Ebay LED bulbs from Hong Kong

[Guest]

I am installing LED bulbs in my mates boat.More than 20 interior lights .Three different kinds.I ordered bulbs on ebay from several sellers.Some bulbs cost as little as $3 delivered in about 3 weeks.All these bulbs pluged in the fittings and worked right off.However,when we put bulbs in the external Aquasignal lights,the bulbs did not work.These are bayonet bulbs with double contacts ,offset pins.In the Aquasignal,one contact is positive and the other negative.We have just discovered that the double contacts,on the LED's, are positive and the body is the negative.So these are brake/tail lights designed for modern cars.So our fix,to make these work in the Aquasignal fitting,is to put a spot of solder between one of the contacts and the body of the bulb.

Of course it will be some time before we know how durable these bulbs are.

[Guest]

Maybe there is a pic

[Guest]

Exactly what I did to fix them. $3 is very cheap.

[Guest]

Correction.Some of the cabin lights were $3.Those bulbs in the pic were about $6.

[rigger 47]

if you are putting them in your nav lights check what colour you end up with - especially your stbd light - you want it green not blue.

[Guest]

And be aware some, many/most, are knot approved for use in Nav lights due to colour variance and range issues, usually a lack of.

 

And some will cause radio interference due to the internal DC to DC 'technical word thing I can't remember'.

 

So if you are play with them in Nav lights be careful.

[Guest]

for the interior cabin lights what ebay sellor did you get the $3 ones from, are they as bright as the bulbs they replaced???

 

thanks P

[Guest]

I wasnt sure about what I was doing so I decided to buy small amounts from various sellers.Probably about 8 different sellers.But they were all Hong Kong based.My impression is that they are all keen to preserve their ebay rateing and they all gave pretty good service for the price.

Its funny but I havent yet been down to the boat to check out the lights at night.But my impression,when installing them,is that the LED's give less light than the incandecent.But we hope to get used to them and they will use as little as 1/10th power.

[wheels 543]

Those LEDs are older ones now and $3 is probably about right for them. There are LEDs putting out similar to Halogen now, but expect to pay much more. Worth it though in my opinion. Easy to spot them, they have a little square yellow thingy in them. That is the new high output LED. And as KM, said, you have to be careful to get the correct "aproved" one for Anchor and Nav duty and the some can have very noisy regulators inside them.

[Guest]

Lots of cruisers are using solar powered LED garden lights as anchor lights.

[wheels 543]

Yes they are and that is not smart. Firstly, they are not insured if they are hit in the night. And secondly, I nearly sank someone one night. coming into a very dark bay one night and I could not see any boats, but something just did not seem right to me. So I picked up the Binoculars and that was enough to just make out the Hull of the boat, which at that stage was right in front of me. The solar light at the top of the mast looked like all the other stars in the sky. At least the garden lights mounted down the back stay put the light well down out of the sky, but they are still not the easiest to see.

[Guest]

What was the issue Wheels, that it was at the masthead, that it wasn't bright enough, or something else?

[Atom Ant 0]

Wheels I hate to tell you this but there are a shitload of boaties up here that don't bother with anchor lights at all.

[Guest]

Thats right.If you are in a designated anchorage you dont need one.Other skippers will know its an anchorage and will not navigate through it.

[wheels 543]

What was the issue Wheels, that it was at the masthead, that it wasn't bright enough, or something else?

A mixture of all. It was not bright, just the same as all the stars, it was a bluishwhite, the same as the stars and it was up the mast placed amongst the stars. So it could not be seen amongst the stary background. A proper masthead anchor light is the colour and brightness required for a reason.

Thats right.If you are in a designated anchorage you dont need one.Other skippers will know its an anchorage and will not navigate through it.

Huh??? where in the nav rules is that???? If you are at Anchor, you MUST show an anchor light at night, no matter where you are anchored. It is a mooring field ONLY that does not require you to have an anchor light displayed.

But anyway, sure, it will be different up here. But just because it's different up here does not make it right. It would be like saying that because everyone drives at 120Kph on the motorway up here(I wish), the law is therefore different from the rest of the country. And simply, just because no one uses a anchor light will not change an insurance companies oppinion on that one.

And perhaps to take this one point further, if we as yacties are breaking the law, how do we then have the right to stand and say that these dickheads that pass so close with no respect are breaking the law also. It is kind of pot calling kettle black.

By the way, the nav law also states that we should have a Black sphere hoisted when anchored during the day. No ones does of course, but I wonder what would happen re insurance, if someone was hit during the day if they were anchored and did not have a sphere hoisted.

[Guest]

No one uses a black thingy because it is unreasonable.

[Guest]

All vessels at anchor must display an anchor light with two exceptions: When in a special designated anchorage, and less than 20 meters (65') in length, there is no requirement for this light. Special designated anchorages are not common (as of this writing there are 96 in the US) but may occur where there are large numbers of vessels moored. You will know if the anchorage you are in is so designated by reading the chart where it will be clearly marked. If its not on the chart then its not a special designated anchorage by the secretary of transportation. The one other exception to the anchor light rule is for vessels under 7 meters (23') in length provided they are not anchored in or near a channel or an anchorage.

 

 

But perhaps NZ has different rules?

[Steve Pope 243]

when we came back into Whangarei recently there were 2 foreign boats anchored in the stream at Kissing Point that were showing the black ball.

I have considered buying one of the LED anchor lights made by Bebi Electronics has anybody had experience with them?

[NevP 0]

No one uses a black thingy because it is unreasonable.

Unreasonable, how? Surely it's not that difficult to hoist a round shape on a spare halyard when someone's already up the pointy end anyway after setting the anchor.

 

Seems more like and bad habits and laziness by all of us (I include myself here).

 

Now, the motor sailing shape seems more problematic. Where are you supposed to put that when you have a head sail hoisted? And no one would see it from leeward anyway.

[Guest]

Those LEDs in the picture look a lot like what i bought about 2007 in the caribbean. If you keep them outside in the sunlight during the day the uv-radiation will make the leds black pretty fast. I had some as cockpit lights and not very long. The ones inside lasted longer. But those old type LEds are not very good. Not enough light to read or cook at night. I replaced them with brighter "yellow square" type 5050 LEDs. I would not use those as navigation lights in any boat and not even as anchor light.