Which tricolour/anchor light should I buy?

[MikeFergie]

I have replaced all my nav lights (aqua marine) with lalizas LEDs. I still need to get up the mast to replace my anchor light with a tri and anchor light. It's sitting waiting to be done.


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[artisanmach]

I love mine..totally waterproof

[Neptune's Gear]

optolamps , http://www.neptunes-gear.com/index.p...-lighting.html

I'd be happy to help. :-)


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[Seasick Steve]

Well, it's done.

I eventually decided on a Nasa LED tricolour up top and a separate anchor light which I shall plug in and hang from the ensign becket on the backstay when needed. I decided on this partly because I reckon 10m up in the air is not the best place for an anchor light and partly on cost.

A couple of years ago I we were coming into Lamlash Harbour on Arran at about midnight and looking for a mooring buoy. We didn't notice an anchored boat until we were very close. It had an anchor light on at the top of the mast but it was lost in the shore lights from a distance and well above our eyeline when we got close. If it looks like I shall be anchoring in open roadsteads I might think again

I've also fitted a Lalizas incandescent steaming light, and side and stern lights are new LED units I bought at a boat jumble for a fiver each. I've enhanced the seals on these.

[donradcliffe]

I've been dealing with VHF/AIS interference with an Aqua Signal LED tricolor. If fails a simple test--turn the VHF squelch down on a seldom used channel until you get noise, then turn it up till the noise just goes away. Then turn on the tricolor--the radiated noise from the AS fixture breaks the squelch every time, and goes off when you turn the tricolor off.

Aqua's response is to blame everything except their 'tested and certified' light fixture. Their competitor LunaSea, has acknowledged their tricolor problems, and is Beta testing a new light with a linear power regulator instead of a switching regulator. However, I was only able to find the old unit online, and it also requires a 3-wire installation.

Yesterday I went to another boat where I had installed a MarineBeam replacement LED bulb in the tricolor. Tried the same test, and got no interference. MarineBeam says their switching regulator does not have a square waveform, so creates less interference at VHF/ AIS frequencies.

We ordered a MarineBeam combined tricolor/anchor/strobe fixture this week. At $99, its less than half the price of the competition. I'm going to bench test it for interference with a handheld before we go to the trouble of replacing fixtures at the top of the mast.

We are also going out this weekend, and I will test the effect of the AS on AIS targets. I'll post again when I know more.

[Paul Elliott]

Re: Marinebeam -
I've done similar tests with my Marinebeam bi-color bow light. No detectable VHF interference using a handheld VHF 6 inches from the light. I also used my spectrum analyzer and and two different "R.F. sniffer" probes (one a small coil, and the other a tiny dipole), and while I could see some switching noise, it was very small, and the content virtually nil on the HF and VHF frequencies.

[donradcliffe]

I got the Marinebeam tricolor/anchor/strobe, and bench tested it with a handlheld, and it failed the interference test. Evidently their new fixture has more noise than their replacement bulb.

Took the boat out with the Aquasignal Tricolor, and AIS range for some class B targets went from 5 miles down to 3.5 miles when I turned the tricolor on. My AIS antenna is on top of an 85 ft mast with a splitter, while the classs B targets were DFB's.

[barnakiel]

Doh. You got me thinking. I will make a similar test here too. We have a LED tri (retrofit) and a LED anchor at the top. I will test them later today against our AIS receiver (also mast top),

Thanks for the tip.

b.