Lumishore underwater lights

[jfm]

For interest, how many lumens do you give out?

Yes as Jimmy says I have over 50,000 fixture lumens on current boat. In the first pic above the light is cyan (blue and geen mix) from 4x 120w units and is about 30,000 lumens. No trick photography there - it's an amateur shot with no photoshop or similar treatment and you can see the deck lighting is not burnt out which tells you the u/w light brightness is not being flattered by a cheating long exposure. It really does look like that.

With these data there is a lot of opportunity for manufacturers to tell porkies here: Lumens is the total amount of light energy generated but there are always losses within the unit's design, so Fixture Lumens is the widely accepted rating for light energy that a the unit actually squirts into the air or water. Like horsepower at flywheel compared with at the roadwheels. Lux is a measure of light intensity, ie Lumens per mm squared and is a very misleading measure becuase manufacturers can increase it by focussing the light into a pencil beam. Lumishore are honest and quote Fixture Lumens, and will on request give you any data you want. Their measurement contains no tricks and doesn't need to because they blow the competion away on brightness by good engineering

The other factor is efficiency: on current boat I get those 50k + lumens from just 12 or so amps at 24v. There is no huge generator slogging away to run the things.

I know they don't float everyone's boat and £1k per pop isn't cheap but is a top quality product with outstanding performance for those who want it. And it is a proper UK tech start up company in which the owners have risked personal savings, and has designed world class product now being heavily exported and employing folks. Top marks to them on the entrepreneurial aspect, and we need more of the same please to get out of recession

 

[taz]

I know they don't float everyone's boat and £1k per pop isn't cheap but is a top quality product with outstanding performance for those who want it. And it is a proper UK tech start up company in which the owners have risked personal savings, and has designed world class product now being heavily exported and employing folks. Top marks to them on the entrepreneurial aspect, and we need more of the same please to get out of recession

That's good news, I was under the impression it was an American company.

The lights do look good.

 

[EME]

That's good news, I was under the impression it was an American company.
The lights do look good.

I know Swansea is "a long way away" but still in the UK last time I looked
I promised to write the story up for MBY .. but it is unlikely the company would exist if it had not been this forum bringing people together.

 

[jfm]

That's good news, I was under the impression it was an American company.

The lights do look good.

Yup, Lumishore is a UK company. All the design, engineering, manufacturing is in UK and the company is a UK registered/UK resident/UK taxable company. It is a proper bit of risk taking entrepreneurialism and hats off to them for that, we need it, and it would be nice to support them even if their products don't float everyone's boat

 

[MapisM]

The other factor is efficiency: on current boat I get those 50k + lumens from just 12 or so amps at 24v.

Geez, I never realised that.
Am I correct in calculating that LPW is close to 200? (*)
That's low pressure sodium lamps territory!

(*) (8990x6)/(24x12)=187.5

 

[Searush]

12 AMPS! OMG, and you leave 'em on for hours! Ooohhh, I'll have to go & have a lie down, what a useless waste of power.


Oh, damn & I wasn't going to rise to the silly nonsense.

 

[taz]

Yup, Lumishore is a UK company. All the design, engineering, manufacturing is in UK and the company is a UK registered/UK resident/UK taxable company. It is a proper bit of risk taking entrepreneurialism and hats off to them for that, we need it, and it would be nice to support them even if their products don't float everyone's boat

Impressive.

 

[EME]

Geez, I never realised that.
Am I correct in calculating that LPW is close to 200? (*)
That's low pressure sodium lamps territory!
(*) (8990x6)/(24x12)=187.5

I think JFM meant 5A per light ... Best we can do in Fixture Lumens is just over 100 low ( full fixture) ... we use white die rated at 130lpw which (afaik) are the most powerful/efficient commercially available. Having had competitor 'claims' tested (independently as well as by ourselves) .... by far the best available


I would take issue with lp sodium being brighter -- yes data sheet on 'the best' are higher .. but luminous efficiency makes them a lot less bright than LED.

... and we don't yet know the limit on LED

 

[MapisM]

I think John meant 5A per light

Aha, makes sense, now I understand, thanks.
Searush, you wasted a "mad" emoticon for a 12 miserable amps, when actually a proper night swim takes no less than 30 of them...

Re. L-P sodium, I wasn't of course suggesting it as a practical alternative for this application, but just as a reference, since afaik it's the most efficient lighting system so far.

 

[jfm]

Ah, EME is a better source of these figures than me, sorry MapisM, and I take your point on LP sodium as a handy refernece figure
Pity I didn't see this 4 hours earlier though, else I would have turned them on and watched the digi ammeter on the boat. I didn't think they took 30A EME though I'm happy to be corrected. I'll try next weekend

 

[STEVEDUNSTABLE]

Hi guys.....SORRY FOR THE THREAD DRIFT BUT this is stupid question time!!!!!..... on post nmber 4 by JFM of this parish, the pics show the lights on the stern in different colours, how would you stand (legally) if you went underway (at night) with the green or red showing (eg.if you had forgotten to turn them off)................... just curious.....

 

[EME]

Ah, EME is a better source of these figures than me, sorry MapisM, and I take your point on LP sodium as a handy refernece figure
Pity I didn't see this 4 hours earlier though, else I would have turned them on and watched the digi ammeter on the boat. I didn't think they took 30A EME though I'm happy to be corrected. I'll try next weekend

The full 5A per light would only be in "White" mode ...

 

[Erik C]

Sorry about the drift but this thread is mainly about LED's so this might be of interest.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-03/09/230-percent-efficient-leds

 

[Hurricane]

Sorry guys - I'm with Searush on this one
5amps per light
I can afford to buy the lights but I simply can't / won't afford the extra power on the boat.
Presumable you like to swim with the lights on and it's nicer to be swimming without the generator running.
When I'm at anchor, I only run the gene when absolutely necessary and that means most of my power hungry devices are shut down.
To this end, over the last few months, I've been replacing halogen internal lights with LEDs
My service bank is about 750 ah which I recon will only give about 50% of that at high current drain so with (say 3 underwater lights at 5a) gives me less than 45 mins!!!

I WAS quite tempted - not any more

Sorry guys - it ain't worth it.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Sorry guys - I'm with Searush on this one
5amps per light
I can afford to buy the lights but I simply can't / won't afford the extra power on the boat.
Presumable you like to swim with the lights on and it's nicer to be swimming without the generator running.
When I'm at anchor, I only run the gene when absolutely necessary and that means most of my power hungry devices are shut down.
To this end, over the last few months, I've been replacing halogen internal lights with LEDs
My service bank is about 750 ah which I recon will only give about 50% of that at high current drain so with (say 3 underwater lights at 5a) gives me less than 45 mins!!!

I WAS quite tempted - not any more

Sorry guys - it ain't worth it.

How does this work? Surely half of 750Ah is 375Ah - and dividing this by (3 * 5A) = 15A gives 25 hours, no?

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

How does this work? Surely half of 750Ah is 375Ah - and dividing this by (3 * 5A) = 15A gives 25 hours, no?

Cheers
Jimmy

... and that all assumes you've got the x120's which are monster powerful, and that you're running them in bright white, which you probably wouldn't be. An alternative would be the surface mount lights, which when you run them in cyan (which I do) at 24v would draw about 1.7A per unit - or 5A total.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Hurricane]

Thanks Jimmy

I have been basing my stats on the actual battery bank voltage dropping to 22v (which is the point at which my inverter cuts out).

If you remember our trip to Malta a few years ago, we knackered the service batteries so I replaced them last year - maybe this set isn't as good as the old ones.

Perhaps I should be complaining to the supplier.

 

[EME]

Getting a bit confusing

The current draw quoted above only applies to White mode ... Most (and [/b]JFM[/b} is one of those) use colour cycle predominantly... the average current draw is then 2.5 A per light. JTB's for example use 0.75A -n same setting.

... and yes you're right, a dimly lit sailing yacht or motor yacht with traditional lighting has lots more current draw... probably not for here but most folks are surprised at how much their lighting/fridge/windlass/thruster//cooker/radar uses.

 

[MYAG]

Sorry guys - I'm with Searush on this one
5amps per light
I can afford to buy the lights but I simply can't / won't afford the extra power on the boat.
Presumable you like to swim with the lights on and it's nicer to be swimming without the generator running.
When I'm at anchor, I only run the gene when absolutely necessary and that means most of my power hungry devices are shut down.
To this end, over the last few months, I've been replacing halogen internal lights with LEDs
My service bank is about 750 ah which I recon will only give about 50% of that at high current drain so with (say 3 underwater lights at 5a) gives me less than 45 mins!!!

I WAS quite tempted - not any more

Sorry guys - it ain't worth it.

What about aircon? Does it not get too hot in the summer months down below?

Personally, I can't be bothered to have to worry with all this saily/camping/Ohms law BS whilst sipping my GT's. The gennies are on permanently anyway whenever I leave dock, so I will be going for the mother of all underwater lighting systems on the next boat and hope I can generate a footprint large enough to impress Mr Clarkson.....

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

... and that all assumes you've got the x120's which are monster powerful, and that you're running them in bright white, which you probably wouldn't be. An alternative would be the surface mount lights, which when you run them in cyan (which I do) at 24v would draw about 1.7A per unit - or 5A total.

Cheers
Jimmy

I didn't realise that. Makes me even more pleased I went for the surface mounts. Having said that, why would you want to switch the lights on anywhere else but in a marina? Surely the whole point of underwater lights is for passers by to see them and think that you are a man of impeccable taste and breeding? In any case, EME told me that they are proven to attract girlies, especially when combined with Lynx aftershave. I must say that the jury is out on that one for me as yet