From: Ken Mayer
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 14:41:28 -0800 (PST)
Subject: lv-ab: Bright white LED's?
I've seen a few adds for cabin light lamps that use white LED's instead incandescent or halogen. I think Davis is selling them, for one. From what I can see, they are drop-in replacements for the standard cabin lights, but have 10,000-20,000 hours life (MTBF?) and draw 0.1 amp (compare with about 1 amp for my current ones). The downside is that they cost about US$60 each. (ouch!)

My question: has anyone played with these? How does their light output compare? How well do they survive in a marine environment. I've mentioned this to a friend in the chip fabrication biz and he says that LEDs are the "future" of illumination.

I'm going to experiment with building a RED lamp using a blown out incandescent bulb for the base. I figure for low light conditions, even current red LEDs will do fine. 

From: Bryan Genez
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 18:41:21 -0500
I've met and seen a sailor who is developing LED's for various marine applications. Very impressive, both in high light output and low electrical draw. Imagine an anchor light that's bright enough to be legal and can run on the equivalent of a flashlight battery for a week or more!

Look at this site: <http://www.ledlights.com/marine.htm>

Early technology, but certainly appears to be a breakthrough. 

Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 19:29:43 -0500
From: Craig O'Donnell
"Ultrabright" Red LEDs are the cheapest going right now. "Painful to look at" is how they are described. So if you don't mind red illumination, this should be easy.

Needless to say you need DC, not AC. 

Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 19:42:56 -0500
From: John Bierrie
We have recently started installing some of the Davis LED lights in a variety of boats. If your interest is in finding similar lighting compared to standard incadecent lighting, with a substantially smaller amperage draw, then you will be disapointed. My best guesstimation is that these LED lights will put out something like 30% -40% (at best) of the light compared to a "normal" cabin light. Sufficient for reading "if" you are right by it, but not for much else. They would make good "mood" lighting though, for those romantic get-aways.

If you were able to group three or four of them in close proximity to each other you would have a decent "general" light source, but I am fairly sure you could find something better to spend the subsequent $200.00 on. Yes, they use very little amperage, almost insignificant, but... 

Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 08:02:30 -0500 (EST)
From: Paul Saltzman
It's along article which I will pfax to anyone stateside that wants a copy. Bottom line to it is that they are very expensive but will outlast us. Energy draw is much less for the greater candle power per watt. You might want to contact Deep Creek Designs

Nautikat

They are working on replacement bulbs for Aqua Signal and have been testing the use of LEDs for shipboard.

Let me know if anyone wants a copy of the article... 

Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 04:34:00 -0900
From: Everett Clary
Sorry not to have exact information, since it is clouded by time and my memory.  I seem to recall a discussion of LEDs as light sources (probably on the Beneteau list) use to replace anchor lights.  One of the responders to the list said that he had purchased several at Radio Shack for a reasonable price, bundled them and stuck them up on top of his mast.  He was satisfied with the result. 
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 08:17:42 -0700
From: Denis Beaudry
I wonder how these woud work on those over bright overhead lights in my main salon. I have 7 and wouldn't mind a gentler hue on some of them 
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 12:59:56 EST
From: Jeffonboat
If you are looking for cabin lights that put out a lot of light and use very little current, you want the Alpinglow lights. They are simply wonderful -- put out about twice the light with half the power use as normal cabin lights.

I am have no connection with Alpinglow in any way, except that I am a very satisfied customer. Having installed their lights on my boat, the lighting below is like you would find in a typical house, not like the typical boat. 

Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 18:16:43 -0500
From: Pierre Mitham
Where can I find these alpinglow lights? Is it a bulb, or an entire unit? I really don't want to have to replace my brass lamps in order to reduce power consumption. (that was thewhole Idea behind the switch to halogen) I was planing on using them in my nav lights until this no/off problem developed. 
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 18:34:48 -0500
From: paul lucier
I'm with Jeff on this one. Alpinglow is not a cheap $$$$ product, but they are great lights. On Perfect Partner we have 7 of them, 2 forward, 1 in the head, 2 main cabin, and 2 in the galley area. 
From Alan_L_Lewis Mon Mar 15 16:52:58 1999
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 13:18:20 -0500
The recent discussions on lamp types, and especially the advantages for marine use of white LED's, brought to my attention a recent announcement that G.E. Lighting and Emcore Corp. have embarked on a joint venture (to be called Gelcore) to produce white LED's. This has the potential to significantly reduce prices (there are currently only 3 major producers of white LED's). They expect to be in production by late-1999 with a lamp that produces about 20 lumens/watt (compared to less than 10 lumens/watt for incandescent lamps). White LED's are really blue LED's with a white phosphor (similar to fluorescent lamp which uses UV instead of blue light). 
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 17:35:18 EST
From: Jeffonboat@aol.com
I have been reading post after post about people using Halogen lights on board their boat, and the general theme seems to be that they generate a lot of heat. I have the general rule that if something is generating a lot of heat it is using a lot of power. Are Halogen lights somehow an exception to this rule (how can that be?) or if they are power hungry why are so many people using them on their boats? 
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 07:58:28 -0800
From: Brittell <dbrittell@earthlink.net>
I, too, went to halogen in my boat. I found that the halogen's burn much hotter and actually melt the solder on the lamp sockets, making a poor connection between bulb holder and socket. I solved the problem by upgrading my lights to fixtures that are built to hold a 20 watt bulb and so far have had no problems. 
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 11:40:37 -0600
From: Larry DeMers <demers@sgi.com>
Halogens *really get hot*, and require a ceramic or other heat resistant socket assembly for them. These are available from West Marine, and are recommended. I also had problems with the solder melting on the back of two bayonet 10w bulb bases, and the problemn went away with the substitution of the high temp sockets. 
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 10:28:21 -0500
From: pierre mitham <pmitham@interlog.com>
I've recently started replacing some of my incandescent bulbs with halogens (to save some watts) but a strange phenomenon has begun to happen.  Lights that were perfectly fine before (would stay on for hours) now seem to sporadically turn off,  then if I tap the bulb (with a tissue) they turn back on.  Is this normal for halogens?  The halogen fixture that I recently bought exhibits the same behavior. 
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 09:04:44 -0800
From: Randolph Stroschein <randolph@intergate.bc.ca>
I saw this as well. In my case it was in those pretty standard looking dome fixtures with the glass "domes", and I eventually concluded that the extra heat was causing the fixture grief. That was using 20w halogen. I don't recall if I tried it with 10w, but regardless, I am back to the conventional bulbs. 
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 19:21:58 EST
From: Bandership
White LEDs

5mm T1-3/4 3.6-4VDC @ 20 mA Full Spectrum White Wide Angle Beam 2000 mcd part # 25-353 $3.99 each

A variety of 12VDC muffin fans from $2.95 to $8.95

They have a catalog full of very interesting stuff

Hosfelt Electronics 800 524-6464, 888 264-6464

Boating in Europe, but mostly English Canal Boats (Narrowboats)

Blakes Holiday Boating catalog boats@blakes.co.uk 

Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 20:14:21 -0500
From: Gary Williams
I have heard much positive talk about Aspenglow lights and have tracked down the following information....Alpenglow fluorescent light fixtures sells direct and can be reached at (406-889-3586). I have read numerous good reports on these lights and wanted to share what I found out from the manufacturer. They use a compact fluorescent tube (9w) which provides the equivalent light of a 40 watt incandescent bulb. The fixtures are 10" x 6" x 1 1/2 and have a varnished teak rim and a convex lens (you can order the trim with no finish if you want to oil it as we will). The lights also come with night vision as an option....night vision utilizes red LEDs that draw 1/2 of 1/10 of an amp per hour. The base price on the 10" x 6" unit is $92....add $6 for a high/low switch....add $20 for night vision ($112 for the full dressed fixture).

They also modify an ABI brass reading light to utilize the compact fluorescent tube. These fixtures are shown in the West Marine catalog as #1812 (before modification by Alpenglow). They will send you a catalog/product listing if you call.

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Ken Mayer