Navigation Lights

[Ian_Rob]

At the end of last season my starboard LED navigation light failed completely. Having just tried them again, 1 of 3 LED’s in the starboard fitting and all three in the port are showing light but all are very dim. Is it typical for LED to fail like this or is there an underlying issue? The light are 10 years old.

 

[Cheesey69]

No, not at all.
First check supply to them and the amp amount. Then have a look for water corrosion. I find that the weather seals give up the ghost way before the leds do.

 

[Ian_Rob]

Thankyou. I only discovered the problem just as I was leaving late last night. I will check the supply and seals when I am next down.

 

[lpdsn]

I think Cheesey69 has the most likely cause.

LEDs are more vulnerable to going out completely with a voltage reduction than old-fashioned filament bulbs which just got dimmer.

Check the voltage that's reaching the fitting and look for corrosion in the wiring and connections.

 

[Corribee72]

I changed my nav lights this year to LED and the old wiring was more black and green than copper or silver. Stripped the wiring and started from a decent point in the cabin with wire connectors.

 

[BelleSerene]

First check supply to them and the amp amount.

The what?!

 

[jiris]

Thankyou. I only discovered the problem just as I was leaving late last night. I will check the supply and seals when I am next down.

Something about sealing: It took me a while to work out how I am getting water in my waterproof light with the cables definitely, positively properly sealed in the glands. The problem is in the cables. Water seeps along the wires, especially with multi-strand leads. It is extremely difficult to seal perfectly the end of such a cable. Eventually I found out a lot of silicon rubber and a heatshrink over it does the job in most cases.