|
|
15-01-2012, 13:15
|
#61
|
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon Coast
Boat: Colvin Gazelle
Posts: 44
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Because humans find tungsten (3200 deg. Kelvin temperature) lighting comfortable to relax in. The higher we go up the kelvin spectrum the more un familiar the wavelength feels. as we go above 5600 kelvin (daylight) it is downright nasty.. you see rudimentary color coatings on modern LED bulbs but the secret sauce has not yet been developed to get an LED bulb to be powerful enough to be a task/reading light ..and.. be a comfortable color temp.
This probably stems on our ancestors looking too long into the fire before the advent of cruisers forums.
__________________
"Make no mistake, the lash feels the same in any navy"
|
|
|
15-01-2012, 13:27
|
#62
|
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 153
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
We bought MarineBeam LEDs on line to retrofit our existing overhead lights. This after disappointing results with Dr. LED from West Marine.......one burned out immediately, and the replacement fixtures looked so shoddy compared to our old. MarineBeam is like a small square sheet with 9 led dots on it. Now that all the fixtures are the same, the lighting is good and even. I didn't realize how much our previous uneven lighting (our doing......used different wattage bulbs) was annoying.
Would like to do running lights, but like our old fixtures, and no one appears to make retrofit LED bulbs for running lights (guessing because they can't guarantee the results).
|
|
|
15-01-2012, 13:40
|
#63
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Caribbean live aboard
Boat: Camper & Nicholson58 Ketch - ROXY Traverse City, Michigan No.668283
Posts: 6,353
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Marine Beam rates their lights in different ways. They also have a good discussion of 'lumens' In general, I find that for the cabin lights mid-3000s kelvin equivilent is good. They rate Cool White 'CW' at 6700 K warm white 'WW' at 3300. For colored lights they list the wavelength. The link is to their 'Find Your Bulb' site.
What bulb are you looking for Penelope?
Marine LED Bulbs for your boat
Color Temp: 6700k CW, 3300k WW, 620nm Red
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 09:36
|
#64
|
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Poland, EU
Boat: crew on Bavaria 38 Cruiser
Posts: 654
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazelle Family
[...]but the secret sauce has not yet been developed to get an LED bulb to be powerful enough to be a task/reading light ..and.. be a comfortable color temp.
|
The components to make such bulbs have been available for quite a while now, but they are not exactly cheap. So if you find unsatisfactory light quality in LED bulbs, it is either manufacturers getting rid of old components stock or choosing lousy components for a bigger profit margin.
Modern lighting class LEDs, which are undistinguishable from halogen sources to all but trained eyes, can be readily obtained.
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 09:45
|
#65
|
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Skagit City, WA
Posts: 25,453
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
I cant stand LED or Halogen light. Too harsh for me. Walk into a boat with incandescent light at night and it feels warm and inviting. Just me I guess. I'd rather monitor my light use than live with something I dont like. Maybe over the galley to use only when cooking or something like that...
__________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Broads and Boats. The rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 09:50
|
#66
|
Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: San Antonio, TX/Bocas del Toro, Panama
Boat: 1990 Macintosh 47, "Merlin"
Posts: 2,844
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheechako
I cant stand LED or Halogen light. Too harsh for me. Walk into a boat with incandescent light at night and it feels warm and inviting. Just me I guess. I'd rather monitor my light use than live with something I dont like. Maybe over the galley to use only when cooking or something like that...
|
This is pretty much how I feel. That's why we still have some incandescent lights in the boat - the LEDs are for lighting, the incandescents are for mood/guests.
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 10:24
|
#67
|
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Boat: 1976 Sabre 28-2
Posts: 7,505
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
I've switched over to warm white LED bulbs and fixtures. Don't find them harsh or bothersome anymore than the old incandescents. Made the mistake of buying a couple of cool white LED bulbs when I first started the conversion and they were terrrible. Took them out and went back to incandescent till I discovered the warm white LEDs. The warm white LEDs are not tinted but produce the yellowish tinted light naturally, if LEDs could be called natural.
__________________
Peter O.
'Ae'a, Pearson 35
'Ms American Pie', Sabre 28 Mark II
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 10:36
|
#68
|
Registered User
Join Date: May 2008
Location: We're technically refugees from our home in Yemen now living in Lebenon
Boat: 1978 CT48
Posts: 5,964
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
If I had to try and use existing fixtures retrofitted with LEDs it would have been difficult to get adequate quality lighting.
Since I started from scratch it was easy...the trick was in the numbers...lots of them.
Also having them dim-able gives me some options in mood lighting.
I'm so glad to be rid of the shadows and clouds.
I really love mine and haven't looked back.
__________________
James
S/V Arctic Lady
I love my boat, I can't afford not to!
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 11:56
|
#69
|
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Cayuga Lake NY - or on the boat somewhere south of there
Boat: Caliber 40
Posts: 1,355
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
switched all the lights except the chart table to sensibulbs. It is way better in terms of electricity draw and I never have to nag anyone to turn out the lights because it really doesnt much matter. But you really do want a "normal" bulb for chart reading or the colors dont look right
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 14:53
|
#70
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Caribbean live aboard
Boat: Camper & Nicholson58 Ketch - ROXY Traverse City, Michigan No.668283
Posts: 6,353
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
What a nice looking interior James! As I noted above, We selected IMTRA warm white replacement bulbs for all interior fixtures. It is bright and not harsh. I think part of the key to success is to install lots of illumination. We could have bought 5 or 7 surface LED's per bulb but selected two replacement bulbs per fixture and 10 LEDs per bulb. Seeing and comparing at the boat show was a great help. I am picky about reading light and especially about being able to see to shave. Chart table also is no problem. I used the Imtra red/white combo bulbes here. They switch red to white and back on double click. The point made about massive old inventory of inferior stuff is spot on. What is difficult to wrap your hands around is that this is technology, not light bulbs. You really need to study the fine points for a while or you may wind up with a really great deal on a TRS80 or 486 Turbo. I light my entire cabin for less than we used to consume on our IC nav lights. As sck5 notes, you can almost leave them all on with impunity. 60 IMTRA bulbs read 0.2 amps at 24 VDC on my Xantrex meter. The Xantrex parasitic losses are greater!
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 15:03
|
#71
|
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Presently on US East Coast
Boat: Manta 40 "Reach"
Posts: 10,108
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicholson58
60 IMTRA bulbs read 0.2 amps at 24 VDC on my Xantrex meter. The Xantrex parasitic losses are greater!
|
That doesn't compute. From Imtra's spec sheet for those lights:
Current Draw: 180mA/12V
90mA/24V
So 60 bulbs should be drawing 5.4 amps, not 0.2 amps. By your meter, these bulbs are only drawing 3.3mA (0.0033 amps) each.
Mark
__________________
www.svreach.com
You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 15:20
|
#72
|
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Caribbean live aboard
Boat: Camper & Nicholson58 Ketch - ROXY Traverse City, Michigan No.668283
Posts: 6,353
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Quote:
Originally Posted by colemj
That doesn't compute. From Imtra's spec sheet for those lights:
Current Draw: 180mA/12V
90mA/24V
So 60 bulbs should be drawing 5.4 amps, not 0.2 amps. By your meter, these bulbs are only drawing 3.3mA (0.0033 amps) each.
Mark
|
certainly agree with the math. I always question the accracy of a meter operating in the bottom 1% of its range. Still very low power draw.
We will be adding 700 watts of Sanyo solar and a Blue Sky MPPT charge controller by spring. This makes the LED a "who cares" on power use.
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 15:36
|
#73
|
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Hood River Or
Boat: Boereal 44
Posts: 189
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Thanks for the great thread on LED's. Has anyone recently used the LUPO Tricolor mast head system?
|
|
|
16-01-2012, 16:04
|
#74
|
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Presently on US East Coast
Boat: Manta 40 "Reach"
Posts: 10,108
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicholson58
certainly agree with the math. I always question the accracy of a meter operating in the bottom 1% of its range. Still very low power draw.
We will be adding 700 watts of Sanyo solar and a Blue Sky MPPT charge controller by spring. This makes the LED a "who cares" on power use.
|
Just some advice - if your meter cannot distinguish between 5 amps and 5 milliamps, then you have a serious problem with it and may want to replace it. This is the range in which you need it to work for it to be a useful battery and energy monitoring tool. Good battery monitors are accurate and precise in this region (well, not 5mA, but definitely in the 0.5-10A region).
Mark
__________________
www.svreach.com
You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
|
|
|
17-01-2012, 07:41
|
#75
|
Registered User
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Nova Scotia until Spring 2021
Boat: Custom 41' Steel Pilothouse Cutter
Posts: 4,976
|
Re: Mixed Feelings about LED Cabin Lighting
Getting a true reading in such ranges may be a Fluke, is that what you're saying?
|
|
|
|
|
Thread Tools |
Search this Thread |
|
|
Display Modes |
Rate This Thread |
Linear Mode
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
Advertise Here
Recent Discussions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vendor Spotlight |
|
|
|