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LED halogen replacement bulbs


jetzi

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8 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

I’m amazed this thread went so long before we got the firerisk bollox bring trotted out....

 

we’ll need boater sams asbestos coat if some if the gloom and doom merchants are to be believed....

Well mine didn't burst into flames but the stink was something else. It happened during the day, I had inadvertently left them on and when they failed we could smell them outside the boat. I went round sniffing everything electrical I could think of, alternator, inverter etc. It was sometime later when I realised the bed head spotlights had been left on.

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13 hours ago, ivan&alice said:

Our lighting is mostly LED at 0.2A / 2.4W each, except for 3 halogen ceiling lamps at 1.67A / 20W.

I removed the reflector part from our halogen fittings and put a G4 disc LED array in of the correct size to fill the lens.  I had to trim about 0.5mm off the end of the G4 pins to get them to fit in the existing housings, but they work fine - even when my alternator regulator blew and was dumping 16+V into the system.

 

They are a bit more than a quid each, but give a lot more light!  I can't remember what make they are, as I haven't had to change one since installing them 4 years ago.  They were not a fancy brand, just a box of 24 off ebay, but meeting specific colour temperature and voltage range criteria.

Edited by TheBiscuits
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On 16/01/2019 at 10:32, ivan&alice said:


The halogens dim slightly whenever high draw items kick in (e.g. drain pumps), even if the alternator is running. This has always been the case even when the battery was brand new. So it seems to me to be quite corellated with the voltage dip. Or perhaps as we have just 1 cheap 110Ah battery it can't push out enough current to run multiple things at once.

I don't know much about brands of this kind of equipment, just wanted to make sure I was on the right track with a 12V DC to 12V DC regulator. Could you recommend a regulator (or brand of regulator) that wouldn't be risking it? We run the whole boat off 12V so it might be worth it for us to get a large, efficient 12V DC regulator that we can use for our entire 12V circuit?

Was looking for something else and came across these voltage regulators. Bedazzled supplied all the LED's on my boat and I've had one fail in eleven years, so a good chance these regulators are good quality, rather than take a chance on something from Amazon, or Ebay. They sell them to drive the long strips of LED's, but should work for your situation where you are looking to run unprotected LED's to stabilise your 12V lighting circuit.

 

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Was looking for something else and came across these voltage regulators. Bedazzled supplied all the LED's on my boat and I've had one fail in eleven years, so a good chance these regulators are good quality, rather than take a chance on something from Amazon, or Ebay. They sell them to drive the long strips of LED's, but should work for your situation where you are looking to run unprotected LED's to stabilise your 12V lighting circuit.

 

Jen

Thanks Jen, I will get this when I redo the lighting. For now, the LED replacement bulbs I bought are working a treat. I used to notice a small voltage drop of 0.1 - 0.2V when switching on the halogens, these replacements are just as bright and cause no voltage drop.

 

I've had the lights on when charging at 14.1V and with the battery run as low as I allow it to go (12.1V) and they have held up so far. They don't vary in brightness like the halogens did when pumps kicked in. As pointed out, this might be maltreatment that will cause them to die quicker, but I'm going to treat them with total disdain until two of them pop and I will have used up my spares. I'll then reassess how long they lasted and whether or not I'm ready to install something better.

I love them - really my only criticism is that they give off a relatively harsh, clinical bluish-white light. The halogens looked a little better, but not 10 times better which is what they were costing me in leccy.

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1 hour ago, ivan&alice said:

Thanks Jen, I will get this when I redo the lighting. For now, the LED replacement bulbs I bought are working a treat. I used to notice a small voltage drop of 0.1 - 0.2V when switching on the halogens, these replacements are just as bright and cause no voltage drop.

 

I've had the lights on when charging at 14.1V and with the battery run as low as I allow it to go (12.1V) and they have held up so far. They don't vary in brightness like the halogens did when pumps kicked in. As pointed out, this might be maltreatment that will cause them to die quicker, but I'm going to treat them with total disdain until two of them pop and I will have used up my spares. I'll then reassess how long they lasted and whether or not I'm ready to install something better.

I love them - really my only criticism is that they give off a relatively harsh, clinical bluish-white light. The halogens looked a little better, but not 10 times better which is what they were costing me in leccy.

relatively harsh, clinical bluish-white light

The "warm-white"  colour doesn't. It gives a slightly golden glow.  Much easier on the eyes.

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I have bought cheapo MR16 type 12V LED replacements from various places including a pound shop. One or two have failed over 3 years (2 living aboard full time) but most have been fine. One of the bayonet cap type that I have failed after just over 12 months, and this was a much more expensive voltage protected type. Luck of the draw.

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  • 8 months later...

Just to report back on this, none of the 3 LED halogen replacement bulbs have blown yet, it's been around 9 months and I've been completely disdainful of them, running them at voltages from as low as 11.7V and as high as 14.7V. No problems whatsoever.

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