Interior Lighting Tips?

[footrope]

Hi folks,

I'm looking for interior 12VDC lighting ideas and sources for fixtures. The lighting in my E38 is so limited, we've brought a small 115VAC 40Watt lamp to set on the dinette table when we're sitting still. Otherwise it's too gloomy at night. That's not a great solution, especially on the hook.

I'm not too excited about oil lamps, but if you have any opinions on that, fire away. I prefer incandescent to fluorescent, for sure.

Thanks.

 

[Mike.Gritten]

Craig,

We recently moved aboard our E35-2 and one of the first jobs we took on was replacing the crappy interior lighting. We were looking for halogen lamps when I stumbled on an ad in Lats & Atts for a compact 12v fluorescent lamp available at Cruising Solutions (http://www.cruisingsolutions.com/light.htm). We contacted them by email and they sent us a lamp on spec - told us to try it and if we liked it, pay for it with our credit card. If not, we could just return it to them at their expense. Well, their faith in this product was well warranted. We loved the bright light it gave and liked the low power consumption. We ordered three more and have them in areas where more light was desirable (the head, galley & our v-berth reading lights. 5 months after installing the first one, we are still pleased with our decision. We also added two larger fluorescent fixtures from
West Marine in our salon although I don't think that the larger fixtures actually produce more light than the Leisure Lights. The fixtures are plastic but appear to be well made. A teak/mahogony base is also available. They are not the most elegant lights I have seen, but, if more light is what you're looking for, I don't think you can go wrong with these units.
We are still going to add a couple of halogen units for spot lighting (salon and nav table) but haven't made the purchases yet.
Hope this helps.

 

[Loren Beach]

http://www.alpenglowlights.com/

This company is well regarded by sailors I know who upgraded their Valiant for full time cruising/living aboard.

Loren

 

[mdgann]

Anybody thought about the high intensity LED arrays for lighting. The energy savings would really be an attactive selling point. I have a 5 element flashlight that I love and been using it for about 6 months. The batteries are supposed to last for over 700 hrs!! I'll believe it when I experience it, but it hasn't dimmed yet. I have been looking into doing my nav lights in LEDs, but haven't gotten it done yet. Anyone tried this yet?

 

[Mike.Gritten]

LED lights

I have used a Princeton Tec "Aurora" LED headlamp (3 LED array) since we moved aboard Papillon and I can't imagine spending any serious time on a boat without one. They are fantastic! I bought it for $30 CDN (approx. $23 US) at one of the local camping equipment superstores (MEC here in BC). It uses 3 AAA batteries and lasts the advertised 150 hours on a fresh set of Duracells. The battery compartment is o-ring gasketed and should be completely splashproof. It ways just a few ounces more than the batteries alone. Great for working in any number of dark corners on your boat when you need both hands to work or for a quick rigging check in the middle of the night during a blow. However, I have some opinions on the "quality" of the light produced by the LED array. Although very bright and white up close, the beam seems to have little "penetrating" power when used to illuminate objects more than a few feet away. Part of this is due to the very even illumination pattern of the light - no hot spot in the middle of the beam - just an even flat bluish-white light. MyLED's tend to have a very narrow beam and that is one of the reasons that we discounted them for cabin lighting. You would require LOTS of them to light an area like the salon in my 35, and even then, the light would be cool and non-welcoming. My imagination has it looking more like the battle bridge on some modern frigate than a warm, cozy place to curl up in and read a book.
I would be very interested in other comments about LED running lights. I have read that they are not bright enough to be visible from very far away and so are not suitable for this application. However, I have seen several products at West Marine that use them for just this purpose.

 

[cruis-n]

I've not seen them in person...

There was a writeup in one of the sailing rags about bi-color LEDs suitable for navigation. Said they were anticipating USCG approval. Not sure what that means except maybe as a marketing term. In any case their URL is www.orcagreen.com Supposedly 1.2W vs. 25W.

They appear to have 'lamp repalcements' that fit Aqua Signal 25 fixtures. Think I'll wait for USGA approval first though.

 

[Mike.Gritten]

LED running lights

You may also want to contact your insurer and ask if they approve you to use LED lights in this application.

 

[Loren Beach]

My masthead anchor light is certified as USCG Approved. IMHO no insurer would dare try to override such an approval...


If and when I can get "approved" running lights, I will probably make the change. I like my Aquasignal lights just fine, but it would be nice to have much less amphour drain. It's a non-issue now anyway -- hope to make this upgrade before we do the SF to Hawaii to Astoria loop a few years in the future...


Loren in Portland, OR

 

[azcarlos]

I'm sure I'll get into trouble from a few purists out there, but here's my two-cents...

Our liveaboard 35-2 came with absolutely no 12-volt wiring and had at least the AC installed. So when it came time (finally) to do the 12-volt and lighting, we hit up IKEA for our lights. They're stylish, inexpensive and draw a meager 1.6 amps per unit. The bulbs are 10-watt halogens, perfect for interior lighting without being overly bright. Best of all, for the price of ONE WORST MARINE fixture, we got six stylish fixtures and they look great!

The IKEA lights run off an included 12-volt transformer. Toss the transformer and clip the plug, you're all set. No they're not ABY-cccchh-whatever, but sine the only person that cares about that is my surveyor, I don't.

Good luck!
Carlos
Ventura, CA

 

[footrope]

Thanks!

Well, add

http://www.imtra.com

to the list. I do have some 8w and 2x8w fluorescents scattered around and while they just don't seem to do the job, maybe they're enough. I've been advised not to add any more permanent fixtures by another friend who thinks there's plenty of light.

Maybe by next summer it won't seem so dark all the time.

 

[gareth harris]

The last time I contacted Hella, the green and red LED nav lights were available, but the white were not expected for a few more months. That was in about July. The green and red are certified, and say they are visible at 2 nm. I have been waiting for the stern light to be available before making the switch, so have not seen them in action yet.
Go to www.hellausa.com , and follow the links through marine to naviled.

 

[footrope]

Cold Cathode?

Moving on to another type of lighting. I see in computer stores the 12VDC "neon" or cold cathode lighting. Probably the same thing the 'cruisers' use in, on and under their cars. I checked on the heat generated by the little transformer unit and it was almost cool. I'm not sure what the light intensity is like in a large area, but I bought one with dual red tubes to try over my chart table. The days are getting short up here and the incandsecent I've got at my elbow casts too many shadows.

There may be a cosmetic issue if the results are good, but I'm going to mock it up anyway. The advertised power consumption is: Tube Voltage: 620V .74 Amps (8.88 watts)
See http://www.pctoys.com

I'll let you know how that works and enclose a picture.

As for the IKEA halogen suggestion from azcarlos - what type did you get? The website doesn't seem to have enough detail on the power source. I loathe going to IKEA to look because of the parking arrangements. Thanks for the suggestion.

I like my old Petzl flashlight bulb headlamp onboard.

Cheers,

 

[footrope]

did not pan out

the cold cathode lights did not pan out. at least not with the make sold by pctoys. poor filter quality on the reds and variations in illumination strength between the bulbs on several of the twin-bulb units i looked at.

might try a single unit later, but i think i'll go to ikea first