Upgrade Interior Lighting 2022

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
On a recent cruise I found myself dissatisfied with the hodge-podge of saloon and berth lamps, and the heat some of them caused in simply lighting up. Now, a mere $700 later, I feel much better by a factor of 2 watts vs. 9 watts. If that does not seem much of a return, you didn't ride AOL down like I did.

There are eight dome lights on my boat and seven reading lamps. Five years ago I painted the former owner's , since although corroded they were at least LEDS, although circa Who Knows When, with ancient complicated insides that cast very little light. They worked, and didn't look bad. I replaced them with these.

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The brand is Mars, from Defender, and I had installed two as tests a few months ago, in the head and main saloon overhead. These domes come in 5.5" or 6.75" base diameter and cast a strong light under 12v, with the option of white or red always available. My main beef with dome cabin lights is the on-off switch, and the Mars product does OK, more or less. The three-way selector is covered with a waterproof plastic casting, and it only takes a couple of tries to turn on or off. But you can't have everything ("where would you put it?"--Steve Reich). See comments. The switch covers pop off if not needed--thanks, Jerry VB.

IMG_7641.JPG

I had installed new V-berth reading lights five years ago, and choose at that time to keep them incandescent. I think they were Sea Dog brand, and corroded right on schedule. Incandescent? Well, the LEDS on board made a harsh dim florescent illumination reminiscent of a morgue in Mogadishu, whereas real bulbs cast a merry and heartwarming light, although they burned your ear if you got close.

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These are much brighter. And of course make no heat at all.

In the saloon, I had built extensions for the reading lamps--necessary so I could get my head under them whilst semi-reclining at sea. Their Mars "Titanium" (brass) plating coating has held up well, much better than the Sea Dog "brass."

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In fact, all the new lamps are much brighter than the ancient LEDs, with their feeble and insufficient diodes. And the incandescents, of course, cost 9 watts to run whereas LEDs are only 2. I am perhaps the last to recognize that, as well as the fact that the new iPhone 13 has no button and is incompatible with all my iPhone 6s cords. I am going to have to throw away a lot of cords, including the curly-wired 25-footers I saved in case kitchen wall telephones ever come back. (Mine swivel , if you need one)

For my boat, 6.75" worked for saloon overhead (photo below) and head. The rest of the domes are 5.5".

lamp tracy IMG_7618.jpg

Lamps Defender.JPG

Also listed as Blog entry.
 
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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I am curious as to whether you researched the various light fixtures from https://www.alpenglowlights.com

I installed one of their hi-lo white-red fixtures over our galley many years ago, and we are still enthused about it.

This looks like the current version, and we ordered ours in teak.

Their site no longer seems to list a brass reading light, altho they used to make them. Luckily our EY factory reading lights are still looking great, with upgraded LED lights in their sockets.

The Alpenglow light is a high quality item.
 
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The 381 is as about as traditional as you can get, so I stuck with the original shapes.

I do enjoy all the new underwater lighting in harbor these days. Motorboat next to me illuminated all sorts of fish.

Video Project.JPG
 

Bolo

Contributing Partner
Christian, I’m installing a LED dome light in the v-birth of my 32-3, just above the starboard side port, because it’s just dark up there even though I have two reading lights attached to either side of the bulkhead. But after purchasing the light and finding a good spot for it I found that there was too much “play” between the headliner and the bottom of the deck. The headliner is very taught there so I’m going to glue a 3/4 inch piece of plywood to the underside of the deck to screw the light into. I haven’t done any of this yet and will post photos when I do. I’ll probably need to pull back the headline from the side to reach the spot where I want to mount the light because the center zipper is just too far away to do any good.

I noticed in the photo of the two dome lights together the one to the left seems more depressed into the headliner then the one to the right. Perhaps you mounted the right one on to a wood spacer that I think happens here and there on our boats as a place to screw light to which gave me the idea for my new light installation.
 

Jerry VB

E32-3 / M-25XP
The three-way selector is covered with a waterproof plastic casting, and it only takes a couple of tries to turn on or off.
The switch condom pops right off. There is no need for it on lights that are not exposed to water. The switch action is very good once it is removed.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Christian, I’m installing a LED dome light in the v-birth of my 32-3, just above the starboard side port, because it’s just dark up there even though I have two reading lights attached to either side of the bulkhead. But after purchasing the light and finding a good spot for it I found that there was too much “play” between the headliner and the bottom of the deck. The headliner is very taught there so I’m going to glue a 3/4 inch piece of plywood to the underside of the deck to screw the light into. I haven’t done any of this yet and will post photos when I do. I’ll probably need to pull back the headline from the side to reach the spot where I want to mount the light because the center zipper is just too far away to do any good.

I noticed in the photo of the two dome lights together the one to the left seems more depressed into the headliner then the one to the right. Perhaps you mounted the right one on to a wood spacer that I think happens here and there on our boats as a place to screw light to which gave me the idea for my new light installation.
Back when I replaced the round base light (single bulb) over our galley, I also had to open up the headliner. The factory had screwed some square ply "spacers" against the overhead coring, routed out a channel for wiring, and then installed the vinyl over that with the two wires sticking out. They attached wiring to the back of the light, and screwed the fixture to the surface. Same throughout the boat for the other same-model lighting. This lets the light fixture sort of appear to 'float' on the surface and not stand proud or be indented. I had to cut out and epoxy into place a larger spacer for the larger footprint of the new Alpenglow light. The installation looks 'stock' but it did take some added labor beyond just screwing it into place.
 

frick

Sustaining Member
Year ago I replaced all my halogen Bulbs with LEDs from Chinese, They had the same two wire bonnet plugs as the halogens and they work great... I think I spent about 2.40 a bulb at the time.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
On my model, the bases do depress the headliner a bit, but it's not noticeable or offensive visually.

Marvelous! I shall pop off the switch covers immediately!
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
Year ago I replaced all my halogen Bulbs with LEDs from Chinese, They had the same two wire bonnet plugs as the halogens and they work great... I think I spent about 2.40 a bulb at the time.
Have you checked to see whether they generate any noise on your VHF? It may not be immediately obvious, but could affect your ability to detect weaker signals.

Go on a channel where no one is transmitting and turn down the squelch. Turn the lights off and on and see if you detect any noise.

I had this issue with some off the shelf LEDs. I replaced them with some bulbs from MarineBeam, which were certified as low noise, and the problem went away.
 
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