Recommended LED bulbs for Aqua Signal masthead unit...

[Iain C]

Right, my rigs coming down next week for some new standing rigging. Whilst its down, and with a 2 week cruise planned for the summer, it seems now is the time to swap the filament bulbs in my masthead unit to LED.

The unit is the ubiquitous aqua-signal masthead jobbie, with a tric and an all-round white. Chandlery prices seem bit "bend over sir and pass me that winch grease"...can anyone recommend alternative suppliers?

I also pretty sure that I've read on here "don't do it...they blow"...any thoughts please people?

Thanks

 

[nigelmercier]

Proper LEDs are not cheap, but are well worth it; at least for the anchor light and tri-light.

Talk to Adrian Jones on this forum, and see here: http://www.boatlamps.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d62.html

 

[VicS]

Right, my rigs coming down next week for some new standing rigging. Whilst its down, and with a 2 week cruise planned for the summer, it seems now is the time to swap the filament bulbs in my masthead unit to LED.

The unit is the ubiquitous aqua-signal masthead jobbie, with a tric and an all-round white. Chandlery prices seem bit "bend over sir and pass me that winch grease"...can anyone recommend alternative suppliers?

I also pretty sure that I've read on here "don't do it...they blow"...any thoughts please people?

Thanks

I fitted an Led unit in my Aquasignal tricolour a couple of years ago. IIRC bought from Force4. It has red, green and whie LEDs to match the colour of the lenses.

It came with new holder that enabled it to be aligned correctly


Boatlamps suggest that if not using the corect colour matched LEDs that warm white is satisfactory in red and green lanterns. But that cool white is better in the white lights. That difficult to follow for a tricolour though.

I suggest you look at Boatlamps, Searolf, and Bedazzled websites

What I fitted:

 

[William_H]

The tricolour mast head lamp has a very specific requirement for the bulb. It must provide sharp cut off of colour change in the three colour sectors. To use an LED bulb you need a bulb specifically for the job like Vic s descibes.
For inside lamps anchor lights any LED bulb will be fine colour does not matter much. But where there is a definite angle of emission it matters.
This is because the original lamp had a vertical filament which when viewed in azimuth (from the top) is a point source of light. This then gives three clearly defined colours through the lens. An LED bulb by contrast has many LED bulbs or diodes around a circumference perhaps 2cms in diameter. This confuses the definition of the 3 bands. Plus many white lEDs have an uneven spread of colours through the spectrum. The bulb Vic has pictured has different colour emitting LEDs for the different sectors so giving the required colour definition. Being specialised they are expensive compared to mass produced Chines white bulbs. olewill

 

[VicS]

The bulb Vic has pictured has different colour emitting LEDs for the different sectors so giving the required colour definition

Which reminds me. Until switched on all the LEDs look the same so in order to fit the new holder and get the alignment correct I had to power the thing up and mark the front.

 

[Adrian Jones]

The tricolour mast head lamp has a very specific requirement for the bulb. It must provide sharp cut off of colour change in the three colour sectors. To use an LED bulb you need a bulb specifically for the job like Vic s descibes.
For inside lamps anchor lights any LED bulb will be fine colour does not matter much. But where there is a definite angle of emission it matters.
This is because the original lamp had a vertical filament which when viewed in azimuth (from the top) is a point source of light. This then gives three clearly defined colours through the lens. An LED bulb by contrast has many LED bulbs or diodes around a circumference perhaps 2cms in diameter. This confuses the definition of the 3 bands. Plus many white lEDs have an uneven spread of colours through the spectrum. The bulb Vic has pictured has different colour emitting LEDs for the different sectors so giving the required colour definition. Being specialised they are expensive compared to mass produced Chines white bulbs. olewill

I'm sorry, this old chestnut is often rolled out. The argument about point source giving three clearly defined colours whereas an LED lamp will not do so is rubbish for all practical purposes. In practice the red filter will block pretty much anything other than red light and the green filter will do likewise for the green light. The clear portion of the fixture will obviously pass the full range of white light. The filters actually provide the necessary cut off.

Personally I have never seen any confusion when observing use of an appropriate LED lamp in a bi or tri-colour fixture. These lamps are actually one of our most popular products and are used on a wide range of UK boats and even more worldwide. I can assure you that not one of these lamps has ever been returned due to boat owners observing some form of lack of clarity of the three sectors on their own or any other boat. If you have personally observed this I'm sure we will all be interested to hear your views in respect of the circumstances.

The blend of phosphors in a warm white LED lamp produced for use in navigation lights is designed to produce more than enough red and green frequencies to pass through the respective filters and is able to be seen distances required by the COLREGS for boats up to 12 metres. We have tested these lamps and viewed the lights well in excess of one mile and the colours can quite be clearly seen as either red, green or white. We only recommend the lamps for boats up to 12 metres because the output of green frequencies from the lamp is not quite enough to ensure viability at two miles, as required for boats up to 20 metres. The red and white light output of these relatively inexpensive lamps is actually fine at two nautical miles.

We recommend the three coloured aluminium LED lamp for boats over 12 metres or for owners who wish their lights to be seen at greater distances. There is a price penalty as these lamps cost around 400% more! Incidentally these lamps are also manufactured in the Far East.

Regards