Warm white led lighting

[surfynic]

Hi Cruisers!

Just in the process of replacing all my interior lighting with led lights but am having trouble finding warm white surface mounted led lights.. that look great as well!

Has anyone out there had any luck or got some stories?

Cheers!
nic

[Maine Sail]

Try Marine LED Lights; Cabin, Navigation and Deck | Marinebeam

[a64pilot]

Most of us replace our incandescent bulbs for LED bulbs, but retain the fixtures, I assume your wanting new fixtures?
Just be cautious as many LED's generate quite a lot of electrical "noise" for some reason which may interfere with at least your radio, so be sure to test for before doing a complete install.

I replaced all my bulbs with LED's sourced from Marine Beam, expensive yes, but it seems you get what you pay for

[zeehag]

bought a marine ha h ah a led fixture.
it died a horribly looong unmerciful death in my overhead... now i use less pricey NONMARINE light bulbs i find in home depot and in auto zone. they actually work. and longer life span than th emarine ones i overpaid grossly for. yeah ye get what ye paid for--my non marine leds have lasted 2 yrs, to the 3 months the marine fixture lasted...
have fun.
btw--home depot has warm white led bulbs.
autozone 12v light bulbs are excellent in boats. ye think cars do not get wet inside?? lol and longevity factor is logarithmically more with the auto type as opposed to the marine ha ha ha type.

[surfynic]

Hey guys this is why I come to this forum! Great online store that one, thanks! It's weird with a massive google search you still don't find gems like that.
And thanks a64 that's great tips! I am kicking myself for getting rid of all my halogen lights which I could have just rebulbed! Just another slip up during this massive refit!

Sent from my D6633 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Delancey]

FWIW LED's can be made to produce a range of colors, just not a true white color.

The work around is to take a blue LED and pot it with a phosphorescent coating that changes the blue light to a color that is "warm white" in appearance. In time this coating degrades and you will observe a color shift back towards the blue end of the spectrum.

I have found decent value in IKEA LEDs when compared to "marine" LEDs.

[msrcal36]

Great lamps and the best customer service I have experienced:
Welcome | Lunasea Lighting

[domander]

I'll "third" the motion for Marinebeam. I've been quite satisfied with them... just a bit brighter than the original halogens, but a tenth of the power needed and they run cool. Remember a boat is a tough environment for bulbs as the voltage will vary from 11 to 15 volts and this can kill LEDs that are not built for the variation. Cheaper LEDs use a simpler protection circuit and will probably not last long.

As well, I should mention the click once for soft red LED and click again for normal intensity white is a GREAT feature. We use the red while underway at night.

- Brian Domander

[davewtsnape]

I went to IKEA and bought some from there at about a quarter of the price of so called 'Marine' lighting. They are sealed units and run at about 0.2A. What's to go wrong? If the wire corrodes eventually I will throw them away and get some more.

[wiekeith]

I found changing my halogen lighting for LED turned out to be far more troublesome than I'd imagined. I too was looking for a warm light (about 2,400-2,700K) but found a great deal of inconsistency in colour temp. I would buy one, test it, then buy ten only to find they were from a different batch (although the same part number) and were a different temp.

I also introduced a further complication by wanting to dim the lights. I changed my halogen dimmer for an LED dimmer (which had it's own complications), but found that some LEDs classed as dimmable were not, and visa-verse. Even LEDs from the same batch would differ - some would dim, some wouldn't.

I eventually came across Verbatim LEDs which were consistent and dimmable, although more expensive. The ones I used were the 54125.

Good luck!

Edit: 52145

[Valiant173]

Surfynic

We changed out every incandescent bulb on the boat for LEDs. The best resource I've found is www.ledwholesalers.net. They have so much stuff, you can easily spend a day surfing their site.

We had 11 dome lights with halogen bulbs. I wanted to replace them so, from a company in China, I purchase 15 flush mount 1watt Cree LEDs and made their wood bases. I did need to wire in constant current drivers for each but it was easy peezy.

For above the seatees, I used halogen fixtures but replaced each bulb with a 10 surface mount LED that used the same G4 2-prong connection (ledwholesalers.net).

To all of these, I added an LED toggle swithch. The red LED stays lit all the time and is essential at night.

Now I can turn on all the lights in the boat for about 6A. We don't do that of course, except for social occassions.

[hamburking]

On my last three boats, I have replaced all the interior lights with these:

Cordcraft Surface Mount LED Light | Canadian Tire

They replace old, damaged, ugly fixtures. They aren't fancy, but they are clean, new, and simple. They are big enough to cover up holes and damage from earlier fixtures.

They used to be about $15, but keep going up. They are still relatively cheap compared to anything at a boat store. They are simple to install, and cast a nice bright light. And they use next to no power...so go ahead, leave the lights on for a change!

[ex-12m-guy]

LED tape lighting is available in 12 volt. Search Amazon on

LE Lampux 12V Flexible LED Strip Lights, LED Tape, Warm White, 300 Units 3528 LEDs,

You will see many similar products, some advertised as waterproof. Matching
12 v. dimmers are also offered. The tape silicone sealed and is very flexible.

The 5 meter length of strip lighting can be cut in multiples of three LED's. The strip has an peel off adhesive backing, similar to double sided foam tape.

We found the strips ideal for under-counter lighting, lighting inside drawers and cabinets. "Cove" lighting can also be fashioned with a few strips of wood or metal trim with the LED tape up inside the cove.

[kas_1611]

We replaced our G4 fitted halogens with warm white LEDs from these guys

Boatlamps.co.uk

They make them specifically for marine use with proper circuitry to protect from voltage variations and spikes plus come with a 2 year warranty. We also got our Nav light replacements from them too.

Cheap LEDs designed for home use won't cope with the fluctuations in voltage that happens onboard and are a false economy and can be a fire risk. If you are getting interference from LED bulbs then there is something wrong with the construction as there is nothing about an LED that should produce radio interference.

Keiron

[travellerw]

I replaced all my light with ebay purchases. Bought bare COB leds and driver boards. Then retrofitted the COB leds to my existing fixtures. Gave me the opportunity to modify the drivers with noise suppression. More light at 1/3 the draw of the old incandescents.

I also purchased some "Down lights" and just swapped the driver with a 12V 3A one (again modified for noise). These are the ones I bought and they have a very pleasing warm light. They are almost too bright.
Dimmable 3W 5W 7W COB LED Ceiling Recessed Down Light Spotlight Lamp With Driver | eBay