Boat headlights amps and cable size

[MtB]

Just now, Alan de Enfield said:

 

YYRC

 

Phew!!

 

 

[jim mitchell]

Surely Col regs are predominately aimed at boaty boat traffic at sea or major rivers - specifically there is exception / over ruling for local , port and country regulations as may be appropriate.  And they also vary according to boat length !

 

They do clearly aim to avoid using lights, shapes or sounds which can be misinterpreted, at sea tunnels are rarely encountered, and canals might well be regarded as restricted waterways,  but if a boater wants to mark their stern on canals or tunnels then, as i read them, the regs do not exclude showing a low intensity blue lamp over an arc of 90 deg.  - although the river police might object 🙄

 

Tunnel lights are not specifically covered but as others have said they should not blind or disorientate others - another example perhaps where regs are, or should be, best used as guidance or pragmatically and not  'de rigor' . 

 

Like any safety risk assessment should do, the advantage/ disadvantage, clarity/ confusion, simplicity/ complexity etc need due consideration.

[dmr]

9 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

I thought you had an engine room Dmr? A light in there is great. An empty tunnel bar our boat is great too. 
 

Only taken us 2 years to realise that the light in the engine room with side hatches open perfectly illuminates the side of the boat and tunnel just ahead of you. Couldn’t understand why the one light switch for the engine room was in the back of the rear cabin by the tunnel light… 

The glow from the nav lights is much more evocative than an open side hatch, and I like to keep the sides closed in tunnels. I suspect there are a couple of tunnels where it might be possible to hit an open hatch  though its very unlikely and I should know which they are

[Stroudwater1]

2 hours ago, dmr said:

The glow from the nav lights is much more evocative than an open side hatch, and I like to keep the sides closed in tunnels. I suspect there are a couple of tunnels where it might be possible to hit an open hatch  though its very unlikely and I should know which they are

Ah yes, we have another side hatch that does get caught on lock beams so completely understand the potential. Interesting how different each boat is.  
 

Nav lights? What are they 🤣 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Nav lights? What are they 🤣 

 

I use a torch.

 

 

[Stroudwater1]

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I use a torch.

 

 

Thought you had side hatches too you could try MtB? 

Edited July 22 by Stroudwater1
Capitals

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Thought you had side hatches too you could try MtB? 

 

I have no side hatches.

 

Both my boats have though. I just turn all the lights in the boat ON and the lifht escaping from the portholes illuminates the sides of a tunnel. Plus my hand-held torch that I can use to shine at the brickwork, up ventilation shafts, at notices screwed to the wall and look for bats. 

 

 

 

I once spent about 90 mins doing Crick tunnel. SO much to look at with a good torch. 

 

 

[cuthound]

I don't understand the logic for LED tunnel lights.

 

It can't be energy savibg, as (with the possible exception of the Dudley Tunnel) the engine will.berunning, and so the alternator will be providing the energy, and it can't be the brightness, as bright lights don't illuminated the tunnel roof any better than less bright ones.

[Lady M]

Other types of lightbulb less easily available these days?

[cuthound]

23 minutes ago, Lady M said:

Other types of lightbulb less easily available these days?

 

Plenty of cars (the majority?) still on the road using incandescent light bulbs in their headlights.

[Lady M]

Yes but what happens when a replacement is needed?  

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, Lady M said:

Yes but what happens when a replacement is needed?  

 

Readily available at the local garage.

[Peanut]

Be aware that some LED lamps are disposable, with no provision to change the LED's.

[Redhawk106]

Just to update; I've returned the original lights I posted about, and now I'm going to go on the lookout for specifically lights that lower wattage, and are more on the white yellow side rather than bright white or white blue colour temps, as several have posted the white / blue side of the spectrum messes with your night vision.

 

Also going to look for lights that have mounts on the side with a swivel bracket, so they can be tilted accordingly to avoid dazzling other boats. If I do all the above then whether it's led or not seems less of a concern for blinding people.

 

Theres also a custom cover frame at the front so that will block the light from directly blinding those in front. Seems you want side and top illumination more so from the messages.

 

For the Thames and potentially BSS does there need to be a light directly on the front? Or is it just port and starboard lights that are the minimum for nav light requirements.

 

Thanks for all the tips!

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

20 minutes ago, Redhawk106 said:

Just to update; I've returned the original lights I posted about, and now I'm going to go on the lookout for specifically lights that lower wattage, and are more on the white yellow side rather than bright white or white blue colour temps, as several have posted the white / blue side of the spectrum messes with your night vision.

 

Also going to look for lights that have mounts on the side with a swivel bracket, so they can be tilted accordingly to avoid dazzling other boats. If I do all the above then whether it's led or not seems less of a concern for blinding people.

 

Theres also a custom cover frame at the front so that will block the light from directly blinding those in front. Seems you want side and top illumination more so from the messages.

 

For the Thames and potentially BSS does there need to be a light directly on the front? Or is it just port and starboard lights that are the minimum for nav light requirements.

 

Thanks for all the tips!

 

 

The BSS doesn't care if you have one or not. A head light on the Thames, I can't think of any tunnels will probably get you a bit or verbal 

[Tony Brooks]

27 minutes ago, Redhawk106 said:

For the Thames and potentially BSS does there need to be a light directly on the front? Or is it just port and starboard lights that are the minimum for nav light requirements.

 

I think that the EA part of the Thames only requires navigation lights, and even then only if moving in hours of darkness or poor visibility.

[Redhawk106]

Im thinking these might be a good shout.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145663027669

 

At £15, cheap enough to buy to fill the 2 big circular holes and maybe never even need to use them, and they can be run on either white, amber or both combined, do that could give options to reduce blinding people in tunnels, but still give high power lights if needed in poor visibility outside of tunnels, and they can be tilted. 

 

Think that seems to cover most of the concerns raised here, and if not then they can simply just be decorative to hide the ugly mount holes. 

 

The only frustrating thing is the wattage states 120W which seems a lot and the lumens crazy high, so that's taking a step back again, so maybe they should just be decorative or pointed to the floor or ceiling if need to be used. 

 

If they are not essential as others have just posted, then mainly I just want something cheap to look good and hide the holes.

Edited July 23 by Redhawk106

[ditchcrawler]

2 minutes ago, Redhawk106 said:

Im thinking these might be a good shout.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145663027669

 

At £15, cheap enough to buy to fill the 2 big circular holes and maybe never even need to use them, and they can be run on either white, amber or both combined, do that could give options to reduce blinding people in tunnels, but still give high power lights if needed in poor visibility outside of tunnels, and they can be tilted. 

 

Think that seems to cover most of the concerns raised here, and if not then they can simply just be decorative to hide the ugly mount holes. 

 

The wattage states 120W which seems a lot and the lumens crazy high, so maybe they should just be decorative or pointed to the floor or ceiling if need to be used. 

 

If they are not essential as others have just posted, then mainly I just want something cheap to look good and hide the holes.

Are these the things lorry cabs have on their roof that look as  bout as bright as side lights when driving on the motorway?

[IanD]

9 minutes ago, Redhawk106 said:

Im thinking these might be a good shout.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145663027669

 

At £15, cheap enough to buy to fill the 2 big circular holes and maybe never even need to use them, and they can be run on either white, amber or both combined, do that could give options to reduce blinding people in tunnels, but still give high power lights if needed in poor visibility outside of tunnels, and they can be tilted. 

 

Think that seems to cover most of the concerns raised here, and if not then they can simply just be decorative to hide the ugly mount holes. 

 

The only frustrating thing is the wattage states 120W which seems a lot and the lumens crazy high, so that's taking a step back again, so maybe they should just be decorative or pointed to the floor or ceiling if need to be used. 

 

If they are not essential as others have just posted, then mainly I just want something cheap to look good and hide the holes.

 

A big array of super-bright directly-visible LED chips -- I don't think the retinas of the poor sods coming the other way are going to be very happy... 😞

[Tony Brooks]

To be honest, I think looking for imperial dimensioned lights nowadays is a fool's errand. I would have though it would be easier to take the existing lamps off and fit a blanking plate over the whole rectangular face. then you can fit what you want. You could even use self drilling and tapping screws to hold it on it that box thing is metal, if not there seems to be a hole underneath so nuts and bolts would do the job.

[Redhawk106]

1 hour ago, IanD said:

 

A big array of super-bright directly-visible LED chips -- I don't think the retinas of the poor sods coming the other way are going to be very happy... 😞

Even if pointed up to the ceiling or sides?

 

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

To be honest, I think looking for imperial dimensioned lights nowadays is a fool's errand. I would have though it would be easier to take the existing lamps off and fit a blanking plate over the whole rectangular face. then you can fit what you want. You could even use self drilling and tapping screws to hold it on it that box thing is metal, if not there seems to be a hole underneath so nuts and bolts would do the job.

Yes true Tony, I was starting to think of that as another option. And then maybe instead mount a more suitable single light towards the back of the boat which you can point and tilt while you steer, as I've read others do.

 

I'll have a think, the discussion brought up a lot of good info, but at risk of boring ourselves I think we can safely say three threads got enough info now. 

 

Thanks all, till the next question 😁

[IanD]

11 minutes ago, Redhawk106 said:

Even if pointed up to the ceiling or sides?

 

Yes true Tony, I was starting to think of that as another option. And then maybe instead mount a more suitable single light towards the back of the boat which you can point and tilt while you steer, as I've read others do.

 

I'll have a think, the discussion brought up a lot of good info, but at risk of boring ourselves I think we can safely say three threads got enough info now. 

 

Thanks all, till the next question 😁

 

Yes -- the light is emitted by the LED chips, and if you look at the photo these are directly visible as tiny searing super-bright emitters visible even at an angle, as well as being in little parabolic reflectors to throw all the scattered light forwards at the poor oncoming boater (or onto the ceiling)... 😞 

 

What you want for a tunnel light is a diffuse beam spread over a wide area, and emitted from a large diameter source/reflector so it doesn't look like a tiny bright point source. Like this, maybe... 😉

 

[Ronaldo47]

Plenty of traditional tungsten car bulbs in my local Halfords this afternoon. Also a couple of very expensive LED replacements for conventional bulbs whose cartons have a fairly prominent warning that they are not legal for use on public roads. 

 

LED assemblies cannot replicate the essentially point source that is necessary for a traditional headlight to produce a  road-legal beam shape.

Edited July 23 by Ronaldo47

[Stroudwater1]

Is it worth looking at an older style car scrapyard or an auto jumble/ steam tractor show  perhaps? Theres huge numbers around.

 

Welland in Malvern is on this coming weekend South Cerney in a few weeks. Loads of bits and bobs including old car headlamps fittings etc. are around, Check this site for ones nearby

 

 https://www.steamheritage.co.uk/steam-rallies-and-events

 

There are some older style lights available on eBay as mentioned too. 
 

I doubt spare lamps will be a problem for very many years? 

Edited July 23 by Stroudwater1

[jonathanA]

On 23/07/2024 at 16:01, Redhawk106 said:

Im thinking these might be a good shout.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145663027669

 

At £15, cheap enough to buy to fill the 2 big circular holes and maybe never even need to use them, and they can be run on either white, amber or both combined, do that could give options to reduce blinding people in tunnels, but still give high power lights if needed in poor visibility outside of tunnels, and they can be tilted. 

 

Think that seems to cover most of the concerns raised here, and if not then they can simply just be decorative to hide the ugly mount holes. 

 

The only frustrating thing is the wattage states 120W which seems a lot and the lumens crazy high, so that's taking a step back again, so maybe they should just be decorative or pointed to the floor or ceiling if need to be used. 

 

If they are not essential as others have just posted, then mainly I just want something cheap to look good and hide the holes.

It quotes a "theoretical" 120 watts whatever that means... the lumens figure seems 'optimistic' ....  think a couple of these will be handy on my tractor though