/LED lighting
na...@mindspring.com
replacing my "regular" cabin lights with LED's from Boatlighting.com, but was
wondering if anyone has had experience with them, and if so, what you think of
them in comparison with 10 watt interior bulbs in standard cabin lights.
Thanks.
Russ
Steven Kennedy
Unfortunately they still, despite what we all wish, are rather dim and the
beam spreads are rather lumpy and awkward. Most LED "lamps" are also, due
to the way the individual LED's are "packaged" for added lumens, very
directional. This can be either good or bad depending on your needs. This
(in english) means that if a sort-of-bright rather lumpy "spot" is good for
your application then you'll like them ie.If you want a light for the chart
table or reading a book in your berth, they're probably good bordering on
great. However, for overall ambient cabin lighting the word "suck" leaps to
mind.
I'm sure as time goes on other developments will make them more useful and
absolutely less expensive. Let us know how they work for you.
skennedy,LC
Sinewave Marine
ABYC Certified Marine Electrical Tech.s
<na...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
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Glenn Ashmore
array of red ones for the nav station but not to live by.
I just got a sample of Aquasignal's recessed 10W halogen dome lights @ $80 to
see what they looked like. I believe I will send it back. I have used strings
of 20W resessed 12V halogen @ $45 for a string of 3 lights and a transformer
from a cabinet supplier in some display cases back in my furniture making
days. I fail to see any real difference. The cabinet grade lights actually
seem to be higher quality solid brass with heat shrink sealed tinned leads.
I haven't tried it but the 10W bulb looks to be a standard G4 pin, the same size
as the 20W.
I have also used 12V 18W xenon lights with 18% more lumens/wat, 5 times the life
and half the heat of halogen. They run about $18 each.
Anyone tried these lights as an alternative? Is the "marine" premium valid
here?
One interior marine light I am impressed by is the super thin 12W cold cathode
florecents made by Taylorbrite. They ain't cheap but they do put out a lot of
light from a very small volume of fixture. Perfect for heads and galleys. They
heve some right sophisticated electronics that allows them to dim with a
coresponding reduction in amp draw and claim to have low RFI.
--
Glenn Ashmore
I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there
of) at: http://www.mindspring.com/~gashmore
Larry W4CSC
<gash...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>One interior marine light I am impressed by is the super thin 12W cold cathode
>florecents made by Taylorbrite. They ain't cheap but they do put out a lot of
>light from a very small volume of fixture. Perfect for heads and galleys. They
>heve some right sophisticated electronics that allows them to dim with a
>coresponding reduction in amp draw and claim to have low RFI.
>
You can buy 12V flourescent lights, both linear and Circline from
WalMart, auto supply stores and RV places have lots of them. I have a
12V Circline (22W) mounted under the trunk lid right over the Merc V-6
on my Sea Rayder for emergency lighting, cockpit and beach lighting
for night "excursions". I lift the lid and turn it on. It's REALLY
bright for only a 2.1A drain on the battery. It makes no noise on the
radio, sonar or GPS or AM/FM/Cassette stereo.
Larry....replace the cheap power switch with a GOOD toggle switch on
whatever you buy. The OEM switches are all crap....just like they
are on water pump switches. Levitan makes good toggle
switches....even with rubber covers.
Miss...@hotmail.com
the interior of my refrigerator/freezer. Foor this application, they
are perfect, (low heat, low power consumption) but I would not use them
to light my cabin.
I found the beam too narrow, and they had a rather pronounced bluish
tint to them. My recommendation? Use 12V flourescent fixtures, with WW
(Warm White) phosphor tubes. The color is much more natural, and the
power draw and residual heat are acceptable.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Lew Hodgett
>
> It took me about 5 minutes to give up on LEDs for general lighting.
Aspenglow, Eureka, Mt, (Yep that's Montana), is definitely worth a
look.
Developed by a forest ranger for his own use in non utility
electrified cabins in the boonies.
Had the chance to talk to him a few years ago. Neat guy.
Only thing I have for them is a voice: 408-889-3586
Lew
S/A: Challenge (Under Construction, the hull is turned in the
Southland)
Visit:<http://home.earthlink.net/~lewhodgett> For Pictures
There are no problems, only varying degrees of challenging
opportunity.
Steven Kennedy
Nice guy indeed, and compact fluorescent lamps as used in these fixtures are
excellent for onboard use. Good lumen to watt ratio. Their
ballasts/starters are not real high tech. however and can cause a good deal
of interference.
These are very nice fixtures as you can get them built and "wooded" to suit
your particular boat...including red light circuits. They are not however
exceedingly bright or photometrically sophistcated.
Big thumbs up from me.
Interesting about his phone isn't it? Since I'm sure you know 408 is in the
south bay, nowhere near MT.
skennedy
Lew Hodgett <lewho...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Don Kircher
Crane company last year (www.ccrane.com)
for hurricane parties. The lamp itself consists of a cluster of three white
leds and is as bright as one candle for lighting a
room. For general room lighting they do suck, but I could absolutely see
using them for spot lighting over a galley counter or as a reading lamp for
a bunk. But what really excited me was the entire package. Wiring several
LED cluster lights to the baygen watchspring generator would make a reliable
and inexpensive emergency lighting system that will last as long as you have
the strength to wind the spring up. I could absolutely see using them as a
supplement to other lighting systems, preferably with a master toggle to
isolate them from the main system for use with the baygen generator. Such a
system would be the cats meow in the tropics when it was too hot to use a
kerosene lantern and you didn't want to drain the master battery set. I also
wonder about using larger clusters in the nav lanterns behind a fresnel
lens. It would be worth checking out for battery drain reasons. The C Crane
white LED flashlight produces 15 foot candles for fifty hours on three AA
alkaline batteries and will produce useful light for 100 continuous hours.
The lights themselves are rated for 60,000 hours of use. I absolutely think
there is an application here to marine use, especially in a boat built from
a minimalists perspective. Less so for those who want their living room on
the water. I'll tell you one thing for sure. That baygen with the shortwave
band and it's tiny light has the number two spot right behind the EPIRB in
the emergency kit, and I'm waiting for them to come out with a VHF
transeiver hooked up to that generator. I've also heard that Trevor Bayless
is working on a GPS unit.
Steven Kennedy
"hurricane parties" what a hoot. Not an expression given much use here on
the left coast.
Two items: Be careful when comparing illumination units. Put realllly
simply, Lamps (bulbs to you) produce an amount of total Lumens (in a
variety of directions) ignore Candelas. The result of the concentration of
the total lumen output and its radial (?) distribution by the lamp and its
fixture, and of course the distance away from the object of the illumination
gives us the footcandle. So while GE sells bulbs designated by
power-consumed (Watts) and by Lumen output; Footcandle measurements involve
much more (not specified) information. i.e. How far is the "15 fc"
flashlight from the object it illuminates. Not to mention, what's the
reflectivity of the surface illuminated. Briefly, do not be doing the
apples and oranges thing. The same lumen output in two different beam
spreads would produce two far different "brightnesses". Which is
coincidentally, why the LEDs work okay as a spot and not otherwise.
As former (read as retired) Lighting Designer it's true that my standards
might be different from those of you less well trained (just kidding). I
like warm soft lighting in boats interiors. When designers choose light
sources for particular applications they examine the "task" at hand.
Reading, plotting, eating dinner, shaving the crusty face. The light source
needs to match the task and ambience required. Lighting gets broken up into
different types hinted to earlier: Ambient (room) and Task are the two worth
considering here Accent is another, Lots of times (in successful peoples
homes or boats particularly) the types get mixed. While a tight spot of
light from an MR16 (LV halogen reflector lamp) might well do to light a work
surface or even a picture (accent); it's just not going to create the soft,
warm over all Ambient lighting that provides visual comfort. Thus said,
we'll ignore the complex relationship between color temperature in degrees
Kelvin and fc level (dim blue lights bad....dim warm lights good & vise
versa). Tight little bluish white spots such as those provide by (the
current) LED "bulbs" should not be used for overall lighting and when
chosen for it will look bad. Chosen as we've both suggest, for spotting
use....they are great. The red LED spots by the way are outstanding as
night time chart lights. And, they do save lots of energy.
The other item: Some firm(s) are now beginning to produce LED lamps designed
for nav. lights. The precise details are fuzzy, but I believe they are
currently only for anchor lights. Possibly an excellent idea. Note that
the standards for navigation lights are what we in the lighting field refer
to as "performance" standards. Meaning in english that if (in this case)
the bulb, any bulb, produces sufficient light to be seen from certain angles
at a certain distance it qualifies as the proper bulb. "It's a good thing."
The very long life (60,000 hours is just the beginning for LED's) and low
energy consumption make them ideal for nav. lights. IF, that is they can
get the output up to the req'd standards. It's not like the auto industry,
where it took 50 years to change the standards to "performance".
skennedy
Sinewave Marine
Don Kircher <baggyw...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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