Aqua Signal Product Report

[Roger Long]

Those of you who followed my re-fit last winter and spring may remember the incredible string of DOA component purchases and early failures that dogged my preparations and resulted in an month's delay in my departure. The beat goes on.

Back in 2008, I installed Aqua Signal Series 32 LED navigation lights. Low power consumption was just part of the reason. I also wanted totally watertight units with no contacts to corrode or bulbs to burn out. Bending over a bow pulpit in a seaway trying to replace a bulb without dropping any screws or gaskets was just not one of my cruising ambitions.

Imagine my dismay then (these things don't surprise me any more) when I was casting off the lines at 0400 in Lockport, N.S. to look up and see the starboard running light dark. I've been waiting to post about this until I could get back to do a diagnosis and report on Aqua Signal's response.

I cut the wires this morning and removed the light. 12 volts verified at the cut ends and the light did not function connected directly to a 12 volt battery. No corrosion in the wires or other visible defects. A clear case of spontaneous death.

I haven't done much night running, this is Maine and we have lobster pots, after all. These lights have perhaps 50 hours of service time. Pretty disillusioning to have these pricey units last less than 100 th of the time that a simple bulb can be expected to shine.

Two hours after my email to Aqua Signal, I got a reply that three new lights are on the way to me in case there is a common production problem that effects the others. The Series 32 has also been discontinued so they are sending me Series 34's so I will have a matching set.

This has, of course, never happened before. Since it is clearly established now, via a wide range of component types, that these things only happen to me, we can't fault Aqua Signal for the product quality. We certainly can't fault them for their support and timely response which is about as good as it gets.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Roger,

I'm glad to hear that Aqua Signal is honoring their warranty in a timely manner like they should.

Perhaps, and I'm just saying, speculating, and so on, that A-S knew that they had a problem with the 32 series and evolved the 34 series as a fix. Maybe they sent you a complete new set to keep you happy without having to admit they had a problem.

Whatever, at least you will have a new set of lights and all you need to do is contribute your labor to exchange them. And you also have a couple non-matching spares.

Now you just need to sail out from under your personal black cloud.......

 

[Maine Sail]

Perhaps, and I'm just saying, speculating, and so on, that A-S knew that they had a problem with the 32 series and evolved the 34 series as a fix. Maybe they sent you a complete new set to keep you happy without having to admit they had a problem.

Actually with emitter technology evolving so fast the emitters they had been using in the series 32 became "no longer available". I found this out after our lightning strike last August, because we had Series 32 LED's..

Aqua Signal was late to the LED party because they wanted to do it correctly and build the LED's from the ground up as dedicated LED nav lights, and get a USCG approval too.

Just about the time they hit the market their supplier was just about to drop the emitter used in the Series 32. Because they are USCG approved you can not simply change the emitter and call it a day and the whole unit would need to go back for re-certification. So back to the drawing board they went and now the Series 34 is supposedly shipping. My only hope with the Series 34's is that they got rid of the silly mounting system of the Series 32. Other than lightning ours have been completely reliable..

 

[Roger Long]

My only hope with the Series 34's is that they got rid of the silly mounting system of the Series 32.

From what I can see having just looked at them in the packages at Hamilton, they did change the mounting system. Of course, in my case, that is not a good thing because it means I'm going to be hanging over my bow pulpit at the dock trying to drill new holes through the stainless mounting plates.

 

[bigmuffin]

If I currenlty have the 32 series LED and it still works, do you think they would exchange it for the 34? Or are they only doing that when it breaks?

 

[Roger Long]

do you think they would exchange it for the 34?

They told me they haven't had any problems with them so I doubt it. These things only seem to happen to me.

 

[Roger Long]

The new Aqua Signal Series 34 running lights are installed. I'm going to take my chances on the sternlight as the switch would be much more involved.

Kudos to Aqua Signal for:

1) Putting 4 feet of wire on this version of the light. The heat shrink splices I had to fit into small hole in the pulpit tubing for the 32 versions made the whole replacement difficult. Having all connections below deck is better and will make replacement much easier if necessary.

2) Adding a second mounting screw on exactly the same spacing as the old wire alignment stud/pass through. I didn't have to drill any holes in the stainless since I had a third hole from a previous installation.

What I'm not so happy about:

The old lights were a solid chunk of aluminum heat sink with a closely fitting plastic shell. I bumped a piling lightly with one once and there was no visible result. The new lights have a plastic heat sink and a shell that pops off for mounting and then snaps back on. Just think about touching a piling with these lights and the shell will probably pop off. The bump that the 32 survived would likely totally destroy the 34. I doubt you could kick a 32 hard enough to break it but a careless foot in a cabin top location could render a 34 inop. Racers will like the significant weight reduction but these lights should be mounted in a physically protected location if at all possible.

I just tore the 32 apart for an autopsy. After pulling the guts out, no sign of any water or physical damage, I hooked it up to a battery again and it went on! Only for a second however. I tried wiggling the wires all sorts of ways but it wouldn't come on again. A little later, it flashed again. Turns out it will shine for a second or two as long as it has a minute or so to cool off again. Clearly a solid state component that became heat sensitive and shuts down almost instantly after power is applied.

 

[sea_casper]

I'm thinking it's a mechanical issue, a cracked or cold solder joint, or a micro-crack in a component. resoldering all joints, which is difficult with today's small components, might fix it but then the circuit would have to be conformal coated again, a must for the marine environment.

 

[Roger Long]

I'm thinking it's a mechanical issue

I don't think so except maybe on the micro level inside an IC component on a circuit board. The whole unit is solidly potted into a single chunk of epoxy and aluminum. The behavior is very consistent, a flash of light instantly on connection and it then goes dark. No amount of wiggling the wires changes anything. Probably a defective voltage regulator that trips off after a few cycles.

The 34's are still fairly rugged units. I just think they took a big step back in impact strength. It was probably a good marketing decision since racers obsess about every ounce at the bow. I wish they had just kept the original design, put the new emitter in it, and added the longer wire length.

As far as I know, these are the only LED lights that are totally watertight. They would certainly work submerged for a long time. For bow pulpit use, that makes them the only choice in my mind.