Which Cabin lights?

[Dockhead]

My boat had several dozen Cantalupi G40 halogen downlights when she was commissioned. As soon as I bought the boat in 2009, I started gradually converting them to LED, using G4 conversion units from different suppliers.



The conversion units varied in quality, from SuperBright LED's which literally exploded in use (luckily I didn't have a fire), to pretty decent, but the fixtures themselves were of abysmal quality (despite the horrendous cost -- they are supposedly "superyacht grade", whatever that means), so I finally started throwing them away and replacing them with extremely cheap stainless MR16 fixtures from EBay, which fit in the holes from the old Cantalupi carp, and sealed MR16 bulb units from Bedazzledlighting.co.uk.


Those bulb units are a great leap forward in quality of the light -- they are a pleasant warm glow which is every bit as pleasant as halogen. I was forever unhappy with the weird artificial quality of the light from the earlier generation LED units.


They are so great that I ripped out and threw away all the old Cantalupi fixtures from my salon together with the various experimental G4 LED bulb units and replaced them with these.


I see you can now by the fixtures from Bedazzled for £6 each. I paid about 1/3 of that for a case of them off Fleabay, but I would just buy them from Bedazzled.


https://bedazzledledlighting.co.uk/p...gs/mr16-steel/



The bulb units are these:


https://bedazzledledlighting.co.uk/p...ed-bulbs/mr16/


Choose one with the glass cover rather than exposed LEDs, like most MR16 units.


The light is absolutely fantastic; it's so nice to have good lighting on board.





If I were doing a job like the OP's, I would absolutely use these -- all you need is a hole saw.



When you choose any kind of LED lighting on board, be sure to look for:


1. EMI free


2. Internal voltage control


3. Internal protection against spikes


4. Internal fuse.




I learned the hard way that just because an LED unit is expensive, it doesn't say anything about the quality or even safety. I had several units from SuperbrightLED's literally explode -- could have caused a fire. I ripped them all out and threw them overboard.

[slowneasy]

I have posted this before so I feel like I'm advertising for Marinebeam, but I have no relationship other than a happy customer.

I originally replaced my bulbs and then later replaced my entire fixtures with the below marine beam fixtures.

https://store.marinebeam.com/surface...ming-fx-ys-6w/

The replacement bulbs were better than the old incandescent bulbs, but replacing the entire fixture was a tremendous improvement. The new fixtures are much brighter and dimmable to whatever level I need. It made the interior of the boat much more pleasant to be able to read or work with plenty of light. I still consider this one of my best improvements to the interior of the boat.

[Bill O]

Everyone has their idea or taste on what the correct the correct color/warmth or degrees Kelvin their interior lights should be. Here, it is up to individual taste and how it looks at night. All the pics previously posted of our boat were in the daylight w/the LED lights on high so you could see both the light placement and the cabin. It doesn't show the true color at night. Also if you use a diffuser it will change the look of the light.

I'm no artist, but we did try to splash up the cabin w/some artwork and use the best LED lighting color to help bring out true colors in the artwork as well as the wood, etc. With all the great info online, where else better to look than the expertise of an art group for the best LED lighting. Here's an article they posted on lighting.


Bill O.

[noelex 77]

Good lighting makes a huge difference to any living space. On a boat it is even more important, as the luminaires need functionality (dark adaption, lack of interference etc).

I have heard of an alarming number of near fires (as Dockhead reported) with some fittings. Boat ceiling clearance is very tight and LED cooling is one of the most difficult aspects to get right.

Boats are small spaces and the number of light fittings needed is not great.

So I would at least consider good quality light fittings, even if at first glance they seem to be 10x the price for the same product.

On our new boat we had Prebit lights fitted. They make a wide range, but most are infinitely dimmable, can switch between red and white, plus they remember the last setting even if the circuit breaker is switched off and all power is removed. Many have their own switch which also acts as a dimmer when held down. They are designed for unstabilised marine voltages and for fitting in tight spaces with little rear cooling.

Anyway, at least consider the more expensive option.

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Good lighting makes a huge difference to any living space. On a boat it is even more important, as the luminaires need functionality (dark adaption, lack of interference etc).

I have heard of an alarming number of near fires (as Dockhead reported) with some fittings. Boat ceiling clearance is very tight and LED cooling is one of the most difficult aspects to get right.

Boats are small spaces and the number of light fittings needed is not great.

So I would at least consider good quality light fittings, even if at first glance they seem to be 10x the price for the same product.

On our new boat we had Prebit lights fitted. They make a wide range, but most are infinitely dimmable, can switch between red and white, plus they remember the last setting even if the circuit breaker is switched off and all power is removed. Many have their own switch which also acts as a dimmer when held down. They are designed for unstabilised marine voltages and for fitting in tight spaces with little rear cooling.

Anyway, at least consider the more expensive option.

Beautiful boat Nolex.

Bill O - I just re-read my above post and I am certainly expressing my opinions as if they are facts, however most folks I've met enjoy warmer light in a living area.

Nolex's photo is actually a perfect example of 5600K light vs 3200K light. The camera that took this picture adjusted its white balance to 5600K (daylight) as that was the dominant light source coming through the windows. The lighting above the framed art is 3200K and so it appears orange to the camera balanced for 5600K. Conversely, if the camera was balancing for 3200K, the art lamps would appear white and the sunlight would appear very blue.

Our brains adjust for this color difference automatically.

[kentobin]

Lots of opinions here.

First off I recommend dimmable led's. According to the studies I've read it's light intensity and not color that degrades night vision. Even if you decide to go with a red night light something dimmable would be nice. Currently each of my fixtures has it's own controller. I'm considering rewiring the overhead fixtures to work off of two controllers, one for starboard and the other for port.

Second is the light color. I've found that to be personal choice that is also influenced by what you need the light for. When I'm doing my diy projects I prefer 4000k and higher. The whiter light makes details easier for me to see. The 3200k and lower I like more for the evening when relaxing. I've transitioned totally to audio books so I'm not sure what color to recommend here.

Another issue is led intensity. I currently have some led bulbs that only have two led's on each bulb pointing down. At full intensity they are so bright it hurts if you look up at them. With an 8 foot ceiling it's not hard to accidentally look up at them. I'm not happy with them at all.

All my light fixtures originally came with halogen bulbs and were refit with led's. I've read that light fixtures designed specifically for led's do a better job of dispersing led generated light.

Originally my good old boat came with two lighting circuits, one for the navigation station and another for all other interior lighting. I'll be rewiring the boat this year and will keep the nav table lighting but break the other interior lighting into port and starboard circuits.

I've wanted to upgrade all my fixtures with new led lighting and have been looking on and off for over two years. There's a plethora of devices but none that I've particularly cared for.


Good luck.

[Bill O]

Peregrine,
My post wasn't directed to your post, but to provide more info and link to an artist's perspective on what they perceive as "good" light quality.

Originally when researching LED lights, I was only focused on lumens and K numbers. As shown in the article, the beam angle of light transmission from the LED and the CRI (color rendering index) were also important features for better light quality.



Bill O.

[Dan GB]

Love your boats, guys. Stunning. My challenge is that I have a much more utilitarian baseline - no wood or 'nautical' theme, so kind of defaulting into modern lines. Also hard to avoid surface running wires which I dislike intensely. But already got some good ideas

[Bill O]

Dan,
To cover the wires, you could use a channel raceway (like this one) to hide them.


Bill O.

[Dan GB]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Dan,
To cover the wires, you could use a channel raceway (like this one) to hide them.


Bill O.

Yeah, I call that ducting. Will use, of course, but still not loving it. But my bulkheads are single foam structures, looking at the inside of my hull skin, so no easy way to run wires _in_ anything.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

The conversion units varied in quality, from SuperBright LED's which literally exploded in use (luckily I didn't have a fire)

Really? That worries me a bit as I have about a dozen LED strip lights from SuperbrightLEDS attached under shelves and such that have been great indirect lighting. On full brightness they do get a little warm but never hot and so far (5-6 years) no explosions.

Were these bulbs or fixtures from SBLEDS?

[Peregrine1983]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Peregrine,
My post wasn't directed to your post, but to provide more info and link to an artist's perspective on what they perceive as "good" light quality.

Awesome. I worked as a DP/camera op for years, so I have ridiculously strong opinions about light .

Regarding the harshness of the light from LED fixtures... The light needs to be diffused to be more pleasant. I wish more affordable LED light fixtures had diffusing lenses. I know mine don't.

On set we used this stuff called 216. It does a beautiful job of flattening out a pinpoint source like an LED... To the lighting engineers out there - Please start designing affordable 3000-3200k 12v LED's with some kind of internal diffusion similar to 216.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

Awesome. I worked as a DP/camera op for years, so I have ridiculously strong opinions about light .

Regarding the harshness of the light from LED fixtures... The light needs to be diffused to be more pleasant. I wish more affordable LED light fixtures had diffusing lenses. I know mine don't.

On set we used this stuff called 216. It does a beautiful job of flattening out a pinpoint source like an LED... To the lighting engineers out there - Please start designing affordable 3000-3200k 12v LED's with some kind of internal diffusion similar to 216.

Another issue about the perceived harshness of light from LEDs, unlike most other light sources that make a very broad spectrum light, LEDs (all or most LEDs?) make light in a very narrow color band. So even warm white LEDs can appear harsh.

I tried several colors in my boat and none looked right until I installed two strips side by side, one warm white and one white light. That then to me looked perfect.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

Awesome. I worked as a DP/camera op for years, so I have ridiculously strong opinions about light .

Regarding the harshness of the light from LED fixtures... The light needs to be diffused to be more pleasant. I wish more affordable LED light fixtures had diffusing lenses. I know mine don't.

In my reply #12 I did put in an embedded link to the diffuser light channels we use for the strip lights. Agree that lights are too harsh otherwise. Obviously these diffusers only work w/strip lights.


Bill O

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by fursoc

Hi, I am re-wiring all the cabin lights on my 20yr old catamaran. I haven’t lived on a boat yet, but I will be from next year, so I need a little help. The previous lights were 300mm long fluorescents which were pretty good, but pretty ugly. I’m considering changing them all to Hella strip lights which go red when you hit the right switch. They look more modern, but essentially the same.

Are there better solutions out there? Hidden led strips? Are round down lights better?

Is there anything you like/dislike about your cabin lights? Is there anything you would change?

Thanks!

Marine Beam has replacement LED for almost any marine fixture and also some nice fixtures. Bulbs are high efficiency PWM controlled.

HOME. https://store.marinebeam.com
FLUORESCENT https://store.marinebeam.com/fluorescent-style/