No LED in Aqua Signal 40 Tricolor - Is this Advice Bogus ?

[svmariane]

We put LEDs into our AquaSignal40 - both tricolour and anchor - on our sailboat (48' Celestial). That's for being underway, under sail, and off-shore, or at anchor. No problems noted and very bright. Had another boat cruising nearby verify brightness/3 mile visibility. They saw our "colours" just fine. We use deck-level bow/stern 25W incandescents when motoring.

If the other guy is big enough/close enough we put on the spreader lights anyway... Light up those sails!

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Bebi Electronics - Search Results

Here is a link to BIBI conversions of various nav lights. I have one of these kits for my Aqua SIgnal as a back-up.

Replacement LED bulbs for your existing boat fixtures Marine beam has replacemnet bulbs that are drop-in. They have more than the narrow spectrum wavelength and work well in my fixture.

Both sites have good primmers on current regulation and LEDs for beginners etc.

You may want to add a thin divider between the red & green so that the port-starboard shift is abrupt. With the LED bulb, the emmitter is quite wide so there is a soft shift from port to starboard. The CG does not rate or test fixtures or lights. Anyone who says they are certified or CG approved is pasting the label on themselves or with assistance from a third party testing outfit.

There was discussion regarding underwriters & LEDs on another site. Noone ever heard of the typ of bulb comming up in any litigation or denyal of service. If you have one of those certifications noted above, fine, tuck it in your boat documents.

I have noticed that our Aquasignal is the brightest light in the marina. (Marine beam replacements)

Most replacements use surface mount modern LEDs. These are not especially directional and they are too bright to look at.

I also added deck level Signalmate fixtures (with 'certification') These come in red, green and white emmitters. This means there is no colored lense required. LED 3NM Anchor 360 degree White led navigation lights [3NM360W] - $249.00 : MISEA Group!, Marine Safety Energy Affiliates My concern is that the AquaSignal is great off-shore but you might not be seen in a harbor or busy marina.

I replaced all interior lights with IMTRA. I replaced my 4-1/2 inch sealed beam deck lights (50 watt; 200 lumen) with the Marine Beam SOLO deck light LED Spreader Lights and LED Deck Lights 800 lumen, 10 watt. THese are like little mercury vapor lights. Each has a single dime-sized power LED.

There has been a long discussion of this on "Mixed Feelings About LED cabin lights http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ing-74352.html

Here is follow up on my Aqua SIgnal fixture. The consideration has been for cutting off the cross-over bleed of the red to green to clear interfaces. I added aluminum baffles as well as the internal reflective surfaces shown in my OP. I powered it up in the basement. Results are good with improved separation of the color changes. Colors look good and its really painfully bright at close range.

[Badsanta]

Dr.LED is now advertising their new LED as certified and legal for the aquia signal 40 & 41.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I powered it up in the basement. Results are good with improved separation of the color changes. Colors look good....

Did ya invite yer friends over and fire up the herb and some Floyd or Moody Blues???

Originally Posted by Badsanta

Dr.LED is now advertising their new LED as certified and legal for the aquia signal 40 & 41.

THANKS!

For the update JollyMan!

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Badsanta

Dr.LED is now advertising their new LED as certified and legal for the aquia signal 40 & 41.

February 2010 – Dr. LED today announced that it’sWhite Polar Star 40, Red Polar Star 40, and Green Polar Star 40 after-market replacement LED light bulbs for the Aqua Signal series 40 navigation lights have been certified by a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) accepted independent laboratory as compliant with the USCG COLREG 1972 (International Maritime Organization, “IMO”) standards and verified to be in conformance with the navigation light regulations of ABYC A-16. These are the only after-market navigation replacement light bulbs that have received such certification.

➥ https://doctorled.com/Dr_LED_PRESS_RELEASE_0612.pdf

[Nicholson58]

After a Lightning strike fried all nav lights, replaced with these in the tower.

The top bulb is Marine Beam. Tri-Color LED Replacement Bulb As noted on their site, each sector is loaded with the correct color emitters. As noted on my post above, #17, I added the aluminum sector separators to make sure there was no fuzzing at the boundaries. The green & red transmission through green & red lenses is very efficient and this thing is blinding, probably visible at 5 miles. The main housing is aluminum and all of it is potted waterproof. Total 50 LEDs 3.2 watts 12-30 volts.

The lower half (anchor) is a We$t Marine replacement.

Both bulbs are PWM current regulated.

We also have deck level nav lighting from Signalmate, also red & green emitters. The original model 1 we bought at the boat show in Chicago leaked water in & failed after 5 years. They graciously replaced the set last year at no charge. The new fixtures are much improved. 2NM Navigation Lights

All of their lights are Certified ABYC-A16, 72' COLREGS. Not cheap.

Sorry, no photo installed but you can see the old units & water. I am holding the new stbd. light in its black housing. I used an EDSON rail mount ball to mount SS brackets for the new lights. This was easy & looks good. Ball Mount - 1, 1-1/8 & 1-1/4 Guard Pipe [831ST-BALL-125] - $81.00 : Edson Marine Store

[Seymore]

I think the Aqua Signal instructions are right. The LED bulbs don't meet specs in the red/green masthead lights.

They don't meet the cutoff spec. They're too wide. If you pass from side to side in front of them, you see the red and green together for too great an angle.

Notice the prescribed incandescent bulb, with its single thin vertical filament. When you pass in front of it, it changes from red to green sharply, over a couple of degrees.

[CS Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Seymore

I think the Aqua Signal instructions are right. The LED bulbs don't meet specs in the red/green masthead lights.

They don't meet the cutoff spec. They're too wide. If you pass from side to side in front of them, you see the red and green together for too great an angle.

Notice the prescribed incandescent bulb, with its single thin vertical filament. When you pass in front of it, it changes from red to green sharply, over a couple of degrees.

Agree

[w1651]

I just got two led bulbs for my nav lights yesterday. The people at west marine told me there have been problems with white leds being used in colored lenses. I ended up getting a green and red led bulb. But as I was looking I did notice a combination green and red bulb. Maybe that would work for you. I have 40 series aqua signal also but seperate colors not bicolor lenses.

[Captain Bill]

My personal experience with the Dr. LED replacement bulbs in Aqua signal series 41 fixtures has not been good. Only one bulb has lasted 2 years. One failed in about 1 year and two others in 16 and 18 months. I was expecting more from nearly 50 dollar bulbs. I checked out the visibility angles myself and found that the Dr. LEDs actually were better than the original equipment incandescents. I am now using the incandescent bulbs in my red and green running lights. The stern LED is the only functioning original LED bulb. I replaced the failed anchor light bulb and it is almost 18 months old now. I found that the original equipment bow lights are quite visible well beyond their legal sectors and significantly more so than the replacement LED bulbs. I find Aqua Signals warnings about the LED replacement bulbs a bit disingenuous. Just to be clear the type of LED bulbs I purchased were the single LED with a cone like light reflector, not the multi-led type. The other issue I have is that I can not use my masthead VHF radio antenna when using my anchor light. The rf noise emitted from the Dr. LED bulb make it unusable. I do not recommend using the Dr. bulbs.

[garrobito]

..I do not recommend use any LED light on a aquasignal.. if that could be feasible, they could do it long ago
If you want use LED, take at look at Clipper supernova combi.. no national navigation aproval but CE/EMC aproval.. enough for me...
Clipper Supernova Combi LED Tricolor Masthead Anchor Light - Star Marine Depot