LED Navigation replacement lamps warning.

[Seven Spades]

We have port and starboard navigation lights that have a BAY15D base. The previous owner replaced the standard incandescent navigation lamps with retro-fit LED lamps. The type he fitted are the super high quality grey barrelled types with a multitude of led's. They come in white, green, red etc. The type fitted are white and when the light passes through the lens it produces the correct colour. Superficially they are very effective, I would say brighter than the lamps they replace.

The problem is that these lamps are very heavy and I returned to the UK across the North Sea and in the rough but not that rough sea the weight of the lamps in the lamp holders combined with the motion of the boat bent the lamp holder such that they lost contact, one fell out. I pass this on as a warning as whilst the lamps are superficially great products I do not think that they are fit for purpose.

There might be less weighty lamps available but this winter I am going to bite the bullet and buy the Hella Led dedicated sealed for life lights.

https://www.asap-supplies.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Hella+NaviLED+PRO

You can see that there are two versions the £115 and the £123. The ore expensive versions are EU approved with a more robust glass.

 

[Refueler]

Surely the answer is to support the holder to prevent it losing contact ?

 

[bedouin]

One of the great benefits of LED lights is that you don't need to be able to replace the bulb. This means that they can be made genuinely waterproof. I recently replaced mine with a sealed unit that included a long enough wire that the first connection is in the dry below decks.

I think there would have to be a very good reason to go for the "replace bulb" approach over the replace unit. I also worry about the result of passing "White" LED light through a coloured filter as the result may not be what you would expect.

 

[Elemental]

I also worry about the result of passing "White" LED light through a coloured filter as the result may not be what you would expect.

Agreed.
When I bought Seaspray, the previous owner had left a number of replacement, white, LED bulbs on board declaring that one was intended for the mastehead tricolor. In fit of enthusiasm I shinned up the mast and stuck it in. For 12 months I sailed to and fro the North Sea secure in the knowlege that I was using ~ 1W and had a very bright tricolor. One day, when at anchor we were ashore I was looking at the boat checking the anchor light was turned on. It was. Back on board I checked again - it wasn't. The crew had switched on the tricolor. Furthe investigation revealed that the white light from the LED bulb was passing through the tricolor filters entirely unaffected. I'd effectively been sailing with an all round white for a year
LED white bulbs have a very different emmision spectrum from incandescents...

 

[Stemar]

Yet the LED bulb in my tricolor light worked perfectly, giving a good colour and a decent cutoff between colours. I don't know if it depends on the lens or the bulb; could a plastic lens have faded over the years?

 

[Plum]

Yet the LED bulb in my tricolor light worked perfectly, giving a good colour and a decent cutoff between colours. I don't know if it depends on the lens or the bulb; could a plastic lens have faded over the years?

It all depends on what shade of white LED you use. A "warm white" LED produces a good green and red when seen through the green and red lense but a "cool white" LED does not.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Boathook]

One of the great benefits of LED lights is that you don't need to be able to replace the bulb. This means that they can be made genuinely waterproof. I recently replaced mine with a sealed unit that included a long enough wire that the first connection is in the dry below decks.

I think there would have to be a very good reason to go for the "replace bulb" approach over the replace unit. I also worry about the result of passing "White" LED light through a coloured filter as the result may not be what you would expect.

I used boatlamps to replace my nav lights with less and they recommend that you use coloured lesds for the reasons you mention. At the time this was much cheaper than new light fittings. I've never had a problem with leds breaking the fittings but the were expensive compared to others in the local Chandler's.

 

[rogerthebodger]

I use warm white in my by colour (bow) and Tricolour and cool white in my steaming, Stern and anchor. The cool white is very much brighter than the old incandescent and worm white.

 

[VicS]

Agreed.
When I bought Seaspray, the previous owner had left a number of replacement, white, LED bulbs on board declaring that one was intended for the mastehead tricolor. In fit of enthusiasm I shinned up the mast and stuck it in. For 12 months I sailed to and fro the North Sea secure in the knowlege that I was using ~ 1W and had a very bright tricolor. One day, when at anchor we were ashore I was looking at the boat checking the anchor light was turned on. It was. Back on board I checked again - it wasn't. The crew had switched on the tricolor. Furthe investigation revealed that the white light from the LED bulb was passing through the tricolor filters entirely unaffected. I'd effectively been sailing with an all round white for a year
LED white bulbs have a very different emmision spectrum from incandescents...

It is difficult to understand how you could be seeing white light through a coloured filter.

A mismatch between the filter and the LED's spectrum might result in little light passing through but not a balanced combination of frequencies that would appear white.

 

[VicS]

We have port and starboard navigation lights that have a BAY15D base. The previous owner replaced the standard incandescent navigation lamps with retro-fit LED lamps. The type he fitted are the super high quality grey barrelled types with a multitude of led's. They come in white, green, red etc. The type fitted are white and when the light passes through the lens it produces the correct colour. Superficially they are very effective, I would say brighter than the lamps they replace.

The problem is that these lamps are very heavy and I returned to the UK across the North Sea and in the rough but not that rough sea the weight of the lamps in the lamp holders combined with the motion of the boat bent the lamp holder such that they lost contact, one fell out. I pass this on as a warning as whilst the lamps are superficially great products I do not think that they are fit for purpose.

There might be less weighty lamps available but this winter I am going to bite the bullet and buy the Hella Led dedicated sealed for life lights.

https://www.asap-supplies.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Hella+NaviLED+PRO

You can see that there are two versions the £115 and the £123. The ore expensive versions are EU approved with a more robust glass.

Surely the answer is to support the holder to prevent it losing contact ?

A tie wrap round the holder above the pins might prevent this happening.

 

[Seven Spades]

It is possible, but after 2 ½ days at sea with a bow light out it is not something I wanted to repeat. You have to choose between motoring with the masthead lights and a white light beneath, or turning off the steaming light and pretending to be sailing or sailing without a light. I am not comfortable with any of those choices so I am changing to a fully sealed made for purpose solution.

 

[penberth3]

A tie wrap round the holder above the pins might prevent this happening.

I'd look for a better quality lampholder. You can be sure the builders fitted the cheapest ones they could find.

 

[PETER THE FRENCH]

When you are at sea with waves , the best system is masthead tricolor to maximize visibility

In France and also in the US there is a very famous and cheap product called TRICOMBO

It is just a bulb you place in your masthead anchor light feature and it gives you anchor and Nav light

There is a small youtube video showing how it works there
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C9BhxqwR7Y

It is sold 74£ with 3 years garantee . It is worth considering because it is installed in 2 minutes

 

[[70521]]

I am in agreement with others it is the lamp holder(s) that were the root cause of the problem. I wonder what would have happened with the old lamps? Is the lamp holder waterproof or did it fill with sea water?

Do I recall correctly that the OP did have gripe about Boatlamps in the past and there was a thread about it?

 

[Seven Spades]

No, no gripe about Boat lamps (The company) . Yes I agree lamp holders of existing fittings are not compatible with the weight of the LED replacements. The thing is this will be true of for anyone using the same lamps inthe same brand of navigation light as fitted to my boat. It is not really practicable to modify the existing lights not to replace the lamp holders.

 

[Lightwave395]

Replaced my bow, stern and tricolour with LED bulbs from Boatlamps 3 years ago, still going strong and still red and green where they should be. Certainly don't remember 'heavy' bulbs, I have standard Hella nav lights

 

[Refueler]

I'm still trying to figure out how the holder can loose a lamp contact unless lamp is shorter and holder was bent to get it in ? That's what happened to me - with normal festoon bulbs ... they were a mm or so shorter - I got them in but contacts were bent to do it ... I had trouble maintaining contact. I added a thick washer in the end to make up that small difference.

Interested to see photo's of the lamps and holder so we can identify for our own use to check ...

Maybe a side by side of the LED and normal lamp with weights ?

This is Practical Boat Owner .... !!

 

[st599]

It all depends on what shade of white LED you use. A "warm white" LED produces a good green and red when seen through the green and red lense but a "cool white" LED does not.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

Sorry, but that's not true. The "warmness" of an LED is no measure of its frequency response. LEDs can be very peaky, and if your peak doesn't match the peak of the coloured filter, all bets are off.

The CRI or TLCI value tell you how broad spectrum the LED is.

 

[Plum]

Sorry, but that's not true. The "warmness" of an LED is no measure of its frequency response. LEDs can be very peaky, and if your peak doesn't match the peak of the coloured filter, all bets are off.

The CRI or TLCI value tell you how broad spectrum the LED is.

Thanks. Interesting. My own experience, and that of others on this forum in the past, is that LEDs described as "warm white" produce the correct colours from the red and green lenses so maybe we have just all been lucky that it was a coincidence.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[ghostlymoron]

Me too.

I use warm white in my by colour (bow) and Tricolour and cool white in my steaming, Stern and anchor. The cool white is very much brighter than the old incandescent and worm white.