LED lights in the cabin

[Galeomma]

I decided for power reasons to change my lights for LED's.

 

The one in the engineroom is great, nice and bright but in the cabin I find them horrible, too bright and white. I'm tempted to put my old yellowish lamps back as the cabin feels so much warmer with them.

 

Has anyone got LED lights that aren't 'cold' and didn't cost a bedazzled arm and leg?

[GoodGurl]

sounds like you ordered the wrong ones, there are 2 types Warm White and Cool White, you needed the warm white they give off a yellowish colour as opposed to the cool white which are a clinical white light.

[KJT]

'Warm White' is the way to go. You clearly have the 'Cold White' which give off a more clinical type of light IMHO.

 

You can get cheap ones from eBay but I found them either unreliable or interfered with my DAB radio. In the end I replaced them over time with ones from Bedazzled and Baddie the Pirate. No complaints at all with those and they have been in place now for three years. The 'warm white' ones from both those suppliers also seem to have a brighter, warmer light output than the original, cheaper 'warm white' ones I had installed previously.

 

'You pays your money and takes your choice' as they say.

 

Ken

[jonesthenuke]

I installed some LEDs (G4 style) and found the cold White light horrible so changed to warm white. I bought from EBAY (see item number 261368906383) from a Chinese supplier called led-marktet. These have a 3 year warranty, and more importantly, have built in regulation so they work over a wide voltage range. I doubt if the warranty would get you much but the price is pretty good so this does not worry me.

[Phil Ambrose]

There is usually a reason why things are cheaper/expensive and having read many posts over the last few years about LED lights when I changed to them I went for Bedazzled.

Phil

[starman]

Got my warm whites from Baddie and they are excellent. No problems with light quality or quantity.

[Québec]

I understand the arguments around regulated LEDs, and don't want to start yet another row, but just saying that we changed to warm white LEDs using £8 packs of three 3 MR16s 85lumens from a well-known DIY store. Been in for two years now. Still working.

 

Also recently bought some of these LED reading/spot lights, on sale. Usually c. £14-15. Very happy with them. Lovely atmosphere at night in the cabin.

http://www.budgetchandlery.com/ekmps/shops/oceans7marine/images/light-led-lumo-eco-spotlight-brass-176-p.jpg

[Pykebird]

I love my led lights having resisted for years! I got mine from bedazzled after trawling around the internet and cannot fault their service.

Got a combination of warm and cool lights and when I an afford it will get the holders. My original ones are hexagonal and got feed up looking for ones in led to match!

I am afraid I still like to check how much power they use and am pleased to say I can have all of the lights on in the boat and it is the same as one of my halogens, sorted!

[DaveP]

I'm a sucker for gadgets, and the latest Poundland trip landed me a 9-led usb gooseneck light; which has proved excellent for lighting the engine 'ole. Not, of course, the best thing for general lighting but maybe good as a reading light.

 

http://www.poundland.co.uk/usb-powered-led-light

[Kwacker]

My main cabin lighting now comes from multi-coloured LED strips fitted under the gunnels. They were £10 each and run 5 metres, so they light the saloon and the kitchen with whichever colour I choose (including white) and are dimmable .
Added to that we use a small desk spot lamp for reading.
The overhead lights - converted to LED - only get used if we've lost something.

Edited October 12, 2014 by Kwacker

[ditchcrawler]

sounds like you ordered the wrong ones, there are 2 types Warm White and Cool White, you needed the warm white they give off a yellowish colour as opposed to the cool white which are a clinical white light.

I used a mixture of both, but didn't get them there.

[Kwacker]

deleted

Edited October 12, 2014 by Kwacker

[Galeomma]

My main cabin lighting now comes from multi-coloured LED strips fitted under the gunnels. They were £10 each and run 5 metres, so they light the saloon and the kitchen with whichever colour I choose (including white) and are dimmable .

Added to that we use a small desk spot lamp for reading.

The overhead lights - converted to LED - only get used if we've lost something.

 

 

Have you got a link for those please!

[Kwacker]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141337949868?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&var=440465706702&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

I used 5m 5050 waterproof coloured lamps, with the remote control, but without the 240v power supply, wired via One of these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-DC-Plug-Off-Switch-Connector-Single-Colour-LED-Strip-Lights-CCTV-/400687139360?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Lighting_Parts&hash=item5d4ad08a20

 

I am considering running a couple of concealed strips down the centreline of the roof to replace the centre lights and around the shower enclosure.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Kwacker

[Dave Payne]

Do you have a lady dancing round that pole?

[craftycarper]

I am quite lucky in that I have a massive industrial estate a stones throw from my house, and within this estate is an electrical wholesaler that deals in some pretty ground braking gear I have one led light that has white leds if you turn the switch one way or blue LEDs if you turn it the other way he told me they are very popular with the caravan brigade so may be worth a look on there type of sites,even better than this I popped in the other week to get some new back lights for my truck and he had just taken delivery of some very new led lights that look almost like a sheet of paper no sign of a bulb just two wires to join to the old wires and the sheet of paper lights up, they are mint and should be coming on the market anytime now not as bright as normal led but a lot brighter than the old tubes, a really nice working light, so if I,m just chilling I have the blue one on if I'm trying to see what I'm doing I use the wafer thin ones as there pretty cool they have a switch built in and appear to be regulated as well

[Kwacker]

Do you have a lady dancing round that pole?

Open to good offers ...... but don't tell the wife.

[Sabcat]

I installed some LEDs (G4 style) and found the cold White light horrible so changed to warm white. I bought from EBAY (see item number 261368906383) from a Chinese supplier called led-marktet. These have a 3 year warranty, and more importantly, have built in regulation so they work over a wide voltage range. I doubt if the warranty would get you much but the price is pretty good so this does not worry me.

 

Checking their listings you can get 10 for £15.33 (251556997657) so I've taken a punt. I had a look at Bedazzled, I've emailed to tell them that 1997's been on the phone and wants its website back.

[Rambling]

I excitedly replaced all my halogens with cheap eBay LEDs. They flicker and one has emitted plastic stinky burning smoke and blown that particular circuit. I am throwing them all in the bin and buying from bedazzled. The last thing I need is a fire

[Shockabilly]

I replaced all mine with Bedazzled ware…one of my best friend's is a very experienced electrician who has his own business, I asked him if I was being befuddled by bedazzled and his reply was that on a boat, caravan etc it was of the utmost importance that safety was the key and that buying cheap Ebay/Maplins/Poundstretcher type LED's was a bit of a gamble, they might be good, bad or plain dangerous…they may have even been sourced from the same Chinese manufacturer used by bedazzled, but and he stressed the word 'but' you have no way of knowing until you smell burning, at which point it might well be too late.

[Jambo]

Given that LEDs last so long I really don't think that the Bedazzled prices are that expensive and the quality is good. Sure you can get them cheaper but when something lasts tens of thousands of hours, a few quid either way doesn't make a meaningful difference.

 

Anyway, it's worth contacting Bedazzled because they have (or at least used to have) Extra Warm White lamps which have a colour temperature of 2700K which is pretty much the same as incandescents. The Warm White are 3000K which is too cool for my liking. The 2700K lamps have a slightly lower light output than the cooler colour temperatures but give a nice warm light.

[Kwacker]

I've been pleased with the LEDs that I bought here

http://www.litecone.co.uk/g4-back-pin-c102x1888029

 

and much cheaper than Befuddled

[Kwacker]

Whilst I remember, I was the subject of a fine example of Sod's Law when I converted my boat to LED lighting.

After fitting the last set of lamps, we noticed a hint of burning plastic, and mindful of some of the dire warnings on here, I did the nose test on each lamp .... nothing, the smell diminished. and we ran out of time and had to leave the boat.

Next visit, all well for an hour or so, then burning plastic smell, then gone again ...... begining to worry.

Long story shortened, turned out to be a piece of cling film stuck to the fridge lamp !!!!

Only found it when I investigated changing it to LED.

[Sabcat]

The 10 I ordered off the bay have turned up from Beijing. I've put 6 in the galley, seem ok, no burning smell.. They've been on for a few hours now. They're supposed to be warm white, not sure if they are or not without having any to compare them with. They're certainly a lot more white than halogens, not unpleasant, pretty much ideal for the galley, not sure about the saloon. It's hard to tell how harsh they are while there's day light, I'll leave them on until I go to bed, see what they're like when it's dark. At less than £2 each I can't complain.

Edited October 26, 2014 by Sabcat

[Sabcat]

Just checked ebay, I ordered cool white. Doh. A tragic waste of £16. Assuming my boat doesn't burst into flames though I'm going to order another 20 warm ones. Looking at the pics on the litecone link, they're exactly the same units with the same components. I suspect they're the exact same units that Bedazzled sell as well.