Navigation lights. Incandescent to LED
- Thread starter Hermit Scott
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I guess you can't just buy any lights and just mount them up? It looks like the range the lights can be seen would be the most difficult part to get right.
I just so happened to put one of the bow light covers in my tool bag, so I have it with me. The angle that the light shine out, and the color is built into the piece. I am sure they will be plenty bright enough. I guess the only problem could be if the 'white' is not white enough.
Lawyers, safety, and total cost of owenership
If you violate the regs AND have an accident then the cost for your lights goes WAY up due to court costs.
If you spend money on quality incandescents (and back up bulbs) AND have an accident your court cost will not be as high but your operating costs (AH) go up
If you spend money on quality LED AND have an accident you court cost will be high due to a perception (and the argument that can be made that boat builders are not using LEDs so you stuck them on and did not "get it right") but your operating costs go down.
So it seems to me that the least cost way is to buy a bigger battery bank, go with the factory installed nav lights and keep a look out. This also has some additional benefits of additional AH for running stuff at anchor.
All we are talking about is 8-24 AH/night for an anchor light and 18-36 AH/night for nav lights running all night. For my money the look out is your primary safety and cost reduction strategy followed by letting the factory take the responsibility in getting the nav lights right.
A $100 battery seems like pretty cheap "dual purpose" upgrade.
If you violate the regs AND have an accident then the cost for your lights goes WAY up due to court costs.
If you spend money on quality incandescents (and back up bulbs) AND have an accident your court cost will not be as high but your operating costs (AH) go up
If you spend money on quality LED AND have an accident you court cost will be high due to a perception (and the argument that can be made that boat builders are not using LEDs so you stuck them on and did not "get it right") but your operating costs go down.
So it seems to me that the least cost way is to buy a bigger battery bank, go with the factory installed nav lights and keep a look out. This also has some additional benefits of additional AH for running stuff at anchor.
All we are talking about is 8-24 AH/night for an anchor light and 18-36 AH/night for nav lights running all night. For my money the look out is your primary safety and cost reduction strategy followed by letting the factory take the responsibility in getting the nav lights right.
A $100 battery seems like pretty cheap "dual purpose" upgrade.
To be safe..
Scott,
To be safe and know you're getting a quality product you really ought to pick up an Aqua Signal Series 31 bi-color bow light from Defender's clearance dept. At $31.50 it is one hell of a good deal, the list price is $186.00.
At least your bow light would be USCG certified. I use AquaSignal Series 32 lights and they work very well. If your boat is less than 39.4 feet (12 meters), which it is, the series 31 is perfectly legal and USCG certified.
Defender Aqua Signal LED Clearance $31.50 (LINK)
Nearly every reputable maker of marine LED's such as Dr. LED and Marine Beam suggests using a colored LED light behind a colored lens eg: red LED behind a red lens and a green LED behind a green lens. Other wise you'll get pink and blue which are certainly not within the color spectrum requirements.
Beware of SNAKE OIL in LED's, it is very, very common and quite rabid these days. Most of the cheapies are NOT constant current nor durable enough for the exterior marine environment..
Scott,
To be safe and know you're getting a quality product you really ought to pick up an Aqua Signal Series 31 bi-color bow light from Defender's clearance dept. At $31.50 it is one hell of a good deal, the list price is $186.00.
At least your bow light would be USCG certified. I use AquaSignal Series 32 lights and they work very well. If your boat is less than 39.4 feet (12 meters), which it is, the series 31 is perfectly legal and USCG certified.
Defender Aqua Signal LED Clearance $31.50 (LINK)
Nearly every reputable maker of marine LED's such as Dr. LED and Marine Beam suggests using a colored LED light behind a colored lens eg: red LED behind a red lens and a green LED behind a green lens. Other wise you'll get pink and blue which are certainly not within the color spectrum requirements.
Beware of SNAKE OIL in LED's, it is very, very common and quite rabid these days. Most of the cheapies are NOT constant current nor durable enough for the exterior marine environment..
Thanks for the link. Do you know if I can mount it behind the chain plate for the head stay? It looks like it's made to be on deck and as you know the ones I have now are in the hull.
Hermit,
Not sure how it's currently set up on your boat. On mine, Catalina mounted an Aqua signal 25 fixture that was welded to the bow rail. My earlier link show's the same fixture. I got a pieces of aluminum angle and mounted it to that in the same location. I need to go to the boat tomorrow, I'll take a picture.
Not sure how it's currently set up on your boat. On mine, Catalina mounted an Aqua signal 25 fixture that was welded to the bow rail. My earlier link show's the same fixture. I got a pieces of aluminum angle and mounted it to that in the same location. I need to go to the boat tomorrow, I'll take a picture.
My product liability insurance would pay for it. I wonder if the electric parts on my run rocket are UL listed?Hermit
What would happen if you built and exercise machine without UL electric partsand somebody got hurt
There are
There are many ways to mount one. I mounted the Series 32 on a piece of Starboard plastic marine lumber on top of my bow rail.
There are many ways to mount one. I mounted the Series 32 on a piece of Starboard plastic marine lumber on top of my bow rail.
LED Nav Lights Test
About a year ago I participated in a Nav light test run by Practical Boat Owner magazine here in the UK. Practical Boat Owner is the largest selling sailing mag we have.
I made a fixture for the lights which could be rotated 360° and also tilted by 5° up and down and by 25° up and down. We found a local bay on the Solent and, using GPS, we set up a team of observers EXACTLY 2 miles away. The nav lights were run from a car which was directly on the sea wall and the shoreline was completely uninhabited so was completely dark.
We ran each light in turn and used an old, slightly crazed, conventional incandescent vertical filament 25 watt nav light as a comparison.
Our findings were that only the custom made LED lights were as bright as or brighter than the 'normal' incandescent one. i.e. those with the LEDs built into a custom fitting.
The LED clusters were not.
Also, apart from reliability issues mentioned elsewhere, the LED clusters still suffer from the major source of unreliability in that they use the conventional bulbholder. In many instances the contacts gather a little corrosion and this insulates the bulb from the supply. Perhaps worse with the LEDs because of the smaller current and less heat.
In general even the brightest of the lights was eminently missable at two miles unless one was concentrating and looking in exactly the right direction. How they would have looked through the glass on a ship's bridge is anyone's guess - and they need to be seen at 3 miles for vessels over 12 metres.
For interest we also tried a 500,000 candlepower torch shone directly at the viewing team - UNMISSABLE even if not looking towards the light.
For my interest only I got a rotating yellow light from a motorway service vehicle and ran that too. The idea being to only turn it on when a ship was coming dangerously close and apparently had not seen us. This light was 48 watts with a rotating reflector. This is totally illegal and specifically banned in the COLREGS but some of our fishermen are stealing? them from motorways and fitting them on their boats.
My verdict on the rotating amber motorway light - THE BEST OF ALL for drawing the attention of an inattentive watchkeeper. Of course it could be any colour and the rotating beam is unlikely to be confused with any other normally flashing lights because of its 'lighthouse' like signature.
Remember also that our tests were done over two moonless nights with no background illumination and the weather was PERFECTLY CLEAR.
Our findings were that the only way to be sure of being safe is to take the initiative and get the hell out of the way of anything big and looking as if it is on a collision course is coming your way!
About a year ago I participated in a Nav light test run by Practical Boat Owner magazine here in the UK. Practical Boat Owner is the largest selling sailing mag we have.
I made a fixture for the lights which could be rotated 360° and also tilted by 5° up and down and by 25° up and down. We found a local bay on the Solent and, using GPS, we set up a team of observers EXACTLY 2 miles away. The nav lights were run from a car which was directly on the sea wall and the shoreline was completely uninhabited so was completely dark.
We ran each light in turn and used an old, slightly crazed, conventional incandescent vertical filament 25 watt nav light as a comparison.
Our findings were that only the custom made LED lights were as bright as or brighter than the 'normal' incandescent one. i.e. those with the LEDs built into a custom fitting.
The LED clusters were not.
Also, apart from reliability issues mentioned elsewhere, the LED clusters still suffer from the major source of unreliability in that they use the conventional bulbholder. In many instances the contacts gather a little corrosion and this insulates the bulb from the supply. Perhaps worse with the LEDs because of the smaller current and less heat.
In general even the brightest of the lights was eminently missable at two miles unless one was concentrating and looking in exactly the right direction. How they would have looked through the glass on a ship's bridge is anyone's guess - and they need to be seen at 3 miles for vessels over 12 metres.
For interest we also tried a 500,000 candlepower torch shone directly at the viewing team - UNMISSABLE even if not looking towards the light.
For my interest only I got a rotating yellow light from a motorway service vehicle and ran that too. The idea being to only turn it on when a ship was coming dangerously close and apparently had not seen us. This light was 48 watts with a rotating reflector. This is totally illegal and specifically banned in the COLREGS but some of our fishermen are stealing? them from motorways and fitting them on their boats.
My verdict on the rotating amber motorway light - THE BEST OF ALL for drawing the attention of an inattentive watchkeeper. Of course it could be any colour and the rotating beam is unlikely to be confused with any other normally flashing lights because of its 'lighthouse' like signature.
Remember also that our tests were done over two moonless nights with no background illumination and the weather was PERFECTLY CLEAR.
Our findings were that the only way to be sure of being safe is to take the initiative and get the hell out of the way of anything big and looking as if it is on a collision course is coming your way!
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