AlanH Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Our boat has those square flourescent lights which are OK but the one in the bathroom has developed a fault. I would like to replace it with an LED light but I am having trouble finding one that is designed to surface mount and has a switch on it. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koukouvagia Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Our boat has those square flourescent lights which are OK but the one in the bathroom has developed a fault. I would like to replace it with an LED light but I am having trouble finding one that is designed to surface mount and has a switch on it. Any ideas? Have a look at this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blodger Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Our boat has those square flourescent lights which are OK but the one in the bathroom has developed a fault. I would like to replace it with an LED light but I am having trouble finding one that is designed to surface mount and has a switch on it. Any ideas? I think it is fairly easy to just buy normal dome lights and then modify to fit LEDs either by doing a bit of soldering or using hidden chocolate blocs. For about 99p and 2.00 p&p now you can get 48 smd/led little wired ssquare cards meant to replace festoon or halogens (the adaptors come with em) from Ebay China and they are really bright but low power. Hitherto I have soldered in the bayonet type LED's because the locating pins are offset leaving the original lamp socket intact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanH Posted July 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Have a look at this That looks just the job - thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin2 Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 That looks just the job - thanks. Jeez - you can buy those in Morrisons etc for about £3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blodger Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Jeez - you can buy those in Morrisons etc for about £3 Yes you really need to look at the lumens and k rating for yellow/blueness. Something with just 9 leds will probably disappoint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frangar Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 One thing I would say is that any replacement LED's are going to be very directional compared to a 2D fluro fitting....I have thought of replacing our 2D fittings with LED's but to be honest dont think the spread of light would come close. I know they would use less power but its nice to see what you are doing! Cheers Gareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
churchward Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 One thing I would say is that any replacement LED's are going to be very directional compared to a 2D fluro fitting....I have thought of replacing our 2D fittings with LED's but to be honest dont think the spread of light would come close. I know they would use less power but its nice to see what you are doing! Cheers Gareth That's an old way of thinking about LEDs. Much has come on and changed in recent times. Have a look at this website and flourescent tube replacements in particular. http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/12v%20&%2024v%20LED%20TUBES.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bottle Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Virtually any light fitting can now be LED compatible, there are many different adaptors. Again look at Bedazzled or Aten lighting. There are others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnmck Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi Take a look at this company. We have their products throughout the boat and they are great.(but a tad expensive) http://www.ideallights.co.uk/corporate/index.php John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castaway Posted July 18, 2011 Report Share Posted July 18, 2011 http://www.scsmicrofreeview.co.uk/scs-ledcl52-42-173-p.asp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bianca Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Be careful buying cheap LED bulbs as they are often controlled by inbuilt resistors and 12v bulbs can seriously overheat at 15v which a typical equalising charging voltage for properly cycled deep discharge batteries. Try http://www.boatlamps.co.uk they sell a vast range of 10-30v constant-current LED products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanS Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 We put in 220V 8Watt "green" bayonet bulbs. One in lounge. One in galley. One in bedroom. They work WELL. ...and the wiring doesnt have to be able to support huge current. Only worth it if you have your inverter on for other things for most of the time which we do. (at night). We have a few 12V backup lights. (and we keep our batteries seperate, so if one set go down, the other system still has power)...but beware...we do everything wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semitrad Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 We put in 220V 8Watt "green" bayonet bulbs. One in lounge. One in galley. One in bedroom. They work WELL. ...and the wiring doesnt have to be able to support huge current. Only worth it if you have your inverter on for other things for most of the time which we do. (at night). We have a few 12V backup lights. (and we keep our batteries seperate, so if one set go down, the other system still has power)...but beware...we do everything wrong. Do you happen to have a diagram for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbybass Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 (edited) We have some 230 volt energy savers as well..in a nice standard lamp...and a nice Tiffany table lamp. They are 230 volt at 11 watts....which we use on the invertor. We often leave the standard lamp on when we go to the pub...as the main draw is the invetor loss...which is only a couple of A/hrs. The actual bulbs are so low in power draw ...its almost difficult to calculate...or to see on the guage. bob Edited August 5, 2011 by Bobbybass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WotEver Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 Do you happen to have a diagram for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex- Member Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 Be careful buying cheap LED bulbs as they are often controlled by inbuilt resistors and 12v bulbs can seriously overheat at 15v which a typical equalising charging voltage for properly cycled deep discharge batteries. Try http://www.boatlamps.co.uk they sell a vast range of 10-30v constant-current LED products. We made this mistake, we bought 30 x MR16 led's with 20 led's in each, about 6 years ago, within 6 months most of the individual bulbs in each light bulb had blown. I then found out that led's don't like voltages above 13.5 volts. We replaced the 30 led's with some more MR16 led's from china, they were brighter with 30 led's and were slightly tinted to mimic halogen bulbs, cost less than a fiver each about 3 years ago, however we fitted 12 volt voltage regulators to all the light fittings before fitting them, none have blown as yet so the reg''s doing it's job. So cheap bulbs are fine if you regulate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelunga Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 That's an old way of thinking about LEDs. Much has come on and changed in recent times. Have a look at this website and flourescent tube replacements in particular. http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/12v%20&%2024v%20LED%20TUBES.htm I can also recommend Bedazzled. When I found that some of the Leds I had bought from him over a year ago could give interference to my wireless, he offered to swap them for the latest versikn FOC. As it was when I tested for the exact cause of the interference I could not repeat it so did not take up his offer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiny Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 We have some 230 volt energy savers as well..in a nice standard lamp...and a nice Tiffany table lamp. They are 230 volt at 11 watts....which we use on the invertor. We often leave the standard lamp on when we go to the pub...as the main draw is the invetor loss...which is only a couple of A/hrs. The actual bulbs are so low in power draw ...its almost difficult to calculate...or to see on the guage. bob We found that at home the new energy savers were not a match for their equilalent bulbs. But now we have found we can buy ones that still fit in a lamp and are 150 and 220 watt bulb equilalents - ideal for the older eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsmelly Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 (edited) Our boat has those square flourescent lights which are OK but the one in the bathroom has developed a fault. I would like to replace it with an LED light but I am having trouble finding one that is designed to surface mount and has a switch on it. Any ideas? Hi Our boat had the round version of those u have with the D type flourescent bulb things fitted, each one used to draw 1 amp each with a reasonable light output. They started to go wrong and at 54 squid each we looked for an alternative and found at Midland swindlers some great replacements. they are round but will cover the same space as your square ones they are surface mounted and individualy switched they have I think twenty odd leds in each and give out nearly as much light as the others did BUT only draw 0.2 of an amp and at less than twelve quid each I replaced all my deckhead lights and am well pleased they have worked at all voltages without fault for about a year. I have a spare one I can dig out if you need the stock number, they are brass so Swindlers will probably know which ones thay are. Edited August 5, 2011 by mrsmelly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjasmith Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 So cheap bulbs are fine if you regulate them. (snipped) Well not entirely! The regulator on its own will still let through short spikes of very high voltage that a boat system has a habit of producing occasionally. Some LED lamp suppliers provide optional and basic spike protection devices to go with their products. eg I think Bedazzled do. These spikes may at any unpredictable moment cause damage to unprotected electronic devices. Gibbo of this parish wrote extensively on this subject a year or so ago and gave details of a more comprehensive spike suppression circuit. I wrote the thread details down in my (paper) notebook so I can always find it. Trouble is I've now got to go looking for my notebook. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanS Posted August 5, 2011 Report Share Posted August 5, 2011 Do you happen to have a diagram for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bianca Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 We made this mistake, we bought 30 x MR16 led's with 20 led's in each, about 6 years ago, within 6 months most of the individual bulbs in each light bulb had blown. I then found out that led's don't like voltages above 13.5 volts. We replaced the 30 led's with some more MR16 led's from china, they were brighter with 30 led's and were slightly tinted to mimic halogen bulbs, cost less than a fiver each about 3 years ago, however we fitted 12 volt voltage regulators to all the light fittings before fitting them, none have blown as yet so the reg''s doing it's job. So cheap bulbs are fine if you regulate them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bianca Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 I'm not sure what you mean by a voltage regulator, do you mean a suppressor designed for spikes or a seporate electronic circuit to regulate voltage to 12v the latter being much more expensive? I ask this because some so called voltage regulators turn out to be simple varistors designed to break down above 12v and protect a device from short duration voltage spikes, generated by fridge thermostats etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex- Member Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Yes, The majority of our bulbs now in the boat are from china under a fiver each 2 years ago, 30 led's per bulb and yellowed to mimic halogen bulbs. They've been in 2 years now and none have blown, used on av 3 to 4 days a week. We bought some small regulators to protect them. http://www.reuk.co.uk/buy-12-VOLT-REGULATOR.htm I wired these in to cover 4 to 6 bulbs each, it will protect up to ten though depending on bulb wattage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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