I am certain that standard incandescent lamps and coloured glasses meet the visibility requirements when new - but I am equally sure there are degredations as they age. Many green filters end up looking more white than green, when old.

Finally, some practical points. Putting a red filter in front of a green LED won't turn the light red - it will pretty much block it. The corollary of this is that, replacing an incandescent bulb in a tricolour fitting with an LED cluster, with appropriate colours pointing in the appropriate directions, provided the LEDs are vertically aligned so as to emulate as far as possible the vertical filament of the incandescent bulb, should result in the coloured glasses producing pretty much the same light distribution angles as the orignial lamp.

Alan

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Joe_Cole]

Alan,

Out of curiosity I've had a look at the Col Regs!

It turns out that they do indeed say that approval is required. I must admit that I didn't realise it before!

Annex 1, para 14: Approval
"The construction of lights and the installation of lights on board the vessel shall be to the satisfaction of the appropriate authority of the State whose flag the vessel is entitled to fly"

When I last bought a navigation light I seem to recall that the box listed all sorts of specifications/approvals for different European countries, though I didn't think anything of it at the time.

In the UK the "appropriate authority" is DOT (or whatever it is called these days). I think that they also issue licences to commercial craft so I suppose that it is easier for them to check that lights are "approved" rather than looking at them to decide if they are visible from 2 miles etc.

The same annnex also gives detailed performance specifications on how light work. It defines luminosity, colour, vertical angles for heeling yachts etc etc.
It's all quite interesting if you are playing around with LED's. If your are not then it's all deadly boring!

Regards

Joe


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[steffen]

Unlike a filament bulb, a led emits light of an certain frequency. This implies that not all colors of the spectrum are available in the white.
Yesterday i experimented with white leds in a tri-color and sure enough there was little red light coming through the red and green filters though the leds shine very brightly though the white sector.
My biggest challenge is how to get the 6 white leds aligned over the designated 135degree sector.
Will keep you posted on my progress.

Happy sailing, Steffen

<hr width=100% size=1>