LED Steaming Light on Mast

S

SteveIOW

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 Oct 2008
Messages
157
Location
Isle of Wight
Visit site
Want to change to LED Nav Lights. What I am looking for is a steaming light that fits neatly to the curved front of the mast and is single purpose (I e doesn't also include a down light for deck illumination). Any suggestions please. Boat length is 8m.
 
Obviously your boat, but why just a steaming light? I have had the masts down on my boat the last month or two and fitted led navigation lights Osculati make and for the price I am pleased. The only reason I can think of wanting just a steaming light is you only have a twin core cable? But when I changed my lights I changed the cable as well because it could be a lot smaller diameter and at the necessary diameter could afford to be tinned. Just an observation, your boat and mast. Reckon a bulb is the only way forward…. Good luck with it.
 
Apart from maybe an increase in brightness there is little to be gained by changing to led for a streaming light if you already have a working filament one. It is always going to be used with the engine running so has no effect on battery life. Different for other nav lights which are used when sailing although in my case I have an separate led tricolour.
 
stav said:
The only reason I can think of wanting just a steaming light is you only have a twin core cable?
Click to expand...
Even then, it can be done. y masthead light is fed by a twin core cable that is jammed in plce inside the mast. I run both anchor ligh and tri from them, using a relay and a bunch of diodes.

The circuit was supplied by someone here, Paul Rainbow, possibly?
 
ithet said:
Apart from maybe an increase in brightness there is little to be gained by changing to led for a streaming light if you already have a working filament one. It is always going to be used with the engine running so has no effect on battery life. Different for other nav lights which are used when sailing although in my case I have an separate led tricolour.
Click to expand...
When I mixed LED and filament lamps together I found the led lights dimmed considerably when the filament light came on, I soon switched to all LED and the issue went away
 
geem said:
That's a wiring problem and shouldn't happen. I run filament light stern and steaming lights. They play nicely together with my LED bow lights
Click to expand...
50 year old boat and probably the same age cables up the mast. Popping a LED lamp into the steaming light fitting was a lot easier fix than replacing the cable. When the mast next comes down I’ll look to replace all the cables going up there.
 
The whole idea in a small boat a couple of miles off the coast is to make sure you are seen. If necessary I would switch everything on plus shine a powerful flash light at the bridge of a ship/fishing boat if needed. This is not the time to be shy or polite.
 
I replaced all my filiment nav bulbs with LED some time ago,

I also rewired the mast lights with I tinin 2,5 sq mm st the same time with no issue and wife made a comment about how bright the led bulbs were as was the stern cool white and bow by colour with a warm white LED

Mast head tri colour wit a warm white and the mast head anchor with a cool white Led all still working OK

Mine came from E Bay some time ago
 
Mast head anchor lights look like a star on the horizon until you nearly hit the boat, especially on a slightly misty night. I prefer one hanging at boom height.
 
Shaz77 said:
Mast head anchor lights look like a star on the horizon until you nearly hit the boat, especially on a slightly misty night. I prefer one hanging at boom height.
Click to expand...
I have a battery driven LED lamp lat can us as a low level lamp eiter to eliminate the cockpit for a quite night cap or an all night low level nav lght either on the for deck of in tr cockpit
 
Shaz77 said:
The whole idea in a small boat a couple of miles off the coast is to make sure you are seen. If necessary I would switch everything on plus shine a powerful flash light at the bridge of a ship/fishing boat if needed. This is not the time to be shy or polite.
Click to expand...
That is foolish. The idea of lights is to identify the direction you are going. If you have the correct lights your course will be obvious. You also can have a radar reflector and AIS. With AIS it is easy to identify the ship approaching and use the VHF to speak to them and ask their intentions. Putting every light on you own will cause confusion that is at best unhelpful and potentially dangerous. There are possibly other small craft out there that rely on your correct lights to adjust their course to avoid a collision. There are rules for a reason
 
ithet said:
That should not be a problem as the steaming light by definition is on it's own circuit.
Click to expand...
They often come back to the same switch panel where they are paralleled up. Voltage drop and any potential dividers (series resistances of lamps and cables) affect combination series/parallel circuits according to their equivalent resistance characteristics irrespective of whether they are linked before or after switches.
 
Dellquay13 said:
They often come back to the same switch panel where they are paralleled up. Voltage drop and any potential dividers (series resistances of lamps and cables) affect combination series/parallel circuits according to their equivalent resistance characteristics irrespective of whether they are linked before or after switches.
Click to expand...
Incorrectly sized wires, high resistance switches, bad cable joints. It could be anything, but it is faulty
 
geem said:
Incorrectly sized wires, high resistance switches, bad cable joints. It could be anything, but it is faulty
Click to expand...
On an old boat it is likely all of those to some degree.
Voltage drop (as a function of potential dividers) on old cabling and switches is worse with low resistance loads such as filament lamps as the ratio % of the cable R to the total circuit R is higher, compared to the ratio of cable R to total R if the circuit has a high R LED.
But I am in no way suggesting that isn’t common knowledge or basic circuit maths.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top