Has anyone on this forum located a source for these type of bulbs in a LED configuration? I am about to convert it over with a couple of LEDs that I have, but if there is a commercial source, I'd just buy the replacement bulb. John S
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Try This
Hi John Not sure about that particular bulb but there are many different LED bulb applications available on this web site. http://www.superbrightleds.com If the dont have that particular type of bulb you could always change the bulb holder to a bayonet type, to be honest the bayonet is probably the better option. Anyhow I am going to convert all of my lights to LED, both internal and Nav lights, it seems to make sense as they dont cost much, they last longer and they dont use much power. Cheers
Hi John Not sure about that particular bulb but there are many different LED bulb applications available on this web site. http://www.superbrightleds.com If the dont have that particular type of bulb you could always change the bulb holder to a bayonet type, to be honest the bayonet is probably the better option. Anyhow I am going to convert all of my lights to LED, both internal and Nav lights, it seems to make sense as they dont cost much, they last longer and they dont use much power. Cheers
M
mrbill
2 mile vis?
not that I'm a legal eagle, but uscg regs specify 2 miles visibality. think led's will be bright enough? (I DO use the davis megalight for anchoring, which is also not uscg approved, but has not been a problem.)
not that I'm a legal eagle, but uscg regs specify 2 miles visibality. think led's will be bright enough? (I DO use the davis megalight for anchoring, which is also not uscg approved, but has not been a problem.)
B
bruce cornell
LEDs
there are led nav lights on the market at between $100 to $300 each, problem is that leds are directional and must be pointed in degrees to match cg req, and that means many led units in each light. the sight mentioned is the one i used to do my cabin lights, the '1142' bulbs have 2 contacts in base and pins that are not staggered, and fit in many cabin lights, but at this time they have nothing for anchor or nav lights to give degrees of angle needed.....perhaps soon.
there are led nav lights on the market at between $100 to $300 each, problem is that leds are directional and must be pointed in degrees to match cg req, and that means many led units in each light. the sight mentioned is the one i used to do my cabin lights, the '1142' bulbs have 2 contacts in base and pins that are not staggered, and fit in many cabin lights, but at this time they have nothing for anchor or nav lights to give degrees of angle needed.....perhaps soon.
LED's are fine
LED are more than capable of meeting minimum requirements for Nav lights, it is correct that they are directional but they come in various arcs of viewing from narrow to quite wide. On the site that I linked to there are various replacement bulbs that also have a ring of LED's around them for much wider viewing angles. Bottom line is do you want to spend a few hundred dollars on a new special LED Nav Light or a few bucks on a couple of bulbs to experiment with, I know which one I will try first. Happy sailing
LED are more than capable of meeting minimum requirements for Nav lights, it is correct that they are directional but they come in various arcs of viewing from narrow to quite wide. On the site that I linked to there are various replacement bulbs that also have a ring of LED's around them for much wider viewing angles. Bottom line is do you want to spend a few hundred dollars on a new special LED Nav Light or a few bucks on a couple of bulbs to experiment with, I know which one I will try first. Happy sailing
G
Gregg
I have the same light s, and
I get my replacements at West Marine. Most come in a two pack, and I think they are around 4 bucks.
I get my replacements at West Marine. Most come in a two pack, and I think they are around 4 bucks.
J
John S
LED Swap
LEDs are way brighter than normal incandescent, and they are directional. But many of the lens covers are made to diffuse light, the lens on my Mac 26d is frosted to do just that, so directionality may not be so important. Also, due to the construction, there is only about 45 degrees of radiated light on a stock Mac light. (the sides come up to block). For the power budget of the stock light, one could gang up 10 LEDs, and still use less amperage than the stock one. About price, I was looking at a standard 1156 lamp in LEDs at Walmart for somewhere around $10-15. Fits right in the old incandescent socket. That's the kind of thing I am looking to buy. All right, maybe double or triple the incandescent price, (and even that is a rip off as LEDs are way cheaper to manufacture), but you would not find me paying $200 for a lamp. Whats up with that? Another thing, no matter how bright the stock light may or may not be, if the running lights run down your power source, they won't be very bright then. Looking at the stock Mac light, and at the "lamp cord" wiring macgregor ran back there, I think I am going to replace the light assy, wiring, etc with an LED light assy from ebay. It really is not a very attractive light anyway. John S
LEDs are way brighter than normal incandescent, and they are directional. But many of the lens covers are made to diffuse light, the lens on my Mac 26d is frosted to do just that, so directionality may not be so important. Also, due to the construction, there is only about 45 degrees of radiated light on a stock Mac light. (the sides come up to block). For the power budget of the stock light, one could gang up 10 LEDs, and still use less amperage than the stock one. About price, I was looking at a standard 1156 lamp in LEDs at Walmart for somewhere around $10-15. Fits right in the old incandescent socket. That's the kind of thing I am looking to buy. All right, maybe double or triple the incandescent price, (and even that is a rip off as LEDs are way cheaper to manufacture), but you would not find me paying $200 for a lamp. Whats up with that? Another thing, no matter how bright the stock light may or may not be, if the running lights run down your power source, they won't be very bright then. Looking at the stock Mac light, and at the "lamp cord" wiring macgregor ran back there, I think I am going to replace the light assy, wiring, etc with an LED light assy from ebay. It really is not a very attractive light anyway. John S
Things to consider...
The brightest 5mm LEDs have a 15° beam off their end at the 1/2 brightness points. That means you need 14 LEDs, 7 each for red and green to cover the 225° forward, another 14 LEDs for the steaming light, and 8 or 9 LEDs to cover the 135° of the stern light. Sure, there are LEDs with wider 1/2 power point angles, but they are usually much dimmer. An anchor light would need 24 LEDs arranged in a circle, or one of those 350mA Luxeon side-emitters mounted upside down in the lens. The problem with cheap LED replacement lights is that they don't use current regulation, only a ballast resistor. And to compound this problem, sometimes manufacturers put as many LEDs as they can get in series with a ballast resistor to reduce the current draw of their lamp. This makes them overly sensitive to the voltage variance found in a boat. For example, a single 3.5 volt LED set up for no more than 20mA with the 14.5V of an outboard would call for 14.5V minus 3.5V equals 11V divided by 0.020 amps equals 550 ohms of resistance. If you used that much resistance, when the outboard WASN'T running, and the battery charged at 12.5V, that only leaves 12.5V minus 3.5V equals 9V across the resistor divided by 550 ohms equals only 16mA running through the LED and a little dimmer light. If the battery is half discharged at 11.5V that's now 8V/550=14.5mA and an even dimmer LED. To light up three of these LEDs, each with their own resistor, uses 60mA at 14.5V Since these LEDs drop 3.5V each, some manufacturers string two or three of them in series with each resistor and get 2-3 times the light for the current of one LED. If we go back to calculate the ballast resistor for three 3.5V LEDs in series sharing 20mA at 14.5V charging voltage, we get 14.5V - 10.5V = 4 volts divided by 20mA equals 200 ohms. The problem occurs when we shut down the outboard and have 12.5V of a charged battery, leaving only 2V across the resistor. Now we have 1/2 the current or about 10mA through the LEDs, dimming them signficantly. It gets even worse at the 11.5V of a half discharge battery, where we only have 1V across the resistor and less than 5mA going through the LEDs. This isn't much of a problem in a motor vehicle with the engine running all the time. But it's a significant problem for sailboats, and even powerboats at anchor. The solution is to use a 32 cent regulator chip, something like the LM317Z with a 62 ohm resistor, in series with 2 3.5V LEDs. This is a good compromise on power savings and will keep the LEDs at maximum brightness all the way down to about 9V when cranking the outboard. Comparing a 6 LED setup, the one LED per resistor uses 120mA, the 3 LED per resistor uses 40mA, and the two LED per regulator chip and resistor uses 60mA. Even if you find a fixture that mounts these replacement lights vertically rather than horizontally, shining on the bulkhead, LEDs are like having little spotlights in the cabin. The reason they use less power than the incandescent is that they only light up a tiny cone of the almost sphere (except for the base) an incandescent does. Some people like a dark cabin with little spotlights, others prefer even illumination. The closest you'll get to the latter, without making a disco-ball of 5mm LEDs, is with the Luxeon LEDs.
The brightest 5mm LEDs have a 15° beam off their end at the 1/2 brightness points. That means you need 14 LEDs, 7 each for red and green to cover the 225° forward, another 14 LEDs for the steaming light, and 8 or 9 LEDs to cover the 135° of the stern light. Sure, there are LEDs with wider 1/2 power point angles, but they are usually much dimmer. An anchor light would need 24 LEDs arranged in a circle, or one of those 350mA Luxeon side-emitters mounted upside down in the lens. The problem with cheap LED replacement lights is that they don't use current regulation, only a ballast resistor. And to compound this problem, sometimes manufacturers put as many LEDs as they can get in series with a ballast resistor to reduce the current draw of their lamp. This makes them overly sensitive to the voltage variance found in a boat. For example, a single 3.5 volt LED set up for no more than 20mA with the 14.5V of an outboard would call for 14.5V minus 3.5V equals 11V divided by 0.020 amps equals 550 ohms of resistance. If you used that much resistance, when the outboard WASN'T running, and the battery charged at 12.5V, that only leaves 12.5V minus 3.5V equals 9V across the resistor divided by 550 ohms equals only 16mA running through the LED and a little dimmer light. If the battery is half discharged at 11.5V that's now 8V/550=14.5mA and an even dimmer LED. To light up three of these LEDs, each with their own resistor, uses 60mA at 14.5V Since these LEDs drop 3.5V each, some manufacturers string two or three of them in series with each resistor and get 2-3 times the light for the current of one LED. If we go back to calculate the ballast resistor for three 3.5V LEDs in series sharing 20mA at 14.5V charging voltage, we get 14.5V - 10.5V = 4 volts divided by 20mA equals 200 ohms. The problem occurs when we shut down the outboard and have 12.5V of a charged battery, leaving only 2V across the resistor. Now we have 1/2 the current or about 10mA through the LEDs, dimming them signficantly. It gets even worse at the 11.5V of a half discharge battery, where we only have 1V across the resistor and less than 5mA going through the LEDs. This isn't much of a problem in a motor vehicle with the engine running all the time. But it's a significant problem for sailboats, and even powerboats at anchor. The solution is to use a 32 cent regulator chip, something like the LM317Z with a 62 ohm resistor, in series with 2 3.5V LEDs. This is a good compromise on power savings and will keep the LEDs at maximum brightness all the way down to about 9V when cranking the outboard. Comparing a 6 LED setup, the one LED per resistor uses 120mA, the 3 LED per resistor uses 40mA, and the two LED per regulator chip and resistor uses 60mA. Even if you find a fixture that mounts these replacement lights vertically rather than horizontally, shining on the bulkhead, LEDs are like having little spotlights in the cabin. The reason they use less power than the incandescent is that they only light up a tiny cone of the almost sphere (except for the base) an incandescent does. Some people like a dark cabin with little spotlights, others prefer even illumination. The closest you'll get to the latter, without making a disco-ball of 5mm LEDs, is with the Luxeon LEDs.
J
John S
J
John S
Direct LED replacement
When you look at LED replacement lamps, be sure you read the fine print. The lamps from Walmart are RED. Oh well. However, due to diligent research on the web, I found a direct replacement for our stock Macgregor lamps. For two lamps with 9 leds it costs $15. Mine are on the way. See the site www.superbrightleds.com and scroll through a lot of lamps until you find our type called a festoon bulb. John S
When you look at LED replacement lamps, be sure you read the fine print. The lamps from Walmart are RED. Oh well. However, due to diligent research on the web, I found a direct replacement for our stock Macgregor lamps. For two lamps with 9 leds it costs $15. Mine are on the way. See the site www.superbrightleds.com and scroll through a lot of lamps until you find our type called a festoon bulb. John S
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