[4arch]

My combination steaming/foredeck light is fried and I'd like to take the opportunity to go to dual LED floodlights on the lower spreaders. There seem to be a huge array of options and prices are all over the place. My ideal setup would have low and high settings - the low for day to day use like dinghy boarding, anchor watches, etc. and the high for emergency situations like the anchor dragging at 3 am. In any case, I'm curious what people are using and what has worked well?

 

[socal c25]

I don't see the need for hi/lo lights just get a switch that has off/left/right/both.

 

[capta]

Being an older boat, she came with the old "tractor" light spreader lights which had only a couple of hour lifespan. I found LED bulbs for them and not only are they daylight bright, they seem to be lasting as advertised. These hardy spreader lights were (are?) the industry standard for over a half a century and the LED bulbs have brought them into this century.

 

[billyruffn]

I bought two Taco Marine LEDs last winter and am now installing them. We wired up one spreader this morning and ran a test in the cabin with a jumper to the house battery. They almost blinded my helper. Can't wait to see what they're like when the mast goes up. They draw 6 watts - 0.5 amps, so I've decided to put both on one circuit. With the old ones the draw was enough to warrant separate circuits. One more spare spot on the distribution panel is always a help.

LED Marine Lights @ http://tacomarine.com

P.S. This installation was part of a total rewire of the mast. At 20 years I guess it was due. I found the old wire very substandard and failing in several places. Would you believe chafe inside the conduit? Not good with an AL mast. Those of you with old in-mast wire might want to check for stray currents in the mast.

 

[Cruiser2B]

I installed these 2 years ago. So far no issues. These were originally design as LED underwater lights. They draw about .5 amp. So far they have held up just fine. Many times I have left them on for several hours. They were designed to be water tight and so far they have been trouble free. Best part is they cost about $20 each so $40 total.

I posted these in another thread and had some people bashed them because they were not sold as spreader lights. But so far so good. when I was looking at new spreader lights there was just no way I would pay $200 forunit designated as LED Spreader units.

Anyway thats my .02

Good Luck

 

[shoaldraft]

I went with the Sea Hawk LED Spreader Lights from Hella Marine and can't say enough good things about them. VERY small and compact but give off an unreal amount of light. The first time I used them was in July of 2012 while on a mooring in Nantucket harbor during a Noah's Arc downpour that lasted most of the night with the wind over 30 knots from the south opposing the flood from the north as it entered the harbor. I must say that for the first few minutes after I turned them on to get a look at what was going on outside the hair on the back of my neck was starting to stand up but then I remembered i was on a mooring. With this said, they gave off enough light to see a heck of a show. In a recent issue of Practical Sailor there was a nice article of a dozen or so brands of LED spreader lights.

 

[Ajax_MD]

I installed these 2 years ago. So far no issues. These were originally design as LED underwater lights. They draw about .5 amp. So far they have held up just fine. Many times I have left them on for several hours. They were designed to be water tight and so far they have been trouble free. Best part is they cost about $20 each so $40 total.

I posted these in another thread and had some people bashed them because they were not sold as spreader lights. But so far so good. when I was looking at new spreader lights there was just no way I would pay $200 forunit designated as LED Spreader units.

Anyway thats my .02

Good Luck

Link? What brand?

 

[sulli]

Being an older boat, she came with the old "tractor" light spreader lights which had only a couple of hour lifespan. I found LED bulbs for them and not only are they daylight bright, they seem to be lasting as advertised. These hardy spreader lights were (are?) the industry standard for over a half a century and the LED bulbs have brought them into this century.

Capta do you have a link for the led bulbs? were they exact replacement or did you need to change to socket?

 

[Cruiser2B]

Link? What brand?

I posted this project in the low budget projects thread.....
I will see if I can find it and post a link to the thread...

 

[Cruiser2B]

Link? What brand?

These are the units, not sure they are still available. I bought them at a local boatersworld for $19.99ea....may go by there sometime and see if they are still available.

Jarvis Marine Lighting

 

[bratzcpa]

I installed one of these last year. Worked GREAT. very low draw. SUPER bright.

http://tacomarine.com/item--Spreader-Light--F38-4600WHA-1.html

The only thing that I didn't like is that the light kind of "snaps into" the mounting bracket. We had one time where a line (loose halyard) got caught behind the light and simply pulled it out of the mounting bracket. This necessitated a trip halfway "up the mast" to re-snap in the light.

I think that when we put the mast up this spring (next week, we hope), I'll add something (zip tie??) to the mounting bracket to better hold the light in place.

Other than that one little thing, these are great. very reasonably priced too.

~markb

 

[4arch]

Thanks all for the suggestions! I appreciate the economical ideas though I'm willing to spend a few more bucks if it gets me a light I won't have to touch or worry about for years. At the same time I'm not seeing anything all that impressive about the units going for a couple hundred each. I'm glad I have options.

I think that when we put the mast up this spring (next week, we hope), I'll add something (zip tie??) to the mounting bracket to better hold the light in place.

Mark - Just a word of caution that zip ties don't hold up well in sunlight, especially not the white ones. The black ones are much better but even they don't last more than a year or two in the UV.

 

[rikhall]

My solution:

Full story at:
http://irwincitation34.wikispaces.com/Spreader+Lights

Rik

 

[mitiempo]

These lights from Lumitec are very good - not inexpensive though. Designed to handle from 10 - 30 volts





Caprera | Lumitec Lighting

 

[SailRedemption]

I'm going with Rigid Industries dually with diffused lens. They are a little pricey, comparable to the big name brands, but they are better designed and comes with limited lifetime warranty. Plus they are an American company who builds the units here in the states.

www.Rigidindustries.com/led-lighting/60251

They are a little cheaper on Amazon I found as well..

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[4arch]

I'm going with Rigid Industries dually with diffused lens. They are a little pricey, comparable to the big name brands, but they are better designed and comes with limited lifetime warranty. Plus they are an American company who builds the units here in the states.

I wish they had more photos or drawings of the spreader lights and brackets. From the picture on their website it looks like the bracket is made to be mounted at 90 degrees to the lens instead of 180 like a straight down light mounted on a spreader would be.

 

[SailRedemption]

I wish they had more photos or drawings of the spreader lights and brackets. From the picture on their website it looks like the bracket is made to be mounted at 90 degrees to the lens instead of 180 like a straight down light mounted on a spreader would be.

Yea, that's true.. I'm sure it can be worked around. I'll let you know.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[SailRedemption]

Or you can swap the hinge around..

I'd say the construction is pretty solid, they are actually quite small (3x3x3) and light. I'm not worried about the hinge, it's going to work great. Just going to tap the spreader and screw them in.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[4arch]

Thanks for the follow up - they look really sturdy. I'll be interested to see how they perform once you have them installed.

 

[northoceanbeach]

These lights from Lumitec are very good - not inexpensive though. Designed to handle from 10 - 30 volts





Caprera | Lumitec Lighting

I'll second this. I have these mounted on my spreaders and a lumitec Capri at the masthead angled back a little for the cockpit. All in all super bright but not too bright. Enough to do anything you need to do on deck at night. Made in America and look cool.