Like most boats, the lighting in my C30 is less than ideal. Old, power hungry incandescent lamps. I'm interested in upgrading the lighting using standard 12v LED fixtures, LED strips for accent lighting, motion detection (mostly for the head) and possibly some wireless switches (some areas would require significant work to put wiring inside). I'm interested in hearing about what you found to be useful, appealing, awful, etc when you upgraded your lighting.
Lighting upgrades
- Thread starter Project_Mayhem
- Start date
I changed all my incandescent bulbs and florescent bulbs to LEDs a while back - major difference in electrical consumption. Had to purchase new florescent fixtures and cut wires to make the conversion. Never got into accent lighting.
A couple of considerations for you:
1) If your current lights use replaceable bulbs you can probably find compatible LED replacement "bulbs" (LEDs packaged as bulb replacements) in the SBO store or elsewhere online.
2) Motion-sensing lights use current (milliamps) all the time. This parasitic draw may or may not be significant to you, depending on your boats' individual usage and charging, but probably should be considered on an older 30-foot boat.
1) If your current lights use replaceable bulbs you can probably find compatible LED replacement "bulbs" (LEDs packaged as bulb replacements) in the SBO store or elsewhere online.
2) Motion-sensing lights use current (milliamps) all the time. This parasitic draw may or may not be significant to you, depending on your boats' individual usage and charging, but probably should be considered on an older 30-foot boat.
I converted to LED about 15 years ago. The only problem I had at that time was the colour : they varied from urine yellow to the bluest of blues (about 7,000,000,000 K or more) and all claiming to be warm white. The company did keep sending me replacement bulbs until I was satisfied. They would never test them before shipping. AND, they were from a big name supplier who would most likely sue me if I named them today.
Today's world of LED's is light years ahead of 15 years ago but it's something you might want to keep in mind and test them for colour as soon as they arrive. Having said that, remember that 12V LED's are still a very small % of the LED market so quality control in colour may still be open to question.
Today's world of LED's is light years ahead of 15 years ago but it's something you might want to keep in mind and test them for colour as soon as they arrive. Having said that, remember that 12V LED's are still a very small % of the LED market so quality control in colour may still be open to question.
There are plenty of 12v LED lights on the market. The lower end ones simply use a resistor and the higher end ones will have some sort of driver circuit.
There's a HUGE difference in the market between now and 15 years ago. Prices have dropped and overall quality has gone up. I swapped out the incandescent bulbs for automotive ones. They were inexpensive, bright and worked well. There was a slight color shift in one of them after five years but overall I was happy with them.
Any LED product I install will be warm white and will likely have a dimmer
I bought some inexpensive LED bulbs to fit my 8 overhead cabin lights. Amazon…$10 for 6 or so I think.
the first ones I bought were too “blue white”, but these warm white ones were perfect.
BlyilyB 6-Pack BA15D 1142 1004 Non-Polarity Warm White LED Bulbs Replacement Lamps DC 12V Interior RV Camper Trailer Lighting Boat Yard Light Tail Bulbs Amazon.com
A few of my cabin lights also have a small red bulb for night vision use (one in the head, one in galley and 1 over the nav desk. They are still incandescent bulbs. Have not felt the need to change them up until now.
No mood lighting on Tally Ho at this point.
Greg
the first ones I bought were too “blue white”, but these warm white ones were perfect.
BlyilyB 6-Pack BA15D 1142 1004 Non-Polarity Warm White LED Bulbs Replacement Lamps DC 12V Interior RV Camper Trailer Lighting Boat Yard Light Tail Bulbs Amazon.com
A few of my cabin lights also have a small red bulb for night vision use (one in the head, one in galley and 1 over the nav desk. They are still incandescent bulbs. Have not felt the need to change them up until now.
No mood lighting on Tally Ho at this point.
Greg
The fluorescent fixtures had to be changed because I wanted red or white light; the originals didn't have that functionality.
Over the last two decades we have changed all the bulbs in the OEM fixtures to LED. I also replaced one entire fixture over the galley counter area with a red/white hi/low teak-frame light from Alpenglow. https://www.alpenglowlights.com/
These lights are not cheap, but well engineered and built for a lifetime of use, and I recommend their lights highly.
These lights are not cheap, but well engineered and built for a lifetime of use, and I recommend their lights highly.
I used MarineBeam for all my lighting inside and out. Staff was helpful too! They make some cool below deck bulbs that toggle from red>white>off. You save your night vision.
To try to steer the conversation...
What did you like and dislike about your lighting upgrade?
What would you do differently?
Were there any lessons learned?
What did you like and dislike about your lighting upgrade?
What would you do differently?
Were there any lessons learned?
What I like:
1 The light is really good. You should become familiar with the following
Lumens - the amount of light that the lamp puts out - 1500 will light the whole main cabin for reading, cooking or other tasks that include detail. For a focused reading light 300 or more will do it.
Color temperature - 2700 is nice and warm but for detailed tasks or reading 3500 may suit you better.
CRI - color rendering index - a measure of how well the light shows a range of colors - less than 80 is unacceptable to me, 85 is better and 90 is better than I need.
2 The much lower current draw means we don't have to be stingy with the light.
I got some fancy fittings with touch on and off that gave a lot of trouble turning on and off by themselves or not responding to touch. I hacked into them and installed a mechanical on off switch and they have now been trouble free for 6 years.
Some earlier cheap ones were electrically noisy but I have had no problems in that regard.
I have been lucky that the wiring in my boat is still in good condition and I could just use it. In some places I installed complete new fittings and in others just new bulbs. It all works so well that we don't use any AC lighting, even at the dock, we just run off battery and solar.
My running, steaming and deck lights are also all LED.
1 The light is really good. You should become familiar with the following
Lumens - the amount of light that the lamp puts out - 1500 will light the whole main cabin for reading, cooking or other tasks that include detail. For a focused reading light 300 or more will do it.
Color temperature - 2700 is nice and warm but for detailed tasks or reading 3500 may suit you better.
CRI - color rendering index - a measure of how well the light shows a range of colors - less than 80 is unacceptable to me, 85 is better and 90 is better than I need.
2 The much lower current draw means we don't have to be stingy with the light.
I got some fancy fittings with touch on and off that gave a lot of trouble turning on and off by themselves or not responding to touch. I hacked into them and installed a mechanical on off switch and they have now been trouble free for 6 years.
Some earlier cheap ones were electrically noisy but I have had no problems in that regard.
I have been lucky that the wiring in my boat is still in good condition and I could just use it. In some places I installed complete new fittings and in others just new bulbs. It all works so well that we don't use any AC lighting, even at the dock, we just run off battery and solar.
My running, steaming and deck lights are also all LED.
I recently took a cruise on a power yacht. The cabin lighting was indirect. That is the light emanated from trim features about halfway up the cabin partition and the light was continuous on the two sides of the cabin. The light reflected off the light color of the ceiling liner. I thought it was very pleasant and comforting to the eye. Almost like natural light. There were no bright spots to harsh the eye. There were also focused lights strategically located at spots for reading or focused activity. If I were to redo cabin lighting I would try to achieve that.