Mac Mods – LED Upgrade

[Anonymous]

Mac Mods – LED Upgrade
Tickety-Boo, Sat May 25 2013, 03:07PM

Below is what we used on Tickety-Boo and are very, very happy with them:

At the recent MacRendezvous, everybody was impressed by our LED Mods and requested
information so everybody can have a more illuminated and power conserving life. I did a bit of research and found the power savings were significant, especially since we’re using a 12V deep cycle battery.

The comparisons are as follows:

1142 (standard cabin light bulb) uses 1.55 amp vs LED at 0.016 amp.
The 42mm/44mm Festoon bulbs used for Nav and Steeming lamps each use 1.2 amp vs LED at 0.016 amp (Steeming & Stern Lamp) and 0.027 amp for the bi-coloured bow lamp.
If you have all 4 incandecant cabin lights on at the same time, you are consuming 6.2 amp vs all 4 LED cabin lights on, you’re only using 0.064 amp or 640ma!!! (not
including nav lights)
Well worth the price in my opinion.

I ordered my LEDs from http://www.marinebeam.com
Below is a summary of my invoice:

ordered 2qty: 42mm Festoon LED 9-LED SMD Cluster Panoramic (Cool White) $15ea
ordered 1qty: 42mm/44mm Festoon LED Navigation Light Cone End Type Mini-Maxi (Warm White for bi-coloured lanses) $25ea
ordered 1qty: Utility LED Anchor Light with Dusk to Dawn Photocell Sensor (6-LED Bulb, Warm White) $34.95
ordered 5qty: Bayonet 9-LED Array for Overhead Dome Lights $18ea, 5 for $80 or 10 for $150·
BA15S if your current light bulbs have 1 contact. (shown below)
BA15D if your current light bulbs have 2 contacts.

None of the LED lights I bought needed any tools. I simply removed the bulbs and stored them aboard with my spares and installed the new LED ‘bulbs’ in their place. This took about 30 seconds per bulb.

PS: Copy and paste the descriptions from this post to Marine Beam to find the specific items.

Re: Mac Mods – LED Upgrade
Gemini, Sat May 25 2013, 07:06PM

I was very impressed with the amount of light your running lights put out. Excellent for being visible to other boats. I do wonder if the brightness of the mast light would have a negative effect on night vision. Perhaps the knowledgeable night sailors could comment on this. I have also replaced my interior lights with LEDs. You are right on with the savings in battery life. Great post Tickety Boo.

Re: Mac Mods – LED Upgrade
Sea Shell, Sat May 25 2013, 08:30PM

Funny thing about night sailing…..
You can’t see the sails…. So you end up shining a flash light at the wind vane and to look at the tell tales for proper trim, so there goes your night vision. If you had a really bright steaming light, you could properly see your sail trim. So it might be a good thing. Just my limited night sailing experience.
They look like great lights Roberto & Angelee. Thanks for the links and info! Cheers Glen

Re: Mac Mods – LED Upgrade
Tickety-Boo, Sun May 26 2013, 12:48AM

My understanding is that you don’t use the streaming light when under sail, only when under power, so I assume there wouldn’t be much in the way of reflected light back at you… It’s a valid comment though — white light sucks for night vision!

[Author]

Posts