Converting to LED lighting

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MrNoSmiles

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Dec 30, 2015
4
Beneteau 40CC St Petersburg, FL
Hey all!

I am a new yacht owner and liveaboard, and some of the lights in the cabin have been converted over to LED already, but not all. It appears that the previous owner figured it out, but I am clueless. I also want to get the outside Nav/steam/mooring lights to LED.

How do I figure out how to convert the old incandescent lights to LED?
I love reading, so simple posting to another thread here would be fantastic if that works.

Thanks all!
 
uncledom

uncledom

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Jun 11, 2011
1,243
Hunter 41 Lewes
You could skip the steaming light if your on a budget, your alternator should be charging while the motor is running.
 
B

Benny17441

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May 24, 2004
7,213
CC 30 South Florida
One of the most important benefits of replacing your anchor and navigation lights with LED bulbs is their long life. This may help procure that you may not have to climb the mast during a trip because a bulb burnt out. Because of the difficulty of replacing anchor, steaming and navigation lights when underway I would recommend you replace them all when you do them. Also these LED replacement bulbs come adapted to fit in the original sockets so make sure that these are rust free, that the gasket to the fixture are in working order and use some dielectric grease to maintain good electrical contact. The best would be to replace the fixtures themselves with LED fixtures which come with built in LED lights but that could indeed be a budget buster.
 
Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
You can buy new LED "bulbs" to replace incandescents in nav lights. Just be aware that you are introducing legal liability when you do this, even if they function exactly the same as the incandescents. For example, say someone hits you, and there is grave injury or loss of life. It's possible attorneys would latch on to your LED replacements, and the skipper who hit you might be let off on a technicality. Or, you could buy all new USCG certified LED fixtures from say, Aquasignal or Hella, thus allaying any concerns. You should make those risk/cost assessments yourself. Where I sail, I am perfectly fine having replaced incandescent bulbs with LED in my existing fixtures.

Down in the cabin, I have a LED adhesive wafer with a bayonet style plug wired to it. Plugs right into my existing fixture, and it's brighter than the incandescent. It also switches between red for nighttime vision, and warm white for lounging and even reading. While I find the idea of wiring up an SMD LED strip like McIntosh did to be very cool, I'm also quite pleased with my purchased replacement. To me it was money well spent. Marinebeam.com is another well regarded vendor of LED replacements, but buying from here at Sailboat Owners helps fund the forums.

I have also purchased a strip of SMD LEDs off of eBay, which I intend to custom wire along the perimeter of my cabin top, inside, for diffuse ambient light, but I just haven't gotten to it yet. Or figured out how I ought to attach the strips to my carpeted headliner material. It's the one time I wish I had bare fiberglass in the cabin, 'cos the light strips are self adhesive. All in good time, I suppose... :D
 
Charles Erwin

Charles Erwin

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Jan 30, 2012
1,154
Nor'Sea 27 "Kiwanda" Portland/ Anacortes
Brian - The USCG does not certify lights. They publish standards to be sure - and manufacturers either meet those standards or do not. Thus it is up to you to see whether your purchase measures up.

As for legal liability in maritime cases - and in just about every state law case too - fault is compared. Nobody gets off the hook by pleading and proving the other persons lights were 'uncertified.'

Charles
 
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Brian S

Brian S

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Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Charles Erwin said:
Brian - The USCG does not certify lights. They publish standards to be sure - and a manufacturers either meet those standards or do not. Thus it is up to you to see whether your purchase measures up.

As for legal liability in maritime cases - and in just about every state law case too - fault is compared. Nobody gets off the hook by pleading and proving the other persons lights were 'uncertified.'

Charles
Click to expand
MaineSail had discussed a case previously where changing the lights to LED was an issue.

As for USCG certification, approval, or compliance, when I looked at Hella Marine's site for their LED fixtures, they list: "Certification: IMO COLREG, USCG, BSH, NZCG, ABYC" http://www.hellamarine.com/en/products/navigation-lamps/bi-colour/

I always figure if a company publishes USCG certification, or some flavor thereof, we are good to go! Based on my research when I looked into LED fixtures before, it seemed only AquaSignal and Hella published anything about USCG certs, where Attwood and Perko don't. Attwood and Perko make mostly powerboat stuff anyway...

Sorry if I'm not using the correct terms for the standards the USCG sets - I do know they do not test products, and that it is up to the manufacturer to test their equipment to see if it meets the USCG standards. Seems an involved process, which is probably why there aren't very many LED fixtures tested to meet the standards.
 
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