LED Bulbs

[Colin M]

I wanted to replace a number of bulbs on my 1988 Regal 360 powerboat but was dismayed by the lack of knowledge by many retailers and wanted to share my purchasing experience with other boaters. The bottom line is that I ended up buying the LED bulbs on line from Marinebeam.com. I was so happy with my first order that I recently placed a second order.
Although Marinebeam.com is located in South Carolina and I live in Canada the whole shipping process was painless. I received their shipment within 7 days of placing my order, even though the package had to go through Canadian Customs. Since the package was shipped by US Mail I didn't have to pay brokerage fees other than an $8.50 handling fee for the collection of Ontario retail sales taxes.
For me the best replacement bulb I bought was an LED equivalent to the standard F8T5. I was told by a marine store located in Toronto that there was no LED equivalent to the F8T5. How wrong they were.
So if you are in the market for LED bulbs, check out the website marinebeam.com. I'm sure you will be just as pleased as I have been with their excellent knowledge level and attitude towards customer service.
I'll be happy to respond to any questions but I suspect that once you have checked out their website you won't need any further input from me.
Happy boating.

[belizesailor]

Looks like good stuff. The F8T5 replacement sure is handy.

I have also purchased LED products from LED Lights, Bulbs & Accessories - SUPER BRIGHT LEDS with good results. They are not marine specific, but they do stock a very wide range of products.

[bobconnie]

You guys may not deal with this company, but they have some LED complete light fixtures, in shapes that match a lot of the fixtures on boats made In the USA, and have them on sale for less then some of these places charge for Bulbs !! go look at Camping world online and look at the LED lights they have on sale ! Cheap, and work well. I don't have a thing to do with this company except for buying things like gennys, smalled size cooking equipment, and LED bulbs. just take a look ! ya might be happily suprised!!

[DeepFrz]

Marine Beam has an interesting download.

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-...diotsGuide.pdf

[Colin M]

I was mainly concerned with 2 issues: voltage regulation (remember that in a marine environment the voltage varies, particularly when the battery is being charged) and the RFI generated by the circuitry designed to regulate the voltage.
Of all the sites I viewed, Marinebeam.com seemed to deal with these 2 issues the best.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Colin M.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[zeehag]

down here in mexico i was looking for some replcement bulbs for my lighting fixtures. i went to the zaragosa marine store in puerto vallarta--they had a 1 watt dim bulb perfect for my light i use for sailing passages--but nthing for reading... went to home depot--found reading light 12 volt led lightbulbs for less than at zaragosa. i figured price would be less-as zaragosa is similar to worst marine--so i bought a home depot light and is perfect. there are 3 kinds--from one lens -- almost bright--to 3 lenses--very bright. very happy with this ..dont know the numbers, but these are some good reading light bulbs.

welcome colin!!!

[sdowney717]

A bulb at
Bayonet Base LED Replacement Bulb BA15S, BA15D

for a 10watt equivalence lists these numbers
Voltage: 10VDC - 30VDC
Wattage: 1.5W
Amperage: 120 mA
Lumens: 72

Lumens is what you want for brightness.
Higher lumens = brighter = higher wattage
If someone is not listing the Lumens, likely the bulb is not bright otherwise they would tell you.

compare, here is one that puts out 230 Lumens
watts go up to 3W
lists at 12v so perhaps not regulated as well on voltage.

A simple way to regulate the voltage going to all the sockets together is put in a 12vdc voltage regulator at the power source feeding all the lights. That way you can use the 'cheaper' led with no fear of burn out on voltage running too high. Seeing the low power consumption on LED bulbs, likely all the 12vdc bulbs could be on one or maybe two circuits and could all be fed from one single regulated power source set to output to 12vdc.
If you have AC on board you could even use a PC power supply for that.


BA15S LED 230 Lumen Warm White 3 Watt Tower Lamp Bulb 12V AC DC Boat RV Car | eBay

[belizesailor]

Engineering the voltage regulator into the light bulb itself seems to me to have a number of disadvantages: heat dissipation, size, and cost. Why not just go with an external voltage regulator and eliminate these issues?

Like 10-32V to 12V DC/DC Converter.

Any one have hands-on experience with these converters?

[neilsailingrn]

Originally Posted by zeehag

down here in mexico i was looking for some replcement bulbs for my lighting fixtures. i went to the zaragosa marine store in puerto vallarta--they had a 1 watt dim bulb perfect for my light i use for sailing passages--but nthing for reading... went to home depot--found reading light 12 volt led lightbulbs for less than at zaragosa. i figured price would be less-as zaragosa is similar to worst marine--so i bought a home depot light and is perfect. there are 3 kinds--from one lens -- almost bright--to 3 lenses--very bright. very happy with this ..dont know the numbers, but these are some good reading light bulbs.

welcome colin!!!

Is this a 12v LED replacement bulb?

[zeehag]

is 12 v replacement bulb--all of them are....i like the 2 cell led from home depot--works best for reading, not use too much juice.

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Engineering the voltage regulator into the light bulb itself seems to me to have a number of disadvantages: heat dissipation, size, and cost. Why not just go with an external voltage regulator and eliminate these issues?

Like 10-32V to 12V DC/DC Converter.

Any one have hands-on experience with these converters?

I would have to test it out or find someone else who did, but I would worry about the length of the wire run, along with the size of the wires. It might not be a problem, but it is something to think about.

It is a good idea though, just I would like to see how it performs in the real world.

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Engineering the voltage regulator into the light bulb itself seems to me to have a number of disadvantages: heat dissipation, size, and cost. Why not just go with an external voltage regulator and eliminate these issues?

Like 10-32V to 12V DC/DC Converter.

Any one have hands-on experience with these converters?

LEDs drivers are constant current limited like this one.

BuckPuck - LED Supply.com

I have built several really bright LED lites with stuff from Led Supply. LEDs generate a lot of heat, the driver very little.

[sdowney717]

takes 6 to 34dc and outputs steady 12vdc or some selectable voltage you want and up to 10 AMPS.
plenty of power to run some leds

DCDC-USB, Intelligent DC-DC converter with USB interface

- Applications: powering motherboard with single rail power from any voltage to any voltage, laptops, custom electronics. This module can be used to convert any voltage ranging 6-34V to any output from 5-24V.

[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.