Quality source of LED strips/bulbs/assemblies?

[aybabtme]

I'm looking at installing LED strips for accent lighting under the settees and under other overhangs; replace all existing incandescent lights in the existing puck lights and reading lights, and replace the deck spreader lights.

I can find tons of online suppliers but it's hard to distinguish the crap from the good, and the overpriced from the fairly priced. Right now I'm eyeing SuperBrightLEDs but I don't know if their products are of quality or not.


Do you recommend a price efficient, quality source of LED products?

[GreenWave]

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[wsmurdoch]

I just looked, and from the summer of 2010 to the summer of 2019 I placed a total of fourteen orders with them and never had a problem. Almost all were for 12V bulbs to use on my boats.

Bill

[slug]

Originally Posted by aybabtme

I'm looking at installing LED strips for accent lighting under the settees and under other overhangs; replace all existing incandescent lights in the existing puck lights and reading lights, and replace the deck spreader lights.

I can find tons of online suppliers but it's hard to distinguish the crap from the good, and the overpriced from the fairly priced. Right now I'm eyeing SuperBrightLEDs but I don't know if their products are of quality or not.


Do you recommend a price efficient, quality source of LED products?

Don’t know your region

Best to seek companies who supply the boatbuilding industry OEM

These lights and fitting are conceived to easily mount

Many have on off switches on the fixture

https://www.batsystem.se/section/belysning/page/6/

https://www.hellamarine.com/en/produ...xterior-lamps/

https://www.quickmarinelighting.com/...4&ms3=8&ctm=12

[Bill Seal]

https://www.flexfireleds.com/compari...and-5050-leds/

We have strips of indirect lighting in the cabin, and a 16' strip around the overhead of the "engine dungeon" which lights things up really well down there.
They were just generic Ebay things.

[a64pilot]

You can buy for less, but nearly all my lights I got from Marinebeam.
There is a whole lot of junk out there, to include some pretty big brand names, they are fine for home and auto etc, but many are so noisy they affect your VHF and especially your SSB.
Marinebeam lights don’t.
USCG issued an alert ref LED’s and radio interference some time ago. So you need to be sure of what your buying.
I wouldn’t buy, unless they have in writing that their LEDs won’t cause interference with AIS, VHF etc.
https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/D...-16-091109-630

[rbk]

Originally Posted by slug

Don’t know your region

Best to seek companies who supply the boatbuilding industry OEM

These lights and fitting are conceived to easily mount

Many have on off switches on the fixture

https://www.batsystem.se/section/belysning/page/6/

https://www.hellamarine.com/en/produ...xterior-lamps/

https://www.quickmarinelighting.com/...4&ms3=8&ctm=12

I would stick with Slugs recommendation as un-shielded LED's can cause interference with your radio(s).

[Lake-Effect]

I bought cheap warm white 12v LED strip from ebay, and it's been great for about 4 years so far. (installed in a freshwater trailer-sailor). I put a PWM dimmer on it. To do it again, I would consider some sort of clear protective spray (eg Krylon) on the strip, or maybe slide the strip into clear vinyl tube. I believe you can also buy extrusions with clear covers for use with the strip, which look pretty durable.

[wsmurdoch]

I have never heard any RF interference caused by my Superbright LED bulbs on the marine VHF, marine HF, or amateur HF bands I have used. Currently available products that I have and use are:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ar/1978/12765/ in warm white, cool white, red, and green.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...4mm/3582/7661/ in natural.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ens/4244/9468/ in warm white.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ens/3478/7306/ in warm white.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...car/2077/4721/ in cool white, blue, and red.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...dimmer/62/365/ has also been quiet although an outwardly identical dimmer from ebay was noisy on HF irrespective of the setting on the potentiometer.

I doubt that any of the strip lights themselves that have the current to the LEDs controlled by resistors alone would be capable of causing RF noise.

Bill
WDD6351
AK4PO

[wguinon]

I changed all nav lites to Marine Beam leds. They are well designed and well priced. No problems in 5 years service.

[Eigenvector]

Over the last year I've used over 250m of Absolute Series and the IR from Waveform Lighting on a project. I'm not sure if it's the cheapest but I needed a single source for both white and IR wavelenghts. Quality is good and meets our lumens/m2 requirements. 12v and we're running them in very close proximity (less than 50mm) to 8MP board camera arrays with no issues.


https://store.waveformlighting.com/c...ons/led-strips


I've got a bunch of drops and would be willing to send you some gratis. Just PM me.

[hurricanehole]

Marinebeam for quality. My recommendation after 4 years of use and no issues.

[Mr B]

I bought all mine from Ebay from China,
The two Led light bars on my top spreader are for off road vehicles, $15-00 each,
They light up the front of my boat for about 100 yards like daylight,
They are still working after one very violent storm I went thru, 12.5 metres above the waterline, 2 metres below the top of my mast,

The Led lights I have in the salon and lower sides, galley and workshop, Work great, Little push buttton switches on the ends, $8-00 each,

I changed the normal bulbs for Led globes, Inside the boat,

I put two small led bars on the transom steps, Its like daylight, I will have to put a switch on one as I travel at night, As it drowns out my rear Nav light, I will use it as my Nav light as well as the Nav light,

Only time will tell how long they last,

[AndyEss]

I buy the generic 5 meter long strip lights with varying degrees of success. The problem I encounter is that the LED interconnects break all too often, leaving part of the strip dead.
What I strongly recommend is including dimmer switches with LED strip lights - they are too bright for use without the dimmers.

[aybabtme]

Originally Posted by Eigenvector

Over the last year I've used over 250m of Absolute Series and the IR from Waveform Lighting on a project. I'm not sure if it's the cheapest but I needed a single source for both white and IR wavelenghts. Quality is good and meets our lumens/m2 requirements. 12v and we're running them in very close proximity (less than 50mm) to 8MP board camera arrays with no issues.


https://store.waveformlighting.com/c...ons/led-strips


I've got a bunch of drops and would be willing to send you some gratis. Just PM me.

Looks awesome! Thanks for the reference!

Originally Posted by hurricanehole

Marinebeam for quality. My recommendation after 4 years of use and no issues.

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You can buy for less, but nearly all my lights I got from Marinebeam.
There is a whole lot of junk out there, to include some pretty big brand names, they are fine for home and auto etc, but many are so noisy they affect your VHF and especially your SSB.
Marinebeam lights don’t.
USCG issued an alert ref LED’s and radio interference some time ago. So you need to be sure of what your buying.
I wouldn’t buy, unless they have in writing that their LEDs won’t cause interference with AIS, VHF etc.
https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/D...-16-091109-630

Interesting, I'll look this up. Was aware of potential for RF noise and was planning to avoid switching voltage converters, although I already have some of that in DC buck-boosters for my networking gear. I'm aware of the potential problem so I'm keeping an eye out.