LEDs for Less Power Consumption

[ConradG]

Originally Posted by Pblais

The short answer is in the US only USCG approved lights are legal for navigation. The certification is for the fixtures and the bulb in totality meaning a USCG approved light that you swap in LEDs is not USCG approved any more. Bulbs are not USCG approved all alone. I'm thinking they thought of the very issue you raise but they did it before LED's were around. How the build is packaged is clearly important. A compound bulb could be made to standards and there are a few certified.

It basically means you can't manufacture your own nav lights and have them be considered legal. It's not a matter of if you could make them yourself (you could) but you can't afford the certification required. "USCG Approved" carries a little more meaning.

I don't believe that the regs say you have to use USCG approved lights or fixtures but rather that your lights must meet certain criteria for distance, angle, color etc. It certainly would be harder to pass the buck in an altercation and your insurance company could probably more easily weasle out in this world of regs even if the manufacturer of the bulb has shown it to be adequate. There isn't a mechanism for bulb manufacturers to get their products approved except when the fixture manufacturer is getting their fixture approved as I understand it. But, no matter what, sailing with LED's on because they draw such little power is safer than sailing without lights at all because they draw so much, as many of us do. Here's a piece from a LED manufacturer's site that discusses the topic. Bebi Electronics-What Our Marine RV & Off Grid LED Specifications Mean I have no experience with them yet but have had several recomendations.

[Jon Hacking]

Sorry, we're moving up the Malacca Straits so I haven't been able to check this thread too often. Sorry for the delay...

Originally Posted by gettinthere

...Minimum order is 100 pieces. (at around $2.50 each)

There was certainly no minimum when I ordered. I asked Jessie about this specifically, & even suggested they create more price breaks at 10 & 50 units. But no, they just gave me the 250-piece price.

Dynamo, my G4-LT units have an IC on the back, but I don't have the circuit so don't know what it's for. I assume it's for current limiting.

We don't have dimmers so can't comment on that. I have seen very similar LEDs dim, but those were factory installed on the boat & I don't know what the dimmer circuit looked like.

We ordered 16 of their G4-LT 12-chip (SMD5050) Warm White for $4.22 each ($67). DHL air freight from China to Malaysia was another $11 (these things are LIGHT). I don't think this was a special price. They needed 7 days to build them up (they don't carry much pre-built stock) & then 3 days for DHL shipping.

We are VERY happy with the service & the prices. Haven't needed any Service per-se, but Jessie contacts me now & then to make sure everything is running well.

Yes, they DO have automotive type bulbs as well: both dual contact & single contact, festoon, & what I think of as dashboard panel type (but I don't know what to call them). I'm about to order 10 festoon LEDs as well as 10 dual-contact "bayonet" type LEDs & some dashboard panel LEDs.

If you ask Jessie for Automotive type LEDs, she'll send you a 4 page Excel spreadsheet with all their offerings. The photos don't really tell it all as you can't quite see how many contacts they have or what the pin arrangement is (opposite or offset) but Jessie will quickly answer whatever questions you might have. I'm going through that process now...

I think this was all the questions, but please let me know if you have more.

[gettinthere]

I received a follow up from "sarah" of BooYa today and I asked her about the minimums. She apologized for the misunderstanding and offered me pricing on 12 or 24 piece packaging.

[ardoin]

I picked up two replacement for the 55 watt tractor bulbs used on the spreaders from Cruising Solutions at the boat show. They were expensive $50 each. Wow! For a fraction of the power (each bulb is a single 10W LED) i get more light than the tractor bulbs. I hope they will last longer since i was having to replace the halogen tractor bulbs every year with very little use.

[Dynamo1181]

Jon,
How does the G4-LT brightness compare to the 10W halagon which is 100 lumens? The G4-LT is speced at 150 lumens; would you confirm that?
I wrote Alice, my contact at BOYA, asking about the dimable feature and auto bulbs...no reply as of yet. I am looking for 1156 type which is a BA15S, single contact, no offset, 450 lumens.
Thx,
A

[zeehag]

i replaced 3 interior lights --2 with bulbs only-- dont like results--i will return to xenon...and my third was a n entire fixture-- nope-- gonna uninstall it and use some other kind of lighting-- they do not light up anyhting inside. cannot read with them. useless lights. i am still looking for the kind that are usable--have yet to find any i can use ..... maybe the ones for navlites may be ok, but so far , i havent found any kind of interior led lighting i can use.

[sabray]

zee hag sadly my experience too. I have a few renditions of leds boat interior is now all leds and as my eye cones receive less light then they once did I would need an equal number of amps in led to get this boat lit properly. I like the xenon bulbs. Im okay with leds as long as Im wearing my night vision goggles. THe only reason I endorsed Leds in the past was because it seemed okay I wasthinking about running for office and if i could read the amp meter im sure they are more efficient.

[Butler]

I'm with Zee... tried one... a buddy of mine called it mood-lighting and we both agreed that the mood was gulag asylum. An eerie limpid mess...
Sticking with my regular bulbs and my oil lamps for now.

BTW installed the Orca led masthead nav. Very pretty and effective but found (too late) that the static interference on my vhf is pretty dang annoying; a problem cited by PS for the Orcas

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by sabray

zee hag sadly my experience too. I have a few renditions of leds boat interior is now all leds and as my eye cones receive less light then they once did I would need an equal number of amps in led to get this boat lit properly. I like the xenon bulbs. Im okay with leds as long as Im wearing my night vision goggles. THe only reason I endorsed Leds in the past was because it seemed okay I wasthinking about running for office and if i could read the amp meter im sure they are more efficient.

lol..i cant even find the meter when the led lights are on...is soooo dark inside... the xenon are great--i will buy more-- they are also half the price of the leds...if led lighting was made for reading then i could dig it....in the cockpit is good--indirect lighting is great there. is difficult at best to dress in dark to go anywhere with led lighting-- i cant tell difference between brown blue and black or purple..LOL
so far, i find the led interior lighting may just be excellent for sailing--it doesnt hurt night vision, as it is still night inside with the lights on.
i put alpenglow in my ericson-- those worked great, but the look isnt formosa-esque----too modern. still looking for a good way to efficiently light inside my formosa.....
i like the description "eerie limpid mess"--is perfect!!!
if you are gonna run for office, let me know where and when so i can come vote for ye a few times.....

[Dynamo1181]

I am running 20 LED units in an RV with great success. Not sure about the size of the units that you are using but the 12 diode units put forth 150 lumens vs 100 for the 10Watt halagons. Could yall be specific with the details size etc so I and others could steer clear?
A

[senormechanico]

Sailor's Solutions G4 replacement LED's are not a "limpid mess".
(Imho, you get what you pay for)

They're slightly brighter and with a better light pattern than the halogens they replaced.

Here's a pic from last summer's vacation taken at about 11PM.

No financial connection just a happy camper.

[sabray]

Dynamo Sorry Its mix bag and I can't report the brand as
I installed them 2 years ago. normally I would say I used x and it failed. I have a 6" round Fresnel lens several manufacturers main salon has 5 fixtures. so a space maybe 10 x 8 now if I stuck 20 of em in Id be good to go with some to spare. How big is the rv and what are you using.

[Dynamo1181]

I run a 42' rv and have installed 14 of the 20 in the main salon area. They work great for reading etc. Each of these units are 9 segments of the 5085 diodes. They provide 20% more light that is much whiter than the 10w halagon G4s that they replaced behind a frosted lens. BUT the light is not the harsh blue white light associated with earlier LEDs. The better quality LEDs are a warm white light. I am looking to go to the 12 segment units that will be about 50% more light than the 10w halagon for use on the boat.
Back 15 yrs ago I replaced the gally 1156 fixture with a 15W circular florescent. I am now looking to reinstall the 8" incondesent but replacing the bulb with three of the 8 or 12 diode LED units. Based on my limited experience in this area i would think I will get a 25+% increase in quality white light at about 1/2 the wattage.
A

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Dynamo1181

Jon, How does the G4-LT brightness compare to the 10W halagon which is 100 lumens? The G4-LT is speced at 150 lumens; would you confirm that? ... Thx, A

If we call a 10W halogen 100 lumens (pretty close) then my USA 10-segment SMD5050 are a bit brighter (120L?). The 12-segment SMD5050 G4-LT that I got from China are brighter still, probably 140-150L. (From this I suspect that a single SMD5050 chip puts out about 12L or so)

I suppose I could build a jig & point my camera at it with different lights & get at least a relative light output comparison, but ... Maybe someone with better resources could come up with some better figures?

I'm surprised at the negative comments on LEDs here. But you've got to get the LIGHT OUTPUT of the LEDs that you're using as replacements. Anything else & you're just kidding yourself. There are LOTS of LEDs out there that don't put out much light.

Changing over to all LEDs (as multi-chip SMD5050 LED segments) has made the whole boat a LOT brighter. Each LED replacement is much brighter than the original halogen bulb - an important aspect for me as I get older & can't read as well.

The Warm-White chips are slightly yellower than the halogens, but still very pleasant, & not as harsh as the cool-white of earlier LEDs. The cone of light coming out of our resessed ceiling fixtures seems as good as the halogens - perhaps 120 deg(?)

[conachair]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i replaced 3 interior lights --2 with bulbs only-- dont like results--i will return to xenon...and my third was a n entire fixture-- nope-- gonna uninstall it and use some other kind of lighting-- they do not light up anyhting inside. cannot read with them. useless lights. i am still looking for the kind that are usable--have yet to find any i can use ..... maybe the ones for navlites may be ok, but so far , i havent found any kind of interior led lighting i can use.

Wrong side of the pond but i just replaced a few with these - 12 volt Replacement LED Light Bulbs - Bedazzled UK
Fantastic, very bright, regulator built in and though haven't tried downloading a weatherfax on the ssb reciever yet, seems quiet on MW, flourescent is very noisy. Current draw barely registers.