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Thinking of installing led lights

Ricco1

By Ricco1
in Boat Equipment

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Ricco1 Rising Star

Ricco1

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I've no appetite to alter the wiring too much or spending a ton of money but if I could easily change my lights over to led's that would be nice. I currently have 'strip' type bulbs approximately 12 inches long I'm told they use 6 watts.

 

Is there a direct replacement of these strip lights that are led, would the wattage be significantly less?

 

Cheers

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Naughty Cal Veteran II

Naughty Cal

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If you have a 240v socket, buy a set of white LED Christmas tree lights and string them up around the boat, I did this, cost about a fiver, took five minutes to do and they look beautiful.

They are often 12v anyway!

 

Why convert 12v to 240v and then back to 12v?

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Southern Star Experienced

Southern Star

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They are often 12v anyway!

 

Why convert 12v to 240v and then back to 12v?

They may be, in which case the OP would only have to cut the plug off and tap them in to a 12v supply, which may or may not be more complicated than just plugging them in, depending on the electrical layout of his boat. However, as they use so little power, then powering them through the transformer will make virtually no difference to the battery drain. Whichever way though, Christmas tree LED lights do make a boat interior a lovely feel, far better than fluorescent or LED strip lights.

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matty40s Veteran II

matty40s

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There is, you have to remove the ballast from the fitting and.......

 

oh, I see 8 replies now my internet has started letting me post....

 

 

so I have looked through previous replies, and deemed my post still valid.

Christmas lights are lovely, but they are manufactured just for Christmas, not for life.

 

Bedazzled do an LED light tube that fits in the holders exactly, you will need to take the ballast out and rewire accordingly.

 

You can also get tubes from chinese suppliers, but these may not be resistant to voltage changes when you run engine/solar is frying them/wind genny is spinning in a 60mph gale, or batteries are low.

Edited by matty40s
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AndrewIC Rising Star

AndrewIC

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Depending what sort of fluorescent fitting you have (basically how much room there is inside), you may be able to strip out all the gubbins and fit a couple of "flat" LED bulbs, with minimal soldering or none at all with terminal blocks. I modified some old Labcraft Crystalite fittings with a couple of LED disks each (wire ended, from Bedazzled) very successfully. Much better than the old tubes, very bright.

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Nickhlx Veteran

Nickhlx

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I have coincidentally just bought several 5M strip led samples of both 5050 SMD leds and also 3528 SMD leds, and waterproof and non-waterproof versions, from various suppliers to see how much light they produce for their claimed "72 Watts" of consumption, and am well-pleased ( staggered) by the amount of light they produce.. (Too much for the interior of a boat perhaps ?)

 

However, points arising ...

 

They are voltage driven, with many segments (100) of "3-leds-in-series-with-a-resistor", then paralleled up and fed with 12 volts from one end... first query - The claim is that they are 12 volts, 72 watts or 6 amps... Connecting to a bench PSU set at 12.00 volts, they only draw about 3 amps, although are still very bright. Elsewhere in the marketing blurb they say they can be used "for vehicle use", which to me suggests they should be OK for up to 14 volts or so, and whacking 14 volts on their end gives close to 6 amp drain and somewhat more light. However, they also get warmer and I reckon that may make the self adhesive double-sided tape let go quicker, so I plan to stick to the suggested 12 volt rating, or mount them with some additional non temp sensitive method. Second query is I can't quite see how what looks like a very thin CSA of tape can not have significant voltage drop down its length when the early part of it is passing some nearly 6 amps... Further investigation needed ! ETA - yes about 1.5 volts drop at the other end, but little degradation in light output

 

The first application I have found for them is under the eaves of a shed, so I can see the keyholes to unlock it at night... I was going to put up a fluorescent light, and they are similarly bright as about a 58 watt tube, when running at 12 volts and drawing about half that ( difficult to do a direct comparison though), and they won't suffer with the cold like a fluorescent tube does. I have also tried them under the kitchen cupboards and they will definitely be finding a home there and saving about 40% over the fluorescents they will be replacing and giving a more even and larger area of illumination..

 

 

Good little project as I work round the new house reducing the filament lamp power being drawn, replacing with LED bulbs and strips... where appropriate

 

Nick

Edited by Nickhlx
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andy3196 Collaborator

andy3196

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. Is there a direct replacement of these strip lights that are led, would the wattage be significantly less? Cheers

Yes, bedazzled do a very nice tube, http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/12v%20&%2024v%20LED%20TUBES.htm . There is a little bit of modification needed to the fittings to remove the "starter" from the circuit, but not difficult.

 

Some photos from when I did mine at

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150335445989968.423669.551584967&type=1&l=835165c3f7 . I replaced the switches to avoid burning my fingers with a soldering iron, switches came from Maplin.

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MyLady Collaborator

MyLady

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Get Matty to install bedazzled LEDs. It didn't cost much (compared with the boat; license; insurance; etc. etc.) and altered our power balance from 2 days cruising without external charge flattening the battery bank to unlimited life. Fluorecents (sp?) are better than filament bulbs, but LEDs are best! (But get "warm white")

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Naughty Cal Veteran II

Naughty Cal

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I would always use Bedazzled over other suppliers even if products can be bought cheaper elsewhere.

 

In my experience their products are better quality and I've also had very good customer service from them.

 

The owner usually to has a stand at Crick and some other boat shows.

We have had the opposite experience. The only expensive, allegedly UK manufactured led bulb we bought from Ultra Leds broke within 12 months.

 

All of the cheap ebay ones are still working fine after four years now.

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magnetman Veteran II

magnetman

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I bought some led GU10s from a random seller on ebay a few years ago. 3w so very bright. They are fine but sometimes they kill the dab radio signal. not too serious. The only moan I have about LED lights is that in direct view they tend to leave an imprint on my retina if I look directly at them even for a very short time. Much better in reflected light applications imo. They are better than high power halogens in the sense of fire risk. those 50w ones used to get very hot and were mounted in ventilated boxes on the "ceiling" in the boat when I got it.


I might have sensitive eyes so maybe other people don't have the same problem.

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Nickhlx Veteran

Nickhlx

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Looking around the various websites, I reckon Ultraled's website has the biggest and most informative website, with the largest variation of colours and brightness's per metre of strips..

 

I thought I was doing well at 960 lumens/mtr, then discovered one of their offerings at 2880 lumens / mtr !! Naturally, the brighter ones consume more power, although I did discover that you do get more lumens/watt with the 5630 leds than e.g. 5050 or 3528 leds

 

Take a look at these ! http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/240-led-2880-lumen-24v-33-6w-cool-white-per-metre.html

 

If you consider a car headlamp is around 1400 lumens - these are twice as bright...

 

I am building a garage and am going to use LED tape lighting instead of fluorescent fittings ...

 

I actually think these are probably TOO bright for "domestic" lighting...

 

Nick

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