cheap LED replacement for cabin bulbs

[bugbitten]

Re: Thanks for the demo!

Ran a simple temp test on the three bulbs. Put each individually inside a closed, medium USPS priority mail box (which measured out to be about one third cubic foot in volume), with a digital temp sensor. All three started at 73 degrees. After 30 minutes, the incandescent bulb had raised the temp in the box to 96 degrees, the Amazon bulb had not changed it, and the LED from ebay raised it to 76 degrees. About what you'd expect.

I may try putting each in a jar with some salt water to see how they hold up under tough conditions.

John

 

[Mark Maulden]

If you take pix of these bulbs, you should keep the shutter speed and aperture on camera the same for all shots. (Manual mode) Otherwise, the camera is going to compensate and it will not be a good test. That goes for white balance also if possible.

 

[bugbitten]

If you take pix of these bulbs, you should keep the shutter speed and aperture on camera the same for all shots. (Manual mode) Otherwise, the camera is going to compensate and it will not be a good test. That goes for white balance also if possible.

I didn't do that initially as I wanted the camera to measure the difference in light output, rather than leaving it to the vagaries of viewing over the Internet, different subjective perceptions, etc. I do think the shots of my hand do give you a pretty good idea of the color balance. I have bought three sockets, though, with the thought of having all three bulbs going in the same shot, perhaps with some text or some such beneath each, so you could get an idea of the relative brightness and color balance. I'll try that the next rainy weekend.

I'm also looking at the bow lights. The Perko housings are pitted, and one bulb is out. I may try the Attwood LED replacements (3530G7), although I haven't seen dimensions to see if their footprint is about the same. I'll have to see what Practical Sailor recommends.

John

 

[Jared1048]

I just replaced 6 lights (~10 bulbs) with led's and my amp hour draw went from 5.6 AH to 0.2!!!! 28 times less..wow!

 

[BobM]

My review

Well...the enclosed Amazon bulbs are pretty dim. I put one in the head, figuring it would be better to have it protected for showering...which is an unlikely activity given no hot water. I put the other in the vee berth for reading, thinking that the warmer dimmer light would be okay there. To provide some sort of rule of thumb...the Amazon sourced enclosed bulbs are probably less than half as bright as the ebay bulbs. They really aren't good enough to use in the main cabin, but are okay in a more enclosed space like the vee berth.

Two thumbs up on the ebay bulbs. Very bright. Light is definitely cooler but pure white not really that annoying blue white of cheap LEDs. The one thing I need to do is to refurbish the reflectors inside the fixtures, as some are pretty rusty / nasty, which hurts output. Eastwood makes an almost chrome spray paint that is good to 300F for $25, which I think I will try to refurbish the reflectors.

If I were to do it again, I wouldn't bother with them, except for head use or if corrosion really proves to be an issue with the ebay bulbs. Even then, they are cheap enough that changing one now and then wouldn't stop me from using them.

Definitely a worthwhile improvement so I don't have to worry as much about battery drain. I will try to take some photos when I visit the boat next.

 

[bugbitten]

Re: My review

Bob,

Glad you like the ebay bulbs. I'm still very impressed with their brightness. I think I'm going to order a couple more for spares. Let me know how the reflector paint works. It's usually hard to go wrong with Eastwood products.

Looking forward to the pics.

John

 

[BobM]

Re: My review

After seeing that you put a hatch in aft your mast I scored a nice new 10" bomar for $150. However, I have a depression aft of the mast to port due to the need to replace the blocking under the compression post...may have some water intrusion under the mast step too...so I am a bit wary about cutting there at the moment. If I drop the mast there are a host of things to do to it as well and I have a long list of unfinished projects as it is. I may be able to jack the deck up without dropping the mast, as another member did, but would have to pull my holding tank. I pumped it out well, but it would still stink (literally). May be a good job for mid-winter...or for that old shop vac just before I throw it out!