Top Tip: IKEA LED lighting.

[bigwow]

Indeed. Rather than keeping it in case I need it for something, I have indeed consigned it to the round receptacle. I feel so much better for that.

I'll have to learn how to do that, is it painful?

 

[FullCircle]

I'll have to learn how to do that, is it painful?

Very. And its taken me 25 years to learn how to do it. My garage is now 4 tons lighter than it was 2 years ago.

 

[mcframe]

Just fitted the IKEA INREDA LED lighting to the Saloon, which was £45.96 for 4 units.

And I've just fitted a set of DIODER lights
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/70119425

I tee'd off the 12V feed to the existing twist-to-light saloon lights, added a pair of Towsure flush-mount switches (in the deckhead/headlining) and just ran the ikkle cables 2" out from convenient gaps in the headlining.

The lamps themselves are ~6cm diameter and about 3mm thick, so can be surface mounted (err, stuck on with the double-sided pads) just about anywhere you can run a cable to.

As they are LEDs (and I remember what the D stands for I was very careful to mark a side of the LV cable, cut & strip it, then plug in the 240V PSU and measure the 12V polarity to make sure what was +ve and what was -ve, then trace up to the lamps.

Sorry, I forgot to take pics; must try harder next time - looks good so far.

(VSR and split banks mean I'm not too concerned about the risk of spikes, 'tho I tend not to run the engine at night, 'cos I'm normally moored up by then ;-)

Thanks, FC.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Just a word of caution Full Circle. LED lights are fairly voltage sensitive and over voltage will kill them. Household LEDs fed from a 230v / 12v transformer will be designed to work to the 12v output voltage which will itself be fairly stable. The voltage in your boat will go up to 14.5v or thereabouts and down to 11v - the latter doesnt matter much. So depending on the precise design details of the LED clusters, you could find them being fried pretty quickly.

Better to get systems designed for direct 12v feed - there are plenty available now.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

I fitted those IKEA LED's 3 years ago and after a lot of use, including many hours whilst running the engine or other forms of battery charging, they still work perfectly.

 

[mcframe]

Just a word of caution Full Circle. LED lights are fairly voltage sensitive and over voltage will kill them. Household LEDs fed from a 230v / 12v transformer will be designed to work to the 12v output voltage which will itself be fairly stable. The voltage in your boat will go up to 14.5v or thereabouts and down to 11v - the latter doesnt matter much. So depending on the precise design details of the LED clusters, you could find them being fried pretty quickly.

Better to get systems designed for direct 12v feed - there are plenty available now.

At 40 quid for four - with nice easy-mount fittings - if these ones go fring I'll buy some more and *then* rack my brain for long-forgotten Kirchoffian formulae and work out how spend a fiver at Maplin on the appropriate components to stop them going fring again.

FRING (n.)
The noise made by light bulb which has just shone its last.
_The Meaning of Liff_

 

[jimmcgee]

and in maplins you can get four replacment rod elements for 12 squid

 

[nimbusgb]

Very. And its taken me 25 years to learn how to do it. My garage is now 4 tons lighter than it was 2 years ago.

Do you offer this as a service or on a consulting basis? My home would float about 4 inches higher on it's foundations if I could only teach my family this concept. Particular attention to my garage would probably result in that corner of the house elevating a foot or more

 

[gshaw]

Just fitted the IKEA INREDA LED lighting to the Saloon, which was £45.96 for 4 units.


Do you know what sort of power they consume? If 4 are on say what is the battery drain?

 

[jswindel]

I have just fitted two five LED cabin lights from Searolf at £5 each. They seem fine and very solid.
http://www.searolf.com/page7.html