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Service Life(Hrs) Of Festoon Bulb Running Light

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/08/2007 : 07:53:00

Anyone know how long the festoon bulbs last in the Aqua Signal Bi-Color Running Light ? I was out sailing last night and my running light went dead (stern light was still working). I re[placed the Festoon bulb in the fixture about 1 year ago...maybe 14 months. I estimate it had no more than 50 hrs on it. It surely must be rated to last longer than that ? I will replace it today or tomorrow but......if all they get is 50 hrs...I may reconsider replacing it with an LED as I did the anchor light. I did not do this with the running light because the running lights is so much more accessible. But...I do not like being out there without my bow running light on...so is going dead after 50 hrs normal or on the early side ?

Larry
'89 Robin's Nest#5820, Potomac River/Quantico, Va
http://catalina25.homestead.com/olarryr.html

Edited by - on

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 10/08/2007 : 08:26:20

What was the condition of the fixture when you replaced the bulb? Any bulb can be short lived just as a function of chance, I would not get depressed just yet. Also it seems things like bulbs are not maufactured to the same standards as in the "good old days".
This should be the winter that I get serious about rewiring my boat, I will probably convert everything to LED.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 10/08/2007 : 08:43:38

It was too dark to take a serious look at the fixture and how well it closes/seals. I'll remove the bulb later today or tomorrow after work.

Frank - Agree going with LEDs all-around ! I went that way with my anchor light (when I was in the midst of rewiring) because it seemed to make the most sense...It's in the least convenient location to change a bulb out and if sleeping overnight it significantly cuts down the battery drain considering how many hrs it would be on overnight and approx .15-.20 amps/hr versus .87 amps/hr is the drain comparison.

But when I started to price the LEDs for other lights...the cost was very expensive for bulbs that were relatively easy to change out (Navigation lights) and the daily battery drain was low...maybe 2 hrs use of the lights any one night...and my solar panel could easily recharge what my motor did not. I used an OGM LED Anchor Light but for the bow bi-color running light, I had my eye on the Lopolight. The Lopolight is something like...$200 !

There are replacement bulbs (LED) that you can put in almost any light fixture at a fraction of the cost of replacing the entire housing. But the LED market is not so standardized in how they rate these bulb replacements. If I were to replace a navigation light, I would want to make sure it was USCG approved/certified to ensure it was going to produce the proper lighting. THe OGM Anchor light received a USCG certification ...they have the documents on their website. I noticed a few others also have received USCG certification but not all. The Lopolight as of last year did not have USCG certification but did have so from an international Board..I have to check that out again. Bulbs by themselves are not USCG certified....only complete fixtures.

Anyway....from checking the web this morning it would seem that Festoon incandescents should get a minimum of 3000 hrs. If they were halogen or xenon...then the service hrs go up to 5000 or maybe as high as 10000 hrs. So....maybe I just had a reject bulb....or it has a weak connection.....it better not be the wiring or I will not be a happy camper. Doubt it's the wiring...stern light works and it's on same circuit...also the bow bulb was replaced just 12-14 mos ago and I bet it's dead again as most likely cause.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 10/08/2007 : 08:45:21

I figured about 1 season per bulb regardless of the usage. Were the contacts corroded?

In a marine environment it is really tough to guage lifespan rain, spray, high humidity etc are all going to play a part.

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 10/08/2007 : 14:02:24

I sail in freshwater (Potomac) year-round. I took the bulb out today. The housing looks fine and the rubber gasket is intact and seals. I bought Festoon bulbs (2 in a pack made by Ancor) from West Marine. I will install it probably tomorrow. Hopefully, that should do the trick and if it soes...easy enough to accomplish.

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 10/08/2007 : 15:17:38

When I went to pick up the Festoon bulb from West Marine, I thought it was going to be a 12V 10 Watt .87 amp Incandescent bulb. Turns out those sold by Ancor with the dimples is a 12V 10 Watt .42 amp bulb. But I noticed some others sold by Ancor that were 12V 10 watt .75 amps and still others that were same but .83 amps. The higher amp Festoons were with cone points facing outward rather than the .42 Amp that had dimples and were duplicate to the ones in the Aqua Signal(Series 25) Bi-Color light that I have on my bow. The old bulb only indicates 12V 10 Watt - Does not list amperage. West Marine had an Aqua Signal Catalog but the Series 25 lights do not indicate the amperage.

Giving this some thought, I believe the amperage of the bulbs I bought are correct. I know that the original Aqual Signal Anchor light is .87 amps and is good for 2NM (1 Festoon bulb). The bow running light believe is rated for only 1NM and so....believe that is why it is about half the amperage of the Anchor light. It may be that the Festoons are distinguished by dimples for 1NM (half the amps) and with the cones/points for 2NM (.87 amps). This is for the incandescent ones. I believe they are also sold as Xenon Festoon Bulbs, maybe Halogen and Ancor announced in 2006 bringing out an LED Festoon bulb as another alternative.

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2007 : 00:33:39

Odd to be listed with different amperages and still 10w. Basic formula is P=ie: power (watts) equals current times voltage. Wattage is a measure of power consumption, not light output or range - .41A at 12V would be about 5 watts. Lumens is the actual light output and in conjunction with reflectors determines range

Dave B aboard Pearl

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2007 : 05:21:12

Dave,

Exactly my thought ! My posting was long enough without getting into that in more detail, so I figured I would wait and see if any comments regarding the 10 watt listing and yet different amps on each Festoon package (and by same mfr - Ancor). At first I thought it was a typo on the package...how could they have different amps and same volts and watts.

I was almost tempted to buy a new Aqua Signal Series 25 housing figuring it comes with the right bulb...but...that seemed an overkill. When I was changing the anchor light to LED last summer, I know that the incandescent bulb was rated at .87 amps for 2NM. Not sure where I got that info...maybe the Catalina 25 Specs. In any case...believe the requirement for our boat size for the bow running light is 1NM and so from that info....42 amps then does make sense....as to what is needed in the housing but not in how you calculate it. Also interesting that the festoon bulbs in the West marine store seemed to have the dimples for the lower amps and the cone points for the higher amps. I did not see any exceptions on their rack and so maybe that is how the proper Festoon is ensured to be installed since the bow light can only except festoons with the dimples.

(You know...it isn't until your light goes out..that you start to notice how bright the light is on some boats.)

One of those mysteries in life ? I am sure there is an answer to all of this. Maybe I will check out the Aqua Signal website again and see if I can forward an EMail and get their poop on all of this.

After work today...I will install the festoon and hopefully that will get my light working again. Pretty sure it is just the bulb and not the wiring.

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2007 : 07:36:18

It's not a bad thing to open up the LED issue again. It seems each month a new version of LED's hits the web and the prices seem to fall faster than the snow (much faster than snow in florida

)

There are some really good LEDs available for our nav lights now. I know that when we upgraded our anchor light to LED, it was the brightest of all the boats in our regular anchorage in Biscayne bay (close to Sands Key) I hope to upgrade to LEDs before we head off to the Catalina Rendevous in November. My intent is to replace all the lamps on board with LEDs.

Larry, <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">42amps<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> Phew! glad I have Airconditioning!

Paul

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Cate
Navigator

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199 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2007 : 11:05:59

If you guys have some links to LED bulbs for our boats it would be much appreciated. We are stepping the mast for winter storage and it would be a great time to put some LEDs in. I assume these are just LED bulbs and will fit in original C25 housing?

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2007 : 11:32:12

Paul,

Funny, funny, funny 42 amps..."glad I have airconditioning !"

My EMail quickies oftentimes typed to quickly and make all sorts of mistakes. Some of which i would make even if i typed slowly and proofed my work. I guess i am in the habit of putting too many "......" and so the real important one in front of 42 gets lost (.42 amps). Tell you the truth, the past few days we have had extremely warm weather and that is with the lights off. Could have used the AC but then I would have to pay an addl $20 or more per month at the dock. If I want AC, that's what I have a house for when not sailing. If I added AC to the boat, then next thing would be a tv and let's not forget newspaper delivery to the finger slip !

Now that I have the bow running lights on my mind, I may get more interested in upgrading it to an LED even if the cost for that light is way more than the easy labor and cost replacement of the incandescent bulb.

The night the light went out was not my best sailing day/night. It was fine to start off with but then went a bit downhill. I was sailing with about a 5-8 mph wind. That was fine. then as I was coming back to the marina, the wind died to less than 5 mph. I was on the Potomac in dark approaching the channel markers for the Anacostia River (to get to my marina) and the channel to enter the Washington Channel which is just onto the Anacostia River. The Odyssey sightseeing ship was in the channel approaching the Washington Channel and I was crawling at 1-2 knts and watching for the ship to clear my area. I wanted to maintain my tack to the marina. Somehow, i was gaining on the ship. the ship for whatever reason, was crawling at a slower speed than me. Did not seem possible and no idea why except maybe he was getting into the dock too early. I altered my tack a bit and crawled up his a_ _, but too close. Then when he passed, i was in the middle of all these channels that converge on each other and my speed dropped to just about nothing. I was just about to put the motor on but i was just then getting out of the channel mess and proceeding toward the marina with about 500 feet or so to go to the no wake marker. This motorboat then had to whiz by me creating a significant wake and for what ? he was going to have to slow down in a few seconds anyway.

I then was tacking under one sail close to my marina and out of the middle of the channel awaiting for a big motor boat/yacht to pass by so i could head into the wind and drop my main sail. This guy then puts his big spot light on me probably because I did not have my running lights on and/or to get to use his spotlight which seemed to be as bright as a stadium light. After he passed I tacked to the other side opposite the marina to lower my sail out of the way and then had a small sightseeing boat decide to angle off from the middle of the channel which was clear to pass inbetween me and the other side of the river which I was approaching. I then tacked again since he was not altering his direction, dropped my sail, took a look at my bow light which was out and then put on my steaming light and motored back into the marina. I normally do not have these things to deal with but that night, it seemed the night for a number of annoying things happening....drives one to possibly get an LED light and be done with bulb changeouts.

Edited by - on

OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 10/09/2007 : 22:08:28

Replaced the bulb today. Light works ! All is well again !

Edited by - on

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2007 : 21:09:31

Nice web site... Nice boat.

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3477 Posts

Response Posted - 10/10/2007 : 22:02:09

Thanks ! But I should have taken a photo of that nice clean bulb I installed !

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