Replacement LED bulbs

[ChasRN]

I'd like to replace the various incandescent bulbs on my Sun Cat with LED's. My understand is that that "USCG approved" is a mistaken notion and that there are USCG standards (such as for the visibility of the output from marine lights) that products must meet but that none are "approved" per se. Is it a correct assumption that USCG acceptability is not an issue if the LED replacements have a higher lumen rating than the incandescents they're supplanting?

A related question: LEDs from Marine Supply stores are much more costly than those from other lighting vendors. If two bulbs have similar ratings in terms of lumens, is there any reason to pay more for the one from the marine supply store?

[Jim in TC]

I will not claim to be an expert on this, but seems to me that lumens are lumens so equal or higher rated LED's should be just fine. I suspect the same is true of bulbs from the marine supply house, but you might read the specs with some care to see if there is any substantial difference other than lumen rating. My guess, though, is that like so much from the marine supply: you pay extra for the label.

Full disclosure: I replaced mine with LED's from the auto supply store, before reading anything about USCG standards...so I may have some "under-powered" bulbs in parts of the system.

[slode]

This is taking a bit of a risk.  Navigation lights are certified and undergo laboratory testing.  This article provides good detail on this issue https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/CG-5PC/INV/Alerts/1015.pdf

The main concern with putting LEDs in your navigation lights is the chromaticity of the LED vs. the factory bulb.  This is of particular concern on red/green bow markers.  Regardless if that is a combination lens or separate the LED will affect the color of the red/green lens.   Some can leave the green light looking very pale green or almost white.  If you don't want to replace that complete fixture you should leave that bulb alone.

Other USCG fixtures also state type of bulb.  But I still replaced my anchor light bulb with LED as that is on for a significant time and provides drastic powder consumption savings.  I don't have sails up after dark so the short duration my other nav lights are on don't account for much, and the motor is usually running anyway providing current for the lights.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/  Has equivalent LED bulbs to just about every type of bulb out there including auto & marine.  You should be able to find replacement bulbs for all of your cabin lights.

[wes]

This topic has been thoroughly covered in previous posts. In a nutshell: navigation lights must be USCG certified. USCG does not certify bulbs, they certify complete light fixtures INCLUDING the bulb provided by the fixture manufacturer. If you replace a bulb with a different one than the original, the fixture is no longer certified. This may not strike everyone as important. But if your boat is t-boned by a drunken power boater after dark through no fault of your own, and you are using non-certified nav lights, his clever lawyer may argue you are at least partly responsible. If this risk worries you then use only original bulbs, or replace the entire fixture with a USCG certified LED fixture.

Wes