interior red courtesy lights

[Bobg]

has anyone installed those round or square red courtesy lights in the salon, and where did you put them, this is for night sailing or simply mood lighting at anchor, was on a friends 36 islander boat, he had them hard wired in and was very nice, If you have installed them, where did you purchase them, on the internet the price varies alot.  Thank you  Bob

[Noah]

When I recently installed all LED fixtures in my 1990 Mark I used a smorgasbord of brands throughout. Most all of my fixtures have dual red and warm white LEDs in the same fixture. Just flip the switch to red to save night vision. These are made by a number of vendors. The ones in my main saloon are Alpenglow (my favorite). The one in the head is an Aqua Signal Dome, which is just so-so. It has a bluer "warm white and is not as bright as I would prefer, but the red is good. I tried West Marine and returned them as their "warm white" was very blue. In the V-Berth I used two Dr. LED "Mars" dome lights and like these although they are chromed plastic not metal. Both red and white are good. In the aft cabin, I used LunaSea dimmable reading lighs. They are very nice, but they aren't dual white/red. They have a good warm white color. While no red, they do have a sexy deep blue nightlight/courtesy setting on them however.

[Stu Jackson]

IIRC, Ron put one right under his galley sink.  One could also replace one of the two lamps in any of the light fixtures with a red bulb.  Many folks have added LED strip lights - great for mood lighting, night time stuff and low power draw; the tiny "shelf" area above the wood trim below the fixed ports is a perfect place for those.

Lighting is so subjective, that I suggest you noodle around www.marinebeam.com, the Defender and WM catalogs (you don't have to buy from them), any RV catalogs, and Home Depot, too, really.   Many of us have found that in HD they have packages of 12V lights connected to transformer bricks, buy the light replacement packages without the bricks and you get 12V fixtures.

Good luck, Bob.

[Noah]

One more thing: I am considering adding some small red courtesy lights to light the main companionway ladder but have not noodled the wiring path for this yet. I installed a breaker labeled "courtesy lights" when I configured my new Blue Sea electrical distribution panel, but never put in lights due to the fact that my dual red/white "cabin light" fixtures solved most of the problem for me, except for lighting the ladder steps. Next project maybe???

[George Bean]

I have been struggling with adding additional lighting in my MkII boat.  Has anyone put in red/white task lighting over the  stove and if so, how have you tapped into the house lights circuit?  In regards to the sink light – is it at counter height or below the doors?  I would love to install a red/white LED chart light but they are freakishly expensive.  I too want to illuminate the companionway step area but I like to unscrew the front cover when I service the engine.  I would also like to add a switched set of lights in the engine compartment like the 42's have and am thinking of tapping into the circuit that feeds the head light.  Does anyone know where those wires are routed?

[Noah]

My dual warm white/red (Alpenglow) LED lights on the main saloon head liner mid-cabin port and starbord on provide enough light thoughout, for me. However I also installed a warm white (only, no red) dimmable Alpenglow reading light to provide extra light on the stove. Haven't tried it underway yet.

[Stu Jackson]

Does anyone know where those wires are routed?

My experience is that the manuals are pretty good in showing an overall view of where the main wiring runs are.  Since they are in "plan" view, they obviously don't show the heights, but what I did when i was dealing with any lighting or power wire issues on my boat was to peek behind the fixtures and see which way the wires went.  Of course, you have a Mark II and I have a Mark I, but I'm pretty sure if you looked behind the medicine cabinet in the head and under the deck outboard you'd find some wires.  

OTOH, one of the bad design/install issues all of our boats have is that the factory ran the lighting wires all around the boat, instead of running them from the panel to the fixtures.  What I'd do, if I was adding lighting, would be to tap off the lighting circuit behind the main panel and simply run new wires to any/all new fixtures.  They'd dim a lot less, even if you have gone to all LEDs.

[Noah]

I didn't run new wire from the panel, but probably should have. I did remove the infamous blue crimp through connectors and replaced with terminal blocks on port and starboard and then connected new lighting to those with ring connectors. One eye opener I found when I removed the old lighting was "some yahoo" had installed teak wire molding to hide wire run to each light and on two out of the four lights, they had put a screw THROUGH the wire!! Yikes!

[Mick Laver]

In reply to George Bean's question:
Lunasea makes a great 24" warm white LED strip light that fits nicely between the cabinet and inner trim pieces over the stove and fridge on a Mk II. It makes a world of difference when cooking or trying to dig something out of the fridge. I just tapped into the circuit for the over-sink light and put the rocker switch (included with the light) on top of the shelf, along with some wire mold to run the wire to the new light.

I also replaced the over sink light with a 5.5" red/white LED (Lunasea part  LLB-10WR-21-CR) fixture. It's great to light up the whole galley area and watch the current drain barely register. I'm really impressed with the quality of Lunasea's products.

[Mick Laver]

Missed the other two attachments.

[Stu Jackson]

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,7746.msg53316.html#msg53316

[George Bean]

Mick, I like your approach.  Where did you get the switch?  Do you know if they sell a three position version?  I was thinking on installing the West marine bi-color rail light.  Also, what were you using as a conduit?

[stevewitt1]

Hey all

I have cabinets over my sink and I installed a red/white LED fixture under it as well as the same fixture above the Nav station. Cabin lights (sliders)replaced with 4-each side LED fixtures.  T5 lamps above ice box and stove/oven refitted with tube LED red/white over ice box, blue/white over stove.  These change colors depending on the switching sequence.  Used old fixtures after removing the ballast/starting circuit board.  Both lights in aft/cabin and V-birth replaced with new LED directional fixtures.  1156 bulb in head replaced with LED lamp. Now I just have the little goose-neck light at nav station to change.

Does anyone know a source of Navigation Light Approved LED replacements for red/green bowrail and white stern fixture??  Just read about the need to have approved replacements there.

Now, if I can figure out a energy free fridge and a easy pull start on my M25XP I can power my boat with 6 AA batteries, LOL

Steve

Visit us at www.ocontoyachtclub.com and www.warbirdsix.com

[Noah]

Better yet, hook the prop shaft to the cockpit winches and get some exercise! Eliminating the fuel tank will help considerably with port list!

[Stu Jackson]

Does anyone know a source of Navigation Light Approved LED replacements for red/green bowrail and white stern fixture??  Just read about the need to have approved replacements there.

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