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Cabin light swivel LED conversion

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djbano
1st Mate

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67 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/30/2015 : 19:52:49

Is there a current recommendation for replacing the edison bulbs in the swivel fixtures that approximates the light and has decent warmth? I like to read in the V berth using these.

CYANA
Denver
'98 250 WK TR #372

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2015 : 20:11:12

I've replaced all my interior lights with LED bulbs. I'd swear I wrote a post about it with pictures, but I can't find it.

You can buy different "warmth" of LED lights depending on what you're looking for. I installed "cool" bulbs in the galley for brighter work light and "warm" bulbs in the reading lights as well as the rest of the lights in the boat.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 04/30/2015 : 20:53:24

Warmth and quality of light is the key issue with LEDs. And the cheap ones that you get at WalMart or the auto store will be very cool. In my experience, I can tell how warm they will be by the color of the phosphor dots. If they're a nice deep yellow, they'll be warm. If they're a greener shade (grapefruit yellow), they'll be cool.

I have these in my boat. Beautiful light, and lots of it. Unfortunately they protrude down beyond the bottom a little, but I live with it because I love the light that they provide (click the image to view in Amazon):

Since purchasing them, I found these smaller ones that would not protrude under the light. But they have less than half the phosphors, so less than half the brightness. So I've held off buying them for now:

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

djbano
1st Mate

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67 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2015 : 07:26:48

What about using them in other cabin fixtures? Can you use them alongside the red edisons in the other cabin lights? It would be nice not to replace all the fixtures in the cabin. I'm looking at Catalina direct for the running lights to avoid trial and error. Rick have you replaced running lights with what's on Cdirect or some other source?

CYANA
Denver
'98 250 WK TR #372

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2015 : 07:37:50

quote:
Originally posted by djbano

What about using them in other cabin fixtures? Can you use them alongside the red edisons in the other cabin lights? It would be nice not to replace all the fixtures in the cabin. I'm looking at Catalina direct for the running lights to avoid trial and error. Rick have you replaced running lights with what's on Cdirect or some other source?

The other cabin fixtures have a festoon mount, not a bayonet. Those festoon mounts are widely used in automotive fixtures, so it might be worth it to try to find some automotive ones. At the time I did mine (a few years ago) I could not find any good ones, and my switches were going bad on the old fixtures, so I replaced my cabin fixtures with the ones at Catalina Direct. The ones I have are OK - the light is a little cooler than I'd like. (They may have improved since then.) But I really like the red they provide. When night sailing, I can just turn all of them on the whole time without worrying about battery drain.

My advice to you is NOT to replace your running lights with LEDs unless you put in a whole new fixture that is custom designed for LEDs. A white LED emits on a very narrow spectrum of wavelengths (that's part of what makes it so efficient), and when you put it behind red/green filters it will show up as a color that is not proper. From a distance, the red will usually look yellow/orange, and the green will look blue. It is not Coast Guard approved, and there's good reason. So red/green lights you really need to spend the money and do it properly. There's no way to do it right on-the-cheap. Others may advise otherwise, but that's my advice and I'm sticking to it.

Anchor light could be viable for an LED, but it will run you about $50. There's a lot of benefit to converting the anchor light, because you're going to have it on overnight without the engine running. Catalina Direct sells the same DrLED bulb that WestMarine has (with several adapter fittings for the tips), and WM was a few dollars cheaper last time I checked. You can take your festoon bulb in and find the compatible replacement.

There is no reason to replace the steaming light with LED. Your engine will be running so if you have an alernator there's plenty of power for it.

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - TakeFive on 05/01/2015 07:40:45

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 05/01/2015 : 10:14:12

Imtra makes replacement LED bulbs for the Aqua Signal 25s our boats use. At $16 or so, I've replaced all of mine. Rick's correct about caution using them with your colored running lights, but they also provide specific bulbs for that purpose as well. I have a Dr. LED bulb as an anchor light which was right at $50 when I bought it, but the rest of the running lights cost somewhere around $16 each as I remember. They come with festoon fittings and clip on thingies that allow you to use either the pointy style or dimpled style as necessary.

I have a post somewhere detailing the specifics of the various bulbs, but again can't find it. Not sure what's going on there.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5369 Posts

Response Posted - 06/08/2015 : 17:27:18

It sounds like you have a need for a specific light bulb - that fits your reading lamp. You mentioned that it has an Edison base - that's a screw-in type that is common with 120 VAC light bulbs, but is intended for a 12VDC fixture you have. DrLED or IMTRA offer the Edison base bulbs (I can't recall which) but since I don't use them, I did not make note. You're looking therefore for a warm color temperature (2700K) Edison-based LED bulb. Alibaba and other Chinese mfrs' websites likely carry them, but they will be rare.

You have a few choices:
1. Go with the Edison-based bulbs you've found and put up with the color temperature
2. Look for an adaptor - Edison to bayonet and you'll have dozens of options for LEDs or
3. Look for a replacement lamp - that will use 12VDC bayonet-style LED bulbs.

To make matters worse, there are three styles of bayonet bulbs:
1. Single contact - with negative connected to the bayonet body of the base and positive connected to the tip - with a solder dot. In car speak that's an 1156-type bulb intended for tail-lights.
2. Dual contact - instead of having one dot on the bottom, there are two: one positive and the other negative, and the base itself is not connected. These are commonly found in Anchor light fixtures.
3. Dual contact - with two lighting elements - like an auto 1157 brake-light and tail-light combo. The two solder dots connect to the two positive circuits (one for the brake-light and the other for the tail-light) and the body is a common negative. If you place this kind of bulb into an Edison to bayonet adaptor, it may work or not - the two dots may not make contact with the positive.

Whatever your choice, good luck! You will learn a lot about LEDs.

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5369 Posts

Response Posted - 06/08/2015 : 17:32:47

duh!!! so I just googled edison base led lamp and found Super Bright LED.
This, of course, is not an endorsement of any product, just an example of what you can find...

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

Edited by - Voyager on 06/08/2015 17:33:51

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 06/08/2015 : 18:43:49

quote:
Originally posted by TakeFive

...Since purchasing them, I found these smaller ones that would not protrude under the light. But they have less than half the phosphors, so less than half the brightness. So I've held off buying them for now:

FWIW, I went ahead and ordered these. I'll report back after I try them out in the swivel lights.

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2015 : 13:12:58

quote:
Originally posted by TakeFive

...Since purchasing them, I found these smaller ones that would not protrude under the light. But they have less than half the phosphors, so less than half the brightness. So I've held off buying them for now:

quote:
Originally posted by TakeFive

FWIW, I went ahead and ordered these. I'll report back after I try them out in the swivel lights.

I finally got down to the boat to install and test these new smaller lights. The color is beautifully warm (as LEDs go). That's not surprising, since they're made by the same company as the bigger bulbs that I really liked.

These smaller bulbs do not protrude below the bottom of the fixture. With fewer phosphors they will use even less energy than my older, bigger ones. But they are still very very bright. I put the smaller bulb in one side, and left the larger bulb in the other side, and I cannot tell the different in brightness. So I'd strongly recommend these bulbs for the swivel light fixtures. Click on the pic to go to the Amazon order page.

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

joeblow
member

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USA
33 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2015 : 07:06:39

I replaced with the longer led. But I had to trim sand the lower diamiter to get them to fit into my light fixtures. Works great looks great. No longer get hot as regular bulbs. I'm happy.

Joe Ake
1995 C250 WB #24
1988 Capri 18 #320
Indianapolis, In
Slipped at Michigan City, IN

"Never let your fears determine your fate"

djbano
1st Mate

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67 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2015 : 13:58:42

I couldn't get them to fit. They wouldn't rotate to secure them. What specifically did you do?

CYANA
Denver
'98 250 WK TR #372

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2015 : 14:22:52

Have you done a side-by-side comparison of the bayonet fittings with the original lights?

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

DavidCrosby
Navigator

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USA
240 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2015 : 17:03:51

Quote: I couldn't get them to fit. They wouldn't rotate to secure them. What specifically did you do?"

I bought LED bulbs at WalMart in the auto section. Like yours, they almost fit. I could not get them depressed far enough to rotate. Carefully sand/file the circuit board edge as much as possible. If it still does not fit, then using a socket and a large opening pliers, press the socket into the fitting to enlarge the opening slightly.

My Walmart bulbs worked fine. They are rather stark white, so the warmer color bulb would be nice to have, but then these were probably significantly cheaper.

David Crosby "Small World"
'02 C250 WK #614

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2015 : 20:39:58

I had originally purchased the Walmart LED bulbs, but returned them because the light was very poor color quality.

The ones that I linked from Amazon are $8.99 for two bulbs (one for each side), required no modifications to fit, and gave significantly warmer light. They cost less than the Walmart bulbs. I highly recommend them.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EKKJ9E4/

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - TakeFive on 07/09/2015 18:35:08

shnool
Former Capri-25 Tech Editor

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USA
1032 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2015 : 17:37:31

I used these...
also amazon, might be the same bulbs....
we used them in our living quarters horse trailer, and I used them in my s2.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BSGLBQW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

C&C 32 Smith Mountain Lake Virginia

csmcg
1st Mate

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96 Posts

Response Posted - 08/13/2015 : 10:31:44

Thanks for all the suggestions. Very happy with the lights. They are not as warm as the old incandescents, but warmer than most leds that I have seen.

I too had to trim the circuit board edges to get the bulbs to seat correctly. A Dremel, five minutes, and a little courage where all that was necessary.

Regards

Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts

Response Posted - 09/16/2015 : 18:02:56

Thanks for the info on the swivel lights! I replaced all the other cabin lights with LED type from West Marine (bi-color). And just purchased a LED spreader light as the old sealed-beam type fell out of the housing driving 450 mi back to FL. South Carolina has terrible roads. Lost the cup on my CDI furler also but that is another story. I'm certain the new spreader light will really budget power for me. Years ago I replaced my anchor light with a (then) $200 dusk to dawn visible 2 nm LED because I moored out in Kings Bay. So all I need now are the swivel lights and bow and stern. Steaming light does not matter as the motor will be charging.

Safe voyages,
Ben
sloop Chick-a-pea,
C250wk#364

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