cheap LED nagivation lights

Maine Sail · Feb 15, 2014

pupluv said:
It's perfectly obvious that the lights in question are Chinese knockoffs of Atwoods

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|65136|2312550|2312557&id=1210812

So, there's no reason to believe that they don't cover the same arch as them.

They look like a cheap knock off of the AquaSignal 25 housing with an LED stuffed into it. Dr. LED could not get any of their LED bulbs to pass in an actual AS 25 housing, They tried and failed. Could the Chinese do any better, especially with those kelvin numbers, which don't make much sense..? I can't say..

John Nantz · Feb 15, 2014

Remember Clear Lake?

Running lights were an important issue in this case. The case was where a sailboat, yes, a s-a-i-l-b-o-a-t (one of "those") was out one evening on a lake (Clear Lake in California) with a party of four enjoying the evening.

The only problem was there was a, One, uno, POWERBOAT and that driver was having a good time. You can search for other web pages on this one: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?id=6821818

End of the evening the score was: POWERBOAT = 1, s-a-i-l-b-o-a-t = 0, including one dead sole.

A major argument was whether the sailboat had their lights on or not. Note that the lights on the shore made seeing the sailboat lights difficult. There are house lights, street lights, stoplights (red and green), etc. and lights on a boat, any boat, in an urban setting, can be difficult to distinguish at best.

The real take home message here is to have legal lights, use them, and even up-size them.

LED lights don't consume that much power so even a small battery would be enough to power them overnight and even a very small solar panel would be able to charge the battery the next day.

Solar panels are being used to power lights on the highways - on caution signs and even stop signs.

For what it's worth, I had the privilege (not a good word in this case) of being moored next to another sailboat, about a 26 footer, that was out early in the morning before daylight and was literally run over by a speeding powerboat. This was like 4 or 5 AM. Who else would be out at that ungodly hour? The powerboat was a sport fishing boat, commercial with a couple clients, probably also about that same length, one of those aluminum-welded ones.

Two boats, wide open water (in the ocean near Prince Rupert and Dixon Entrance), early morning. What are the chances?

The sailboat couple were retired and probably up in their 70s. Fortunately for them they only sustained minor injuries but the powerboat actually rode up on their coachroof and broke the boom. The skipper was really really lucky, missed by a foot or so, wife was below and was injured.

All it takes is one (other). Stuff happens.

Picflight · Feb 15, 2014

Excellent point John, I concur.

Joe · Feb 16, 2014

pupluv said:
It's perfectly obvious that the lights in question are Chinese knockoffs of Atwoods

So, there's no reason to believe that they don't cover the same arch as them.

Good, then just order them and give us a report.

Bill Roosa · Feb 16, 2014

Hey wufibugs
I'm not trying to say only buy the marine item all the time. I made my own sole boards, bow sprit, davits..... a long list of non safety low tech items that I feel I engineered sufficiently to weather the storm. When it comes to radios, nav lights, running and standing rigging, stuff that I would find very difficult to "do myself" or there are regulations/codes that have to be addressed the I "follow the rules"
Seafaring is an old occupation and to ignore the rules honed out on good men's blood over the course of several hundred years would be just dumb if you ask me.
I'm with patrickF on the use issue. don't do much sailing after dark so it is not like 3 AH every hour of night sailing is going to kill my anyway. Then there is the issue of cost to own. The festoon bulbs cost around $10 each and I've never had one burn out in 11 years. Already have the lenses and they are "factory aligned" so less than a $1.00 a year and going down.

wufibugs · Feb 16, 2014

Bill, I was tracking down a short in the interior lighting. When I pulled the covers off the OEM Hunter 12v fixtures I noted that in every one the wiring insulation was charred through or almost through. Hunter ran the blue wires between the bulb and top of the fixture. Because they were incandescent and festoon, there was considerable heat all around the bulb. I decided to go with cheap LED/festoons because they are brighter and the leds are only on one side of the bulb so I didn't have to reroute the wires, just reinsulate them with shrink tube.
On another note, I completely understand the rules and their noble history. Change, however, can be slow in coming and may not always be based on good science. Look at how long it took us to allow something other than sealed beams in this country. As to the boating accidents cited, I am very curious if it was properly determined that lack of approved lighting was the culprit. In many sailboat/motor boat collisions, it is doubtful, in my mind, that someone bouncing along at 25 knots or more against a backlit shore will be able to pick out sailboat lighting. I would also like to know if the brighter lighting made possible even by cheap LEDs would ultimately be safer than the 10-15 additional degrees of coverage.

Maine Sail · Feb 16, 2014

wufibugs said:
Bill, I was tracking down a short in the interior lighting. When I pulled the covers off the OEM Hunter 12v fixtures I noted that in every one the wiring insulation was charred through or almost through. Hunter ran the blue wires between the bulb and top of the fixture. Because they were incandescent and festoon, there was considerable heat all around the bulb. I decided to go with cheap LED/festoons because they are brighter and the leds are only on one side of the bulb so I didn't have to reroute the wires, just reinsulate them with shrink tube.
On another note, I completely understand the rules and their noble history. Change, however, can be slow in coming and may not always be based on good science. Look at how long it took us to allow something other than sealed beams in this country. As to the boating accidents cited, I am very curious if it was properly determined that lack of approved lighting was the culprit. In many sailboat/motor boat collisions, it is doubtful, in my mind, that someone bouncing along at 25 knots or more against a backlit shore will be able to pick out sailboat lighting. I would also like to know if the brighter lighting made possible even by cheap LEDs would ultimately be safer than the 10-15 additional degrees of coverage.

I had a customers bow light apart this summer and discovered he had stuffed a single sided LED festoon into it. Yep the LED had vibrated around and was aiming almost entirely backwards... Not only does this combo not pass COLREGS standards even when facing forward (Dr. LED has attempted this) but it definitely won't work when facing backwards...

No one is saying LED's should not be used for nav lights just that you should be kind to your fellow boaters and at least try and comply and have nav lights that meet what the federal law requires you to have for nav light performance.

The folks at IMANNA labs fail nav lights all the time then find them being marketed anyway.. Caveat emptor...

topcat0399 · Feb 16, 2014

From what I understand many fixtures that come from boat manufacturers themselves on brand new boats often don't meet exact specs. Or is that a boating industry myth?

Maine Sail · Feb 16, 2014

topcat0399 said:
From what I understand many fixtures that come from boat manufacturers themselves on brand new boats often don't meet exact specs. Or is that a boating industry myth?

They are mandated by federal law to fit USCG Certified navigation lights and to fit them properly. Does this always happen? Perhaps not, but if the builder is caught it is a federal level violation...

just lucky · Feb 16, 2014

did you see the shipping costs? $40.00, looks like those lights are $60.00 plus tax!

jepomer · Feb 22, 2014

Maine Sail said:
They look like a cheap knock off of the AquaSignal 25 housing with an LED stuffed into it. Dr. LED could not get any of their LED bulbs to pass in an actual AS 25 housing, They tried and failed. Could the Chinese do any better, especially with those kelvin numbers, which don't make much sense..? I can't say..

Dr. LED website has this press release (28th March 2013) stating that their specific product has received certification.

Only a few of their products are actually certified, but these particular LEDs for the Aqua Signal 25 housings are now certified.

http://www.doctorled.com/Dr_LED_PRESS_RELEASE_0612.pdf

PRESS RELEASE

Dr. LEDTM introduces its 1W high-power 2nm certified after-market LED replacement bulbs for aqua signal series 25 anchor lights.

The World’s Only 2nm Certified After-Market LED Replacement Bulbs for Aqua Signal series 25 and Other Navigation Lights from Dr. LED Reduces Power Drain on Boats.

Seattle, Washington, 28th March 2013 – Dr. LEDTM introduces its true, one-to-one LED replacement bulbs for incandescent navigation and interior fixtures with festoon bulbs. These 39-44mm white festoon LED bulbs work in many Perko lights such as series 0120, 0170, 106, 108, 109, 110, 111, 259, etc. They also work on Forespar ML-2, Hella series 3562 & 8505 as well as aqua signal series 25.

Dr. LED’s 39-44mm White Festoon StarTM after-market replacement LED light bulb for the aqua signal series 25 navigation light has been certified by a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) accepted independent laboratory as compliant with the USCG COLREG 1972 (International Maritime Organization, “IMO”) standards and verified to be in conformance with the navigation light regulations of ABYC A-16. This is the only after- market festoon navigation replacement light bulb that has received such certification.

The Festoon StarTM series have built-in patented circuitry to maintain constant 2 nautical mile visibility. 12V and 24V models are now available.
Incandescent navigation lights have always been a big power drain for boaters as they can draw up to 2A each. With LED navigation lights, boaters need to run their engines far less to replenish the drained batteries.

Dr. LED’s Festoon StarTM series of LED bulbs for navigation lights provide replacements for many brands of navigation light fixtures. Boaters only need to remove their incandescent bulbs and replace them with Dr. LED’s bulbs. By doing so, the current draw is reduced by 90% and the long life of Dr. LED’s bulbs will eliminate frequent bulb replacements. Dr. LED uses only the highest quality components for its products. They are shock, vibration, and water-resistant.

Dr. LED
12345 Lake City Way NE #181
Seattle, WA 98125
Tel. +1.206.388.3701
www.DoctorLED.com

“Dr. LED is committed to the needs of its customers.”, said one of its founders, Alain Fontaine, “We make high quality and high price-performance products to fulfill boaters’ needs and to enhance their boating experience. Every customer is important to us.”

The Festoon StarTM series of bulbs can be purchased directly from Dr. LED’s website (www.DoctorLED.com) or from many marine dealers across the US and Canada. A list of dealers can be obtained by contacting one of the Dr. LED’s distributors worldwide: Paynes Marine Group in Canada; and West Marine, Fisheries Supply, in the USA.

In addition to LED navigation bulb replacements for aqua signal series 25, series 40, and other brands, Dr. LED also manufactures a series of LED light fixtures and replacement bulbs for interior lights for the marine market.
About Dr. LED (www.DoctorLED.com)

Dr. LED provides a series of truly innovative LED solutions to the marine, landscaping, commercial and home industries. To know more about us, please visit our web site.

CONTACT INFO:
Dr. LED
Voice: +1.206.388.3701
eMail: info@DoctorLED.com
URL: www.DoctorLED.com

Dr. LED, Polar Star 25 and Polar Star 40 are trademarks of Dr. LED.
aqua signal, Forespar, Hella, & Perko are registered trademarks of respective companies.