LED Tricolour/anchor light- which one?

[CarinaPDX]

I'm not sure why no one has mentioned the excellent LunaSea lights. They are well-engineered, potted for long life, don't create RFI, and are less expensive than the Lopo among others. The president is usually at the first day of the Seattle Boat Show and I have been chatting with him about them. They make great products.

BTW it has a plastic anti-bird spike on top, which can be unscrewed and a Davis wind feather screwed in place.

Greg

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by MooseMarine

Dockhead - will revisit the AquaSignal offering. We've had Hella bottom Nav lights on our old boat (under 12m) and they have been OK. Any reason for choosing AquaSignal over Hella?

Hella is no doubt a good product - and Hella is another big company with a lot of expertise, experience, and resources.

But Aqua Signal has by far the best optical performance according to tests, and for me they were a known quantity as Ive used Aqua Signal nav lights for decades.

I was very pleased with my choice, as the AS lights turned out to be massively beefy - like something off a ship. Much more solid construction than the old incandescent AS lights they replaced.

[Ian R]

I have the hella it's ok but I would not buy another one.

[Neptune's Gear]

Hi everyone,
I reckon I've seen most of the available LED Tricolors on various boats. I chose the Optolamp for my boat after seeing in on a friends boat in Malaysia (US Boat on Circumnavigation). Looked like great quality, and more functions than any others. I particularly liked the Auto -ON/OFF function with ambient light. I thought the strobe was not really required.
Now, nearly 3 years later, I LOVE that light! Its done about 15000 miles since installed, and was used every night for the first 18 months until we returned to NZ. We never switched it off, just let it do it's thing. The only switch we changed was to go from Anchor to Tri Color, and the occasional strobe setting. We have had a friends boat see us at 5NM range with the strobe. The Tri Color was not visible. This is the reason the strobe was included in the spec (these lights were designed for the vendee globe boats).
So, when I got back to NZ and set up this business, it was really a no brainer to select these as one of our first products. Everyone who has bought them has said how great they think they are. You can check them out HERE. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Cheers
Matt

[MooseMarine]

Hi, Thanks for all the posts.
So far the lights with the photodiode appeal the most. On our “Petit Bateau” we had this feature in a low wattage, hoist with the anchor ball affair. The auto on/off at sunset/sunrise is a great battery saver when on the hook.
Misea - Looks like a good offering, photodiode and also light for the wind instrument, but no European distributor that I can find.
Optolamp – Looks robust, photodiode, but the LEDs look first generation. Good recommendation here on CF re the anchor light. Any input on the Tricolour. The French chandleries stock this, so easy to get in Europe.
Lopolight – Looks good, fully potted, great after sales service, but too many reports of people needing the after sales service, expensive and no photodiode.
Aqua Signal – Looks good, reasonably priced, if it had the photodiode this would be a buy.
Hella – Looks good, voltage range down to 8v, technical spec mentions spike protection and reverse polarity, available in Europe, no photodiode... On second set of their nav lights for our “Petit Bateau”, first failed due to water ingress, outside of warranty, new ones haven’t had the same testing, both have worked well when operational. For an inexplicable reason I hesitate to go this route for “Grand Bateau”.

If I get a trip stateside before we need one I’ll get a MISEA from Defender. If not... hard choice. I’m going to hang on as long as possible as LEDs and getting better and cheaper all the time.
There was mention of a Magazine test on this kit– does anyone have a copy/link? All have the minimum range of 2nm for Tri and Anchor, but some must be better than others.

I’ve also started looking into LED steaming and deck lights, however, at first glance these look horrendously expensive. At this point I have decided that if we are motoring, then we have power and so do not need the efficiency of the LED steaming light. As for the decklight , we don’t use it very often and whilst night sailing we use head torches with red light.

[Neptune's Gear]

Have a look here for Optolamp Neptune's Gear Prices include freight, delivery in about 10 days. To anywhere.
I have written a bit about the light, and why I like it, on here. It is my opinion that these are the best Tri-Color/Anchor lights available.
Several Cruiser Forum members have bought them from me, and everyone seems very happy.
My own one was in use every day for 2 years (unfortunately I'm back ashore), now a bit less frequently. I have not had a single unit failure -these are GREAT lights...
Feel free to ask any questions you may have...
Cheers
Matt

[xymotic]

On my last boat I had an Orca Green (OGM) LED tricolor LED with strobe & photo sensor (both nice features)

it was expensive(ish) but cheaper than lopo

All I can say is that in very crowded anchorages like Avalon CA; it was BY FAR the brightest light out there and at the time the only one with a USCG cert but I think that's less of a problem now

I could pick my boat out of hundreds of masts from way far away instantly

That was like 5 years ago though; and now I'm leaning pretty hard towards the lunasea one previously mentioned because it's the only one I've see so far that was as stoutly built; had great luck with their other stuff and it's smaller & cheaper but I can't reccommend the OGM highly enough; it was really fantastic

[boatpoker]

So I am assuming none of you guys have engines in your boats or that in addition to the tricolour you also have separate forward and stern running lights since a tricolour alone does not meet collision regulation requirements when you engine is running.

[MarcHall]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

So I am assuming none of you guys have engines in your boats or that in addition to the tricolour you also have separate forward and stern running lights since a tricolour alone does not meet collision regulation requirements when you engine is running.

I replaced the tricolor/anchorlight with a Lopolight tricolor/anchorlight and I am quite satisfied with it. Read about the initial failures but they seem to be related to a previoius design that had been updated.

Still have the existing old school running and steaming lights which only get used when the engine is running the alternator is generating electricity. Will
probably replace in a few years as the price of LEDs drops and/or the existing lights fail.

The Lopolight tri-color gets used when sailing and runs off the house bank and the Lopolight anchor light gets used when....anchored. The old anchor light consumed about 1 Amp and I frequently forgot to turn it off in the morning so was worth about 10 to 12 amp-hours per 24 hour cycle. The Lopolight LED consumption is minimal.

Actually in 1998 I added an anchor light to top of my radar arch and was able to acquire a replacement LED built from an individual who was building them and trying to establish a business. Work well for about 6 years. One benefit was the blue cast of the white LED made the boat easy to distinguish in a crowded anchorage.


Regards

Marc Hall
www.svcrazyfish.com

[Nicholson58]

I don't know what your present light is. If you are set on a new total fixture, there are many fine ones out there. Our old IC that came on the boat is an Aqu-signal tri-color tower with strobe. I did a Marine Beam PWM LED replacement. Photos are here. Member Galleries - Cruisers & Sailing Photo Gallery You can see a before & after. Note that I applied sticky reflective tape on the black surfaces and I also built aluminum dividers to sharpen the cut-off. This works very well. Marinebeam Replacement LED bulbs for your existing boat fixtures

I did add new LED deck level NAV lights as well and a selector for HIGH or LOW lights (both is not permitted) For the low lights, I bought Signal Mate at the Chicago All Sail boat show for 30% off. Welcome to MISEA Group: LED Lighting and Safety Products - Home

BTW, I really like the small Marine Beam single spreader/deck lights. 800 lumens for 10 watts.

[MooseMarine]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the posts.

The decision has been made. The Misea TRIAN3CP has been ordered from EnergyontheHook (fellow cruisers).

Our refit is running behind schedule due to ill health (Go now if you can! Don't wait!) so I'll give feedback when the mast is restepped and we enjoy our first night back at anchor.

Fair winds,

Moose Marine

[Alika]

I am more concerned about RF interference from LED masthead lights. I have known of a boat that would lose much of his AIS reception as soon as he turned on his tricolour. I have asked Lunasea manufacturers to comment on that as I like their light. One person in this thread says it is OK. Any others?

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Alika

I am more concerned about RF interference from LED masthead lights. I have known of a boat that would lose much of his AIS reception as soon as he turned on his tricolour. I have asked Lunasea manufacturers to comment on that as I like their light. One person in this thread says it is OK. Any others?

I can't speak to any others, but the Optolamp does not generate any RF interference. The Optolamp uses a linear regulator, and not a switching regulator which means it should be quite, and it is. I've looked, using both my masthead antenna VHF, and with my RF measuring gear (a spectrum analyzer).

[Siberianhusky]

What is the heat output of the optolamp using a linear regulator?
Seems kind of wrong to me using a linear regulator in this kind of application, quiet but just dumps excess voltage off as heat.
I've also been trying to decide which one to go with.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

What is the heat output of the optolamp using a linear regulator?
Seems kind of wrong to me using a linear regulator in this kind of application, quiet but just dumps excess voltage off as heat.
I've also been trying to decide which one to go with.

A proper design does not make a lot of heat in a linear LED regulator. But you may have to give up universal voltage such as 10-35V and design for either 12 or 24V. At the masthead, linear regulators are "better" than switching because they don't interfere with sensitive VHF and HF receivers. It requires some filtering and shielding of switchers to prevent interference and even then it is very hard to get rid of all noise radiated.