Masthead tricolour LED suggestions and a dead lopolight

whipper_snapper

whipper_snapper

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After 3 years of very light use my expensive lopolight tricolour failed at an embarrassing moment. The white sector still works but the red and green have failed, so I know it is an internal problem.

I am guessing these are not repairable?

Does anyone have any recommendation for a replacement unit ? Reliability is extremely important for a thing stuck at the top of a mast and it sits exposed to ferocious sunlight every day, so I would not trust plastic. I loved the lopolight while it worked! Have they improved their reliability ? Any suggestions?


Thanks
 
they are pretty open on their specification. IP68 and all that, with a claimed 50k hours duration, on their current website.

Previous forum experience (including your own !) seems to be mainly positive. However, a recent bloggy comment elsewhere raises questions:-

http://www.morganscloud.com/2012/10/31/lopolight-beware-the-time-suck-of-complexity/

It looks as if you buy one that lasts a month or so, then it will last a long time - as jet engines and complicated deep freezes.






Umm, I've just bought the basic combined P and S lights.....
 
I had this happen to my NASA LED tricolour. After investigation I found that several of the red and green LED's had gone open circuit. I replaced the faulty one's with the same type from my local electronics shop and all is now fine.

I did not have a problem with the white or any of the LED's on my anchor light so I think their must have been a bad batch of colour LED's
 
Yes Lopos have been known to fail. I have had a couple go, but actually not my masthead one.

They will replace it for you at no charge so it hardly seems worth changing to a different type.
 
Yes, replace it. I found that mine had failed after installation nearly five years ago, although it could have gone some time before that. It was replaced without question. Their website has a page that deals with returns.
 
Lopolights have a 5 year warranty so you should have no problems getting a free replacement.
As you are unlikely to want to make several trips up the mast you can phone IMP and order a replacement. The price will be refunded when you return the old one.
The above does require you to shell out for a new one and then get it refunded. Alternative is to bring down the old one and send it off to IMP who will then send a replacement.
I have had absolutely no problems with warranty claims with Lopolight.

For bow lights it's worth considering buying separate Port and Starboard lights. Should one fail out of warranty then it's cheaper to replace one side instead of a combined unit.

Whilst I have had several Lopolights fail, not all in warranty, I have had no issue with the newer versions of the Lopolights. (By newer, I mean the versions that come with a tail of wire attached.)
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Yes Lopos have been known to fail. I have had a couple go, but actually not my masthead one.

They will replace it for you at no charge so it hardly seems worth changing to a different type.
Click to expand...

You mean they will go up the mast and replace it for you, or they will send you a new one at no charge ?

Boo2
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Quite understandable really.
Click to expand...
Their legal obligation is to make good all the costs incurred by their supply of a defective product, so not as understandable as you suggest.

Personally I think I will stick with incandescents until the jury is in on the reliability of their updated products. Not knocking Lopolight you understand, just being cautious.

Boo2
 
Boo2 said:
Their legal obligation is to make good all the costs incurred by their supply of a defective product, so not as understandable as you suggest.

Personally I think I will stick with incandescents until the jury is in on the reliability of their updated products. Not knocking Lopolight you understand, just being cautious.

Boo2
Click to expand...

I am afraid you are wrong. That is to the case in consumer law, nor is it in the Lopo warranty which says...

"This warranty does not cover the following: Installation:
o Normal wear and tear;
o Costs related to the original installation or subsequent dismantling and removal of the product
and renewed installation;
o Shipment of the equipment or travel expenses; o If the serial number label is missing or damaged; o Any damage due to shipping;
o Defects directly or indirectly resulting from:
o Improper installation;
o Use outside the specification limits;
o Misuse, negligence, tampering, improper use or accidents;
o Damages caused by lightning, overload or short circuit;
o Damagecausedbycleaningwithalcoholorsealingwithsubstancescontainingalcohol.
6. EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
Absent gross negligence or wilful misconduct, Lopolight shall not be liable to Buyer or any other person for any incidental, special, indirect or consequential damages whatsoever, including but not limited to lost profits, damages resulting from delay or loss of use, loss or damages arising out of the use or inability to use this product, or breach of this warranty even though caused by negligence or other fault. In no event will Lopolight be responsible for such damages, even if Lopolight has been advised of the possibility of such damages."

I have had plenty of incandescents fail, and bulbs needing replacement early, and leaks. I prefer Lopos. If they stop working you just get a new one FOC!
 
UPDATE

THey have just shipped a replacement to me in the UK! Excellent service. But it must be said that the unnoticed failure during a night passage across a busy harbour entrance was nearly fatal.
 
whipper_snapper said:
UPDATE

THey have just shipped a replacement to me in the UK! Excellent service. But it must be said that the unnoticed failure during a night passage across a busy harbour entrance was nearly fatal.
Click to expand...

Glad it wasn't. I was told that in busy areas it is much safer to use deck level navigation lights as they are less likely to be lost in clutter ashore. We only use the tricolour offshore now.
 
whipper_snapper said:
UPDATE

THey have just shipped a replacement to me in the UK! Excellent service. But it must be said that the unnoticed failure during a night passage across a busy harbour entrance was nearly fatal.
Click to expand...
Now there's a thought. How hard would it be to make a little buzzer to go off if the lamp failed, might be a bit tricky if only one segment went? Though my lopo tri/anchor has been fine, for a while either at anchor or on passage every night for prob a couple of years. But even so...
 
My incandescents failed at least once per year, if not twice. My lopo is still going strong after four years. four years without an unscheduled trip up the mast is well worth the money when you're 65.
 
A current sensing device is what you need to provide an alarm for masthead light failure. A fairly simple device is a magnetic reed switch. These look a bit like a fuse but with long wires out each end. They make a contact internally in the presence of a magnetic field. They are often used for burgular alarms where a magnet on a window holds the switch in the frame made but if window or door is opened it breaks the field so breaks the connection.
For a current sensor you wind a thin wire around the glass body of the switch. Depending on the number of turns with fiddling you could get it to make contact when light is on drawing full current but opens contacts if no or less current flows. A bit of fiddling needed here to get it just so..
The made contact of the magnetic switch would operate a small relay with normally closed contacts such that if the relay operating from the same supply as the light did not operate it would make contacts which could be connected to a buzzer. Something for winter fiddling.
Me I use low level LED nav lights that also light up the jib. Much better than mast top IMHO
good luck olewill
 
I've been reading posts on this subject since discovering my 6 year old masthead Lopo tri/anchor had partially failed last year. I've not tried the warranty route (yet) mostly because problems with LED failures doesnt seem to be confined to Lopo, nor do the problems with Lopo seem to be confined only to thier early production (c. 2004/5?).

It may be that poor circuit design and an inability to cope with varying voltage lies behind some failures, there also seems to be some evidence that 'near field' events, lightning to you and I, also takes out LEDs. I noticed the Lopo had mostly failed after a night in the Med with many electrical storms about, nothing very close, the same night my Bebi anchor light definitely failed. Note that theres no proven cause and effect for the Lopo as I dont know it was fully working before that night, didnt do much night sailing last year.

Going up the mast isnt a huge problem, there are steps, but replacing lights whilst cruising is a PITA. Especially if that light has to come from Denmark to an address in the UK that I'm not going back to for several months. So I'm most likely to replace the Lopo with an AquaSignal unit, or similar, and a couple of LED lamps plus a spare - cost around half that of a Lopo replacement - to buy easy fixing in the field. I'm assuming that LED lamps will continue to fail for whatever reason, as do incandescents, but whilst they are working I get the benefit of lower power consumption.
 
RobbieW said:
Going up the mast isnt a huge problem, there are steps, but replacing lights whilst cruising is a PITA. Especially if that light has to come from Denmark to an address in the UK that I'm not going back to for several months. So I'm most likely to replace the Lopo with an AquaSignal unit, or similar, and a couple of LED lamps plus a spare - cost around half that of a Lopo replacement - to buy easy fixing in the field. I'm assuming that LED lamps will continue to fail for whatever reason, as do incandescents, but whilst they are working I get the benefit of lower power consumption.
Click to expand...

I am sure Lopo are quite capable of sending your replacement to whatever address you happen to nominate. They did that for me and it came within a couple of days of filling out their warranty claim form.

To me that is a reason to stay with the same manufacturer, not change!
 
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