PabloPicasso
Well-Known Member
I know changing masthead tricolour incandescent bulb for an equivalent led will save power, but by how much?
Power saving
- Thread starter PabloPicasso
- Start date
Rigger Mortice
N/A
The NASA tricolour uses 200ma.
The Aquasignal uses a 25 watt bulb which is roughly 2 amps.
On that basis a LED is one tenth.
The Aquasignal uses a 25 watt bulb which is roughly 2 amps.
On that basis a LED is one tenth.
Neeves
Well-Known Member
Joe, at least my maths is sometimes upto scratch.
In addition, your incandescent anchor light uses much the same power as a fridge.
If getting to the masthead is difficult, consider installing a removable all round white LED from a small runabout, one on an 18 inch pole - stick it on the coachroof - somewhere it will be seen. Masthead anchor lights are very difficult to distinguish when seen against an urban background. 'Deck' based anchor lights help light the cockpit and coachroof - which do show up to other yachts coming into an anchorage. Do not be beguiled into a garden light, they do not work at 4am, if at all if relying on sunlight to re-charge in a British (or even Australian) summer.
Jonathan
Rigger Mortice
N/A
Jonathon,
It's getting late so I may have got it wrong but, forgive me, I can't see an error.
Maths apart, OP is talking about his navigation tricolour, not an anchor light.
The old debate about anchor lights being seen against an urban background is another matter altogether but sometimes what you say is right, sometimes it isn't. I can think of anchorages where a masthead anchor light is very definately better than a deck level one.
I agree about the garden lights though. Useless.
Joe
It's getting late so I may have got it wrong but, forgive me, I can't see an error.
Maths apart, OP is talking about his navigation tricolour, not an anchor light.
The old debate about anchor lights being seen against an urban background is another matter altogether but sometimes what you say is right, sometimes it isn't. I can think of anchorages where a masthead anchor light is very definately better than a deck level one.
I agree about the garden lights though. Useless.
Joe
VicS
Well-Known Member
And a three colour LED unit such as this
takes 180mA so a little less than 1/10 the current of a 25watt filament bulb
Neeves
Well-Known Member
Sorry my mistake
Your maths is good
Jonathan
Your maths is good
Jonathan
PabloPicasso
Well-Known Member
Ok so I can run the tri color overnight on less than a tenth of the power. Very useful on a passage.
So at night sailing I will have to continuosly power tricolour, depth sounder, compass light (is there an led replacement for that I wonder)', VHF, plotter, and autohelm. I guess the VHF could be switched off
Thanks for the replies. I'll replace the masthead bulb next time I have to go up
So at night sailing I will have to continuosly power tricolour, depth sounder, compass light (is there an led replacement for that I wonder)', VHF, plotter, and autohelm. I guess the VHF could be switched off
Thanks for the replies. I'll replace the masthead bulb next time I have to go up
johnphilip
Well-Known Member
Or you could just run the engine for an hour in the middle of the night. This would also get the fridge cold again if you have one. I am looking for am LED fridge.!!!
Sandyman
Well-Known Member
earlybird
Well-Known Member
No argument with the maths, but a while ago, one of the magazines, YM?, ran tests on a number of LED tricolours, including replacement bulbs. Haven't got the article any more, but I recall that all of the lights performed worse than the Aquasignal 25 watt filament lamp used as a standard for comparison, although one or two ran it fairly close. Tests were for brightness, including the effect of heeling angle and also colour accuracy.
Replacement bulbs were particularly poor in the brightness department. The NASA came out quite well.
Replacement bulbs were particularly poor in the brightness department. The NASA came out quite well.
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prv
Well-Known Member
The VHF probably uses buggerall power on receive (the manual should list exactly how little). I would not turn it off. The plotter will use more - even my little CP180i used half an amp, and consumption will go up with screen size. If I was sailing in clear water (eg across the Channel, the most likely time for me to be sailing at night) it's the plotter I would turn off if I needed to save power.
My elderly instrument system on KS had terminals for a switch to turn off the depth transducer (the instruments were integrated so you couldn't just kill the power without losing the log as well). The idea was to save power when offshore and the depth is largely irrelevant. I never bothered fitting the switch though.
Pete
VicS
Well-Known Member
The replacement LED "bulb" ( similar if not identical to the one in my earlier post) for my Aquasignal tricolour came with a replacemen holder so that the coloured sectors of the LED could be correctly aligned with the lens ... it would have been nowhere near, over 90° out, if simply plugged into the existing holder.
( It is an ECS one bought from Force 4)
It would not have been a job that could easily have been done at the mast top. It was necessary to remove the ( quickfit type) lantern and work on it on the cabin table. I also had to power up the unit to determine exactly which LEDs were which colour!
Pics of LED unit and new holder:
Old and new holders
Old holder before removal
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PabloPicasso
Well-Known Member
The replacement LED "bulb" ( similar if not identical to the one in my earlier post) for my Aquasignal tricolour came with a replacemen holder so that the coloured sectors of the LED could be correctly aligned with the lens ... it would have been nowhere near, over 90° out, if simply plugged into the existing holder.
( It is an ECS one bought from Force 4)
It would not have been a job that could easily have been done at the mast top. It was necessary to remove the ( quickfit type) lantern and work on it on the cabin table. I also had to power up the unit to determine exactly which LEDs were which colour!
Pics of LED unit and new holder:
Old and new holders
Old holder before removal
Ok so did you have to drill out the old fitting? Were necessary self tapping screws included with the new bulb, if this was how it was fitted?
So two trips to masthead requires?
PabloPicasso
Well-Known Member
But why not just a warm white led like this?
http://www.boatlamps.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d66.html#p73
http://www.boatlamps.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d66.html#p73
Rigger Mortice
N/A
It consumes 266ma so it uses a bit more power than the two lights shown above. From the small print in the advert it probably doesn't fully conform to the regs. The price is attractive.
You pays your money..........