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Got this cabin lamp replacement in the mail
finally. Sensibulb has been reviewed in
various sailing mags because of it's brightness
and ridiculously low power (compared to halogens).
http://www.defender.com/produc.....sp?path=-1|65136|296901|865900&id=865688
About $40 for the 'bulb'. Actually it is a
tiny circuit board with a superbright white
LED on it,the circuit board has a MAX1688
switching regulator,probably temperature
compensated,likely switching at very high
frequency.
Plugged it in,it is very,very white,and
very,very bright.
However it causes quite noticable dropout
(static buzz) on my FM (some west marine
am/fm/cd deck). VHF seems to not be
affected though there's no traffic at the
moment so it's not a great time to test.
The company supposedly has good service
so I will see how it goes if I decide to contact
them,or fix it somehow.
The bummer is this:I believe I skimmed
their product page and it specifically said
"Does not cause interference",so I didn't
worry about it. Now that I've googled it a
bit,it seems this is a rather common problem
with all actively-driven LED 'bulbs'.
As for color (several sail forums have some
complaints about that),I'd say if the color is
a problem just get some colored acrylic/film to
add to the light fixture to tint it a little bit..
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Ouch 40 dollars?
check out superbrightleds.com
I bought brighter than stock replacement bulbs for our boat at about 17 or 18 dollars per fixture total cost.
we bought g4 bulbs and then got the adapter that fit our fixture for them to plug into..
if you go to http://www.superbrightleds.com and look under marine/rv then look for the g4 bulbs for
G4 Side-Pin Lamps with High Power LEDs
I have used both the
G4(B)-xWHP10-DAC LED Lamp
which is brighter than a regular bulb that was stock in the fixture.
and just recently I upgraded a couple of the bulbs to the
G4-WHP15-DAC LED Lamp
which is even brighter and will just fit in our fixtures. You have to get one of the bases that match your fixtures that adapt to the 2 pins out the side connectors in this bulb.
we have only used the warm white version of these. The current draw is so low that we ended up using the light circuit to install all 6 fans that we have installed on the boat. with all fans and every light (8) on the boat running at the same time the current draw is around or less than 3 amps if I remember right. I think the lights draw around 1 amp if they are all running. It seriously saved on having to run a totally new circuit to install the fans and the fans and lights now use less current than just the old lights.
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As to the rf noise... i haven't had an issue with that so far. I have used the vhf while the lights are on and not noticed any noise. Though I'm not sure how the radio is installed. might have a ferrite core filter installed on the power input already. Our am/fm radio doesn't have a antenna hooked up yet so I haven't listened to it to see if anything is affecting it.
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I installed the bulb in the v-berth instead of over the nav station,and no RF noise noticed so far on marine radio or FM radio. Could be a ground problem as suspected on specific wires,not sure. The FM stereo has some type of filter on it's power lines though obviously not effective for this problem.
I haven't measured the power difference yet. I believe my 12V bulbs are using 1A each (ouch) and the halogen over the nav station is much more.
One other big reason to use LEDs (especially white LEDs) is because they are much wider spectrum which lifts the mood. I've read many accounts now and spoken to cruisers who get very upset (moody) during extended cloudy days, much more than is warranted by the weather or lack of wind, and so perhaps attributable to a type of seasonal affective disorder when compared to the great serotonin created on very sunny days. Basically,cloudy days become a real bummer,and "full(er) spectrum" lights should avoid this.
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I'm not sure how the warm white led's we have installed compare to a full spectrum light. They feel very natural and comfortable to me. I have had the hard white leds before and I really don't like the blue white light they produce. It is very cold and hard to see with .
For light use. I mean,if it's only gonna be used for your LEDs then this is really all you need. Along with a rosin core solder.
I have on and it's perfect for quick jobs. I also have one that has variable heat setting for
Connector / Power Wire LED Controllers LED Power Supplies
when I'm really gonna get down 'n dirty with a project that will take me a long time.
also,with LED.. you're gonna wanna get a heat sink,like the one here.
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Well, if you mean use "strip LED" type lights, and run them along the side of the cabin and power with a 12V controller of some kind, that might work, for general (non-spot) lighting.
I went the simpler route, picked up white LED christmas lights after the season was over (under $10), string them inside the cabin, and plug them into AC (at the dock). Works great for non-heating general lighting, though not bright enough like the cabin spot lights are.
In the end, I soldered the LED module to the cabin light wiring because the plug was for a halogen receptacle (DE lights use bayonet), but soldering is not the proper method on a vessel. Using crimp conductors is the proper method.
Sensibulb does come with a heatsink, it clips onto the module, so can be repositioned as needed.
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I have to have really bright spot type light. dim light messes with my head:). It's like I cant think right in dim light.. I love our led lighting though. It is brighter than the stock bulbs and all we had to do is get new led bulbs for the existing fixtures. the beam width is 120 degrees on our lights so between the led beam width and the lens of the fixture it does a good job of both really bright under the light and distributed light in the area.
Scott
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I bought a few more of these sensibulbs to replace the other cabin lights.
Each sensibulb I've purchased,since that first one,has the power wires break off at the circuit board. They are shipped with very small stranded wire (AWG 22?) which connects to a halogen pin connector,and there is no mechanical stress relief where the wires meet the circuit board. So while attempting to install the sensibulb,the wires always break off at the circuit board,this was with 3 different lamps on different manufactured dates (each with more simplified/cheap packaging too). It may be better to put a dab of goop as mechanical protection on the wires of any new units before installation. Also,the bulb I installed over the salon table is so bright,and on the DE 32 it is positioned low and slanting outwards,that it hurts to look directly at the light and it makes shadows (this will depend on the light covering of course.. mine are refractive-type glass). It would be better to mount the sensibulb lights facing upwards or sideways to a reflector,so it's not such direct light. The power savings is huge,so these gotcha's are still worth it.
I also threw down some $$ at bebi electronics for a couple of their nice looking LED-mounted-in-wood lights. Expect to get them in another week (apparently my order was processed weeks late,so the vendor sent them express). From something I read somewhere,this company has undergone some change in management… the original owner was a Downeast 38 sailor. I'll post how it goes.
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I just replaced about half of the LED bulbs in our boat with more of the G4 units like the ones in one of my above posts. The old ones were still working but I found some even brighter versions on ebay for 7 dollars apiece. I put them over the galley,the chart table and in the head, they are 21 led versions that put out more than 200 lumens. I think they are drawing about .3 of an amp. As much as I loved the older ones I really love these. I can turn them on in the middle of the day and they light the place up. I don't have any links but just a search on ebay for G4 LED's should find them. They seem to be a lot sturdier than the sensibulbs your referencing,no fragile wires.. These have two decent pins that fit in your choice of different bases to match existing fixtures.
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