Lights vs Battery Life

[niel12]

We all want the comforts from home and one of them is certainly lighting. Tradiosional lighting consume a whole lot of power and subsequent energy, recently i got really interrested in the LED tecnology. This seems to offer good lighting at a real low energy consumption level.

Does anyone actually use LED on their boats and does the saving really ammount to as much as the adverts leads one to think?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by niel12

Does anyone actually use LED on their boats and does the saving really ammount to as much as the adverts leads one to think?

Yes, and yes.

[osirissail]

That pretty much sums it up - even household lighting is now using LED's more and more. You can even find them in Home Depot.

[harlie]

For my boat (outboards + solar only), changing all the incandescents to LED was the difference between battery problems and no battery problems.

Have a look at your usage and do some sums – anchor/masthead light for example, 25watt for 12hours/night = 25amp hours, change that to a 2.3w LED which is actually brighter = 2.3amp hours/ night. Saving of 22AH /night when total battery capacity is 390AH (say 250 realistic usable to prolong battery life/account for % charging ect) and power generation is limited – that’s not far of 10% capacity saved each night in one light…

[roger.waite]

As Bash, yes and yes. Except nav lights.

We don't run a fridge, so we can run >two weeks between charges as long when we are not doing night passages. (But we normally top up with solar ... for the plotter, reserve, etc.)

[Bash]

Originally Posted by roger.waite

As Bash, yes and yes. Except nav lights.

I'm in the same boat, so to speak. I've decided to wait until my incandescent nav lights burn out to replace them with LEDs, and the darned things just won't burn out.

Still trying, of course.

[Factor]

Yes and yes - all lights including nav are LED.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Every light on our boat except enfine room are LED's. I could probably turn every light on in the boat and draw less amps than one incandescent bulb. Have to check that statement out next time at the boat to find out for sure...

[niel12]

Thanks sofar for all the replies! Has anyone actually done the change over from incandescent lighting to LED. What are the implications of existing wiring, switches, fuses and DB board connections?

Obviously the changeover has massive bennefits ... just what is required to do this change?

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by osirissail

That pretty much sums it up - even household lighting is now using LED's more and more. You can even find them in Home Depot.

Not exactly on topic, but when I looked at household LEDs a few weeks ago the CFLs had more lumens per watt than the LEDs. I know that the LEDs for a boat have had more lumens per watt than fluorescents as of a few years ago. I don't know what's going on with household bulbs.

John

[Unicorn Dreams]

When swapping over, the big thing with wiring can be the polarity of the circuits. No big deal to swap wires at the fixtures.
Believe the newer bulbs don't have the polarity issues as the older style LED's..

[Kapena]

I run some LED's, a couple of fluorescent (12v) and a few incandescent. There is no hookup problem. You can get them with the same base as the bulb you are replacing.
LED Lights & Accessories - SUPER BRIGHT LEDS I'm sure there are a lot of others selling this stuff.

I prefer the fluorescent for the salon and galley. It gives off the most light, uses 1 amp at 12v. For softer lighting, of an area, I still prefer the incandescent. Again each is 1 amp at 12v. My last choice for lighting is the led's. They are best for directional lighting but energy use is almost insignificant. I don't care much for the color of leds. JMO

[Kiwikat]

Yes and yes and yes.

Nearly all of the lighting in the boat have now been changed over to LED's (incl nav lights). In fact just last week I was replacing a few of the old blown bulbs. Simply pull out the old halogen and plug in the new LED equivalent.

My only complaint is that so far we have only been able to replace interior lights with "cool white" which we find a little glarey and cold, rather like a flouro. We have left a few old halogens in, in strategic places to create a bit of mood lighting until we can locate some "warm yellow" LED replacements.

Cheers
Lisa

[Boracay]

I've ended up with a mixture of incandescents, fluorescents and LEDs on Boracay.

The incandescents are the bow and stern navigation lights. I don't do enough night sailing to justify changing them and I've a few replacement bulbs. The BBQ spot is also incandescent.

The fluorescent are the main and forward cabin lights and the head light. Lots of diffuse light for not a big current draw. Cheap to buy.

The steaming light and forward deck down light are hard wired Bebi LEDs, after I had to pay a rigger a small fortune to go up and replace an incandescent. Port and starboard anchor lights are both LEDs.

I put spot LEDs round the main cabin, galley and nav. area. Next to no current draw, but very directional. I had to fabricate custom fittings and to drill screw holes in the supplied LED mounts.

The torches are all LEDs.

The only drawback I've found with LEDs is that they are quite directional and sensitive to moisture - not very repairable.

[noelex 77]

The 5mm LEDs are very directional , but the single die Cree type LEDs are not directional at all putting out light over close to 180 degrees.
A combination is needed for good lighting.
Fluorescents are generally better replaced with the Cree type LEDs. Unfortunately there is shortage of commercial units using this technology.