NASA marine supernova led tricolor in use?

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seumask

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I understand that the nasa marine supernova led tricolor has now been around for several years and I'm pretty sure it looks like the one for me however I'd be grateful if anyone can comment on the ease of use, installation, reliability and anything else relevant having had one in operation for a while. I'm not trying to run an Led nav light discussion as I have read many of the threads on here several times and the PBO article a while ago which had the test of the many led options. Your comments gratefully received.
 
NASA had good light performance, but poor angular dispersion - i.e. when heeled, the light was significantly truncated.

Looks like a very good bet for a cat, but perhaps not so good for a mono.
 
seumask said:
I understand that the nasa marine supernova led tricolor has now been around for several years and I'm pretty sure it looks like the one for me however I'd be grateful if anyone can comment on the ease of use, installation, reliability and anything else relevant having had one in operation for a while. I'm not trying to run an Led nav light discussion as I have read many of the threads on here several times and the PBO article a while ago which had the test of the many led options. Your comments gratefully received.
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I have a copy of the recent PBO test of a range of LED tri-colour lights, if you pm me your email address I will look it out later and send to you.

From memory I seem to recall that the NASA unit was pretty much as good as many of the far more expensive units. The light cut-off between sectors was far better than many but the visibility beyond 25 degrees of heel was not so good.

Once back in the water I need to take a trip up the mast to replace my aging traditional tricolour as the lens is very crazed and I'm thinking of gluing two Nasa units together. It will still be saving a huge amount of power (and money) and the extra output should take care of the heeling issue. If the mounting for the upper unit is removed it should be possible the glue the two close together such that they look like a single light.
 
Georgio said:
I'm thinking of gluing two Nasa units together. It will still be saving a huge amount of power (and money) and the extra output should take care of the heeling issue.
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Only if you mount them at different angles (as stated in the PBO article)

I would have attached it but it is outside the size limits - pm me your email address and I will send you a copy
 
I have used one now for two seasons, cheap, easy to fit, very bright (I get my pals to look out for it) I have been very happy and thus far have no complaints. has also put up with 1.5 winters at the mast top and all that that brings so far!
 
I fitted one last winter - easy to fit, nice & bright.

But it gave up the ghost on the first night at sea (of a six-night non-stop run up the North Sea!). I assumed it was my poor connections, but when I demasted this autumn found the unit itself is kaput. Particularly annoying as one of the reasons for changing, apart from power consumption, was the thought that LEDs are more reliable than filament bulbs!
 
When fitting mine the other week I did find the wires from the unit softened alarmingly when I was trying to use a heat sealed joint to join them to the wires out of the mast even though I was using a fairly low heat setting. In the end I used standard butt joints, self amulgamating tape and then put a waterproof sleeve over the lot.
 
I found that the wires are a bit short. I fitted the Tri and anchor light, trying to fit one above the other with such short wires and flimsy mounting brackets wasn't easy. I used a couple of lengths of 10mm square section aly extrusion from B&Q in the end. The mounting poles fit snugly inside it. I had to Extend the wires.

Other than those quibbles I'm quite happy with them. Can't say how good they look to the night watch from 2 miles though, as I've never been two miles from my boat at sea!
 
I had them installed in my previous boat, but as the pal said, I never was out of my boat to see the lights from far away. However, last summer I had the chance to sail with my new boat next to my previous boat. When they went away, like four or five miles away from my position, the NASA lights were extremly bright and easy to identify among other boats´navigation lights. In fact, i have just order a new tricolor because I realised how good piece of work these lights are.
 
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