Opinions on "Marinebeam" LED replacement lights?

[Vince Brennan]

For 12v DC systems, the idea seems to be that these lamps (spot and wide beams) will run from 8v to 30vDC without "burning out" on you due to voltage variation. (Some magic voo-doo voltage controller technology involved there.)

They're spendy, but they seem to be just the thing to reduce wattage consumption while providing just about the same amount of light.

The only thing I'm nervous about is that nowhere can I find any life-expectancy charts on their site.

Anyhoo... just another moth flittering across the spiderweb of my (alleged) mind.

[willmarsh3]

They definitely save on the wattage. LEDs have a very long lifetime (many published sources). The only limiting factor would be if water got in the electronics or if they are poorly designed. For replacement bulbs you are still faced with the issues of the contacts corroding and losing electrical connectivity. This is from my own experience sometimes fiddling with the festoon bulbs in my running lights to get them to work.

[paladin]

Vince.....if you use a well designed controller the voltage variation can be anywhere from 8 volts to 36 volts and the voltage/current to the led's will be constant. Life expectancy of the bulbs is 30,000-60,000 hours with proper design and control. I am on the notebook at the clinic, but I have a power/cost comparison at home that I'll dig out.
Also, if you add a diode bridge rectifier to the power input (cost less than 2 bucks) you will reverse polarity proof the circuitry. If you use the smaller bulbs and keep at least 1/8th inch between bulbs, they should have no heat problem....
The comparison that I dod was for a 60 watt incandescent, compared to a 13 watt fluorescent, to 6 watts of led's......(same light output in lumens)
for the equivalent cost of bulbs for 30,000 hours of operation with the life expectancy of the regular bulbs purchased at Wal Mart, the fluorescent purchased the same way, and the led's purchased at Digikey and with a cost of 10 cents per kilowatt hour, the LED's at todays prices were still cheaper.....

[62816inBerlin]

Have been lurking on this theme, which is a big issue here in Germany, where the regulations are very strict. The bulbs used in running lights have to have a certain spectral range and be qualified for marine use by a certified body. The lights have to be certified together with the bulb types to be used. Using a different bulb type invalidates the certification.

I have heard of the German water patrol police (they are responsible here, not the coast guard) stopping yachts and fining skippers who had replaced incandescent bulbs with LED sets (these are available as automobile fittings).
Do the regulations in the USA, Canada and elsewhere have such strict requirements?

Gernot H.

[willmarsh3]

If Vince is asking about navigation lights then my opinion would be to get the ones that are USCG rated. I think if I were in an accident and got sued then legally I'd have a better leg to stand on in court. I have heard of cases turning on whether proper nav lights were used.
I'm replacing an anchor light on my boat. I decided to go with an LED fixture that was Coast Guard rated. I looked at replacement bulbs but did not find the "USCG rated" on any of them. That thinking is supported by a statement near the bottom of this: http://www.marinebeam.com/44360defeled.html

[yzer]

I have one LED from MarineBeam. It's the LED replacement for the Davis Instruments Mega-Light models and I purchased it last month. I use a hardwired Mega-Light as an anchor light.

The MarineBeam LED pulls an astonishing .06 amp/hr and is several times brighter than the incandescent bulb it replaces. If the rest of MarineBeam products are as good as the LED I have then the product quality is absolutely first rate. These are extremely bright LEDs designed for marine use.

USCG approves only complete navigation fixtures that include the light source. USCG does not approve replacement light bulbs.

I posted these cell phone photos of my installation on another forum last month. Jeff Field of MarineBeam saw them there and I gave him permission to use the pictures on his web site.

Mega-Light with OEM incandescent bulb:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/yzer1/DSC00858a.jpg

Mega-Light with MarineBeam LED replacement:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/yzer1/DSC00861a.jpg

[yzer]

Have been lurking on this theme, which is a big issue here in Germany, where the regulations are very strict. The bulbs used in running lights have to have a certain spectral range and be qualified for marine use by a certified body. The lights have to be certified together with the bulb types to be used. Using a different bulb type invalidates the certification.

I have heard of the German water patrol police (they are responsible here, not the coast guard) stopping yachts and fining skippers who had replaced incandescent bulbs with LED sets (these are available as automobile fittings).
Do the regulations in the USA, Canada and elsewhere have such strict requirements?

Gernot H.

Yes, U.S. Coast Guard COLREGS specifically define color temperature (spectrum) for white and colored lights used for marine navigation. MarineBeam products meet COLREGS specs.

The bright white color used by MarineBeam for white light LED navigation lights is 6200-6500K maximum and is closer to the blue range of white than the yellow or red. This bright white resembles the color of natural light on an overcast day and is highly visible at night.

Jeff Field of MarineBeam e-mailed me this graphic regarding the color temperature of their bright white LEDs:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c374/yzer1/300px-PlanckianLocus.png

Basically, if an LED replacement bulb provides the same light pattern and equal or greater lumen output than the original bulb and meets COLREGS requirements I don't think you will go afoul of U.S. law.