If this has been covered, please accept my apology. I did a search and couldn't find this particular modification. I'm sure that most of you have done this, but just in case....
LED conversions that are "marine specific" are horribly priced...after all, it's just a bulb! Direct replacement LED's are available but I just couldn't bring myself to fork over all that $$$$! My background is in electronics and this kind of stuff drives me crazy!
In order to make the LED fit properly, I removed the (concave) contact ends from the old bulb (these are available for purchase but why buy?) and pressed them onto the (convex) new LED.
The enclosed pics show the new LED to be 44mm and with the mod it moves to 45 mm...this is a little tight (but fits) the original light fixture. Please note that this is not the bulb I intend to use...this was just for proof of concept. I am planning to use a 38 mm festoon (link below). Lumens are a little tricky to convert to wattage but something around 60 lumens should be equal to about 10 watts. As we know, VxA=W, therefore the current draw for the LED should be around 30 mA giving us .36 watts as a power output. Quick math shows us that the old incandescent bulb at 10 watts draws around 833 mah for the equivalent amount of work/power (10 watts).
Quite a power savings!
P.S. If you folks find these bulbs for less, please let me know...I have done business with this company, but have no loyalty to them! Also, if one wanted to increase the lighting a little, any festoon bulb (that fits) will work safely (I know of no LED with festoon base that exceeds the original bulb).
Ken
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/festoon/3710-led-bulb-3-smd-led-festoon-38mm-car/2161/4950/
LED conversions that are "marine specific" are horribly priced...after all, it's just a bulb! Direct replacement LED's are available but I just couldn't bring myself to fork over all that $$$$! My background is in electronics and this kind of stuff drives me crazy!
In order to make the LED fit properly, I removed the (concave) contact ends from the old bulb (these are available for purchase but why buy?) and pressed them onto the (convex) new LED.
The enclosed pics show the new LED to be 44mm and with the mod it moves to 45 mm...this is a little tight (but fits) the original light fixture. Please note that this is not the bulb I intend to use...this was just for proof of concept. I am planning to use a 38 mm festoon (link below). Lumens are a little tricky to convert to wattage but something around 60 lumens should be equal to about 10 watts. As we know, VxA=W, therefore the current draw for the LED should be around 30 mA giving us .36 watts as a power output. Quick math shows us that the old incandescent bulb at 10 watts draws around 833 mah for the equivalent amount of work/power (10 watts).
Quite a power savings!
P.S. If you folks find these bulbs for less, please let me know...I have done business with this company, but have no loyalty to them! Also, if one wanted to increase the lighting a little, any festoon bulb (that fits) will work safely (I know of no LED with festoon base that exceeds the original bulb).
Ken
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/festoon/3710-led-bulb-3-smd-led-festoon-38mm-car/2161/4950/