LED Tri-colour

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emnick

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Just looking at a new tri-colour with all round white. Made by Hella Marine, I am amazed at the cost of these, how can they justify £453.99 for what is a few pounds worth of components.
Dont think I will be buying yet!
 
That is why I replaced my old filament bulb tricolour with another. That was expensive enough,
 
May be a silly question but are those LED replacement bulbs one can buy any good and do they always fit an old fashioned filament light?:o

It would take a lot of power saving and replaced filaments before you could break even with the LED lights.
 
There are LED replacement "bulbs" for conventional lamps but reports about them have not been particularly good.

You'd expect the lamp manufacturers to have simply put them in the standard housing wouldn't you if they were any good.

You have to be sure you use the correct one for the light because they do not emit a continuous spectrum of light like a filament bulb so they have to be matched to the lights they are intended for.

Suppliers though include Ultraleds, Doctorled and Searolf. Google for those if you are interested in taking it any further
 
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Thanks Vic
Once the snow finally disappears from here and I can use my fingers uncovered for more than 30 minutes I will get around to checking my masthead lights. There is a possibility that I may need to replace - hence my interest.
On the other hand maybe I'll need to re-wire, so here's a thought....

I need to thread some cable through the mast for my new Clipper wind system (no previously existing electronic wind system to use as a mouse). What do folk think of taking this opportunity to do a mast re-wire anyway, as I was thinking of pulling a wire out to use as a mouse? The existing wiring and coaxial are all probably original (> 20 years). How badly are in-mast wires affected by age/corrosion/vibration/etc.? They are all inside a conduit.
 
And remember the real advantage of low power consumption is only realised on a very long trip with limited power generation facilities. Stick with 25W incandescent otherwise.
 
Tricolor mast head lights

The classic incandescent tricolor light uses an incandescent bulb with a vertical filament. The filament being a very fine point source of light gives correct color definition through the red green and white lens.
Any attempt to replace this type with LED bulb will be useless. The LEDs simply don't have a fine point source of light in all directions. plus there are different amounts of different colors in the LED radiated spectrum such that colors may not be correct.
Presumably a commercially made LED tricolor in fact has sectors with the correct color LEDs for each sector a bit like assembling individual nav lights into one container.
Mast head white lights for under power or anchoring are brilliant no problem with replacement LED bulbs.

At least 2 of my friends are fitting low level nav lights on 30fters having had scares with larger ferries not seeing the mast head tricolor lights. maybe a peculiar problem of Swan River but I reckon the low level lights are where you expect to see lights on a boat. But that is another theme olewill
 
VicS said:
There are LED replacement "bulbs" for conventional lamps but reports about them have not been particularly good.

You'd expect the lamp manufacturers to have simply put them in the standard housing wouldn't you if they were any good.

You have to be sure you use the correct one for the light because they do not emit a continuous spectrum of light like a filament bulb so they have to be matched to the lights they are intended for.

Suppliers though include Ultraleds, Doctorled and Searolf. Google for those if you are interested in taking it any further
Click to expand...

UltraLEDs product should not be used in a damp enviornment! this was replied to me by them when my replacement anchor light stopped working after 20 hours!
 
emnick said:
Just looking at a new tri-colour with all round white. Made by Hella Marine, I am amazed at the cost of these, how can they justify £453.99 for what is a few pounds worth of components.
Dont think I will be buying yet!
Click to expand...

Probably by taking into to account the cost of unstepping the mast to change a filament bulb! The led type will outlast the boat and the power saving isn't to be sneezed at.

(You won't catch me on a bosun's chair!)

I
 
I splashed out 300 odd quid on a lopo light combined anchor/tricolour. Not sure how they got the cost up to that much but it is a beautifully designed unit, maybe r&d and testing to confirm col reg approval added to the cost . Waterproof and have seen it shining bright down to less than 11v. Harder to justify for a coastal boat but for a cruising liveaboard where either the light or the anchor is vital for the safety of the boat 24/7 than the cost is easier to swallow. And the massive power savings. Say 2a 12 hours a day for a 25w incandescant anchor/tri against 0.1a for an led = a saving of 8322Ah over a year. Ya pays yer money... :)
 
NickiCrutchfield said:
And remember the real advantage of low power consumption is only realised on a very long trip with limited power generation facilities. Stick with 25W incandescent otherwise.
Click to expand...

I used to go sailing with no power generation facilities at all - I'd have loved LED lights. as I used to reckon on just three nights at sea before having to hoik the battery ashore and find a friendly person with a 13A outlet.
 
The price is what the manufacturers believe the market will bear. Polite speak for they price them until they hear the screams! In favour of the manufacturers, there are development costs to cover, but the recent PBO tests showed that many were of dubious value in terms of cost and performance. Perhaps if they were all sold at a lower price thay would cover costs sooner?

The NASA unit is the only one at a good price, but has limited performance in the vertical plane. I fitted a Lopo tri/anchor when I was feeling more affluent, but can't justify the price at deck level. When sailing or anchored I can save the batteries, but when motoring I can afford to burn some amps.

If you decide to re-wire the mast, I would suggest pulling two mouse lines through with the first wire removed and leave one in place when you've finished.

Rob.
 
emnick said:
Just looking at a new tri-colour with all round white. Made by Hella Marine, I am amazed at the cost of these, how can they justify £453.99 for what is a few pounds worth of components.
Dont think I will be buying yet!
Click to expand...


I don't know what they use in their lights, but surely prices for one single raw led may go from 1 up several times depending on its specifications, this may be a partial explanation ?
 
I've always been vehemently against LED's nav lights because I've seen many of them and none come even halfway to two mile visibility or the corrrect colours.

However a couple of weeks ago I saw an LED anchor light and tricolour with the right colours and right range. I asked the owner how much the tricolour cost - over UKP400. It seems they've finally got it right but I still wouldn't buy the cheap ones, and it's not worth the money for the ones that work properly.
 
Is it OK to quote oneself?:o

gasdave said:
May be a silly question but are those LED replacement bulbs one can buy any good and do they always fit an old fashioned filament light?:o
Click to expand...

On slightly related theme, I've just come across an article in Feb YM about halogen, flourescent, LED and tungsten lighting - although focusing really cabin lights. An "upgrade" isn't always an improvement it seems!
 
The mention of snow raises another LED lighting issue. As LED lights don't get as hot, they won't melt any snow that is obscuring them. This has proved an issue in the US where snow-covered LED traffic lights are being blamed for accidents. Apparently the more expensive ones are designed to avoid this problem.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/dec/11/news/chi-ap-wi-frozenstoplights
 
emnick said:
I am amazed at the cost of these, how can they justify £453.99 for what is a few pounds worth of components.
Dont think I will be buying yet!
Click to expand...

so make your own!

I did it with my Bi + Stern.
there was a thread on here a while ago, take a look:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221288

I wrote a good description of how I did it on this thread inc some pictures etc.

My homebrew nav lights have been working great for 3 seasons.

for what its worth I did a lot of experimenting. These cheap 'white' led bulbs are no good at all. by the time the 'ice white' light has gone through your coloured lenses there will not be much left and the colour spectrum will be way off. You will note that none of the commercially available units use this method. Nope, god gave us different coloured LED's for a good reason.

I agree the price on most units is ridiculous for a few LEDs and resistors.

take a look at that thread.
 
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