slipknot
Well-Known Member
I know it's been asked before.... and having read most of the responses, it seemed there weren't any particularly good ones. Can anyone reccomended one?
Reccomended combined steaming & deck flood light
- Thread starter slipknot
- Start date
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
The only recommendation I can give is to get one with an led sealed bulb. I installed a combined deck/steam light this summer but I had to modify it to take a sealed unit with three led lights bulbs inside for the flood light and a single led for the steam light.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Coincidentally I ordered one on Friday from Force Four. There are two choices on offer. For £30 there is one exactly the same as we have now, halogen decklight bulb with no protection and steaming light with a festoon bulb. Ours is something like 15 years old and has not been too bad but I have had to go up to wiggle the halogen bulb a few times, and finally it fell out. Or an all-LED unit at £75 that seems extortionate but hopefully totally reliable, so that's the one I bought. http://www.force4.co.uk/department/chandlery-above-deck.html
Channel Sailor
Well-Known Member
I have just converted my old aqua signal combined to led for both steaming and deck light lamps. The deck light lamp is a sealed type. Excellent result.
mick butterworth
Well-Known Member
i bought the 30 quid one ans replaced the bulbs with leds for an extra £15 works great cheeper than the 70 quid version
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
The problem with the halogen decklight bulb is that it relies on good contact between two wires and their housing in the open air. Replacing the halogen with an LED will presumably not alter this very poor arrangement? Having a totally sealed group of four LEDs seemed a far better arrangement to me.
Ruffles
Well-Known Member
You need to let the verdigris build up enough to hold it in.
The bulb in mine fell apart once when I was cleaning the reflector. Serves me right for cleaning it.
Yngmar
Well-Known Member
I just shoved this into my existing flood light: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361062162162 - luckily I only needed one of the two, because the wire fell out of the other, but then that's the business model behind cheap Chinese imports 
I also replaced the reflector, which was a standard Hella FF (work area flood light - was cheaper to buy a new unit than the spare part). The old was not reflecting much anymore as the coating had crumbled away.
When installing it, I've slathered the connectors in silicon grease, which keeps the water out and thus the corrosion away. It's that corrosion that leads to the need for going up and wiggling. Did the same in the nav lights (on the BAY15D contacts). Tends to work well.
I also replaced the reflector, which was a standard Hella FF (work area flood light - was cheaper to buy a new unit than the spare part). The old was not reflecting much anymore as the coating had crumbled away.
When installing it, I've slathered the connectors in silicon grease, which keeps the water out and thus the corrosion away. It's that corrosion that leads to the need for going up and wiggling. Did the same in the nav lights (on the BAY15D contacts). Tends to work well.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Is there any real need for LED in the deck light? I can see the value in LED for main navigation lights, used under sail, but not for a steaming light (as by definition the engine will be on), nor a deck light (in our experience used very rarely and for short periods, where power consumption not an issue)
PS. Just invested a lot in LED cabin lights, using UK Boatlamps excellent website to determine the required bulbs. So far all have been "plug and play", though bought one of each type to test before investing in bulk
chewi
Well-Known Member
no need for LED, but you do want a reliable connection, which an exposed bulb in a bimetallic connection doesn't provide. If you fix that you may as well fix it with LED as there are good enclosures that fit the space
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vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
No 'need' I think, I agree with you that power consumption is not an issue. However, I have a goodly number of LED torches, inspection lamps, reading lights etc and in every case they are better than the incandescent or halogen that they replaced. Life is likely to be considerable, far more than I shall ever see, and the sealed design will hopefully be more reliable. I have had quite enough of climbing masts with bits of emery paper to clean contacts on bulbs and their cheaply made fittings.
prv
Well-Known Member
+1
My lights up the mast (nav lights, deck lights, and a small light for the windvane) are all LEDs encapsulated in solid blocks or strips of resin or plastic, with a wire pigtail emerging from the plastic and soldered directly to the supply cable with the joint sealed in adhesive-lined heatshrink. This has to be far more robust and waterproof than a glass bubble, springloaded contacts simply touching each other with no actual joint, and screws clamping down onto exposed wire ends, all in an unsealed plastic box. Short of physical damage from some kind of accident, I don't expect to have to touch them for a decade or two.
My deck lights in particular are also far more compact than the incandescent equivalent would have to be. They're bonded to the lower surface of the spreaders and pretty unobtrusive in daytime (I should have used light-coloured materials rather than black though, then they'd be almost unnoticeable). But when turned on at night they light up the whole boat and its surroundings very brightly indeed.
Pete
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Seven Spades
Well-Known Member
I bought one of these and it is brilliant is it a sealed LED unit.
http://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-led-mast-deck-light.html?sqr=deck light&#.VjpH1oSlJJU
http://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-led-mast-deck-light.html?sqr=deck light&#.VjpH1oSlJJU
Gin
Well-Known Member
I nearly bought on of these recently but since I am not obliged to to have it I decided not- but it is all LED, so a very low consumption:-
http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog...ming---Deck-Light-EM1324388.html#.VjpaJW7i-ew
VicS
Well-Known Member
I bought one of these and it is brilliant is it a sealed LED unit.
http://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-led-mast-deck-light.html?sqr=deck light&#.VjpH1oSlJJU
These are the ones Vyv Cox referred to , and bought, in #3
Coincidentally I ordered one on Friday from Force Four. There are two choices on offer. For £30 there is one exactly the same as we have now, halogen decklight bulb with no protection and steaming light with a festoon bulb. Ours is something like 15 years old and has not been too bad but I have had to go up to wiggle the halogen bulb a few times, and finally it fell out. Or an all-LED unit at £75 that seems extortionate but hopefully totally reliable, so that's the one I bought. http://www.force4.co.uk/department/c...bove-deck.html
Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ming-amp-deck-flood-light#3Poe5RZ7Bz5OFJuf.99
Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ming-amp-deck-flood-light#3Poe5RZ7Bz5OFJuf.99
slipknot
Well-Known Member
Yep, 3 recommendations for the same unit looks promising. I'm going to make sure you can obtain & replace the lamps in it, and if you can I think I'm sorted. Thanks all for posting.
Seven Spades
Well-Known Member
NO it is a sealed unit you can't replace a thing. However I am confident you won't need to. You will never achieve the number of burning hours for it to fail.
PeterR
Well-Known Member
I know this is nearly a year on from the OP but several respondents at the time reported recently purchasing the Oscalati combined LED deck and steaming light.
I recently lost my steaming light and was thinking about getting the LED version (more for decklighting than steaming) but my past experience with LED nav lights has not been good. I wondered how the respondents now feel about the Oscalati light after a seasons use, both in terms of function and staying put?
I recently lost my steaming light and was thinking about getting the LED version (more for decklighting than steaming) but my past experience with LED nav lights has not been good. I wondered how the respondents now feel about the Oscalati light after a seasons use, both in terms of function and staying put?
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Mine has not had a great deal of use but the light emitted is superb. Deck light in particular is far better than the previous halogen bulb and its rather poor reflector.
savageseadog
Well-Known Member
I bought one of these and it is brilliant is it a sealed LED unit.
http://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-led-mast-deck-light.html?sqr=deck light&#.VjpH1oSlJJU
What's it like to wire up? Most of the steaming/deck lights I've seen are awful to wire up with no room to put the connections. One of the big advantages of LED lights is the much lower current requirement which will enable thinner cable to be used making wiring relatively easier. Don't go mad with reducing cable sizes though as you do need some mechanical strength and you need to ensure a fuse will blow or breaker trip if shorted.
