I bought Dr. LED replacement bulbs for my mast lights , and although they claim a greatly increased lifespan; well both of my lights,
both steaming and anchor lights, a festoon and a bayonet type bulb burnt out this summer -- only 3 years old !!!
At $42 per buld at Defender -- not good !
Anyone out there have a better brand? I read blogs about Dr.LED also having poor to no customer service.
I can't vouch for longevity because I've had them for less than a year, although I used them a lot living on the boat for 7 months.
I replaced all my interior lighting with these bulbs in the Compac 27:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDOTJFW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDOTJFW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
I like them a lot, and since they didn't fit every fixture I bought new sockets and changed out the sockets to fit.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HH65MKS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HH65MKS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
So far I've only used them on interior lighting, but this week I'll be putting them in the steaming and anchor lights, assuming they're not too big to fit.
I took out the ballast and tubes from the fluorescent fixtures in the head and above the galley and put 3 of these sockets and bulbs in where the tubes used to be.
Although I don't need the power savings while on shore power, I changed the 2 110v light fixtures to LED as well. Now I shouldn't have to keep any spare bulbs, and they generate one heck of a lot less heat.
FYI - local marine supplies dealer told me I couldn't replace my NAV light bulbs with LED, I had to get a whole new unit. So I researched it, and of course you can. But.... The CG approved nav lights are approved as a unit, tested with the original OEM bulb. If you change out the bulb to anything else, you're voiding the approval. Does it matter? Probably not unless your lights are too dim and there's a lawsuit due to an accident.
Updated - I forgot to mention that these are a warm white color LED which is nice for the interior lighting. Not the harsher pure white or bluish white that I had with some others. So these might not work too well in Nav lights, even if you changed the socket to fit them.
Here is the company I ordered my leds from
It takes a little longer to get them and you must order more than 1 on most but at $4.00 who cares.
I installed them in April 2010 and have had no problems.
Here are the ones for the orginal perko bow lights on my 1984 Compac 23/2
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/marine-boat-yacht-led-light-31mm-15w-high-power-led-festoon-15w-output-p-3264.html
And these fit the steaming and stern lights, $5.40 each
http://www.hero-ledstore.com/marine-boat-yacht-led-light-41mm-15w-high-power-cool-white-led-festoon-15w-output-p-3261.html
Just make sure you get the colored LEDs for the nav lights. The white lights do not transmitt thru the colored lens good.
I had it explaned to me once but forgot. :)
Tim
http://store.marinebeam.com/
Good prices, and talking to the guy is great, very helpful, usually half the price
Mac