LED Cabin Lights

[John Coulthard]

I am wondering if anyone can report on the use of white LED's as replacements for the cabin lights. In particular I am thinking of replacing the bulb in the Navigation Light and maybe one or two lights in the dinette area.

Specifically, I wonder if anyone has any experience as to how many LED's it takes to do the same job. (a cluster of 3, 6, 12?? for the cabin lights for example?).

Thanks, John (Galiander, Hull # 1001).

[charles]

I had the same question a while back--
I found LED lights in a Davis catalog.
Looks they use 6 Cluster lights.  
$49.95 (seems high)
My problem is my cabin lights are Halogen and I don't see a way to convert them to accept the socket for the LED style -- Any thoughts on that?

hull # 1498

[John Coulthard]

Charlie, Have a look at http://www.theledlight.com/ . They have some units that have regular flashlight bulb bases - I don't remember if they had any bases compatible with the 12V halogen bulbs - but you could ask them the questions.

The above outfit has various assemblies (3, 6, 9, 12... etc leds) mounted on circuit boards for 12 volts. I thought I would just order one and wire it into one of my overhead cabin fixtures - which have lots of room for that.

But they are expensive, and Theledlight.com adds a $20.00 minimum delivery charge. The cost prompted me to make my original post - I didn't want to spend $$$ and get something that wasn't strong enough.

Given the lack of responses I suspect not many people have tried this so I will probably just take my chances and see what happens. Kind of a low priority project as I have all winter to do it. :-)

John. (Galiander, #1001)

[charles]

I mounted an LED cluster I bought from west Marine. I used the existing halogen fixture. Bu it didn't exactly fit the existing fixture. I took out the center portion that rotates and held the LEd in with calk.
It's not quite bright enough to read by --- but it puts out no heat.

[David Sanner]

Try the replacement bulbs sold by
http://superbrightleds.com/

[Ken Krawford]

I'm not sure if this is the type of bulb you are looking for or not.

http://www.batteryspace.com/product.asp?0=338&1=340&3=417

[Tom Glennon]

Greetings from the frigid Nor'east!

Regarding the led lights for inside the cabin area.... I have a neighbor who manufactured his lights for the companionway stairs (red) and other clusters of white leds inside throughout his cabin.  I will ask if he would be generous enough and share his expertise with the Catalina 34 Association.  It is as really neat project for those of you that are handy... and the cost is significantly less (not to mention the savings on electrical usage) than what you would pay "off the shelf".

Happy sailing!

[Chouse]

I went to a local electronics store and purchased a whole bunch of the white high intensity LED's for use in my engine compartment. I was going to place them throughout to completely light up the area. I chose LED because of the low current. Now, I just have to find the time to solder them together.