LED light bulbs for the boat

[sdowney717]

These are advertised as having the brightness of 20 watt incandescents
The 1142 bulbs I currently use are ~18 watts

http://www.ebay.com/itm/30054645324...DME:X:eRTM:MOTORS:1123&vxp=mtr#ht_3774wt_1165

He has a 10 pack priced around $55 and I was thinking of using these for the anchor lights and the interior cabin lights.

So what do you think about them?

Also there are SMD leds which these are not and various intensities of LED. If the seller says they put out an equivalent of 20 watts, that should be slightly brighter than an 1142.

 

[koditten]

I put leds on my boat several years ago. Not the exact one you show, but something similar. I was amazed at how long the lights would run. These lights use so little power, your batteries will thank you.

I have 12 gunnel lights along the perimiter to light the area I'm fishing at night. I was playing around to see how much they would drain the battery. I left them on for 5 days and nights continuosly. Put the digital charger on the battery to recharge the 12 volt battery (1). The charger beeped that the battery was full in only 35 mnutes. I was thinking the charger was decieving me, so I ran the experiment again. Same results.

I'm a firm believer that leds are right at home in a 12 volt environment. Leds are all I will use for my trailers that I build. I get zero call backs.

 

[ishiboo]

LED retrofits cannot legally be used for navigation lights/etc. for good reason: they change the beam pattern and reduce range. Those fixtures need to be rated for a specific distance depending on the size of the boat/ship. If you want LEDs for a navigation light great, but buy a real LED navigation light. I have LEDs for all my navigation lights and they can stay on weeks without running my house bank down.

For interior lights, I have tried the replacement bulbs and was not satisfied with their performance. In the bedroom and bathroom, I have proper LED fixtures (Imtra) which work great. In the main cabin, I have four G4 fixtures with halogen bulbs. They produce the light and color I wanted for the main cabin, though they do consume far more electricity.

For the interior, it's to each his/her own... many have installed the replacements and are happy, I personally wasn't.

 

[sdowney717]

the running lights can stay as they are since the alternator can easily keep up for that load. Those lights are on only when the boat is under power.
For my boat under 12 meters it is 37 foot egg harbor sedan, I only need a 2
NM all around anchor light which is what I plan to use one of the LED lights for. That particular LED has lights all around so, IMO will be fine.
Your right about the light output, which is why I was careful to only look for led bulbs which have their LED arranged in a pattern to shed light all the way around sideways.

Shoot, people on the cruisers forum hang oil lamps from the mast for anchoring.

The interior cabin lights, I have around 9 bulbs and I was thinking if your anchoring out you can quickly run the battery down so I plan to use them inside.

I have read that if you replace incandescent with the LED for the colored navigation lights, you need to buy red led for red lenses, green led for green, yellow led for yellow etc...

 

[ForceFed70]

They sound great in an ebay ad. But I would strongly reccomend you try 1 or 2 1st before buying the lot of 10.

 

[ishiboo]

the running lights can stay as they are since the alternator can easily keep up for that load. Those lights are on only when the boat is under power.
For my boat under 12 meters it is 37 foot egg harbor sedan, I only need a 2
NM all around anchor light which is what I plan to use one of the LED lights for. That particular LED has lights all around so, IMO will be fine.
Your right about the light output, which is why I was careful to only look for led bulbs which have their LED arranged in a pattern to shed light all the way around sideways.

Shoot, people on the cruisers forum hang oil lamps from the mast for anchoring.

The interior cabin lights, I have around 9 bulbs and I was thinking if your anchoring out you can quickly run the battery down so I plan to use them inside.

I have read that if you replace incandescent with the LED for the colored navigation lights, you need to buy red led for red lenses, green led for green, yellow led for yellow etc...

2NM is a long distance, I highly recommend you splurge on a real LED all-around light if necessary. Your LED replacement WILL NOT meet the requirement, and if you are anchoring up it's important to have a well-functioning anchor light.

One of those safety things I wouldn't mess around with. It's a small expense compared to operating a 37' boat. My 29' consumes just over 22GPH at cruise, I figure if I have $88/hr to spend on fuel, my first priority should be safety.

 

[Air_Cooled_Nut]

Using LED interior 'bulbs' is becoming more common. In the VW Bus forum I'm on it's popular because many folks camp and want the camping battery (the second battery, not the main starting battery!) to last as long as possible. I definitely recommend them.

I have an LED front parking light and a real LED tail/brake light on my motorcycle. When the ignition switch is in PARK the front and real lights come on. As an experiment, I left mine in PARK for an hour -- which would be the death of a battery running incandescents -- then started up my bike without issue. It totally freaks other bikers out when I leave the parking lights on at get-togethers, they swear I'll run my battery down. Every time I prove 'em wrong

Color choice IS important. If you have a red lens then you need a red LED. If you have an amber lens then you need an amber LED. LEDs don't put out a wide spectrum of light, it's a bit narrow, so for example the light output of a white LED will be dimmer when behind a red lens.

Tail light
Front parking light
Both bulbs are of the "super bright" variety. They definitely are brighter than incandescent even though it doesn't always appear that way in pictures.

 

[wssix99]

LED retrofits cannot legally be used for navigation lights/etc. for good reason: they change the beam pattern and reduce range. Those fixtures need to be rated for a specific distance depending on the size of the boat/ship. If you want LEDs for a navigation light great, but buy a real LED navigation light. I have LEDs for all my navigation lights and they can stay on weeks without running my house bank down.

+1 Navigation lights are all about the visible range and not necessarily the "output." Specialty LED units from a boating store will be set up to meet the specs in the USCG Navigation Rules. (I've never seen any without special reflectors or housings that need to be purchased with the bulb.) The trick is that you have to get the same amount of light from every angle at a distance.

If you are in to physics, you can read the luminous intensity details here: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...33:1.0.1.5.39&idno=33 #33:1.0.1.5.39.0.26.8