Plastimo Olympic compass - LED or Incandescent light?

[West Coast]

Hi all, need to replace the light on my Plastimo Olympic compass. It was made in 2012.

Chacking online, you can buy incandescent bulbs for pre 2016 compass models, but LED is available for post 2016 models. I would much prefer to fit LED, but the supplier blurb emphasises that LED type is not suitable for pre 2016 models.

Anyone know why this is? Is it physical dimensions, or something else?

 

[KevinV]

Hi all, need to replace the light on my Plastimo Olympic compass. It was made in 2012.

Chacking online, you can buy incandescent bulbs for pre 2016 compass models, but LED is available for post 2016 models. I would much prefer to fit LED, but the supplier blurb emphasises that LED type is not suitable for pre 2016 models.

Anyone know why this is? Is it physical dimensions, or something else?

LED's run at 3.3V - it would just blow if you attached it to 12V without an inline resistor

 

[jwilson]

I bought a 12v red LED and soldered twisted wires to it to replace the tiny "wheat grain" incandescent bulb on my 2004/5 Plastimo 135 compass. Can't remember if it was a 3mm or 4mm LED, but it fitted perfectly. No discernable difference to compass heading whether on or off, and lower power consumption so probably less need for the twisted wires. Slightly brighter than the wheat grain bulb, which to my eyes was a bit too dim anyway. Still have the incandescent as a spare.
Edit: I had to lightly sand the top of the LED to diffuse the "beam" from the light.

 

[Refueler]

LED's run at 3.3V - it would just blow if you attached it to 12V without an inline resistor

LED's can be had at various voltages ... incl 12v

 

[Refueler]

On my 25 ... the built in light for my Contest is crap .. even after I swapped to a better LED ...

Solution ? Clip on 'guitar light' ... its an LED powered by a bunch of button cells ... runs for hours .... on a flexible stalk ... so you can fix above the compass .. then bend the stalk round to shine fwd onto the compass .. no light in the eyes at all .. if need - bit of nail varnish and thin paint the lens ..

If needed a small resistor and you could use the light power from the compass.

Made no difference to compass heading.

 

[dansaskip]

I replaced the bulb in my compass with an LED plus as KevinV says you need an inline resistor. You can get different levels of brightness by using different value resistors. So yes possible and sensible.

 

[Refueler]

I have the two compasses on the 38 to sort ... will be looking into that ..

 

[LittleSister]

Why worry? The energy consumption of that tiny incandescent bulb is miniscule.

(It will also give a nicer colour glow in the cockpit than the LED version.)

 

[pandos]

I bought a 12v red LED and soldered twisted wires to it to replace the tiny "wheat grain" incandescent bulb on my 2004/5 Plastimo 135 compass. Can't remember if it was a 3mm or 4mm LED, but it fitted perfectly. No discernable difference to compass heading whether on or off, and lower power consumption so probably less need for the twisted wires. Slightly brighter than the wheat grain bulb, which to my eyes was a bit too dim anyway. Still have the incandescent as a spare.

I replaced my light with a bulb from a Christmas fairy light when striped of the plastic cover it was identical to the original in size and function,

Important to get a 12v bulb, some are only 6v.

 

[Skylark]

My 2013 Beneteau has 2 Olympic compasses and the incandescent bulbs in both failed within the first 2 years.

I initially replaced them with eBay cheap and cheerful 12v white LED but these were too bright so I changed them for red LED.

I’m no electrician but it was very easy to do. No issues since.

 

[Martin_J]

I'm intrigued by everyone jumping straight to red LEDs .. Plastimo for instance recommend LED colour based on compass card colour.





That Plastimo bulb description also suggests not using the red diffuser with red compass cards.

Note: That's only an example. They sell a different LED for pre-2016 year compasses.

 

[Refueler]

Correct ... the colour spektrum plays with the visibility of the card ..

 

[wonkywinch]

Correct ... the colour spektrum plays with the visibility of the card ..

It's your rods and cones that do that which is why a lit feature has different visibility ranges depending on it's colour, red being the worst but best for night vision of instruments and charts as it doesn't trash your night vision.

Photoreceptor cell - Wikipedia

 

[BabaYaga]

red being the worst but best for night vision of instruments and charts as it doesn't trash your night vision.

I believe that may be somewhat of a myth. My compass is made by Ritchie, these can be had with led lighting in both red and green. Mine has green, which I find works well for preserving night vision.
The led light sold by Plastimo is stated to be blue.
My greatest concern for a replacement compass light would not be so much colour as brightness. Therefore, source the light from a compass manufacturer, which should reduce the risk of the light being too bright.

 

[Refueler]

As an ex OOW from ships - any light regardless of colour will trash your night vision. Chartrooms / chart-areas had orangey red filters that could be clipped to the overhead arm lights .. but many never bothered - the dimmer was used instead. That way you still had clarity of chart under the light - but dimmed enough to help reduce time to adjust back for night vision.

On my boats - I have made more effort to blank off light from such compass etc that splashes rearward by tape etc.

 

[West Coast]

Thanks all - good ideas and info as always!

My reason for preferring LED is reliability. My compass has a black card with white letters/numbers, so will likely go for red - see whats available.

Cheers

 

[PetiteFleur]

Years ago, I found the 12v incandescent lamp too bright so fitted the 24v version which was much better as not so bright.