Plastimo Compass Too Bright

[SteveInMD]

I have a Plastimo Olympic 135 compass at each helm. At night the compass lights are way too bright. What is the solution to this problem? Install a different LED bulb? Try to install a dimmer? If I should replace the bulb, how do i get to it?

[44'cruisingcat]

Are they LEDs or incandescent bulbs?


We had good success with painting red nail polish on incandescent bulbs.


Don't think I'd try it with a LED though. You could possible mount a plastic filter over the LED, if that's what's fitted.

[Dave_S]

Fit a resistor inline with the wiring to/from the LED

[nigel1]

Here is a link showing a bulb for the compass light and a red cover which can be fitted.
https://marinestore.co.uk/Red_Cover_...ass_Light.html
May be the red covers are missing from yours, or if not, may be you could adapt something to reduce the brightness.
I have the same compasses and dont find the light too bright.

[topmast]

A ittle voltage drop across a trim potentiometer in the line could solve this and leave it adjustable

[fixitfrank]

Had the same problem with interior lights I bought for my cruiser, LED to piercing bright. Went to Home Depot and bought some clear gloss coating spray and took off the lens and sprayed about 3 coats then reinstalled. It got rid of the glare.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Are they LEDs or incandescent bulbs?


We had good success with painting red nail polish on incandescent bulbs.

That is exactly what Maule, the manufacturer of an airplane I had did to all of the instrument lights, made it real easy to convert back to white light, just scratch off the paint

[barnakiel]

Sometimes the red cap slips off or gets burnt thru on Plastimos.

I too would go for a resistor. If you like more work, replace the bulb with a red led one BUT I found on my own boat a single led was too directional for our compass.

b.

[wiekeith]

The light source is a pair of minute incandescents, as I recall. You could connect them in series to reduce the brightness. This is easily done as both pair of tails emerge from the housing for connection to the supply (I think this is the recommended configuration if supplying 24v). Only issue there would be if one fails you lose both.

[guyrj33]

you could add a 12v PWM dimmer to the supply side of the circuit.
Here's an example
PWM Switch Dimming Brightness Controller for LED Strip Light 12 V to 24V 8 A | eBay

[onavegador]

I had the same probleme. For me it worked fine after I replaced the 12V bulb with a 24V bulb. As a bonus I had never to replace it.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by SteveInMD

I have a Plastimo Olympic 135 compass at each helm. At night the compass lights are way too bright. What is the solution to this problem? Install a different LED bulb? Try to install a dimmer? If I should replace the bulb, how do i get to it?

Plastimo specifies a 12-24 volt LED. If the exisitng LED is too bright, you could swap it for a red LED, or, try covering what you have with a small patch of red tail-light tape. We carry several rolls of the stuff and use it to cover the overhead lights in our cabin for night running.

FWIW...

[pippatheskippa]

Go with the red cover or the nail varnish - both do the trick without any messing with electrical stuff!!!

[Redline452]

I had that issue with my original Plastimo Olympic 135s - too-bright incadescent "grain of wheat" bulbs that lit the floor at the helmsman's feet. At some point I had also glued a small piece of aluminum foil against the inside of the dome above the bulbs, so they'd stop shining up through the dome itself.

I replaced them with a pair of green LEDs in series and tried a few resistor values until I had a brightness I liked (green because I had the red compass discs).

When I eventually replaced both compasses (tired of refilling to remove the bubbles - 2 Olympic 135's with built-in "clinometers" now for sale), the new ones came with white LED lighting which is still quite bright - might add a resistor (especially as I pulled the resistor off one of them while removing it for winter storage - my bad). If you're not in a hurry and I remember, I'll post whatever resistor value I end up using, when I get around to it (by June launch).

[s/v Moondancer]

I had the same problem and solved it by covering the compass with a pair of my wife's red silk panties! Red and transparent!