Reliable Auto Anchor Light

Graham376

Graham376

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Boat on Mooring off Faro, Home near Abergele
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Is there such a thing on the market as a reliable anchor light with photocell? My second Dusk to Dawn has failed, it's not a problem with the led bulb and this, like the last, has only worked for around 12 months.

I'm not interested in building anything, just want an "off the shelf" reliable light or an in-line plug-in waterproof photocell. Any recommendations?
 
Why bother having an anchor light that switches off during the day. The electrical consumption of a LED is so small as to be virtually ignored. The supply battery can easily be topped up by quite a modest solar panel during the day. Whenever we anchor the anchor light gets switched on and stays on until we weigh anchor. That procedure has the added benefit of never forgetting to switch it on should we go ashore during daylight and return after dusk.
Mike
 
There is and it is available by mail order from Greece. Chandlery is the Pavlou brothers at Poros. I have had one of their anchor lights for yesrs, even unused last season as we didn't get to Greece, it is still totally reliable. Bright and independent of ships supply.
 
I use a couple of bright garden lights which are cheap as anything and do exactly what is required (apart from 2nm visibility of course but half a mile is far enough for me)
 
mikegunn said:
Why bother having an anchor light that switches off during the day. The electrical consumption of a LED is so small as to be virtually ignored. The supply battery can easily be topped up by quite a modest solar panel during the day. Whenever we anchor the anchor light gets switched on and stays on until we weigh anchor. That procedure has the added benefit of never forgetting to switch it on should we go ashore during daylight and return after dusk.
Mike
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I tend to agree with this.
I like to see that the light is working when I plug it in before going ashore.
I like the simplicity of it.
It might one day be useful to have it on when anchored in mist or fog in the daytime.

There are plenty of solar panel charge controllers on ebay which will do the job, but with the wiring and all that, reliability can't be as good as just plugging a bulb into the aux socket.
 
Thanks for the replies so far. Garden lights out of the question as they don't meet the regs. and we're in an area with active maritime police. Lots of night time traffic through the moorings and we prefer to anchor when out and about so anchor light is used nightly except on the rare occasions we're in a marina so, could leave it on permanently.

GHA, I'll have a read of the Victron manual and see if load terminals can be set to connect when solar charge dies, as opposed to usual load cut off. Could be done with a relay of course but don't want to add potential failure items and the reg is a long way from the fore triangle.
 
I have a couple of the 'dusk=to=dawn'plug into cigar lighter type, one LED one bought after my old incandescent bulbed one failed.

After I'd bought the LED one I noticed that the sensor bit of the incandescent one was out of position. (Perhaps displaced when lamp dropped at some point?) I opened it up, bent the sensor back into position, and both have been completely reliable for years since. (I use the LED one to save battery, but prefer the colour of the incandescent one, especially when in a 'scenic' anchorage.)

Given they're not that expensive, if I were in your shoes I'd just consider the duff one bad luck and buy another.
 
Graham376 said:
GHA, I'll have a read of the Victron manual and see if load terminals can be set to connect when solar charge dies, as opposed to usual load cut off. Could be done with a relay of course but don't want to add potential failure items and the reg is a long way from the fore triangle.
Click to expand...

The load output will not do this. The streetlight function will. You obviously need to access the controller settings via the Bluetooth dongle or USB cable.
 
That's ok as long as you hoist your anchor ball during the day or do you leave that up full time.
mikegunn said:
Why bother having an anchor light that switches off during the day. The electrical consumption of a LED is so small as to be virtually ignored. The supply battery can easily be topped up by quite a modest solar panel during the day. Whenever we anchor the anchor light gets switched on and stays on until we weigh anchor. That procedure has the added benefit of never forgetting to switch it on should we go ashore during daylight and return after dusk.
Mike
Click to expand...
 
vyv_cox said:
An experienced Greek cruiser told me in all seriousness a couple of years ago that a black ball meant that the boat had a mechanical problem and was broken down.
Click to expand...
It’s a good job that the Port Police don’t put that interpretation on it :-).

Mike
 
jdc said:
I've used one of these
https://bedazzledledlighting.co.uk/product/ba15d-15-led-sensor/

in the masthead all-round white for a few years and it works well and hasn't failed yet despite some very nasty thunderstorms and very close by lightning strikes so it seems pretty robust.

The firm bedazzled are pretty good inho.
Click to expand...

Thanks, although we have a masthead led, it's only there as a backup as pretty useless at that height. Best seen is one hung in fore triangle.
 
Graham376 said:
Thanks, although we have a masthead led, it's only there as a backup as pretty useless at that height. Best seen is one hung in fore triangle.
Click to expand...

Completely agree, but, for no very good reason on reflection, I don't bother with the auto sense type bulb on the riding light in my fore-triangle. The auto one and indeed use of the masthead anyway tends to be a sort of insurance policy when leaving the boat in the afternoon: 'what if I'm delayed and it's gone dark by the time I return?' type of thing, for which purpose it's pretty good. Glad you seem all sorted now.
 
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