Ceiling lights

[Tom Green]

Has anyone changed out their halogen ceiling lights for LED lights? I notice that some others have had the heat melt the plastic cover and had the diffusing lens fall out. That has happened to one of mine and I can see that others may not be far behind.

I am considering converting them to LEDs which are quite expensive. There is no heat problem and the power consumption is less.

I would be interested if anyone has converted theirs or replaced them to address this problem. If so, what did you use and were you satisfied with them. There is barely one inch of depth so the fixture has to be very low profile.

[eepstein]

Hi replaced most of my incandescent bulbs with replacement LED bulbs from Dr LED. They all worked fine. Some lights (like bunk reading lights) use an odd size and could not be replaced. I am planning on replacing those lights with a new unit when I find something good. I also found an LED headlamp from REI that comes with an adhesive mount option. I use that now under my hard top as its weatherproof and goes forever on 3 AAA batteries. Hope this helped.

[Tom Green]

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, the fixtures that are in my boat are halogen and there are not LED bulbs that I can use in the fixtures. The Dr. LED replacement fixture is a bit too large in profile to fit in the space above the head liner and I would prefer not to have a surface mount although that is the other possibility.

I too have found the portable LED's that run on batteries and surface mount. I have put some in the engine and storage compartments and find them very helpful for visibility at various times.

IMPTRA makes a LED (Hatteras model that is very low profile that looks like it will fit but I haven't found one to try and they are a bit pricy. I think that is what I will try eventually.

Thank you again for your comments.

Tom Green.

[Lady of the Lake]

I used some from here:

www.superlumination.com

Just make sure you get the surge protectors (sold separately for about $2) to protect against the high voltage coming off the charging circuit (at least I needed them for the Yamaha 9.9s with the stators/chargers that kick out over 15V.)

Sam

p.s. I am also working on a design for an LED strip that might be able to replace our fluorescents. I do a lot with LCD monitor backlights and may have something that will draw low current buy provide a nice broad bath of light. Testing this month.

[MagicDragon]

We've also begun to replace our standard issue lights with LEDs - found some good bargains to replace the smaller ceiling fluorescent fixtures ($23) at Bacon & Associates in Annapolis when we were there for the boat show: http://www.baconsails.com

Also found a really neat fixture for over the salon table - 4 track heads not only rotate 360 degrees but also swivel independently of each other - on eBay (http://stores.shop.ebay.com/rv-trader) for $20 that I thought would hook right in to the existing wiring, but when it arrived found it was battery operated. We found a fellow who has promised to convert it so it will work with existing wiring and will try it onboard as soon as we get the boat back in the water.

From Boat US we got two companionway lights with red bulbs those were only $9-10. They also had an LED fixture to replace the small fixtures with fans that we've got over the mattresses in both cabins - it wasn't too expensive.

Still looking for a good fixture to replace the longer fluorescents in galley and over nav station. Will check out the other suggestions and add more info as our process continues. Thanks for all the great ideas!

[Allezcat]

Sam,

Aren't you frying your batteries if the voltage goes to 15V?

Chet
Allezcat 36010

[Lady of the Lake]

I never let the voltage at the batteries go that high. The rectifier on the 9.9s will put out around 15VDC. But as long as there is a demand for DC from the bank (fridge, lights, etc.) the battery never sees the full load. Anyone with 9.9s has this issue. There is no regulator so you get what the stator/rectifier put out. The LEDs don't like the higher voltage, even for a short time.

[maxicrom]

Tom,

I rebuilt one of my stock fluorescent fixtures - removing everything except the white backing plate using two 12v LED strips from LEDLight.com. The light was very bright - but after a few months the individual LED's began to fail - blinking then stopping completely. It still works but is more like a light show. Not sure what the issue was - I have been too caught up with other things to contact the company - I may do it this weekend. If I were to do it again I would use the warm white color rather than the bright white - it is almost flashbulb white and I don't think it made that much of difference in lighting other than being annoying. I used the orginal switches which may have caused a problem - next version I'll replce them with heavy duty 12v toggle switches.

The fixture I rebuilt was the square double switched light mid cabin behind the nav station (Stbd hull on the PDQ 36) mounted on the ceiling above the bench seat.

All of my fluorescent fixtures have failed - I replaced the one over the settee with a temporary round marine light until I decide how rebuild the original. The LEDS looked like a good solution because they are available in red as well as white.

Mike