I am thinking of converting the cockpit lights on my 300 Marlin (the lights on the step) to leds. Is there anything to it other than popping out the old incadescent bult and putting in a led bulb. Or do I have to change wiring etc. Thanks.
led cockpit lights
- Thread starter el jefe
- Start date
I believe you will have to replace the whole unit as in unscrew the bezel and lamp holder and lense from your step, cut the wires or unclip the leads and put in the new LED head unit and screw it back down (don't forget to seal around the assembly to prevent water intrusion). The LED ones I have seen are a total assembly and are sealed. Some are switchable between white and red which are really cool and they use a fraction of the power of a regular bulb at should last a lifetime. We installed some in our previous boat and they had I think 6 LEDs per light and were plenty bright enough for night fishing.
Contact Scott at vector led, he is manufacturing such a product.
He was making a direct replacement for the cockpit lights
with the chrome bezel like the ones by the step at the walk around.
http://www.vectorled.com/#
Tony L.
He was making a direct replacement for the cockpit lights
with the chrome bezel like the ones by the step at the walk around.
http://www.vectorled.com/#
Tony L.
I think vector is correct, you would need to change out a bit more then you think. For $200 a piece you can buy LED spreader lights from pyramid Tech, check their site. I am purchasing their HID spreader lights. My fear with LED's is that they produce a fairly straight beam, there is not much angle to it. I have talked to two light manufacturers about LED spreader lights, and they both complained about the difficulty of spreading the light over an angled beam so that it lights your whole cockpit, not just a narrow strip of it. Pyramid Tech will send you any info you need and their HR was great at answering all my questions, for me the HID lights make more sense, I'm just not sold yet on LED spreader lights and their effectiveness. If you have ever seen LED underwater lights, the main light beam is very narrow and will not light a wide area, that is why many boats have multpile lights. The high priced higher quality lights light a wider region, but still cannot produce the light for a whole transom, it will be no differnt in a spreader light unless it uses mirrors to reflect the beam into an angleed beam. Both the HID and LED lights are the same price fro this manufacturer. I'd suggest talking to them as well as Scott at Vector LED as mentioned before, see what each ahs to say and recommends, and be sure it will suit your needs.
Hey guys, I have actually figured out how to spread LED light over a wide areas perfect for interior lighting using a diffusing lense, it works great and I can make a bezel to mount exactly to the existing holes and maybe even use the same trim ring, show me what yor looking to replace and I am sure I can help you easily, AND inexpensivly.
enfish
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Messages
- 434
- Reaction score
- 68
- Points
- 28
- Location
- San Marcos, CA
- Model
- Adventure
You might luck out and find the correct replacement bulb without having to replace the entire assembly if you search here: http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm
Yeah the problem is that you only saving a little bit of power, they will still corode. My light system is completly sealed and submersible, no matter what light from my transom mounted lights to my interior lights, they are all sealed for good and carry a lifetime warrantee. Also, every single interior courtesy light I selll is under 50 bucks, you could mount them under water just like a thousand dollar thruhull light an they will be fine.
As I said, you can cut my lights in half, and they STILL are submersible, not "waterproof" but submersible. Even the wire I use is custom made to my specs to hold up to 30 years under water 150 years under ground. I left no rock unturned and no angle uncovered. These lights are my best work and I can build them for a price everyone can afford.
This is what I set out to do, manufacture the best LED lights for the best price. ther eis just no need to charge thousands for a light.
As I said, you can cut my lights in half, and they STILL are submersible, not "waterproof" but submersible. Even the wire I use is custom made to my specs to hold up to 30 years under water 150 years under ground. I left no rock unturned and no angle uncovered. These lights are my best work and I can build them for a price everyone can afford.
This is what I set out to do, manufacture the best LED lights for the best price. ther eis just no need to charge thousands for a light.LED Lights and Fires?
Go on THT and do a search for LED Cockpit lighting... saw something about fires caused by wiring delivering too much voltage for the LED to handle over time...sorry to be so vague but don't remember the fix...only that a lot of kit suppliers don't address this.
Go on THT and do a search for LED Cockpit lighting... saw something about fires caused by wiring delivering too much voltage for the LED to handle over time...sorry to be so vague but don't remember the fix...only that a lot of kit suppliers don't address this.
Re: LED Lights and Fires?
Yup, it is caused by the voltage switching boards malfunctioning, I am glad you brought that up. Let me explain how that all works.
I wire my LED's is a system I call the double parallel Halo. I wires each LED with it's own resistor, no matter how many LEDs in the light. This way each LED Burns in it's own resistor. This also alows you to Dim my lights as each Resistor is "custom" burned by the only bulb that will ever draw power from it. So when youy change the voltage, the light dims.. The other way to wire LED's is using a voltage switching board, this is a circuit board that turns any voltage from A to B to operate the light. They claim this is more stable...not form my experiance, I have been wiring LED's with resistors to backlight my panels for years and I have NEVER had ONE burn out...not a bad track record. But they claim this becasue the voltage board is more versitial, they can build one light to suit many different voltages.
this is why you see them say "this light is rated for 10 to 32 volts". The board changes the imput voltage to whatever the lgihts needs, this sound great sure, but not try to dim the light...you cannot, why? simple, to dimthe lights you need to drop the voltage...when you dropt he voltage with these lights, the board compensates, so the only thing you accomplish is making hte board work harder makeing it hotter. And after time, the board can malfunction and start mis reading the voltage imput and the mis calculate the forward voltage, causing heat, and heat leads to fire. ALSO, the other down side is these boards throw off massive amounts of interferrence. We had customers that coudl not Key up thier VHF radios because the mast head light was interfering. At the newport boat show a crew hand on a 12 meter racer told us that they spent 24 grand trying to solve the problem of the malfunctioning vhf, only to findout the light was the culprit.
Wiring with basic solid state resistors insures you will never have any of htem problems, fromone my lights operate no hotter then mid 90's and if the only malfunction they can have is just not working, nothing more, it burnd out, it just dies, no fireworks, just no light. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with my old company I used to work for who installs marine electronics, the head electronics guy warned me about useing the voltage switching boards or I would have followed suit.
My lights are nothign mroe then the most simple resistor, LED circuits you can make, it is the same basic wiring that I have put in my panels for years and everyone esle too.
The only down side is if I build 12V light, it is a 12v light, you can operate it from 3 to 14 volts and it will get dimmer and brighter accordingly but you cannnot plug them into a 24 or 32v system, you will cook them, AND they have to be wired pos to pos and neg to neg, most boards allow you to hook it up any way and it will work, it will sense the polarity and switch it accordingly. resistor wired LED's have to be wired corectly. For me it was an easy choice, I think most can tell red form black and most have 12v boats, unless you specify and I can wire them for whatever voltage, even ac but it has to be specified.
I hope I didn't bore you guys But if anyone has any more questions I would love to answer them
tuxedospike said:
Yup, it is caused by the voltage switching boards malfunctioning, I am glad you brought that up. Let me explain how that all works.
I wire my LED's is a system I call the double parallel Halo. I wires each LED with it's own resistor, no matter how many LEDs in the light. This way each LED Burns in it's own resistor. This also alows you to Dim my lights as each Resistor is "custom" burned by the only bulb that will ever draw power from it. So when youy change the voltage, the light dims.. The other way to wire LED's is using a voltage switching board, this is a circuit board that turns any voltage from A to B to operate the light. They claim this is more stable...not form my experiance, I have been wiring LED's with resistors to backlight my panels for years and I have NEVER had ONE burn out...not a bad track record. But they claim this becasue the voltage board is more versitial, they can build one light to suit many different voltages.
this is why you see them say "this light is rated for 10 to 32 volts". The board changes the imput voltage to whatever the lgihts needs, this sound great sure, but not try to dim the light...you cannot, why? simple, to dimthe lights you need to drop the voltage...when you dropt he voltage with these lights, the board compensates, so the only thing you accomplish is making hte board work harder makeing it hotter. And after time, the board can malfunction and start mis reading the voltage imput and the mis calculate the forward voltage, causing heat, and heat leads to fire. ALSO, the other down side is these boards throw off massive amounts of interferrence. We had customers that coudl not Key up thier VHF radios because the mast head light was interfering. At the newport boat show a crew hand on a 12 meter racer told us that they spent 24 grand trying to solve the problem of the malfunctioning vhf, only to findout the light was the culprit.
Wiring with basic solid state resistors insures you will never have any of htem problems, fromone my lights operate no hotter then mid 90's and if the only malfunction they can have is just not working, nothing more, it burnd out, it just dies, no fireworks, just no light. I was lucky enough to have a conversation with my old company I used to work for who installs marine electronics, the head electronics guy warned me about useing the voltage switching boards or I would have followed suit.
My lights are nothign mroe then the most simple resistor, LED circuits you can make, it is the same basic wiring that I have put in my panels for years and everyone esle too.
The only down side is if I build 12V light, it is a 12v light, you can operate it from 3 to 14 volts and it will get dimmer and brighter accordingly but you cannnot plug them into a 24 or 32v system, you will cook them, AND they have to be wired pos to pos and neg to neg, most boards allow you to hook it up any way and it will work, it will sense the polarity and switch it accordingly. resistor wired LED's have to be wired corectly. For me it was an easy choice, I think most can tell red form black and most have 12v boats, unless you specify and I can wire them for whatever voltage, even ac but it has to be specified.
I hope I didn't bore you guys
But if anyone has any more questions I would love to answer them Thanks for all the helpful information. ScottC I will be in touch to get more specific information on what I want to do, including the step lights and possibly lighting around the cockpit, and potentially replacing the mast light with led.
Ok guys, shoot me yor email addresses and I will email you pics. Right now I do not want to post them because I have a problem with a guy stealing all of my products. send me an email to scott.cam@verizon.net and I will forward you the pics and specs.
Hey guys, I now have my newest designs complelty secured now so here is a link to one of my vendors, he has the basic 16 or so styles of lights. Each one of these lights are completly submersible in any configuration...even if you cut them in half! IF you do not see somthing that will fit your needs email me and I can make custom bezels to match any screw pattern or any shape. So if you come to me and say " Scott, I have this weird light that is shaped like a heart haha and I want to cover that holes but do not want to drill new holes" I can make that light and for a very little charge as it will just be a bezel.
http://www.definitivelighting.com
http://www.definitivelighting.com
What year is your Marlin? Mine is an '01 and Atwood makes a direct replacement for the incandescent fixture. Just remove the bezel and the entire fixture will come out, cut the wires and replace wiht the new LED unit.
I have a 2005. I am also thinking about converting the anchor/stern light to an led. And, I am also thiking about putting some lights under the gunwale to light the cockpit area as an alternative to using the spreader lights. Any thoughts or comments. Thanks.
You can replace the lights under the stairs with a new fixture that will fit in the same hoel. I think Attwood makes it and its readily available. I chose to use red LEDs when I did mine.
For my anchor light I used a direct replacement bulb that I ordered online from Superbrightleds.
I also added several strings of red LEDs under my gunwale in the cokpit- agin from Superbrightleds.
I changed the fixtures on my nav lights to the ones that Innovative Lighting sells. I had a problem with one of the lenses and after some moaning on my part Innovative agreed to provide a replacement.
The only outside lights I have not replaced are my spreaders and the bi-color light over the dash. I have replaced all of the lights in the cabin to have a brass finish instead of the chrome.
For my anchor light I used a direct replacement bulb that I ordered online from Superbrightleds.
I also added several strings of red LEDs under my gunwale in the cokpit- agin from Superbrightleds.
I changed the fixtures on my nav lights to the ones that Innovative Lighting sells. I had a problem with one of the lenses and after some moaning on my part Innovative agreed to provide a replacement.
The only outside lights I have not replaced are my spreaders and the bi-color light over the dash. I have replaced all of the lights in the cabin to have a brass finish instead of the chrome.
1999 GRADY WHITE 300 MARLIN WHERE IS SPREADER SWITCH !!!
I AM GOING CRAZY CANT FIND WHERE THE SPREADER LIGHT SWITCH'S ARE BULBS ARE OK MIGHT IF I CAN FIND OUT WHERE IT IS I MIGHT LED LIGHT IT PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM GOING CRAZY CANT FIND WHERE THE SPREADER LIGHT SWITCH'S ARE BULBS ARE OK MIGHT IF I CAN FIND OUT WHERE IT IS I MIGHT LED LIGHT IT PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!