More LED Anchor Light Thoughts
Dave: Thanks for showing me the website. It showed me how other people addressed the LED anchor light problem. You caught me at a busy time of year, so I can't discuss that website it detail. Another thing I want to mention is that I'm not an Electrical Engineer, I'm a Mechanical Engineer. Their design objectives were a little different than mine. I believe that my LED anchor light will be reliable, but I won't be miles offshore with mine. If mine fails, I'll just connect a temporary one that I always carry anyway. Also, if I have to drop the mast to change the anchor light, that's not that big a deal. I've already done it once with the boat in the slip. I haven't tested my anchor light on the water yet, but it is much brighter than the original bulb, and I have checked it from various angles, so I do plan on using it this coming summer. If you could make your own lens, you could make a perfect LED anchor light, but that would take money to build the mold for the lens. LEDs are current devices rather than voltage devices. I really just control the current with resistors. Each LED has it's own resistor, and these are then connected in parrallel to 12 volts. I don't feel that the voltage on my boat varies that much. A fully charged 12 volt battery is 12.7 volts. A 1/2 charged battery is 12.2 volts. I don't let my battery go below 1/2 because it reduces the life of the battery. I use a Size 27 battery, and keep it charged with a solar panel and regulator, unless we are cruising. I purchased my last battery in 1998, and will replace it this year. I think that if the current is kept below the rated level, the LEDs will last about forever. I have some in my garage door opener circuits that have been going continuously for about 10 years.Anyhow, the website that you showed had many LEDs clustered in their "bulbs". I believe that this would use more power than just using 3 or 4. My main design objective was to save battery power. My LED bulb appears to be much brighter than the original bulb, possibly by 3 times. I put my LED bulb into an Aqua Signal 360° Pedestal, Series 25 light. I certainly respect the guys on the website that you showed, but my main objective was low current drain, plus my LED anchor light only cost me about $3 or $4 each to make. There are some special things about my anchor lights that I really don't want to discuss in this forum. I do plan on using some LED lights inside the cabin too. I already have a few pilot lights that are LEDs, and this summer will add an LED compartment light inside the gas tank compartment. It would be good to use them to keep the heat down inside the cabin, plus it would be easy to have combination red or white lights. I doubt that they would be good for reading though. I guess that you can tell that I've thought about this subject a little. Aldo