LED Bulb for Halogen fixtures

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Jon Bastien

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Jun 3, 2004
71
Hunter 290 Tampa, FL
Hi everyone,

I had a "find" at my local Home Despot that I thought I'd share with y'all.

If your boat has halogen reading lamps with 10-watt, T4 Halogen bulbs (2 pins at the base of the bulb), I found an LED bulb for ~$11: Link here. (If that link doesn't work, it's a Philips bulb, manufacturer's part number 407998 - Google is your friend).

I purchased 2 of these today and installed them in the V-berth on my H290; as near as I can tell, the light is almost exactly the same as what the halogen bulb puts out. It comes with a light diffuser, but the light is still good without the diffuser installed. It looks a little strange when installed, but doesn't stick out beyond the shell of the fixture- and if you're not looking right at it, you wouldn't notice a difference.

Also, from what I can find online about these bulbs, they're voltage-stabilized-- meaning, as the batteries discharge, the light output should stay the same. More importantly, the LED shouldn't be damaged by voltage fluctuations.

They don't have the word 'marine' stamped on them, but they are rated for landscaping fixtures- so I'm thinking they'll be OK in the marine environment.

I'll let you know how these fare in the long run...
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
23,049
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
That's a very good find, thanks for posting it. I find that my two best marine stores can turn out to be HD and ACE Hardware! :)
 
sea_casper

sea_casper

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Jun 28, 2005
440
Hunter H33 2004 Mumford Cove,CT & Block Island
They don't fit the reading lamps on my 2004 H33, the connector part of the lamp is short and the body is too fat to allow for it to engage the connector. If only I could remove/rework the reflector of the lamp, it would work.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
23,049
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
What I have learned recently is this:

1. There are too many fixtures and too many bulbs

2. There are more and more LEDs being made these days (of a quality variety) that if you do your homework you'll find one that works for you without having to trash your fixture

Good luck.

PS

BTW, the very same thing happened when they first introduced halogen bulbs. Gee, said the skippers, the bases don't all line up! Golly.
 
J

Jon Bastien

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Jun 3, 2004
71
Hunter 290 Tampa, FL
Correction to part number

After closer review, I noticed that I linked to the wrong bulb at Home Depot... The fixture takes a 'bi-pin' bulb, and I'm using a 2.5 Watt, T-3 base, 3000K color bulb.

HD Part number: 423731 (Internet part number: 203429514)

I'm also going to post a couple photos in the photo forum of the LED side-by-side with a Halogen. The LED is actually brighter...
 
J

Jon Bastien

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Jun 3, 2004
71
Hunter 290 Tampa, FL
Wow, It's been a while since I posted photos! I'd forgotten that it can be done in-line with posts now... #FeelingOld

The photos were taken with a phone, so they're not great quality... but should give some idea of how they look.

First photo is the LED (left) compared to the Halogen bulb (right).

Second is the LED without the diffuser (Left), and with the diffuser installed (Right).
 

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