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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

LED Interior Lighting

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frejoh
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USA
116 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/01/2011 : 18:07:35

Has anyone replaced the incandescent bulb dome and/or spotlights in the cabin and head with LED's? WM sells a white/red LED dome light for $19.99, but some reviewers say it is not bright enough. Mostly, I'm interested in the much-reduced electrical draw.

Fred Johnson
250 WK #669

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britinusa
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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2011 : 03:34:14

Fred, we replaced the stbd cabin lamp with an LED in the original fitting. It's super bright and does not Even register on our load meter. Not a 'spot' and I would rather have an area lamp that didn't hurt to look at. So we're still looking for something too.

Paul

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2011 : 07:00:56

I have amber LED spots near the compression post. The PO installed them so I don't have any idea as to brand/cost, etc. The light is adequate for general purposes but for detailed work and reading, they should be brighter.

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frejoh
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116 Posts

Response Posted - 06/02/2011 : 17:21:47

After posting I thought to search the Catalina 25 forum and found a couple of interesting threads on this subject there. Majority of folks have some complaint about the relative dimness and/or the harsher color of the LED's.

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 07/06/2011 : 05:25:25

Originally I had tried retrofitting an LED festoon bulb from Pep Boys in one of the original dome fixtures and those were way too dim. Plus, they weren't available in red, which get much more continuous use in night sailing. Because of this I thought having energy efficient red light would be very important.

So I purchased [url="http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=1569&ParentCat=339"]three of these LED dome lights[/url] from CatalinaDirect last winter and just last night got around to installing them. These are a little dimmer than the original incandescent lights, but a huge energy saver. They are actually brighter than I expected, and will be acceptable. I will probably purchase a fourth one of these to replace the dome in the aft berth. That was lower priority because it is used so infrequently.

The quality of the light is not quite as good with LEDs. Incandescents emit a broad spectrum of wavelengths so you see truer color fidelity. Much like florescent bulbs, LEDs emit on a few narrow bands which makes color fidelity less true. But it's that narrow band emission that makes them so energy efficient. That's a tradeoff I'm willing to accept.

One other comment: The mounting holes for the CD dome did not match the original fixtures, so I had to re-drill new holes.

Currently my spots by the compression posts are the original incandescents. I am considering retrofitting some LED bayonet-mount LED spots that I saw at an RV store. At this point I am not sure - for these I may want to stick with a light source that gives truer color fidelity. But they pull A LOT of amps.

Edited by - TakeFive on 07/07/2011 10:14:20

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 07/07/2011 : 09:21:56

On my C-25 I replaced the incandescent bulbs in the cabin lights with LED's and reversed the polarity of the fixtures.

I also bought six 3-LED stick-on puck lights that I've attached around the cabin roof. They were $7 each, and the 3 AAA batteries in each one lasted 2 years before I needed to replace them. They have 3 positions - 1, 2, or 3 LED's lit, and add a nice brightness to the cabin for very little cost and no work.

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 07/11/2011 : 06:06:56

Quick update:

Thanks for the idea about the puck lights. I ordered [url="http://www.amazon.com/Rite-Lite-LPL623W-Puck-Light/dp/B000ETQLY6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310389384&sr=8-1"]a few 5-LED puck lights[/url] and will stick them on the ceiling next to the spots on either side of the compression post. That will allow me to leave the incandescent bulbs there for times when I want better color fidelity.

However, I have no regrets over having already replaced the dome lights with the LED fixtures from Catalina Direct. We've done night sailing 3 times the past week, and it's really nice to just turn on the red LEDs in the cabin and leave them on the whole time we're sailing without worrying about battery drain. It's much safer to descend into a lighted cabin instead of fumbling around for the light switch. The incandescent dome lights drained the battery too much to leave them on constantly.

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Joe Diver
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1218 Posts

Response Posted - 07/11/2011 : 07:46:25

I replaced all of my interior lights with these from Catalina Direct:

[url="http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=1941&ParentCat=162"]Replacement LED's[/url]

They're a little more expensive than other options, but I'm VERY happy with them. They're bright, well diffused, and really light up the night! I can light up the whole boat (5 fixtures) for less than half the amp draw cost of just 1 incandescent. They were very simple to install and only one location used the bezel surround. (aft quarterberth)

These pictures don't really do the lights justice, but I turned off the flash (hence the blurriness) to try and show how well they light up the boat:

They're not as harsh as the pictures seem to show and the color is quite acceptable for an LED light. Each light also has a focused beam directly under it, so you have diffused light all around and a small spot underneath for reading. This is perfect up in the V berth for reading at night.

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Joe Diver
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1218 Posts

Response Posted - 07/11/2011 : 07:51:10

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JohnP
 On my C-25 I replaced the incandescent bulbs in the cabin lights with LED's and reversed the polarity of the fixtures.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Why? What did that do for you?

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JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 07/11/2011 : 12:23:23

Since the LED's are "diodes" and only work with one orientation of the positive power wire and the negative wire, my cabin lights each needed the opposite polarity to get them to work.

No big deal, just reversed the wires.

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