LED`s

theguvnor

theguvnor

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 Jun 2003
Messages
1,786
Location
Holland
Visit site
Anyone use LED lighting on board ?
Any advice on pro`s & con`s. Some web pages (Ultra LEDs ect) have marine catagories so I presume someone (excluding Astra GTE type teenagers) is buying them
 
As far as I can see, they are MUCH cheaper to run (like 10% of power) for equivqlent light output and can simply be plugged straight into the same sockets!

Only problem is that they cost a blinkin' fortune and swopping all my lights over would cost more than a new battery! So I'm waiting for volumes to rise and prices to fall. So get out there & replace all YOUR bulbs now!
 
Hi
I have tried LEDs in place of filament bulbs. The light is a bit harsh. I would not like them as a main light in the cabin but fine for heads etc. I think they could be good for nav lights as power savers.
 
We have some red LED's - over the chart table, above the galley, in the aft heads and the two aft cabins. They are superb for night sailing.

We also have a Lopolight at the masthead which is very bright.
 
I do have an interest here.

Bright white LED's are good for outside, but murderon the eyes inside.

There are warmwhite LED's which are now quite cheap. They can be in clusters of 8 which will light a corner of the cabin well. Probably need several to replace existing lighting.

Very economic on electric power. Also there are red led's which are ideal for navigation tables at night.

regards
 
An apostrophe enthusiast! Great.

There are three kinds of apostrophe:

the apostrophe of elision: Don't, it's, let's can't, where the apostrophe stands for lettters omitted;

the genitive apostrophe: the boy's toys and the boys' toys (depending on the number of boy rather than the number of toys);

and the greengrocer's apostrophe: Tomatoes's, potato's, LED's which PLU don't use.

I also do micro-economics and scottish dancing. Stop me somebody before I hurt something.
 
[ QUOTE ]
the genitive apostrophe: the boy's toys and the boys' toys (depending on the number of boy rather than the number of toys);

[/ QUOTE ]

Presumably boy's toys is where there is more than one boy?

and boys' toys is where there is only one boy
 
Before you spend money at "specialists", have a search on EBay. I bought a 28 led head-torch for one cent plus $11 for postage. Brilliant piece of kit. There are a vast number of these set ups in various configurations about now. The light is a bit too white for inside use. I would have no hesitation though using one of the fixed units in my yacht, just screwed into position and use the internal 3 AAA batteries, they last for about 100 hours.
 
Presumably boy's toys is where there is more than one boy?

and boys' toys is where there is only one boy

[/ QUOTE ]

Surely the wrong way round?

I use some LEDs inside and find them fine. From UltraLEDs. Have kept a couple with filament but rarely use them.
 
[ QUOTE ]
(cut)
Presumably boy's toys is where there is more than one boy?

and boys' toys is where there is only one boy

[/ QUOTE ]

I trust you are only teasing? /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
If not, transpose for the correct solution . . . /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Hi, I have just rewired my boat and have installed three lighting circuits, one with filament lamps, one with white LEDs and one with red LEDs for night sailing. The white LEDs are a bit harsh, but are great for saving power and perfectly adequate for reading, they can be left on without any thought for the batteries. I use the filament lamps when I have plenty of power in hand and want a 'warmer' light.
I also use LED nav lights, a tricolour and a hoistable anchor light, both using LED replacements for the offset-pin Hella bulbs. They possibly may not conform exactly to the technical specifications, but to my eye, they perform just as well as the filament nav light bulbs, and I know that my batteries will be ok in the morning! I also use LED torches, they just keep on going and going. 'Ultraleds' are a good source for replacement LED bulbs that will fit existing lamps, firms like CPC and RS etc also sell ready-made fittings using LEDs, also the commercial vehicle and PSV industries also have some useful LED light fittings.

Peter
 
on our dehler have replaced the overhead spotlight with a led and 2 of the reading lights - one with warm white one with ordinary (cold white) - the cold white is very harsh and next ones I buy will be the warm white - intend to replace them all over a period of time as prices fall/ I can afford it as they are certainly expensive - having said that with boat on a mooring good to have lighting using little power so worth doing so far but do choose the light colour carefully - we bought ours off the net and supplier very helpful and willingly took back ones that we didn't like and refunded
 
I just made an anchor light with a bunch of LEDs, a bit of drain pipe, some aluminium sheet and epoxy. Total cost a couple of hours work and a quid for ballast resistors as everything else was from stock. The LEDs were left over from a mate's project, but would have been change from a fiver. It's many times brighter than the little 1 D-cell gizmo I used to hang in the rigging and draws just over a watt (0.1 amp).

Also put warm white LED "bulbs" in the reading lights in the forepeak. They're a bit too yellow, but miles better than the normal "white" ones. They also draw about 1 watt and I can now read in there without my glasses, provided the typeface isn't too small /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif (My Mum told me I'd ruin my eyes reading with a torch when I was supposed to be going to sleep. It seems she was right, but it took the best part of 50 years to show up)
 
[ QUOTE ]
I do have an interest here...

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh, so do I.

[ QUOTE ]
...there are red led's which are ideal for navigation tables at night.

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to use a battery-powered lantern with a red lens for night sailing. One night I was sailing off the east coast of England with my friend Andrew. Andrew's night vision isn't great. I was at the chart table, he was at the helm. Unknown to me, for a little while Andrew had been looking at a white light that appeared to be closing on us. When he finally decided that he needed a second opinion, he shouted down to me,

"Will you come and have a look at this?"

I shouted "OK" and started up the companionway.

As I struggled out of the hatch in all my wet-weather gear he pointed to the white light and said, "What do you think that is?"

"A collision!" I said. "Can you gybe?"

Had he not been the helmsman he was, we'd have died there. We gybed in our best-ever time and saw about 25,000 tons of container ship steam past at twenty knots through the spot on the sea that we'd just vacated. The only light they had that I could see was the light on in the bridge. There was nobody on watch. I shone the white light of my lantern on the other vessel's bridge, and I could clearly see that there was nobody in there.

When we'd had a bit of a debrief on the situation I went back down to the chart table to plot the position of the incident. By accident I switched on the white light of the lantern instead of the red one. I was stunned to find that about where we presently were, there were lots of red lines on the chart that I hadn't seen before. They marked the shipping lanes. I experimented a little and found that under the red light from the lantern, they were completely invisible.

I no longer use a red light over the chart table, in my opinion it's dangerous.
 
Two sets of LED pendant type fitted to cabin lights have blown due to higher voltage from the Sterling unit, these light are used for chartwork space (White LEDS under orange shage) and need to be on when motoring, bit pricey, nice light but do not like the higher voltage.
Would advise that a voltage stabalizer be fitted and all the LED circuits fed from this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top