Best LED Deck Light?

[MarkofSeaLife]

Originally Posted by eherlihy

My post above got me wondering about what was damaged on Maine's vessel by the lightning strike...
Short story;
- Maine Sail

What? After blowing up $10,000 worth of electronics you're worried about a hundred bucks, or so, of LED's?

Buy the LEDs if they will save power and if you don't need them extremely bright.
Deck light = Halogen
Spot lights = Halogen

becuse you dont use them for long. If you do, then put on the donk.

If you use them for long periods rugularly then you are gunna have a power/light problem more than a 'normal' sailing boat

[eherlihy]

Originally Posted by MarkofSeaLife

What? After blowing up $10,000 worth of electronics you're worried about a hundred bucks, or so, of LED's?

Not at all... I'm simply pointing out that there are advantages and disadvantages to LED lighting. There is also no such thing as a free lunch.

[MaviAtta]

I thought this would be a great first post. Two years ago I swapped out most my bulbs for custom LEDs. I made all the lights and put them in thier existing housing. LEDs used to go by 1 watt 2 watt etc etc.. They don't really go by that any more. Now it's all drive power.

My boat is moored in Boston Harbor and traveled over 800 miles and they still work flawlessly and they're about 3 times brighter than the previous bulbs and the LEDs you can buy as replacement bulbs.

Attached are some pictures. Basically, with a resistor, heatsink and LED it's tricky to get all the soldering and such down, but once you do, it really makes ahuge difference.

I just run a rebel star backed with a heatsink and an inline resistor going to each LED. They are drivin with 12v and reduced to 3.4 volts at the resistor. The 3 nav lights work about 8 hours and use about .5 - .7volts.

To make them brighter you can get a bigger heatsink and use more juice, but you wont have to.


I can't post links because it's my first post. I'll be happy to email anyone the pictures.

[noelex77]

Originally Posted by MaviAtta

I thought this would be a great first post. Two years ago I swapped out most my bulbs for custom LEDs. I made all the lights and put them in thier existing housing. LEDs used to go by 1 watt 2 watt etc etc.. They don't really go by that any more. Now it's all drive power.

My boat is moored in Boston Harbor and traveled over 800 miles and they still work flawlessly and they're about 3 times brighter than the previous bulbs and the LEDs you can buy as replacement bulbs.

Attached are some pictures. Basically, with a resistor, heatsink and LED it's tricky to get all the soldering and such down, but once you do, it really makes ahuge difference.

I just run a rebel star backed with a heatsink and an inline resistor going to each LED. They are drivin with 12v and reduced to 3.4 volts at the resistor. The 3 nav lights work about 8 hours and use about .5 - .7volts.

To make them brighter you can get a bigger heatsink and use more juice, but you wont have to.


I can't post links because it's my first post. I'll be happy to email anyone the pictures.

I also have built some interior lights using a Cree XP-G R5 and I agree the results are much better than anything you can buy. I would however suggest the addition of a driver rather than a dropping resistor. Its more efficient, with consistent brightness. You can also go brighter without compromising the led life.