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LED headlights.


Detling

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I couldn't agree more.

 

Some of these are very bad news.

I was recently completely blinded by a boat coming towards me in Braunston tunnel that had a bar like arrangement across much of the top of the cabin.  Two very powerful forward facing lights at each end of the bar, and a massive matrix of lower powered ones filling the whole gap in between.

 

Unfortunately they also decided to actually stop in the S-bend part of the tunnel, but I was unable to see exactly how, because I was blinded and could not judge if their bows were at least tight to the side.

It transpired it wasn't, and the resulting bash was quite severe.  Had I been able to see anything of their boat, I would have been able to avoid what happened, but I was deprived of any visual information of what the spotlights were hiding.

Another issue is that if people replace standard tunnel lights with LED ones, because they draw far less current, most of the volts drop that might have occurred along a cable along most of the length of the boat n longer does.  Hence the lights are driven by a higher voltage at the actual light than was the case for what they replaced, and the increased nuisance value is even greater.

I hate these things.

  • Greenie 3
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Halogen? halogen?    Ive been accused of blinding people with a 21watt bulb in the past..

we used to have an oil light on the front and i know of several old boats who still have. Its fine.

went through netherton yesterday didnt even bother with headlight engine room light was fine.

The led and light bar brigade have only themselves to blame when hit by others.

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We traversed Harecastle today. The boat behind had a sort of strip light of LEDs, extremely bright. Had I looked behind me I think I would have been turned to stone. As it was, I certainly didn’t need my own light even though he was 100 yds behind. Let us hope that he only boats on narrow canals with 1 way traffic! We have an enormous Francis light (F11) which looks impressive but in fact is an ideal tunnel lamp when defocussed. There is a ring of light around the outside, and it’s black in the middle so as not to dazzle. In addition I can dim it if necessary (joys of Empirbus), which I usually do when passing boats in 2 way tunnels.

Edited by nicknorman
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3 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

Quite agree.

I find the most useful aid to navigating a tunnel is having all the cabin lights on.

Agreed. I’m just showing off now but I have a keypad button near the steering position that turns all interior light on. Another to turn them all of after exiting the tunnel. Empirbus again!

  • Greenie 1
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I changed over to 36W LEDs because I got fed up with the filament bulb packing up as soon as I got into a tunnel.

Yes, they are incredibly bright so I fitted them behind  the glass in the cratch board and I diffuse them with a sheet of paper in front when in a tunnel but enjoy the full glare when night boating.

They point up at the tunnel roof and walls anyway.

They double as a cratch light if I swivel them inboard, great for doing jigsaws and late BBQs.

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We have an LED light on our boat but it is pointed upwards and towards the right so I can see where I'm going but not blind a boat coming towards me. It did take a bit of trial and error to find the best angle for it.

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5 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

I must admit was wondering about fitting an LED bulb to my tunnel light, but since I have now got the dear old halogen bulb working again (and goodness knows how old it is!) I'll stick with that. 

Several of our club boats fitted these LED lights which turne night into day, and I followed suit... cruising in the dark was a pleasure!

 

However, I saw one of our boaters on the towpath truly blinded by my light, took a look myself, and immediately took steps to fit an "old fashioned" 55W halogen yellowish fog light. Shows the way ahead fine, doesnt blind anyone, and it doesnt matter how many Amps it draws, because the engine is always running when it's on.

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I thought tunnel lights were to show the tunnel wall not the way ahead. We are not doing a massive speed - why do you need to see so far ahead?

 

I have 2 of these LED lights fitted both are turned 60 degrees outwards to the tunnel walls as well as 45 degrees up, The one at the stern with me is at 45 degrees up on the centre line. I have asked boaters coming towards me in the tunnels when we finally pass slowly and all have said no problem. If I do need to travel at night, although why is beyond me,  it is a moment to adjust the angles.

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10 hours ago, Richard T said:

We have an LED light on our boat but it is pointed upwards and towards the right so I can see where I'm going but not blind a boat coming towards me. It did take a bit of trial and error to find the best angle for it.

We do the same, point up to see the profile of the roof and to the right the lights are LED we have been blinded many times by those with BIG brass search light that always point forward with a long beam never yet seen one at the correct angle, why?

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14 hours ago, dogless said:

As one only ever uses the tunnel light with the engine running, I've never quite understood where their power saving is relevant.

 

Rog

That's my thinking too.

 

ETA But there was the time on the BCN Challenge a couple of years ago when it was chucking it down with rain (rain, rain? What's that? But I digress.....) and I forgot to turn it off when we stopped for the night.

Oops.

 

:unsure:

Edited by Victor Vectis
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14 hours ago, nicknorman said:

Agreed. I’m just showing off now but I have a keypad button near the steering position that turns all interior light on. Another to turn them all of after exiting the tunnel. Empirbus again!

Was he another Greek bloke?

 

A mate of Telemachewotsit perhaps?

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14 hours ago, dogless said:

As one only ever uses the tunnel light with the engine running, I've never quite understood where their power saving is relevant.

 

Rog

The only incandescent bulbs now left on my boat are in the navigation lights and the tunnel light I use for tunnels with two way working. The super bright LED tunnel light I originally made for Standedge, is restricted to tunnels with one way working at a time.

 

Jen

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