LED Bulbs

[belizesailor]

I dropped an LED bulb recently and it popped part (easily repairable I think). I thought a pic of the innards would be of interest here.

This one had an advertised 10-30V DC operating range, and sure nuff, just like Marine Beams very good "Idiots" guide said it should, it has a little bitty power regulator built in to it.

Building the regulator into each and every bulb, still seems like a complicated and expensive way to handle this issue to me...so, I've got a DC-DC regulator on order from Marine Beam.

[DeepFrz]

A good DC - DC regulator will work as long as you wire all of your lights in parallel.

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Building the regulator into each and every bulb, still seems like a complicated and expensive way to handle this issue to me...so, I've got a DC-DC regulator on order from Marine Beam.

That regulator is there to limit the current through the LEDs. LEDs MUST be current limited with a resistor or with a constant current driver. A constant current driver delivers the same current with varying load and varying input voltage. All decent LED bulbs will have a constant current driver.

The DC-DC regulator marinebeam.com sells is a voltage regulator not a current regulator. Connect any LED without current limiting across a regulated voltage source and the LED will be destroyed.

LED Drivers : LUXdrive : MagTech : Lightech : Constant Current LED Drivers : LEDSupply.com

John

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by jcapo

That regulator is there to limit the current through the LEDs....
John

Good info thanks. Will have to research and scratch my head a bit more.

[HorizonMarine]

Why all the worry about voltage. We have 30+ led,s aboard for 4 years and not one failure. We cruise 3 months per year, so lots of use. voltage regulates from 12.0 to about 14.4 on our boat. Love those lights. Especially like the Lunasea brand. Tried about 5 kinds.

[jannw]

Buy the ones from Ikea ... Inreda and Dioder marks. They are 12 volt, and £11 or 5 per light bulb cluster, and they JUST WORK! after you throw away the 12 volt adaptor and wire them in directly.

Someone here is going to say that they will not work with variable voltage ... which isn't true ... mine work all the way between 11.6 and 15 volts.

[MysticGringo]

Try http://www.oznium.com/. I bought a bunch of their $3 LEDs that you can wire directly to 12v source. Really bright, cheap, and awesome effect. Just delicate to install, but once installed hold up well, and are waterproof.

[rodney_k]

Originally Posted by jgbrown

I'm a big fan of lunasea. Fairly certain they're west marines supplier for many types. The clearance section of the lunasea site is fantastic.
Sometimes 10 percent of the cost of same bulb at west marine.

I've replaced every interior light in my boat with Lunasea bulbs and fixtures. Couldn't be more pleased. The energy savings is like having another solar panel on board.

[mcerdos]

Originally Posted by jgbrown

I'm a big fan of lunasea. Fairly certain they're west marines supplier for many types. The clearance section of the lunasea site is fantastic.
Sometimes 10 percent of the cost of same bulb at west marine.

Also home depot has some great led lights finally. 3xaa(not aaa finally!) Stainless housing, single warm led with good reflector and touchless on off sensor. Use one in the head. Love it. Neighbors bought for boat after seeing mine.

Beating the West Marine price is not hard to do. On just about all products they stock, the price can be beaten on the first internet search. West Marine has gone crazy stupid with their prices. It amazes me that anyone shops there anymore.

[CAELESTIS]

Originally Posted by mcerdos

Beating the West Marine price is not hard to do. On just about all products they stock, the price can be beaten on the first internet search. West Marine has gone crazy stupid with their prices. It amazes me that anyone shops there anymore.

Well, that all depends on the deal you have with them. I find their Port Supply often beats my Fisheries Supply wholesale account.

[Stonefloat]

have been totally satisfied retrofitting all of Avalons lighting from Bebi Electronics-Home of the Finest Marine LED Lighting Products on Sea (or Earth)! great support and a seal of approval from SSCA........cheers, Stonefloat

[Nicholson58]

Hard to believe we hash this topic again. LED's must have a constant CURRENT supply. Constant voltage only works if ALL LEDs ont the circuit are ballanced. This makes it difficult to ever replace one or add on. Please go to this sites and read the Idiot's Guide
Marinebeam Replacement LED bulbs for your existing boat fixtures

or this site and read about regulators. Bebi Electronics-Installing Marine LED Reading, Navigation and Running Lights!

You need a current regulator to make the LED operate at the correct forward current no matter what the charging system on your boat is doing.

You will learn that the cheap 3-dollar bulbs do a marginal job of this using a buck resistor. The problem is that the resistor circuit eats up your precious power in the form of heat. The lowest power consumption bulbs have PWM (pulse width modulation) for current control. This is a high speed circuit that turns the current on and off at very high frequency so that the average current is the correct current no matter what voltage is applied. This means that it works when your batteries are deeply discharged or when the alternator is pumping the heck out of them. I have some of both of the above and a lot of IMTRA Marine Lighting - Boat Lights - Yacht Lights - Imtra replacement bulbs. (show special). Total cabin lights is about 60. All on at once draws 0.4 amps at 28 volts. I also replaced all nav lights including my AquaSignal Tri-color from Marine Beam and installed their SOLO deck lights on the spreaders.

I got a 3 for 2 price on these LED Navigation Lights and added them at deck level as redundant nav lights.


TYPICAL PWM REGULATORON THE BACK SIDE OF EVERY BULB.

[goboatingnow]

A voltage regulated supply with resistors on each led and led in parallel will work just as well as constant current. In fact all the small indicator LEDs you see are wired that way. However for high current LEDs the method is wasteful and the resistors are large at that type of power. Hence the trend to constant current.

Also to be fully functional they should have an ageing circuit in them also
Dave

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I got a 3 for 2 price on these LED Navigation Lights and added them at deck level as redundant nav lights.

Redundant nav lights? Hope you're not displaying them at the same time as your regular nav lights . . .

[mcerdos]

Originally Posted by CAELESTIS

Well, that all depends on the deal you have with them. I find their Port Supply often beats my Fisheries Supply wholesale account.

In order to have a Port Supply account with West Marine, a business is needed for the application. Us average Joes get screwed by West Marine everytime we buy something there.