AquaSignal Tricolor / Anchor with LED

[teejayevans]

Originally Posted by Badsanta

I put the DR.LED tri color light in mine and I like it and the anchor light is the brightest one around. I would suggest that you turn the lights on and check them standing further away. Other boats are not looking up at the mast light, but from further afield. It may be that you at an odd angle. Just a thought.

Ditto, tri-color light (color LEDs) and all round white for anchor, I've had others see me from some distance, I think they fulfill CG requirements (2 miles?)
And they hardly use any power :-)
Tom

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by SvenG

Are there supposed to be light-baffles inside the Aquasignal tri-color fixture ?

I walked all around the tri-color both in daylight and at night and i think the red and green are visible from the stern through the fixture. IOW the inside of the red and green lenses are visible through the clear 135 degree stern lens.

The "angle" suggestion is a good one but the problem is apparent even when I'm maybe 200' behind and at 1/3 of the elevation of the fixture.

-Sven

There are no "Baffles" in the Tri-Color portion of the light. The lenses are Red, Green and Clear. With an incandescent bulb, the light is "full spectrum". The red and green sectors absorb all but the red and green portion of the spectrum. LED's have very narrow spectra within the color frequency of the given LED. If the colors of the LED and Lense don't match well there may be some color bleed through and I suspect some reflection which one might see through the aft, clear, portion of the fitting. (See http://www.aquasignal.info/aquasigna...0,41,42,50.pdf )

FWIW...

[SvenG]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

There are no "Baffles" in the Tri-Color portion of the light. The lenses are Red, Green and Clear.

Thanks. I may have forgotten to post the follow-up. Turns out the rigger ordered (or got ?) the wrong LED "bulb". He got one that was 180° red and 180° green and apparently didn't think that would be a problem so that's what he installed without warning us ... Say What !?!!

It has since been replaced with an all white LED which is not right either and we got the RGW tricolor LED that is supposed to be installed and we will install it when we get a chance.



-Sven

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by bluewaternut

You all seem to have figured out what Aqua Signal does not tell you: how to change the %$#*&^%$ BULB! I have a new tri/anchor, and planned to replace the anchor light bulb with an LED (as you have all said works great) but how the hell do you get to it? The instructions that come with it are heavy on the installation, placement, CG requirements, etc., but they don't tell you how to access the bulbs. <Grrrrrrr>

Changed my filiment bulb in Jan when the mast was down. The whole light lense twists off.

Pete

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Changed my filiment bulb in Jan when the mast was down. The whole light lense twists off.

Pete

Just be careful when you twist. It's easy to break off the bit of plastic that holds it together. Don't ask how I know.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by Ziggy

Just be careful when you twist. It's easy to break off the bit of plastic that holds it together. Don't ask how I know.

How do you know??

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by Saucy Sailoress

How do you know??

I told you not to ask! But I did find out how much a new lens costs (and I repressed the memory)

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by teejayevans

Ditto, tri-color light (color LEDs) and all round white for anchor, I've had others see me from some distance, I think they fulfill CG requirements (2 miles?)
And they hardly use any power :-)
Tom

I have found that close up... masthead anchor lights look too much like a star, although I do have an LED retrofit bulb in my masthead Aqua Signal tri color.

This is particularly true from the point of view of folks in their dinghy, on the way back home after dinner and drinks on shore!

I use Aqua Signal "all around white", hanging anchor lights, with an LED bulb, that are suspended from a string about 8' off the deck.

The wire plugs into a water proof 12V outlet, below it on the cabin top.

To prevent a "blind spot" created by the rig, I have a similar LED light mounted to the backstay.

With these LED anchor lights being just off of the deck, and the forward one "swinging", they are MUCH more identifiable as anchor lights. If it is a particularly risky anchorage, I use the masthead LED light as well. The accumulated Ah consumption of all three lights, is still trivial.

I am holding off on converting the tri color nav light's bulb to LED, until all of these partition "issues" are sussed out, and they are as bright as the incandescent bulb, (Soon I hope).

M.

[sv.antea]

I know this is an old thread, and I posted the story already on another thread, but maybe someone will read it here and comment. I have placed Dr.LEDs tricolor on the mast head without any lens, just siliconed it into a tube, with the wires soldered on. I did glue a little plastic sombrero on top of the bulb to keep the worst of the UV off. I needed a tricolor for an ocean race and didn't want to spend too much money and add too much weight and windage. It worked beautifully. I am sure it wouldn't have passed Coast Guard tests, but the color, separation and visibility was adequate. I didn't expected it to last. Four years and 20,000 miles later, the light is getting dim. Internet search for replacement shows identical bulb, but the part numbers indicate it's the new version, with single LED and conical reflector, the MkII.
I didn't have much hope that the MarkII would work the same way, and indeed it doesn't. I gives off white light sightly tinted for the appropriate sectors, so it has to be mounted inside a tricolor lens.
Anyone out there knows where I can get the older model, the one with red, green and white LEDs, or a similar item by another manufacturer. Again, something I would hope can exist in the open, with continuous transparent housing. I'd seal the base and contacts again.

[timelesspassage]

Sve, I am thinking of buying and installing the Aquasignal tri=color LED masthead light. Are you still happy with it? Did you replace the LED's to a lower brightness? Please advise. Al Brunner Timeless Passage Athena38 Cat BVI

Originally Posted by SvenG

We just had a masthead Aquasignal tricolor/anchor fixture installed, with retrofitted LED bulbs.

The anchor light is terrific.

The tricolor seems less perfect. Straight from the stern both the red and green can still be seen and it is almost impossible to see the white that should be all you can see. The red and green are terrific, except for the apparent bleed aft of the specified 112.5 degrees on each side. In fairness to Aquasignal their documentation says not to use any bulbs but the original and the installer speculates that the LED bulb might be too bright.

Has anyone else here run into this ? The installer is terrific and will switch out the bulb to see if that takes care of it but I'd even consider retrofitting 112.5 degree blinders if that let us keep the very red and very green while still getting the LED low power draw benefit.

Thanks,


-Sven

[botanybay]

Originally Posted by timelesspassage

Sve, I am thinking of buying and installing the Aquasignal tri=color LED masthead light. Are you still happy with it? Did you replace the LED's to a lower brightness? Please advise. Al Brunner Timeless Passage Athena38 Cat BVI

I have been using the aqua signal led fixture for about 2 years. This is not the bulb replacement but a dedicated fixture with red, green, and white leds. All clear lenses.

Very much worth the trouble. No pin corrosion issues, extremely low power and a certified configuration.

[DDabs]

I just purchased a new Aqua Signal 34 series masthead light, all LED. The unit is very well built. I haven't installed it yet, but it seems like it is going to be great. I will update when I get it installed.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by SvenG

We just had a masthead Aquasignal tricolor/anchor fixture installed, with retrofitted LED bulbs.

The anchor light is terrific.

The tricolor seems less perfect. Straight from the stern both the red and green can still be seen and it is almost impossible to see the white that should be all you can see. The red and green are terrific, except for the apparent bleed aft of the specified 112.5 degrees on each side. In fairness to Aquasignal their documentation says not to use any bulbs but the original and the installer speculates that the LED bulb might be too bright.

Has anyone else here run into this ? The installer is terrific and will switch out the bulb to see if that takes care of it but I'd even consider retrofitting 112.5 degree blinders if that let us keep the very red and very green while still getting the LED low power draw benefit.

Thanks,


-Sven

The problem you have is that the LED bulb diameter with its many festoons can no longer give a sharp cut-off as you walk around the lense. The original fixtures were made to be used with a vertical single centered filament that acts a a point source. LED festoons are wide, this causes bleed-over. The pictures below show how we reduced the effect. I installed aluminum dividers on the 112.5 degree lines. I also applied 200 MPH shiny duct tape top & bottom to reflect 'lost' light back out. It is not perfect but it is an improvement.

[botanybay]

Originally Posted by DDabs

I just purchased a new Aqua Signal 34 series masthead light, all LED. The unit is very well built. I haven't installed it yet, but it seems like it is going to be great. I will update when I get it installed.

Yes, the series 34 lights are wonderful, the power draw is so low on the anchor light that I often forget to turn it off when I am over at Catalina for the weekend and don't feel bad about it like I did with the original fixture.

Completely sealed up assembly, I am using them for deck lights also where I was having consistent problems with salt water intrusion and now they are no more trouble.

The version I ended up with a couple of years ago was available with the same base as the old assembly so if just replacing at the masthead it would be a quick change (quickfits I think they called it).

[timelesspassage]

Thankds Batany Bay for the response. Timeless Passage