Has anyone ever seen any...

[kayDee]

Has anyone ever seen any clear 12V LED arrays (usually about 12+) fitted into one of the bayonet style sockets so they can directly replace the normal higher wattage bulbs?

These would be to replace the standard 'car brake light' type of bulb that we currently have in our 12V wall lights. I think the LED's are a really low current draw compared to the bulbs.

I'm just trying everything I can to get the current we use down as low as I can...

I've seen a few on eBay but they've been coloured LEDs - red or amber for automotive use - not clear ones...

Kay

x

[alan_fincher]

Kay,

 

It will not give you the same power saving as a switch to LEDs, but substituting Halogen bulbs for normal ones can approximately halve your power requirements. A 10W Halogen bulb gives out similar light to a 20W "standard" one, with the advantage it's the same "sort" of incandescent light.

 

I think I would struggle to live with an all LED solution, from what I've seen, although I know others are happy with them.

 

Halogen bulbs are not particularly cheap, particularly if of the type with a glass enclosure over the Halogen capsule. If you can find the type without the outer glass they can be half the cost, but you are nor supposed to handle the glass capsule when fitting them.

 

Alan

[Keeping Up]

It will not give you the same power saving as a switch to LEDs, but substituting Halogen bulbs for normal ones can approximately halve your power requirements. A 10W Halogen bulb gives out similar light to a 20W "standard" one, with the advantage it's the same "sort" of incandescent light ... Halogen bulbs are not particularly cheap, particularly if of the type with a glass enclosure over the Halogen capsule.

That's what we use. They are definitely brighter, and more long-lasting, than the ordinary incandescent "bus bulbs" that were there before and which consumed twice the power.

 

Midland chandlers, for example, sell them as "10W Halogen BC Bus Bulbs" for £6.70. The "BC" means bayonet connector, the same as a 240v household bulb (the smaller version is called SBC, and the coprresponding screw-in ones are ES and SES). The description "Bus" refers to their rounded shape, rather than the pear shape of domestic bulbs, corresponding to the way the old buses were lit with a series of round bulbs in the roof.

 

The halogen bus bulbs have a conventional halogen bulb (like a headlamp bulb) encased in a round glass globe. As Alan says, it's useful that on these it is perfectly OK to handle the glass when fitting them

[churchward]

Has anyone ever seen any clear 12V LED arrays (usually about 12+) fitted into one of the bayonet style sockets so they can directly replace the normal higher wattage bulbs?

These would be to replace the standard 'car brake light' type of bulb that we currently have in our 12V wall lights. I think the LED's are a really low current draw compared to the bulbs.

I'm just trying everything I can to get the current we use down as low as I can...

I've seen a few on eBay but they've been coloured LEDs - red or amber for automotive use - not clear ones...

Kay

x

#

Sure have. You can get LED bulbs that fit the bayonet style. you can get them at approx the equivalent of a 18w halogen some even brighter. They consume about 2 watts so about a tenth of a 21W incandesent car bulb. They come in a bright white and a warm white light the latter is an aproximation of a tungsten bulb kind of light. I got mine from the following web site and use them throughout the boat.

 

http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/

 

You can get them elsewhere as well. However, what I like about these guys is that they supply voltage suppressors and a fuse system that should protect you bulbs for a longer life and is easy to wire in with the unit.

Edited January 28, 2009 by churchward

[Denis R]

I've got a mixture of LED, bayonet and halogen lighting and the LED lights are really no more than 'mood lighting'

You might find that if you make a direct replacement, one for one, you'll have a very 'moody' boat.

[churchward]

I've got a mixture of LED, bayonet and halogen lighting and the LED lights are really no more than 'mood lighting'

You might find that if you make a direct replacement, one for one, you'll have a very 'moody' boat.

 

Horses for courses I guess but I disagree if you get the right bulbs all LED is just fine for us. We have them in all overhead and wall reading lamps (using focused bulbs in these) For me brightness is as good as Halogen as I say with the correct bulbs.

[Lady Muck]

Horses for courses I guess but I disagree if you get the right bulbs all LED is just fine for us. We have them in all overhead and wall reading lamps (using focused bulbs in these) For me brightness is as good as Halogen as I say with the correct bulbs.

 

Where did you get them? Weve lots of the brass effect swivel type spotlights from Uxbridge boat centre - I know they draw quite a lot of power and I deliberately haven't replaced any of the blown bulbs because I'm looking for a less power hungry solution- am i correct in thinking that if you dont get leds suitable for a boats' 12v electricity supply they blow quite quickly?

[Tam & Di]

- am i correct in thinking that if you dont get leds suitable for a boats' 12v electricity supply they blow quite quickly?

 

We use halogens, and buy 28v ones from UBC for our 24v system. 24v batteries charge at 28v and we found we were not getting anything like the hours of use we were supposed to get when we used standard 24v bulbs. We did have to go for a higher wattage version too, as otherwise the lights were much dimmer. I'm sure the same must apply to a 12v system.

[churchward]

Where did you get them? Weve lots of the brass effect swivel type spotlights from Uxbridge boat centre - I know they draw quite a lot of power and I deliberately haven't replaced any of the blown bulbs because I'm looking for a less power hungry solution- am i correct in thinking that if you dont get leds suitable for a boats' 12v electricity supply they blow quite quickly?

 

Yes you need at least automotive quality LEDs to cope with voltage fluctuation. The wall lights we have use MR16 fittings we got some from here

 

http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/

 

and http://www.campercare.co.uk/catalogue/Inde...TS&brandID=

 

The good thing with the bedazzled ones are that they come with a couple of components you can fit to the lamp wiring that protect the LED bulb and so last longer. They are also UK spec so don't have any radio interference issues that some Chinese cheap units can have.

 

Thus far we are very happy with them and have cut our energy consumption via lights by 10. In the Kitchen area where perhaps you want a more intense light and greater coverage we have just put in a strip of 3 roof light G4 (20W equiv each) LED lights which is great for cooking and still only 6w in total.

 

Of course some of these bulbs and fittings are not the cheapest by a long way but it wasn't cost saving I was after just using less energy per day and less drain on the batteries.

[ditchcrawler]

We use halogens, and buy 28v ones from UBC for our 24v system. 24v batteries charge at 28v and we found we were not getting anything like the hours of use we were supposed to get when we used standard 24v bulbs. We did have to go for a higher wattage version too, as otherwise the lights were much dimmer. I'm sure the same must apply to a 12v system.

I tried this and found the 24 volt ones lasted better than the 28 which I can say surprised me

 

Where did you get them? Weve lots of the brass effect swivel type spotlights from Uxbridge boat centre - I know they draw quite a lot of power and I deliberately haven't replaced any of the blown bulbs because I'm looking for a less power hungry solution- am i correct in thinking that if you dont get leds suitable for a boats' 12v electricity supply they blow quite quickly?

The ones I have were fitted with capsual lamps with thin stiff wire conections that push in small holes. I replaced them with Dichloric shaped LEDs from

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/

[stickleback]

I bought some from Bedazzled - if you go to Whilton marina and ask at the chandlers they will direct you to where he lives / has a shop.

 

He's bought a bit of land on the non towpath side and lives in his boat, and has a large sort of mobile shop where he can demonstrate the various units.

 

We haven't yet fitted ours, but they seemed bright enough - quite as bright, I'd say, as the car brake light type bulbs we have now.

 

Stickleback

[Nine of Hearts]

I've got some low power 12v flourescents in B22D bayonets on my boat, don't know if this is worth investigating for you?

 

Leisure Power

[kayDee]

Hi all...

Thank you for your help on this. I will have a look into some of the suggestions and see what I can come up with!

Thanks again!

Kay

x

[koukouvagia]

I think you’ll be disappointed if you are expecting to replace a conventional bulb with an LED. I’ve found that you need three LEDs to give you the same brightness as a bus bulb. I’ve replaced each conventional light fitting with a G4 strip of 3 LEDS http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/Light_Fittings.htm ) 9 LED lights in the main cabin are, I reckon, equivalent to the three halogen ones they replace and, of course, they use a fraction of the power. Not cheap, though.

Edited January 29, 2009 by koukouvagia

[kayDee]

I think you’ll be disappointed if you are expecting to replace a conventional bulb with an LED. I’ve found that you need three LEDs to give you the same brightness as a bus bulb. I’ve replaced each conventional light fitting with a G4 strip of 3 LEDS http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/Light_Fittings.htm ) 9 LED lights in the main cabin are, I reckon, equivalent to the three halogen ones they replace and, of course, they use a fraction of the power. Not cheap, though.

 

Hi

Its actually an array (or cluster) of LED's that I wanted (see 1st post) as I know that one LED won't really be of any use.

Kay

x

Edited January 29, 2009 by kayDee

[Nickhlx]

Hi

Its actually an array (or cluster) of LED's that I wanted (see 1st post) as I know that one LED won't really be of any use.

Kay

x

 

 

Whilst doing some electrical work in France last weekend, some of the bulbs being used were 230V a.c. 1 watt and 3 watt LED like the Dichroics we all know - these were off the shelf in the supermarket and around £6 for two for the "1 watters" .

 

Light was not " room filling", obviously, but even one was certainly enough to read by - they had a sort of "entrance porch" with 8 of them and that lit up a 6 foot by 3 foot area quite adequately.

 

My point is that there seem to be better options per pound over there which sooner or later will find their way here

 

Nick

[ayeaye]

Whilst doing some electrical work in France last weekend, some of the bulbs being used were 230V a.c. 1 watt and 3 watt LED like the Dichroics we all know - these were off the shelf in the supermarket and around £6 for two for the "1 watters" .

 

Light was not " room filling", obviously, but even one was certainly enough to read by - they had a sort of "entrance porch" with 8 of them and that lit up a 6 foot by 3 foot area quite adequately.

 

My point is that there seem to be better options per pound over there which sooner or later will find their way here

 

Nick

Yes I think LEDs have a long way to go we got for our reading lights a 21 cluster led from Leisure Power and we're very happy with them they do have voltage controlers in them but not cheap at £14 each though they may have dropped in price as it was 2 years ago they only use 1 and a half watts Brenda

[Nickhlx]

Yes I think LEDs have a long way to go we got for our reading lights a 21 cluster led from Leisure Power and we're very happy with them they do have voltage controlers in them but not cheap at £14 each though they may have dropped in price as it was 2 years ago they only use 1 and a half watts Brenda

 

 

The ones I was using were 21 LED "bayonet" mount items as well - I was quite surprised how bright they were for 1 watt, and they did have a selection of coloured and colour changing ones as well - all impressively bright and even more impressively cheap - around £3 each.

 

Nick