Anchor light

[CaptK]

Capt's Craig and Gil, et al -

This here is our own lil "captainilist society", wherein and wherefores alla you scurvy dogs are Capt's irregardless of rank, odor or otherwise. Keel haulin' is reserved for stinkpotters and other such wake makin' germs, to be applied only when we've run out of rockets and cannonballs.

I don't want no stinkpotter making a mess while he scrapes down my keel...

[Craig]

The light I ordered from the outfit on eBay arrived.  I installed it and it looked like it fits the bill.  UNFORTUNATELY   when I went to compare the brightness with the orginal bulb the all around fixture broke.  The plastic holder that is molded into the base broke and the postive lead touched the negative and blew the fuse.  The closest West Marine (which is also the closest store that carries much of sail boat stuff, is in Indy, 100 miles away.  GRRR! :evil: And to top it off, my sister lives close to Indy and is coming up for a Labor Day weekend picnic and has volunteered to pick up stuff if they are heading this way, but the WM store is out of that light!  ARGGHH!!  I was hoping to do an overnight this weekend.  So, I placed my order online, paid the shipping, and it should arrive by the end of next week.  I'll let you know how it works.

Here's another question.  I inherited an HP electrical meter from my father-in-law.  It's one of those little battery operated jobs.  Can I use this rascal to figure out the draw the LED has my battery using this thing?  Or is it strictly a voltage meter?  There is no user's guide.

I also ordered a rudder from Idasailor.  Should be here any day now!

Craig

[Gil Weiss]

Hi Craig,

I can't wait for a report from you re the foiled rudder! You will be happy.

Your light story is something else. Good luck on the damage control phase of this project.

The small company I work for has a division that does mechanical construction at Cape Kennedy in Florida. They are located in Titusville and the 8 guys that work there are now evacuating. They are really upsat as one has a boat, one owns some horses, etc. My wife and I have considered heading south one day, but I think we might be happier here.

I truly hope that all our ComPac friends are OK down there the next few days.

[Craig]

A final report on the anchor light adventure:

When my new all around masthead light arrived I installed it and put the LED bulb in.  When the mast was raised it was not as bright as the incandescent bulb even though there are 6 LEDs ringing the bulb.  Most are aimed up and I was probably visible by the naked eye from the moon, but that's not what I was after!  I left the light burn all night and then put my 2 amp trickle charger on and within an hour the battery was back up to full charge.  So the energy consumption was what I was after, but the brightness was not.

Oh, and the bulb is not quite "white."  It is the color of the new headlights - kind of blue-ish.  Actually, when my wife took the dog walking in the morning before the sun came up she thought there was a very bright planet on the horizon as she turned the corner, then realized it was my light.

My light is the cheap Hella available from West Marine.  The lens is clear on the top, unlike some other all-around lights.  So I figured I needed to deflect the light outward.  Then it struck me: why not use one of those little convex mirrors people stick on their car mirrors to help see in the blind spots.  No one made one small enough, so I talked to a glass shop owner who agreed to try and cut one down for me.  I went to NAPA, bought a mirror and took it to him.  Turns out NAPA's are plastic so he just ground it down so it fit perfectly and didn't charge me anything.  I glued it to the top inside of the lens with silicon gel glue.  It worked great!  The light was noticeably brighter.  The light was directed out and even down so the rear of the cockpit was illuminated.

I spent last night out anchored in a channel off Grand Lake.  When I put the charger back on this afternoon it should very little discharge. And that was after motoring for about an 90 minutes last night with all the navigation lights on, and using the cabin light to get everything arranged for the night.  YEAH!!  

So, I would call this a qualified success.  The only question that remains in my mind is the color.  It is not the shade of white one normally sees.  Whether or not that meets USCG codes is unknown.

Craig

[CaptK]

Craig -

Good reading, and good ideas. I think that the color is close enough to white that it's OK, the brightness is the main factor. I do know that some white LED's are "whiter" than others. Whiter ones are usually more expensive, IIRC.

DId you see the pics I posted of my Davis light modded with LED's?

http://com-pacowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119

[miata]

I am looking at ways to reduce power consumption on my 16.  I have used a battery powered lantern for an anchor light, but I'm wondering about the Davis Mega Light.  It claims to use only 1 amp hour over a 12 hour period.  Anyone have the masthead version?  The utility verions?  How do you like it?

Craig

Get a solar powered walk way light let it charge all day and it can be raised with the jib line and it will stay on all night also it can be used for years.
At a hardware store it will cost less than $20.00. on days you are not planning to use it leave it in the cabin.
Miata

[Craig]

Miata,

A walk way would work pretty well in a mooring field as a way to help you find your boat at night.  I doubt a solar walk lamp is bright enough to be visible for two nautical miles.

Craig

[Craig Weis]

Attention on deck, I fly a Davis Mega masthead lite atop my CP-19 mast. I like the bugger. It turns on at dark, goes off at light, I have a master switch [and one amp fuse] that cuts power to it if I wish, and the lens is necessary to get all the performance out of the lamp.

It takes no juice and the 1000 amp cold cranking battery used is charged by a trickle charge solor cell mounted atop the foward hatch. Since I never step on the hatch this is a pretty good location for this solor cell. My battery is topped-off while I'm at work. Ready for me after work and on Fridays thru Sundays. We only work 4 ten hour shifts and nearly zero overtime. I like Fridays off.

I placed two LCD lamps into my Saturn automobile rear lens. I like them, I took them out...'cause these LCD bulbs are taller than the originals and by being taller, that is when installed they are reflecting at a different spot on the reflectors of the tail lite assembly and the 'beam' is uni-directional.

They only 'laser' out toward the guy behind me. They do not fill the 180~270 deg 'flood of light' zone that the original lamps did. I feel I have much less light to the sides of the tail lites coming off the reflectors. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I am going to see about placing a LCD bulb inside my cabin where an ancillary little 12 volt lamp with lamp shade but no reflector is mounted on the bulkhead; once I drag my boat out from the winter storage, just to see if I like that.
skip.

[Craig]

Skip,

I looked long and hard at the Davis Mega Light. Two things swung me in the direction I went:
1) The 16 is so small I take only extra gear that can't be attached. Digging a light out of wherever is less than desirable.
2) I found an LED bulb that had a ring of diodes that shine at a 90 degree angle to the base.  With those and by putting a small mirror at the top of the lens I was able to get good light dispersement.

Craig

[Craig Weis]

Well craig your right.

Small is good, that is why I attached my Davis to the top-O-mast . I don't have to 'find' it.
BTW, the lens is the key, it is not the brightness of the bulb . And the higher up the better.
Craig also.

[Craig Weis]

Yep, I think this is the way to go, LED's on the boats interior. Less power required...

"Scotty, I need more POWER!"

"Captain...I'm giv'en her everything she's got!!.
She's gon'a blow..."

These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise...

enjoy, skip.