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endvr32 · Site Admin Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 23 Location: Chicago

Endeavour Owners,

I recently came across an interesting product. One of the problems we all face while cruising is battery capacity, especially when we're sailing or anchored at night. Those little incandescent bulbs have a way of gobbling up every amp we can squeeze into our house batteries—my nav lights are rated at .84amps/hour, other interior bulbs as much as 1.5amps/hour. Multiply that by the number fixtures and then by the hours of usage, factor in limited battery capacity, reserve, etc. and there isn't much there unless you're sailing around with a lot of batteries or running your engine all the time.

I've switched most of my incandescent bulbs over to LED bulbs. Compared to the incandescent which use .85amps/hour, the LEDs use .10amps/hour or 12% the energy of the old ones! That adds up to a lot of amps.

I've done two things on my boat that I'd like to share:

1) For night sailing I've installed red LED night lights through out the boat: one in the cockpit and one in each cabin down below. The 6 that I have use less energy than one incandescent bulb alone!

2) I've replaced all the exterior nav lights (bow, stern, anchor lights) with LEDs. Instead of using 2.5amps/hour, I now use .3amps/hour.

Some of the interior light fixtures are next on the list—check out "Sensibulb" at www.sailorssolutions.com for halogen replacements.

I don't usually promote businesses or vendors but I felt that this was just to important to pass up.

Take a look at Dr. LED www.doctorled.com for more information. The have LED replacements for almost every navigation light made.

There are of course many sources for LED lighting, here's a few:
Optronics www.optronicsinc.com/liteco4.htm
Mastlight LED www.mastlight.com
Lopolight www.lopolight.com
Bebi Electronics www.bebi-electronics.com
Superilumination www.superlumination.com

Paul Uhl
Endeavour Owners Forum
endvr32@endeavourowners.com

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Paul Uhl
Endeavour Owners Forum
www.endeavourowners.com

JMadden · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Kirkland, WA

Paul,

I'm doing a similar update to my E35. Two years ago I replaced my anchor light with an OGM one that has a light sensor for automatic on/off. Very low power, works great and I can forget it. There is one deterrent though. The LED is much more directional and is harder to see from below. As such I have to wait till it is dark, and not just dusk, to look for a reflection on my VHF antenna to confirm that it is on. This also makes the boat harder to see close up by other boaters. Maybe a special reflector up on the masthead will do the trick.

This month I have been adding 3 reading lights in the salon and v-berth. Each is a 10W Xenon bulb. In two fixtures I have exchanged the bulbs with the Dr.LED replacements and will be comparing them over the winter. Upon installation the Dr.LED bulbs have a whitish light similar to the xenon and give sufficient light for reading. The light is diffused and without the sharpness that the Xenon bulbs have. One great advantage with the LED is in applications where the light is close to reader, such as in the v-berth, one does not have to worry about getting burned by the hot xenon bulb and the light fixture.

My last update is a test case. I've replaced the standard cabin light bulbs in one fixture with 2 Sensibulbs. My test is to see the quality and how much light you get for the power used vs the Alpenglow fluorescent. I'm looking at light output, power consumption, and cost. The Sensibulb light output is a significant step lower than the 1141 bulb originally used. This may limit it to general light applications. The light color is more yellowish (soft warm) with a tint of green. This works well with the all wood interior to give a richness all over. A lot of power can be saved with the Sensibulb at .16A ea. vs 1.44A for the 1141 bulb. The Alpenglow uses .4A, but I haven't any experience with it. If the Sensibulb works it will cost less to update the lighting than with the Alpenglow excluding fixture replacement. At .4A the Alpenglow lights would still be a big improvement over the standard 1141 bulb.

Question

If anyone has used Alpenglow lights and can comment on the light output, both for general and for reading, I like to hear about it.

Jim Madden
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Blessing; E-35 #115; Kirkland, WA

happy_puppy · Joined: 04 Oct 2007 Posts: 2 Location: Annapolis, MD

I replaced my masthead light with one from Orca Green. It draws .18 amp. and replaces a Perko dual-bulb unit which drew 1.64 amp. It also has a photo sensor so you can set it, go ashore, and the light will activate at dusk. I've also replaced about ten of my cabin light bulbs with SensiBulbs available from Sailor's Solutions. I haven't done all 26 cabin light bulbs since they cost $40 a pop. I've replaced the ones we tend to have on the most. I also haven't done my running lights since I rarely sail after dark w/o the motor running.

See:
http://www.sailorssolutions.com
and
http://www.orcagreen.com
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Joe Wood
S/V E37 Happy Puppy