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04-02-2012, 10:59
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#16
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Presently on US East Coast
Boat: Manta 40 "Reach"
Posts: 10,108
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Quote:
Originally Posted by prroots
Thanks. The outside diameter of silver-colored ring is 2-5/8". The conical reflector has a diameter of about 1-1/2". Here are some pictures with and without the lens attached. The bulb is in a horizontal position. The fixtures in heads and staterooms are similar in design, but a bit smaller.
Pete
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The bulbs I mentioned will fit that fixture.
Mark
__________________
www.svreach.com
You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
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04-02-2012, 13:06
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#17
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Caribbean live aboard
Boat: Camper & Nicholson58 Ketch - ROXY Traverse City, Michigan No.668283
Posts: 6,356
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
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04-02-2012, 14:54
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#18
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Elvish meaning 'Far-Wanderer'
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Boat - Greece - Me - Michigan
Boat: 56' Fountaine Pajot Marquises
Posts: 3,489
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
I have the same lights and used these:
Xenon White LED Car G4 5-SMD
The down side is the light is more white then soft white. They work well in reading lamps and accent lights. Very good price.
__________________
Our course is set for an uncharted sea
Dante
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04-02-2012, 16:03
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#19
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Caribbean live aboard
Boat: Camper & Nicholson58 Ketch - ROXY Traverse City, Michigan No.668283
Posts: 6,356
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Please read my posts noted above. As far as I can tell, the Solidapolo lights noted and ALL of the cheap stuff have no or inedequate current regulation. They will be too hot when your charging sytem is on (with prematurely short life) and will dim out if your batteries are down. They will probably pull too much current relative to the actual LED specifications. For sail systems with wide voltage variations, you really need PWM curnent regulation. This is integral on the lights I noted. All choke resister systems will suck power that is wasted to heat and may even pull nearly as much current as an IC bulb. If you are mostly tied to the dock and shore power every night then maybe you don't care. If you are offshore then you care a lot.
I guess, "BEST FOR THE BUCK" needs a qualifier. What is your goal? What are your expectations?
Soft white is around 3500 Kelvin. That is the range you should look for for cabin lights. Proper current regulation will give life of 50,000 to 100,000 hours. 4000 Kelvin and above operates with a hotter junction, is hard white to blue-white and will have a shorter life.
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04-02-2012, 18:34
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#20
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Presently on US East Coast
Boat: Manta 40 "Reach"
Posts: 10,108
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicholson58
Please read my posts noted above. As far as I can tell, the Solidapolo lights noted and ALL of the cheap stuff have no or inedequate current regulation.
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You need to define cheap. The Imtra lights you like are only $12. They are not made by Imtra, and the exact same bulbs can be found for $7-8. The lights I pointed to at Home Depot are PWM current regulated and cost $9. Sensibulbs cost $45, but I find many of the less expensive ones to be better in many ways.
Certainly, there are probably $1 ones that are a disaster, but the majority of the bulbs being made now have good current regulation, warm light color, using 5050 surface mount diodes and have good output. And cost less than $20 - most only half that. Prices have come down dramatically and quality has gone up.
So if your $12 bulbs aren't cheap, then where do you draw the line? If the argument is only about good current regulation, then that problem is being taken care of daily in the market - hardly any "bad" designs exist anymore, and those are the $1 specials.
Mark
__________________
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You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
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04-02-2012, 18:40
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#21
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Presently on US East Coast
Boat: Manta 40 "Reach"
Posts: 10,108
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Relavent to this discussion, I just turned on my "cheap" lights with the battery at 12.4V and started the battery charger. As the battery rose to 14.8V, there was absolutely no change in brightness, heat output, color change or current draw. None at all. As I stated above, I know these to be current regulated and they cost me $8 each from Home Depot.
Mark
__________________
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You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
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04-02-2012, 19:27
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#22
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: San Francisco Bay
Boat: Fantasia 35
Posts: 1,251
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Mark,
May I impose upon you to show a pic of the $8 Home Depot LED lite. I have checked at my local Home Depot and can not find LED lights anywhere near that price.
Thanks,
Paul
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04-02-2012, 21:29
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#23
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: At large
Boat: Colin Archer RS-22 46' LOD
Posts: 34
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Hello,
To answer your question regarding if anyone had actually bought the cheap ones off e-bay; yes I have. To be honest I have had zero problems with them and the color is as described. The ones I bought do seem to be regulated as they do not dim with voltage. In my application I had to break my existing bulb and solder the LED's into the bayonet base as my boat was built in France and uses funky bulbs. They are brighter and draw approximately on tenth of the current.
One thing to watch is the watts, make sure they are equivalent to the bulbs you are replacing.
Hope that helps,
Peter
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05-02-2012, 01:40
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#24
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2010
Boat: 2001 Beneteau 411
Posts: 319
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cotemar
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Thanks. The first link indicates input voltage range of 10-14 and the second one lists 12. I have read that for ranges 10-15 or less, it usually means the non-regulated, resistive type. Have you determined otherwise?
Pete
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05-02-2012, 01:51
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#25
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2010
Boat: 2001 Beneteau 411
Posts: 319
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Quote:
Originally Posted by colemj
The bulbs I mentioned will fit that fixture.
Mark
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Thanks. I just noticed that the 1.2" length quoted for that bulb includes the pin. Wonder what the length is exclusive of pins? Their drawing looks like it was done by a second grader
Pete
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05-02-2012, 02:05
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#26
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2010
Boat: 2001 Beneteau 411
Posts: 319
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicholson58
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Thanks. The closest IMTRA I could find on your link was the model ILSPG4-10W as shown here:
IMTRA - LED Replacement Bulbs
It consumes 2.2 watts or almost 50% of the 4.8 watts my halogens consumes and costs a whopping $19.95.
The marinebeam model SP-G4-06 bulb shown here:
G4 6-LED Side Pin Replacement
for $15 or 10 for $135 look a much better deal. It draws 1.5 watts and is considerably smaller.
Pete
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05-02-2012, 02:17
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#27
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2010
Boat: 2001 Beneteau 411
Posts: 319
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Quote:
Originally Posted by colemj
You need to define cheap. The Imtra lights you like are only $12. They are not made by Imtra, and the exact same bulbs can be found for $7-8. The lights I pointed to at Home Depot are PWM current regulated and cost $9.
Mark
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Thanks. Do you have a link to the IMTRA equivalent bulbs costing $7-8? Also, how did you verify the Home Depot lights are PWM? I believe they are the Array model ADC10G4WW selling at Lowes for $8.98
Pete
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05-02-2012, 02:28
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#28
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Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Denmark (Winter), Helsinki (Summer); Cruising the Baltic Sea this year!
Boat: Cutter-Rigged Moody 54
Posts: 33,764
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The Imtra ones I have give a sickly greenish light; however, have held up well over more than two years and seem to be well made. The ones I have are not dimmer than the Sensibulbs I have on board - both very dim compared to the 20 watt halogens they replaced.
__________________
"You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
Walt Whitman
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05-02-2012, 03:30
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#29
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2010
Boat: 2001 Beneteau 411
Posts: 319
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nicholson58
I guess, "BEST FOR THE BUCK" needs a qualifier. What is your goal? What are your expectations?
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Thanks. My goal, based on what I've learned so far, is to find the most cost effective g4 style LED bulb with either linear or PWM regulation. Also, the bulb should have a color temperature in the range of 3000-3500 K, fit into my fixture, draw no more than 1-1.5 watts, and have a light equivalence of a 5 watt halogen. The primary task now is to determine the type of regulation used by some of the recommended bulbs I've seen referenced in various threads. Here are some examples: <$4.00
Lighting Matrix Co., Ltd--products
$7.85
www.LEDwholesalers.com - 6 Surface Mount White LEDs G4 Light Module 12V AC/DC
$8.98
Array Lighting - Premium LED lamp bulbs utilizing Selective Heat Sink Technology
$11.95
G4-xWHP6-DAC LED Lamp Specifications
Interestingly, the first one listed does use PWM regulation with the following chip: http://www.tmtech.com.tw/DB/upload/L...9624181915.pdf
Pete
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05-02-2012, 05:42
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#30
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Bahamas - Maine
Boat: '88 Passport 41' Magic Moments
Posts: 197
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Re: Best LED bulbs for the buck
I highly suggest BoYa from China. I have bought about 400 G4s for myself and various friends:
Bo Ya Lighting(HK)Co., Ltd -dimmable led bulb,SMD led lamp,G4 led light 1
The contact person is Helen at : sales3@lightinggreen.cn
They offer three colors in the G4, 3000-4000K which is a warm white, 4000-5000K which is a bright white and the 6-7000K which I consider a blue white. The last order I placed had shipping to the U.S. of about 30$ so a one or two bulb purchase is not feasable. My friends and I are using the products on RVs and sailboats. If I had fully lite the RV with with the replaced halogens, the amperage would be close to 80 amps. That is reduced to less than 10 now. I found the G4-LC to be the best replacement of the G4 bulb. I really like the 24SMD 5050 Dome light LED to replace some of my floresents. I liked both the warm and the bright white, depending on how soft I wanted the light.
Helen was great to deal with and the shipments were received within 10 days of the order. If you make the contact please tell her that Alan, Dynamo181 said hello.
Hope this helps.
A
__________________
.............< Alan >..............
><((((º> ¸.·´¯`·.¸¸><((((º>
........AD4HE & KD4LGZ........
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