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Old 23-11-2020, 21:07   #1
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Question Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

After a bit of research, I've arrived on the idea to update 2 of my incandescent dome lights with the Dr. LED 12V R/W LED Kit rather than replacing the entire fixtures. How-to video:

I would also like to update the ON-OFF-ON switches with new ones but I'm not sure if I should be looking for SPRT or DPRT toggle switches. How do I find this out?

Here's a pic of the original switch:



It looks like it says KN4--I 250V-2A. Does anyone have a recommendation on where to find a similar but a high-quality version to replace this one with?

I'm also open to hearing your experiences with such an update, if you've done similar.
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Old 23-11-2020, 21:34   #2
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

If I were you I'd replace all your halogen bulbs with LED ... the conversion is pretty much plug and play, as long as the bulb fits in your fixture, the only gotcha is that unlike a halogen bulb, a LED won't work with the red and black wires the wrong way round.

For a White-Off-Red light you need a "SPDT ON-OFF-ON" switch, something like this:
https://www.bluesea.com/products/415...DT_-_ON-OFF-ON
your favourite chandlery probably has something similar in stock. An SPDT switch has 3 connections underneath. Wire the centre one to the 12V+, and the side ones one each to the red and white bulb (you can also use a DPDT switch with 6 connections if you use just the three connections on one side). Make sure you don't buy an "ON-OFF-(ON)" switch which you need to hold on in one direction.
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Old 23-11-2020, 21:42   #3
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Excellent, thanks Kelkara. I agree with you about replacing all with LEDs but I'm just going to start with the two main cabin dome lights at the moment. Cheers.
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Old 24-11-2020, 04:12   #4
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Blove8,
Nice lead-off post and the LED's looks like a nice upgrade.

SPDT or ON-OFF-ON looks right with the feed going to the center.

'Googling' KN4 SPDT should get you close to the right switch. Or measure the key features: threaded shaft size, switch body size, and size of pins/connections on the back of the switch and confirm against the replacement.

Will you need to de-solder the old and solder the new switches?

I would mark the center wire for reference...red Sharpie marker dot below the black sleeve. If wired incorrectly only one color will work.
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Old 24-11-2020, 06:26   #5
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Hey Spot,
What do you mean by "lead-off post"?

I found these switches, they look about right.

https://amzn.to/39eVLfc





It looks like I'll need to de-solder but not solder with screw clamp terminals.

Of course, I'll try getting the wiring correct the first time, but is there a risk of damaging something if I don't get it right the first time?
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Old 24-11-2020, 06:37   #6
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelkara View Post
If I were you I'd replace all your halogen bulbs with LED ... the conversion is pretty much plug and play, as long as the bulb fits in your fixture, the only gotcha is that unlike a halogen bulb, a LED won't work with the red and black wires the wrong way round.

Found this out when I thought adding led bulbs to a Catalina would be an easy project. Basically had to take them all down and switch the wires and resolder in all the cabin lights.
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Old 24-11-2020, 07:05   #7
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

My done lights have all been converted and for the most part are effective, with the exception of the dual mode lights which I can switch from white to red, for some reason those have issues when switching to red, while I have reset the bulbs and checked the connections, it's hard to say what the issue.

For the most part it doesn't matter as I rarely need to switch to red and have other lights that work, but eventually I will probably replace those two with purpose built ones. I have six white only lights that work perfectly.
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Old 24-11-2020, 07:49   #8
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Quote:
Originally Posted by blove8 View Post
Hey Spot,
What do you mean by "lead-off post"?

I found these switches, they look about right.

https://amzn.to/39eVLfc





It looks like I'll need to de-solder but not solder with screw clamp terminals.

Of course, I'll try getting the wiring correct the first time, but is there a risk of damaging something if I don't get it right the first time?
Lead-off post= your first entry in this thread.
The switch you propose looks bigger than the existing one, M6 versus M12 mounting hole.

https://www.amazon.com/mxuteuk-Minia...07QC6TTD8?th=1

See if your current one is more like this:

Wires in the wrong order will disable one side, more frustrating than dangerous.
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Old 24-11-2020, 10:21   #9
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

I replaced all the dome lights with LED's from Marine Beam. They were much brighter than the Dr LED that I tried first. The dome lights were dual bulb, white and red bulbs, hence the on-off-on switches. Going to just a white LED light, I only needed an on-off switch for each fixture.
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Old 24-11-2020, 10:24   #10
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

[QUOTE=Spot;3281207]Blove8,.
Will you need to de-solder the old and solder the new switches?)

If you need to solder wires to switches take care to use a low temp solder i.e. a lead based solder. And keep the time short.

The higher temperature solders can be used, if you are quick about it. If not, the metal solder studs may loosen and may develop unreliable contacts inside the switch.
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Old 24-11-2020, 12:10   #11
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Quote:
Originally Posted by blove8 View Post
Hey Spot,

What do you mean by "lead-off post"?



I found these switches, they look about right.



https://amzn.to/39eVLfc











It looks like I'll need to de-solder but not solder with screw clamp terminals.



Of course, I'll try getting the wiring correct the first time, but is there a risk of damaging something if I don't get it right the first time?


Rather big and clunky
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Old 24-11-2020, 13:40   #12
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill O View Post
Found this out when I thought adding led bulbs to a Catalina would be an easy project. Basically had to take them all down and switch the wires and resolder in all the cabin lights.
Speaking from experience,it would have probably been easier to reverse the positive and negative connections at your fuse panel.
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Old 24-11-2020, 14:45   #13
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

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Speaking from experience,it would have probably been easier to reverse the positive and negative connections at your fuse panel.

Yes, that would have been the easiest way to do it, except all but 1 fixture had either a corroded switch, socket or both. So they basically all had to be rebuilt.
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Old 24-11-2020, 15:34   #14
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

Be aware not all led units are suppressed ,and radio interference is common with a lot of the less expensive units .⛵️⚓️
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Old 24-11-2020, 19:08   #15
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Re: Dome Light LED - Switch Update / Your experience

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Be aware not all led units are suppressed ,and radio interference is common with a lot of the less expensive units .⛵️⚓️
A lot of LED clusters simply use series resistors, which don't produce EMI but do result in
burned-out LEDs. Clusters with proper constant-current regulators will produce stable light and shouldn't suffer LED failures but can cause EMI. Those made for the marine market are regulated without EMI, Dr. LED is a long-time marine supplier (as are MarineBeam and Lunasea) and their products are EMI-suppressed. It is a good point to not source LEDs from non-marine vendors unless they specifically say that there is no EMI.

Personally I like converting to COB LEDs, but that is not straightforward if two colors (white/red) are needed.

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