LED bulb in old mast top nav light

[Bob666]

Hi!

The LED mast top lanterns are too expensive, so want to replace the 25 W Halogen bulb up there with a LED bulb.

To get the angles correct, can I use a liquid-filled LED light bulb?

Read more:
https://metaefficient.com/leds/liqui...ees-light.html

The current bulb is a BAY15D light bulb.

Googled but could not find any BAY15D liquid-filled. But found:
https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...retrofit/2625/

I am seriously considering mounting that bulb and forget about it, bring a spare. Nobody (officials, police, coast guard etc) would ever care in Scandinavian waters. No way!

Read other threads, there might be more bureaucratic officials actually caring about this in other countries? What could possibly happen? Realistically?

[Paul L]

Are you looking for a white light or a tri-color?
Some good info here https://store.marinebeam.com/

[Bob666]

Or this one:
4x 6 LED CREE White Car Reverse Light 1157 BAY15D P21/5W CANBUS Backup Lamp | eBay

I asked the seller about its capabilities, will update here.

[Paul L]

Are you looking for a white anchor light or a tri-color? If it is white, then there are lots of 360* LED bulbs that will work adequately. If you are putting a white LED inside a tri-color plastic lenses, then they do not work that well, because the color mix of the led is a lot different than a filament bulb.

The other big issue with these masthead LEDs is RFI. They are mounted close to antennas and some of them have an excessive amount of RFI.

[CaptTom]

I see two problems with this. First, the fixture was designed (and probably certified) to work with a bulb that emits light from a filament; a very precise location. Chances are a LED replacement will not work correctly with the optics. A minor issue, perhaps, but one that can become very important to the lawyers if you're ever involved in a collision.

Second, in my life, the overwhelming majority of navigation lights I've had to fix were due to corrosion on the contacts, not a burned-out bulb. Any time I can replace the whole fixture with one that will never burn out OR corrode, I'll do it. Especially if it's at the top of the mast!

[kas_1611]

Check out these guys for marine LEDs

Boatlamps

We got our replacement bulbs from here a couple of years ago and they are great. Cold White in the Mast Head and Stern and Warm White in the bow. Tolerant of the voltage variations of a 12v system, rugged and specifically designed for the marine environment.

As for the BS about the colours that is a mythinformation. The Warm White LED is the same colour temperature as an incandescent bulb. Light is light and it doesn't matter how it is created, the wavelengths are the same. Our bow light still shows a very clear and clean red and green with no overlap. In fact it is better than the incandescent as the 2 colours have a better intensity so they are easier to determine. I should know as I'm Red/Green colour blind and I can see them perfectly with the LED. Just don't try to use a Cold White behind the coloured lenses.

Keiron

[Bob666]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

Check out these guys for marine LEDs

Boatlamps

We got our replacement bulbs from here a couple of years ago and they are great. Cold White in the Mast Head and Stern and Warm White in the bow. Tolerant of the voltage variations of a 12v system, rugged and specifically designed for the marine environment.

As for the BS about the colours that is a mythinformation. The Warm White LED is the same colour temperature as an incandescent bulb. Light is light and it doesn't matter how it is created, the wavelengths are the same. Our bow light still shows a very clear and clean red and green with no overlap. In fact it is better than the incandescent as the 2 colours have a better intensity so they are easier to determine. I should know as I'm Red/Green colour blind and I can see them perfectly with the LED. Just don't try to use a Cold White behind the coloured lenses.

Keiron

Cheers to that! Should I get this:

https://boatlamps.co.uk/products/bay...up-to-20m-65ft

Or the one for small vessels?

I got a Norlin 37.

Thanks

[kas_1611]

Originally Posted by Bob666

Cheers to that! Should I get this:

https://boatlamps.co.uk/products/bay...up-to-20m-65ft

Or the one for small vessels?

I got a Norlin 37.

Thanks

Looks good from my armchair Seems to be designed with Tri-Colours in mind so don't see any reason why you'd have any issues. Contralube might be an idea to avoid any contacts issues, if it means you don't have to go up the mast again for years that has got to be a good thing

Keiron

[Bob666]

Is one of them contralube?

I posted them this query:
"Hi!

Unsure whether to get this:
https://boatlamps.co.uk/products/bay...up-to-20m-65ft

Or the one for small vessels?

I have a Norlin 37.

If go for the large vessel bulb in link above, I do not know what lantern I got.

Please help me determine:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By...kpBRGlOM1M0VWs
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By...UZzS3dJWHg1YkE

Cheers"

About mast top, no worries, I like the view (used to skydive):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By...jVxZVgtTy1DeTA

But I wouldn't want to in the middle of the night during passage...

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Bob666

Or this one:
4x 6 LED CREE White Car Reverse Light 1157 BAY15D P21/5W CANBUS Backup Lamp | eBay

I asked the seller about its capabilities, will update here.

How is that going to work? its got two contacts on the bottom for the two circuits on a car.

Pete

[sailjumanji]

Hopefully you will not have the RF issues I had, when I swapped out the regular bulbs in my Aqua Signal housings, for Dr LED. Made the VHF unusable. A friend provided a solution of adding a diode and capacitor (I think), which got rid of the RF interference. Parts were available at Radio Shack. Had to put on the power lines in each light fixture. Thought that was a long term solution, but actual life on the lights was around 50-100 hrs of true usage. Replacement Dr LED bulbs had bad track record of working - about half failed within a few minutes or did not work at all.

Also, using the clear LED in the red and green housings for the bow lights yielded a pinkish and light green color - which to me were different enough that I went instead to the Dr LED red and green LED's.

With the failure rate being so much shorter than expected, I eventually pulled them all out, replaced with the standard bulbs, and installed a combo LED light on the masthead. When sailing offshore I use it, when motoring in the ICW I used the lower-mounted lights.

[kas_1611]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

Also, using the clear LED in the red and green housings for the bow lights yielded a pinkish and light green color - which to me were different enough that I went instead to the Dr LED red and green LED's.

This sounds like you had the "wrong" colour temperature LEDs behind the filters. As long as the white LED is the same (or very similar) colour temperature, which is measured in Kelvins (K) there will not be any difference in the colour transmitted through the filter as the light will be exactly the same as if it were an incandescent bulb. My bow lights are VERY Red and VERY Green with our warm white bulb in the housing.

Trying to save a few quid/bucks on domestic or automotive LEDs is not worth it as marine LEDs will be designed to handle the varying voltages, exposure, vibration and not to produce any EMI or RF interference. As good LEDs should last thousands of hours there is no real excuse to not purchase good quality bulbs.

Keiron

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

This sounds like you had the "wrong" colour temperature LEDs behind the filters. As long as the white LED is the same (or very similar) colour temperature, which is measured in Kelvins (K) there will not be any difference in the colour transmitted through the filter as the light will be exactly the same as if it were an incandescent bulb. My bow lights are VERY Red and VERY Green with our warm white bulb in the housing.

Trying to save a few quid/bucks on domestic or automotive LEDs is not worth it as marine LEDs will be designed to handle the varying voltages, exposure, vibration and not to produce any EMI or RF interference. As good LEDs should last thousands of hours there is no real excuse to not purchase good quality bulbs.

Keiron

On the color, well of course if the LED puts out essentially the same color as the filament bulb the result will be the same. The fact is that many do not. When putting a 'white' LED in a tri-colored lens you will often see one color appear brighter than the other.

Many, expensive, marine designed LEDs put out excessive RFI. I have seen usd$350 anchor and tri-colors totally kill VHFs. While others, both expensive and cheap, are RFI silent. It is unfortunately a bit of a crap shoot. I have LEDs in my cabin, mostly all purchased from the same place. A few of them kill the FM reception, while others have no affect.

[kas_1611]

Strictly speaking all LEDs regardless of design emit Electro-Magnetic radiation as that is what light is, specific frequencies of EM Radiation (390-700nanometers from red to violet).

As "you cannae change the laws of Physics" white light is white light regardless of the source. Some cheaper LEDs may not produce the full spectrum which would cause problems if behind a filter. For instance if the LD was deficient in part of the red spectrum then the red light transmitted through the filter would look odd, same with the green, which is probably more susceptible as it lies midway along the visible spectrum unlike the red end.

Like anything these days there are good and bad manufacturers and suppliers. I can definitely vouch for the quality of Boatlamps LEDs on both white light quality and no RF interference.

Keiron

[Bob666]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

Strictly speaking all LEDs regardless of design emit Electro-Magnetic radiation as that is what light is, specific frequencies of EM Radiation (390-700nanometers from red to violet).

As "you cannae change the laws of Physics" white light is white light regardless of the source. Some cheaper LEDs may not produce the full spectrum which would cause problems if behind a filter. For instance if the LD was deficient in part of the red spectrum then the red light transmitted through the filter would look odd, same with the green, which is probably more susceptible as it lies midway along the visible spectrum unlike the red end.

Like anything these days there are good and bad manufacturers and suppliers. I can definitely vouch for the quality of Boatlamps LEDs on both white light quality and no RF interference.

Keiron

Alright, I will try them out. When I've figured out what kind of tricolour lantern I got. No idea if it is a Hella, Aqua... etc. It's probably very old.

Anybody got a clue?:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byb...ew?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byb...ew?usp=sharing

To Pete7: how do you mean, please? The BAY15D has double connectors at its base. "D" as in double. Otherwise it would have been called "BAY15S".

Cheers