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DIY LED Dome Light for $5.98

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NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/24/2011 : 17:44:10

Went to Lowes to pick this up:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_161952-53058-93212601_4294935637+4294813797__?productId=3201305&Ntt=led&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_Globe_4294935637%2B4294813797__s%3FNtt%3Dled&facetInfo=Globe

It's only $5.98 and uses 4 AA batteries in series. That only works out to 6 volts, but I decided to wire it up to 12v. I'm pretty sure LED's can handle quite a bit more voltage.

Tools:
drill with 11/64" bit.
Wire cutter/stripper.
14 awg stranded wire.

I cut 3 wires and stuck them in where the batteries should go as jumpers. Drilled two small holes through the side of the fixture into the last battery slot. Then pulled out two lead wires for + and - connections like so:

I was afraid it would be dim and you'd see individual LED's shining through, but none of which is true. It's bright, and the lens seems to give almost perfect light distribution. You can't tell where the LED's are inside while it's on.

This took me less than 30 minutes to do. Granted, it's not "marine grade", but for 6 bucks....
I'll probably go back and get 2 more. So, I'll replace the galley and 2 V-berth lights with these for under $18.

1989 C-25 TR/WK #5894
Miss Behavin'
Sittin' in LCYC on Canyon Lake, Texas

Edited by - NautiC25 on 03/24/2011 17:45:35

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 18:12:48

I know nuttin bout no lectricity.

You said the LED's can handle the increase in voltage. What about the internal wiring?

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 18:27:10

Since LED's draw so little amperage, you can use some pretty small wiring. I don't think they used anything smaller than 20g.

Edited by - on

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 18:27:50

I do know from dealing w/ the large outdoor street displays that there is an issue w/ overdriving the led and dramatically reducing their life span...

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 18:29:22

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by jerlim
 I do know from dealing w/ the large outdoor street displays that there is an issue w/ overdriving the led and dramatically reducing their life span...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
That is true. The more voltage you put to an LED, the less life it has. This fixture claims 100,000hrs life expectancy. Typically a 12v powered LED will claim 50,000hrs, so it makes since.
I've had it on for 3hrs now. lol

Edited by - NautiC25 on 03/24/2011 18:31:47

jhinton
Navigator

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USA
123 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 18:30:23

You just won the genius idea of the year award in my opinion. I wonder what the effect of the increased voltage will be. You can do three lights for less than the price of one "marine" fixture!

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 18:32:41

Well, maybe I'll buy one to keep at home and run the fixture 24/7 til it burns out to get an estimate of life expectancy.

But so far, 3hrs on it.

Edited by - NautiC25 on 03/24/2011 18:33:12

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9080 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 19:59:44

Maybe you should see how many orders you can get, and then buy some in bulk! 50,000 hours (~2000 weekends = ~80 seasons) are probably enough for me.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 03/24/2011 20:01:44

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5376 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 20:02:07

I agree with the wire gauge issue -- #16 gauge will more than handle the current. And it's cheap. Good thinking shorting out the other battery compartments - simple but effective. One issue is corrosion. The wires connected to the battery terminals produce 6 additional locations for potential bad connections. You may be able to open the fixture and determine exactly which terminals to use for plus and minus supply leads, and you could leave the others open.

For voltage regulation, you've got a couple of options:
1. You could run two fixtures in series. Two 6 volt fixtures strung in line will cut the voltage in half in each fixture. Connect the battery plus wire to the plus terminal on fixture 1, connect the minus wire from the minus terminal on fixture 1 and connect the other end to the plus side of fixture 2, then on the minus side of the fixture 2, run the wire back to the negative battery terminal.

2. Since a LED lamp may use 100 mA, if you want to drop 6 volts, you need a 56 ohm resistor in series with the fixture. You'd need about a 1W resistor.

I prefer the Two-Fer approach, since all the battery power is used for lighting. Using a resistor to dissipate electricity as heat is wasteful, I'd rather use it for light.

Edited by - Voyager on 03/24/2011 20:04:17

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9080 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2011 : 20:06:41

But both lights have to be on for either to be on.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 03/24/2011 20:09:43

Patrice C25
1st Mate

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78 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 05:44:26

This is a great idea.
And even if it burn after 2000hrs, this is still 333 evening of 6 hrs of lite. :-)

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 06:08:35

Nice work! How many LED's does the unit contain? How does it look in the boat cabin?

Here's another LED application:
For a short time 2 1/2 years ago, Lowes had in stock some 2 1/2" wide, 3-LED, stick-on lights. You can switch on 1, or 2, or 3 LED's, and these little lights take 3 AAA batteries. I bought 6 of them and have added them to my cabin ceiling as accent lights. They brighten up the place. $7 each at the time, but not found in the store since, to my knowledge!

If it weren't going to snow around the Chesapeake Bay this weekend I'd be working on my electrical system.

Edited by - on

jhinton
Navigator

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USA
123 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 06:14:22

How are you going to mount them inside the boat?

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 06:30:47

We did somethign very similar and had issues.

First the light from the cheap leds is a blue-white, and tires the eyes quickly whether reading or playing cards. The cheapy (pushbutton) LED was usually quickly shut off in favour of the incandescents, an oil lamp, or butane lantern.

Second, we found that the cheap LED dimmed, or lost candlepower through the season. By the end of the year, I was wishing I hadn't made the change.

That fixture is now running one of the dealextreme LEDs (more on that below).

On some of our other fixtures we bought LED replacements for car dome lights from dealextreme.com and were happier with them, however the colour of the light is still not as warm as the incandescents. From what I have seen recently, LEDs are now available in warmer colours so you may be able to find the right colour with a little hunting.

If you are smart about how you wire these into the existing fixture, you can have the option to revert back to the incandescent bulb.

See this thread: http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?whichpage=1&TOPIC_ID=19424& for details and sources. IIRC, the dealextreme LEDs are cheaper than your pushbutton LEDs.

Edited by - Prospector on 03/25/2011 06:37:05

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 06:34:57

So far, it's still on, and running on my "dead" 12v West Marine battery. The battery still had 12v's but doesn't last long powering things.

I plan to just use double-sided 3m tape to stick them on the ceiling. It does have that screw slot for mounting, but I hate making holes in the boat.

I was gonna make another post and wait until I had pics of them installed, but I do have plans for the lights above the settees. I bought a 4 foot and 3 foot LED strip light that is meant for under car lighting. They are very white LED's and are seperated every 1", so 48 LED's for a 48" strip. They are fully encased in silicone and are meant for exterior under-car applications, so they should hold up very well in marine applications. They are also very flexible so that they can conform to the curve of the boat. They are about 1/2" wide by 1/2" deep so they should be hidden from direct view. I'm hoping they will act as wall-washers above the seats.

They're $9 shipped each.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310294586748&viewitem=

I should be able to get pics of all these products installed tomorrow night as I am going fishing again this weekend and will install them tomorrow.

Edited by - NautiC25 on 03/25/2011 06:38:38

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 06:40:56

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Prospector
 We did somethign very similar and had issues.

First the light from the cheap leds is a blue-white, and tires the eyes quickly whether reading or playing cards. The cheapy (pushbutton) LED was usually quickly shut off in favour of the incandescents, an oil lamp, or butane lantern.

Second, we found that the cheap LED dimmed, or lost candlepower through the season. By the end of the year, I was wishing I hadn't made the change.

That fixture is now running one of the dealextreme LEDs (more on that below).

On some of our other fixtures we bought LED replacements for car dome lights from dealextreme.com and were happier with them, however the colour of the light is still not as warm as the incandescents. From what I have seen recently, LEDs are now available in warmer colours so you may be able to find the right colour with a little hunting.

If you are smart about how you wire these into the existing fixture, you can have the option to revert back to the incandescent bulb.

See this thread: http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?whichpage=1&TOPIC_ID=19424& for details and sources. IIRC, the dealextreme LEDs are cheaper than your pushbutton LEDs.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Either way, I don't plan to go back to the factory housings since they are yellow and ugly. If these don't work out, then I'll probably go to a more expensive fixture. I'll definately keep everyone posted about the longevity of them and if they seem to fade over time.

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 09:44:05

Great ideas, Jonathan. I took the lazy route and bought a 3-pack of the stick-on LED lights ($10 plus batteries) that use AAA batteries and placed them strategically around the boat to supplement the house lights; one just inside the main hatch attached to the rear of the poptop for entering the boat after dark, one in the galley area in the corner where some have put a paper towel holder, and one in the head. I can use these to get around in the boat easily without using the house lights, or until I can get to the panel and turn on the house lights.

What about using hoop & loop patches to attach the round lights to the ceiling?

Edited by - dmpilc on 03/25/2011 09:51:03

Davy J
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1511 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 10:09:41

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">or until I can get to the panel and turn on the house lights<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I did the same thing, mounted the "pucks" with velcro around the boat. It is very nice to be able to turn the lights on, without having to go to the panel first.

Edited by - on

danandlu
Navigator

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USA
175 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 10:21:35

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Davy J
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">or until I can get to the panel and turn on the house lights<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I did the same thing, mounted the "pucks" with velcro around the boat. It is very nice to be able to turn the lights on, without having to go to the panel first.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I stuck one up under the cockpit seat so that it shines down into the storage (dumpster) locker.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 10:49:32

There are mini pucks that fit nicely into the coaming boxes as well. Good enough to light up the cockpit while underway without killing your night vision entirely. (only mostly)

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 11:36:30

For the cockpit (and raft-ups, add'l anchor light, etc.) I bought 2 solar LED garden lanterns with amber lenses, discarded the curved post mounts, and secured them with twist ties to each side of the stern pulpit.
Works quite nicely.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 11:43:01

Hey david, another, slightly more nautical approach is to drill a pair of holes through the hood on those, and put a string you can hang it from across there with a stopper knot in each end. Now you can hang the lights off the lifelines or boom.

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 14:07:57

Mine have a loop in the top for hanging them on a shepard's hook rod. So, I guess I could put one wherever with a short piece of rope.
Like this:
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3447108&kw=solar+garden+light&origkw=solar+garden+light&searchId=55164782823

2-pack for about $21.

Edited by - dmpilc on 03/25/2011 14:19:23

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 03/25/2011 : 14:55:54

Nice. Ours don't have the loop,. they have a flat top that holds the solar panel.

Edited by - on

NautiC25
Admiral

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USA
957 Posts

Response Posted - 03/27/2011 : 17:01:20

Installed and works great.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SharkRacer/Catalina/?action=view&current=VID_20110326_185911.mp4

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 02/03/2012 : 09:04:25

I use a pivoting stick-on LED bar above the cooler and a puck at the quarterberth. It makes it easy to turn on a light when I come aboard at night and find the appropriate switches for house lighting and helps find things in the cooler. I intended to hardwire them, but the original batteries are still going strong after 3 years.

Edited by - on

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