There's been quite a bit of discussion on this and all sailing boards regarding LED lighting, both interior and exterior. There is no doubt that from an energy efficiency standpoint, they're head and shoulders better than other forms of incandescent bulbs. We recently installed Dr. LED Mars Dome lights to replace the main cabin lights as well as Taylorbrite reading lamps in the v-berth. There are lots of different options available, and the most cost-effective solution would have been to simply replace the bulbs in the original factory-installed fixtures; but we decided to spend a bit more and get the new fixtures as well. The dome lights are available in two sizes, either of which will fit in the factory location in our '88. They are available as white/white or white/red. We used two white/red fixtures and two white/white to assist with night lighting underway. The white/red uses the bright white setting, by the way. Overall, the current draw on these lights is .08 amps compared to the 1.3 amps of the old incandescent fixtures (on bright setting). The quality of these fixtures is quite good, but they're not inexpensive.
Cheers,
Mike
Dusting off one from the archives here...
Mike,
My OEM cabin lights are getting quite tired so I picked up a couple of the Mars dome lights for the interior. Since their arrival, I've read some disappointing info regarding Dr. LED's quality and customer service. In fact, some comments are so discouraging I'm contemplating putting them back in the box. Have your lights performed / are performing to your satisfaction?
Any other comments / experiences from the MB?
Thanks!
Last year I replaced the dome light and all four of the main cabin lights with Dr. LED's, three white/red and two white/white. I have been very happy with them, low power drain and better light than the original lights they replaced. If I did it again, I think I would use white/red for all five lights since I never use the low white light setting.
Gary
I too have replaced mine with Dr. LED. Have had them in for over a year and they still work great!
Thanks for the feedback fellas...
Mike,
They're still working great. Also supplemented with some inexpesive battery-operated "puck" LEDs throughout the boat. I put these primarily in places not ordinarily lit--under the sink in the galley to light the water transfer valves and sea cocks, in the engine compartment and under the head sink. Pretty handy at night.
Cheers,
Vac
I like the idea of the battery operated puck lights for the engine compartment, but how do they last with the heat generated from the engine? I would think those conditions would be too extreme for them to last all that long.
Thanks.
Roc,
With respect to using the puck lights in the engine compartment I may have a suggestion. Once you decide where you want the light(s) in the engine compartment, I would stick a piece of (hook and loop type) Velcro in those places. Then stick a piece of the reverse kind behind the puck light(s). And you are done.
If you keep the light(s) in a handy place where you can find them easily, all you would need to do is stick them there when you need them and take them out after you are done.
That should help with the concern of having to keep them all the time in the heated engine compartment. Another advantage would be that you can unstick them from one place or another and make do with one or two lights instead of a couple. The Velcro should handle the heated environment alright.
Just a thought.
Those little stick on ones work great under the companion way stairs as well. We put one under each stair. After a visitor went ass over tea kettle and lander on the galley counter we came up with this idea.
Cory