Interior cabin lights

B

bridma

New member
I'm wanting to change the factory interior cabin light bulbs for LED bulbs. Can I just change the bulb or do I have to change the whole 'guts' of the light? Which LED bulbs do I need that easily fit in and provide good light for reading without straining the eyes? Where is the best place to order the new LED bulbs?

I checked our history posts but could not find the answers I'm looking for, so started a new post.

Martin.
 
Martin, as far as I know, you just change the bulbs. Match the connectors. I'm planning to do the same and have found a few spots on the web with the apprpriate bulbs.
 
Hi Martin. Wanted to do the same thing and from what I found no you can not just change the bulbs but lo and behold West marine had the kit just for that purpose which I switched over last year. Super easy and so far no problem. I must say they are bright and the only other I do not have red for night Navigating and could of switched to that with some bit of effort but did not bother so just make sure which ones you need.
cheers
Terry
 
I have swapped out a few types in boats and cars and recently had good service again from Marinebeam. When I had a issue with some bulbs in the past, they were quick to respond and sent me replacements as soon as they were available.

Just pull out the bulb you want to change and match it to one on this page.

http://store.marinebeam.com/bulbs.html

Pat attention to the colors available and if you like the yellowish glow of standard bulbs, choose the warm white. The cool white is my preference but is more white like a flourescent.

Also keep in mind the space available in the fixture and choose the "bulb" accordingly. My recently updated lights were slim so I could only go so wide on the bulb array.

The bulb connector is the key for ease of install but some of the floating board types are nice and just stick inside the fixture with double-stick tape.

Greg
 
Aurelia":s57ial9s said:
I have swapped out a few types in boats and cars and recently had good service again from Marinebeam.
Click to expand...

I just recently noticed the photo in your album that showed you changing to the Marine Beam bulbs in fixtures that look like they may be the same as a couple in my 22. Are these the fixtures on which you slide the clear lens side to side to turn them on and off (clever)? If so, do you happen to know which Marine Beam bulb ended up fitting?

Here is the photo in question:
20140105_115154_resized.sized.jpg
 
Thanks! Time to exchange those power-hungry incandescents. With your info it's now "easy" because I don't have to try to figure it out what will work -- so I'm going to go ahead and do it :thup
 
I changed all the interior lights to LED in the Perko fixtures on my CD22. I used the flat LED arrays available on eBay. About $1.50 each. The array has a adhesive foam pad on the back. I made a little stand off to get the LEDs in about the same place as the bulb was. The arrays come with socket adapters for a number of different base types, but I just took out the old socket out and butt spliced the wires. This was described in a previous post on this site. Just make sure you get the polarity right when connecting the wires.

I also got some of these for placing around the boat as courtesy and convenience lights (under gunwhales, in compartments, etc.).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20pcs-3-Warm-Wh ... 19dded3641
 
We have two LED light fixtures that are switchable from white to red light for running at night. One over the sink and the other centered under our top shelf that is above the helm area. One has a built in dimmer which at times is nice to have.
D.D. :idea
 
Will-C":2uii2jx0 said:
We have two LED light fixtures that are switchable from white to red light for running at night.
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I'm used to having red lights in the cabin for night work, but now I'm finding myself wondering if it's somewhat pointless because.... would I be running at night without the chartplotter, and radar if I get it? Even on "night" screens they both seem so much worse than a red light that they sort of eclipse it. That said, I did put two MarineBeam red bulbs in my cart, because I can at least try. And too, there are times at anchor that I use a red light when getting up in the night (and the plotter, etc. screens are not on then). OTOH, I have a red headlamp that is good for that because it goes wherever I do :)

Not writing this to "refute" anyone's getting red lamps - I like them and have always had them aboard - but more just discussing "out loud" an issue I have been pondering lately, since I now have a plotter and other screens aboard. I had begun to think about it previously on other people's boats (who had "bright" radars and etc. - I've only had the old black screen with a few green blobs type.)
 
Let's say your at anchor, the anchor drags, your drag queen app on your phone gives you an alert, you wake up. Throw some duds on and need to see what's going on. I could see red light being useful in that scenario. I wonder why all of our gauge lights are not in red or on a dimmer from the factory. Fortunately our Garmin 4208 which we use for a radar overlay can have it's light level adjusted. We don't do a lot of night running but you always want to be prepared like the boy scouts. Little things can make a difference. IMHO
D.D.
 
I've changed all the cabin lights AND the anchor light over to LED.

Journey On has the round dome lights, which take a double contact non-index bulb. I've used 2 types. First I tried some LED lights off e-bay, and they shed their LED ICs after a year or so. They were cheap.

So now I have Dr Led Dome Light, P/N 9000159. The work great, I'm happy, Judy's happy, the batteries stay up. Though they're not as cheap as the ones on e-bay, they last.

If you think about it the anchor light, since it's on all night, draws the most amp-hrs. That's the first one I replaced and now I don't bother to get up at daybreak.

You can get them at West Marine, but Defender has them cheaper, including shipping. By the way West Marine doesn't match prices, so I've been told.

Boris
 
journey on":3vft1igs said:
I've changed all the cabin lights AND the anchor light over to LED.

Journey On has the round dome lights, which take a double contact non-index bulb. I've used 2 types. First I tried some LED lights off e-bay, and they shed their LED ICs after a year or so. They were cheap.

So now I have Dr Led Dome Light, P/N 9000159. The work great, I'm happy, Judy's happy, the batteries stay up. Though they're not as cheap as the ones on e-bay, they last.

If you think about it the anchor light, since it's on all night, draws the most amp-hrs. That's the first one I replaced and now I don't bother to get up at daybreak.

You can get them at West Marine, but Defender has them cheaper, including shipping. By the way West Marine doesn't match prices, so I've been told.

Boris
Click to expand...




Thanks for the info Boris. I'm not electrical techno minded, so my question is, are the cool white bright enough to read by over the dinette table? Are they easy to install, do you just remove the old bulb and plug in the new? I replaced my anchor light with LED last year. That was a straight swap, bulb for bulb.

Martin.
 
One thing to keep in mind is that while one LED draws a very small amount of current compared to one light bulb, the LED bulb replacement units almost always have multiple LEDs to get the same coverage or intensity of the original bulb.

In the case of the LEDs I used in my Perko fixtures there are 48 LEDs per light. These units draw about 1/3 the current of the light bulb. While this is a significant reduction, it is not the 1/10 of the current that some places will lead you to believe you will get if you switch over to LEDs.

There are other good reasons to switch over to LEDs (long life, robustness, low heat generation, etc.) in addition to the power reduction that make switching over pretty much a no brainer.
 
Simple bulb to bulb swap for the link I sent and that slim fixture. I also tried some cheap ebay units in one car and on the last boat with mixed success and not enough brightness. Many types and levels of LED quality/sophistication. You seem to get roughly what you pay for.

Greg
 
Martin,

Those warm white lights are as good as the original incandescent bulbs for reading and washing dishes (there's one over the sink.) The ones I got are the warm white ones. The red and warm white require one to unplug the whit and plug in the red, according to the instructions.

Here's the installation.

First, you get a flat PCB with the LEDs on one side, and 2 ea wire pigtails. Select the one with the connection that fits the bulb socket, plug it into the LED board. Plug the other end into the socket and see if the light works. If it doesn't remove the bulb socket, turn it 180 deg and plug it back in. The reason for this is the socket isn't polarized, but the electronics is (are?) With the Dr LED lights, I've never had to rotate the plug so they might not be polarized, but I mention it in case you do.

Next, you take the 2 pieces of double backed foam, stick them one on top of another and fasten the LED light to the inside of the dome.

You're done. It isn't quite a direct bulb replacement, but close. The tower lights were direct, but then they fell apart.

As for the power, the claim is for 0.18 amp, which is about 20% of the incandescent lamp. And they run cool, which you'll learn to appreciate.

Boris
 
For the red lights just put in a 3 LED array, which covers most of the cabin , with its own switch right on the side of the console, along with the white LED in the cockpit and sides of the cabin (all on separate switchs), Easy to turn on from the bunk , sitting at the helm or standing in the cabin. 0
 
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