LED running lights

[Lynn A Miller]

Finally someone is selling marine application LED bulbs for running lights at a reasonable price ($6.95 vs $44.99 in the West Marine catalog). Superbrightleds.com is a site that sells mostly LED replacement bulbs for automobiles, but if you look carefully they also have a "marine" set of bulbs. These only draw .036 amps on 12 volts, which is not quite 1/2 a watt. The one you want for the typical 15mm running light bayonet base is the 1142 which has two contacts and the two little nubs are near the end of the base of the bulb.

And in case anyone has missed this source of much less expensive hardware than the marine supply houses, Tractor Supply Company stores have galvanized shackles, swivels, and turnbuckles at less than half the price.

Happy building,
Lynn

[paladin]

I bought one to play with....I wouldn't use it....they use a series string with a balance resistor to operate from 12vdc...if the bulbs run for an appreciable length of time they will heat and start dimming, which also will shorten the lamps life....the bit about led bulbs lasting for 20 years is true if the bulbs are run from a constant voltage constant current source....

[warthog5]

they use a series string with a balance resistor to operate from 12vdc

Are you talking about the same thing paladin?

I have the 1142 LED's in my running light's in my Shark Eye fixture's.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi

1142-W19 White LED bulb
Super White 19-LED 12VDC in the narrow beam

http://www.classicmako.com/projects/xshark/images/P-light3.jpg

[paladin]

Yes....the bulb assembly that was sent to me had3 superbright led's and a balance resistor in series for 12 volt operation. The bulbs were all bunched together in the socket. I powered it up with precisely 12.5 volts d.c., and placed a thermometer just touching the bulbs, and at a distance of 20 feet measuered the light output in lumens. The first minute the light output was just a little less than a ge-47 flashlight lamp at full brilliance. After 2 hours, the current rose 10 milliamps and the light output was reduced about 10%.....not a good sign.....I played with it for a few hours before I "reversed engineered" it to see how it was built..

[Tom Lathrop]

Chuck,

There must be something else going on. 36 mils at 12V is less than 1/2 watt for the whole string of 3 LED's and the resistor. How could heat be an issue. None of my LED's ever showed any sign of heat problems. In all cases that I have observed, increased current always gives more light, not less. 36 mils is pretty low anyway. Most of mine run at 45 or more and I've seen no problem. High current will reduce lifetime but its still pretty long compared to anything else.

[paladin]

'tis true...they do last a looooong time.....but about half of the power consumption is still radiated as heat......it may be cool to the touch, but there is still heat.....the increased current consumption will brighten the led but will also shorten it's life...maybe from 20 years to 18.....but I tend to go with manufacturers recommended current/voltage rateings religiously.....One of the main problems with led's may be seen in the outdoor displays at gas stations, used for advertising..the normal led display operates at about 180 lumens per square inch using the built in illumination...but a tremendous amount of light must be piped from behind to make it sunlight readable...approaching 1200 lumens.....when doing the design with led's I had to square wave modulate the led's, turning them on alternately for 1/4th of a second at a time, with a 3/4 second rest...tripled up the surface mount led's to get a reasonable life from them...heat...even direct sunlight is a killer....

[Lynn A Miller]

One reason I switched to LEDs was that the old ones kept melting the clear plastic lens. The ones I am using now have 12 LEDs on each "bulb", absolutely no discernable heat, and plent of light for stern and running lights. My anchor light has 6 LEDs on the bulb. The only modification I had to make was a 1/2" ring to move the lens up a bit to take in larger bulb.

[paladin]

you have a different bulb than the one I received. I admit there's a helluva lotta difference in heat between LED's and incondescent bulbs..take the wattage of the incandescent and figure the power consumption, and 18% will be converted to light, the rest is heat....LED's on the other hand are closer to 55% light for the power consumed and the rest is heat, and of course the power drain is considerably less. The point I was trying to make is that led's still have a considerable (comparatively so) heat generation and when the heat is confined like in a sealed situation, it can cause premature failure or damage to the led....

[ken_nyus]

Anyone know if the SuperBrightLED type 1142 is the same as the classic type 90?

.

[Kim Whitmyre]

That url for Superbright appears to lead to a dead web site. . .

[paladin]

If you know how many led's are in the unit that you are using and the bulb that it replaced I can create the light output figures and cross reference some supebright led numbers probably through digi-key....I own a complete testing lab for such things and I can play anytime...

[warthog5]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=OTHER&cart_id=4720631.22545