LED NAVIGATION AND REPLACEMNT BULBS

[quartersplash]

Just wondering about brands of LED bulbs to replce halogen interior bulbs, and also bulbs to replace in the nav lights that will be bright enough.
Thanks

[AnchorageGuy]

A good source is Super Bright LEDs

[donradcliffe]

I like marinebeam.com

[Roy M]

I just installed some DR. LED tricolor and all-round white LEDs on an AquaSignal 40 masthead tricolor.

[Badsanta]

I went with Dr LED. Just make sure the ones you pick are coastguard approved and use the same color under the same color lenses. Green under green, clear under clear/white. You can use colored under clear, but a white LED under a green or red lenses comes out as a pinkish and bluish at least mine did. Also I went to the next larger lav light, I went from Aqua signal 25 to the 40's. Man some boats have the dinkest little lights, almost anything would block them.

[Christian Van H]

Here's a question for the physicists among us. Why do most LED sellers recommend using "red" LEDs behind red lenses, green with green, etc. when the fixture came with a warm white incandescent light bulb? Alot of LED bulb manufactures now offer 3300K and 6600K color temp bulbs. Not good enough? Thanks, Chris

[amytom]

Light output is measured in a specific color band. LED manufactures specify the output in the designed color. If you filter out only the red out of the white then you are throwing away most of the energy. Incandescent bulbs are generally brighter and don't suffer from the same loss.

[Badsanta]

I think it has something to do with the different light waves and how they are produced by the light source, but this is from a neophyte not a phith-o-cyst

[Badsanta]

amytom, Your fast. I should have waited. Much better answer. Thanks!!

[Force Majeure]

The reason has more to do with providing a true color with the lens. LEDs, by their nature, provide a very narrow spectrum of light. While warm white LEDs put out a warm yellowish looking light they don't really contain the whole spectrum of different hues like an incandescent white. If you look at a spectrograph an LED looks like a sharp peak, while an incandescent looks like a wide bell curve.

The result of putting a white or warm white LED behind a red lens is a less than true red color. A cool white LED will make it look pink. More red with a warm-white, but not a true red. The newer warm whites look okay behind a bi-color lens, but if you have separate fixtures, put red behind red and green behind green.

For more info on LEDs see www.marinebeam.com and download the Idiots Guide to marine LED lighting.

Jeff

[Christian Van H]

Jeff, thank you for your clear explanation! My problem was thinking that the LED light was across a broader spectrum. Here's the link to that really great

guide:http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/yhst-...37/idiotsguide

Thanks everyone! Chris

[sailsamal]

We changed our masthead lights to LED, and what a difference. We got them from Australia - Marine LED Replacement Bulbs

They have explanations on the cool/warm aspects of the LEDs. For interiors, we found that LEDs is one directional - best if you can find lighting with all around LEDs, the more the better. In NZ we got a work light with lots of LEDs and can run on 12 volts. It was very good, so we bought several and use them to light the galley, rooms during passages or at anchor.

[sandy daugherty]

What about the RFI scare?

[Christian Van H]

Sandy, could ya be a little more specific?

[theonecalledtom]

We just tried one of these: High Output G4 LED

While the light is relatively strong we're not fans of the color which is significantly colder than the halogen it replaced and made the sausages look less tasty.

It may end up in the engine room.

Next up we'll try the warm 6 led version.