LED cabin lights.

sailrj · Mar 21, 2011

Just replaced all the G4 lights in an Oceanis 351 with cool white 24 LED G4's and they are great and use about 10% of the power of the regular G4's. I bought the cheap G4's off eBay and ordered twice what I needed. Half were bad, but they have been replaced- got a few extras. Definitely order the cool white- tried a couple of the warm white's and they have a yellow cast.

joker460 · Mar 21, 2011

@sailj

what vender on ebay and what style of g4's did you get for your Bene????

Philip_Oceanis 361 · Mar 21, 2011

I have also replaced all halogens with cheap "LED G4 replacement bulbs" from ebay (I don't remember the seller but there are many and seem to sell the same things). I have bought the soft white ones because I don't like the cool white. Of course this is a personal taste. Colour wise they don't seem that good because the colour of some are yellow-white (as expected) but some others have a bluish color! But who cares, there were so cheap....Consumption wise, they are EXCELLENT. How long they will last? I don't know yet. I just bought them a couple of months ago.
Just make sure you buy the ones with the site pin.

joker460 · Mar 22, 2011

I just see that there are so many different G4 types. There are the one sided, flat type with various numbers of led's. There are those that are rectangular with leds on top and all the way around. Which ones did you go with??

Ron20324 · Mar 22, 2011

http://cruisingsolutions.com/ are the folks who usually have a booth at the boat shows. The Beneteau ceiling fixtures will most likely use the round wafer type with the G4 leads coming off to the side. You might have to trim the leads to get the wafer within the confines of the fixture.

Gunni · Mar 22, 2011

I replaced all interior G4 lamps with current-limiting LED's. All LEDs are not created equal and some of them should not be aboard. Problem with many of the cheap LED's is that they are resistor controlled. You know how a resistor controls fluctuating system charge right? Here is a demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdiAUovJ17w&feature=player_embedded

Cheap resistor controlled LED's would be a good fit for low-voltage residential lighting - where the voltage is consistent.

Maine Sail · Mar 22, 2011

Gunni said:
All LEDs are not created equal and some of them should not be aboard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdiAUovJ17w&feature=player_embedded

Amen to that!! They may "look" the same but they are often not anywhere near the same electronically. The world of LED bulbs is wrought with snake oil sales people selling junk to the masses. Buying from a reputable vendor is always a wise choice. Marine Beam, Imtra, SensiBulb etc. etc..

joker460 · Mar 22, 2011

Interesting and definitely a hazzard if you're running the motor or charger while using the lights.

I ordered a couple of these http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=390297223173 just to see what they are like.

I did notice that there appears to be a voltage regulator IC on the PCB as shown in the photos..

Some of the other suppliers LED lights did not have this chip.

I'll only know if I'm right when I get them. I'll report back.

Gunni · Mar 22, 2011

I did notice that there appears to be a voltage regulator IC on the PCB as shown in the photos..

Yes, there are 8 of them on that chip, they are called resistors. They get very hot when your house voltage exceeds the manufacturer's assumed house voltage. Short of that voltage they're just dim.

joker460 · Mar 22, 2011

Gunni said:
Yes, there are 8 of them on that chip, they are called resistors. They get very hot when your house voltage exceeds the manufacturer's assumed house voltage. Short of that voltage they're just dim.

Yes there are 8 SMD resistors, 181 ohms each and there is also an IC chip which may be the volatage regulator which maintains a constant voltage. won't know until they are in my hands.:naughty:

Philip_Oceanis 361 · Mar 22, 2011

zrolimt said:
Did you replace the housing units for the reading lamps? If so, where did you get them?

Reading lamps? I guess you mean the 6 reading lamps in the cabins (or 4 depending how many cabins you have). No I haven't change anything there. To be honest I cannot even understand what sort of lights these are and if there are any LED replacements.
By the way the lamp I use most of the time is the one above the galley (10W fluorence?), which again I cannot find any sort of LED replacement. Any ideas?

Ron20324 · Mar 23, 2011

I noticed at the Annapolis boat show in October that the newer Beneteau models (34, for one) had the same light fixtures as mine, but instead of bulbs they had LEDs. Maybe those fixtures are on the Syselios parts site? This includes the pivoting light in the head. It would be nice to just get those strips of light to replace the G4s.

Mike B · Mar 23, 2011

Yes Syselios has them. Look under Common Parts rather than a specific model. Looks like the G4 LED with the side pins are $41.97 each. Not sure if they're the bright white or warmer look bulbs.

joker460 · Mar 23, 2011

Philip_Oceanis 361 said:
Reading lamps? I guess you mean the 6 reading lamps in the cabins (or 4 depending how many cabins you have). No I haven't change anything there. To be honest I cannot even understand what sort of lights these are and if there are any LED replacements.
By the way the lamp I use most of the time is the one above the galley (10W fluorence?), which again I cannot find any sort of LED replacement. Any ideas?

The previous link above shows a fluorescent replacement. Don't know if it works, but looks interesting.
http://cruisingsolutions.com/category/shop/lighting/cabin-lighting/page/2/