Mast Mounted Light

[Ted]

I have a 1990 CP19 and I dropped the mast today to checkout the lightbulb that's mounted on it.

I did this on the water and it would have been okay, but a speedboat making waves in the lake gave me a bit of a tough time. Got the mast back up after some effort!

Anyway, I should've kept the bulb out, but it looked good. Now I am thinking (after I did the work to check it) that I should replace it with an LED. It's a short, fat, and squat little bulb with two contact points on the bottom. Anybody know of a source for this truncated size? I did take a few pics while I had it out.

Sorry about the hairy leg...   

From the side:


From the bottom:


The cover it must fit under:

[skip1930]

AutoZone sells a 12 volt white LED that if used, will make it necessary to whittle up a new teak wooden base simply because the $11.00 LED automotive bulb is so tall. It will fit inside the lens [you should polish the yellow out of the lens with tooth paste] but that new wood base will be necessary. The fourth wood base I made is the one used. The others broke apart or just did not fit well enough so they became 'bobbers' floating away. The 'nubs' on the side of the bulb are ignored as is the socket. Just the bulb sitting in cured silicone. The wood base is screwed back onto the mast. The bulb is good for 10,000 hours which is longer Than I am going to live to sail.

Oh and the + and - wires are soldered to the bulb's contact points. The most problem occurs at the pronged plug on the cabin top, usually a bad contact. Test the system with a battery charger/or volt meter for continuity or test light. The last two are always in the tool kit on board the boat.

This is a forward facing horizontal 225 deg 'Steaming Light' only to be used when the engine is pushing the boat, with or without the sails up. It's not an anchor 360 deg light a-top-o-mast. I should mention the bulb is not Coast Guard Approved. But neither are 'blow-up' PFD's unless your wearing them.

skip.

[JTMeissner]

Ted, a few options for swapping out and changing to an LED.  It appears you want to replace an anchor light, something to be seen from 360 degrees for several nautical miles.

The body style of bulb you are looking for is either an 1142 or 1157.  The main difference in the two bulbs are the little prongs on the sides, are they offset (indexed) or at the same height from the base of the bulb.  The body style may also be listed as bayonet base with dual contact points on the base.  This may be shown as something like BA15D (for bayonet 15mm dual contact).

From this you can do a search at a variety of locations online or at local stores as they are not too different from automobile lights.  I've had good luck ordering items from www.superbrightleds.com and they have a few items that could fit.  They make bulbs with both top and side firing LEDs.  Some examples:




If these are too tall for your fixture, they make adapters for other types of bulbs (like the wedge below):


I can't help with the "certified" nature of these bulbs, for USCG or COLREG or whatever.  I can tell you that they are definitely brighter (with the "dot" version brighter than the LED "bulb") to my naked eye than the incandescent bulbs they replace.  There is some discussion about the legality of these lights both on this forums and others.  

-Justin

[brackish]

Ted,

Why do you think you want to change to LED?  Is your cruising profile such that you do not get enough battery life?

The last time I had my mast down, I went through all the bulbs on my boat and recorded the size/type.  The plan is that if I cruise in such a manner where it is appropriate for battery discharge rate, or if the cost of the LED replacements drops to something reasonable, I will replace as they go out.  The bulbs in the nav lights on my boat are the original, have lasted for almost eight years, and I can't see spending a couple of hundred boat bucks to replace en mass. They probably don't have 10 total hours of use on them.   I rarely use the anchor light as such and do keep a cheap LED lantern aboard to hoist for that purpose, throwing away the cheap batteries after each cruise use.  I often anchor with my masthead in the trees, so for the purpose of keeping the local bass fishermen from hitting me, that is more appropriate.

The info in JT's post is good.  there are a number of providers who will cross reference incandescents to LEDS by base and give dimensions to see if they will fit in your lamp enclosure.

Additionally, there is no such thing as a USCG or COLREG certified bulb.  The regs are written to indicate direction, distance, and color (very non specific).  All bulbs, with comparative wattage designed for your lamp should meet those regs.

[Ted]

When I cruised in the Keys a few years back my battery didn't last into the third day. Now I have a solar panel and assume it will, but the LEDs seem more prudent. I do you an anchor alarm program on my iPhone so I like to plug that in all night. I am sure that's the main culprit.

Thanks for all the info here on bulbs. This has got to be the best user group support site on the Internet!

[Bob23]

JTM:
   That looks like a steaming light to me. I use mine very little. I'd go with an LED anchor light only because it's on all night long. That being said, I cheat with this little Walmart LED lantern.
Sure, it can't be seen for 2 nm but in my situations, that's not a factor. I will be changing my anchor light to an LED just for the heck of it.

Bob23

[Ted]

Bob23,

Yes, I believe it is a steaming light as well, as it's not possible for it to have a 360 spread.

- Ted

[MacGyver]

Just a note, I had a lot of trouble this year suddenly with that light not working. Ended up being the piggy back connector that my boss calls a suitcase connector and my automotive buddy calls it yet another name (that is probably the correct name....but I cant ever remember it) and it is  blue in color and located under the right hand starboard side storage cutout in the V berth section.

That on mine is tight but is causing headaches for the ground which causes it to go out.

I am going to rework my wiring this year before I put her back on the water. But if the bulb is good, then chase down the wiring for sure as that could be a problem.

Mac

[fasteddie]

I USE A  BATTERY POWERED ANCHOR LIGHT, ALSO DOUBLES AS A LIGHT IN THE CABIN IF NEEDED., I ALSO HAVE A SOLAR PANEL , WHICH KEEPS MY BATTEREY CHARGED ALL SEASON.

[Billy]

I keep a small LED battery powered lantern that I hoist up the mast once the sun goes down. And last thing I do before bed, I switch to the anchor light. That saves a few hours. And if you are doing any extended cruising you could just stock up on AAs.

I do think that LEDs are ridiculously over priced.

[fasteddie]

hi ted, if you want the rudder blade call me , ed 610-657-9076

[Salty19]

Billy, no doubt the pricing is high.  I think I paid something like $18 a bulb.  But they should last forever, are a little brighter, and use a lot less battery juice.  I like that they are solid state and not dependent on the fragile filament and gas seal for reliability. Not that it's a huge problem, but add some moisture and the normal bulbs are prone to failure.

I've changed most of the bulbs in the house to LED.  14 watt bulbs instead of 65, and shouldn't need to ever replace them.  Multiply by about 16 can lights, a few fixtures, about 6 lamps, outdoor lights and the savings can be seen on the electric bill. And in the summer, there will be a lot less heat to remove by the A/C as the LED lights run quite a bit cooler.  Will make a big difference over the long run. Plus I shouldn't have to buy light bulbs again. 

For casual daysailing without a lot of battery use, there is little need for them.

[NateD]

Bob23,

Yes, I believe it is a steaming light as well, as it's not possible for it to have a 360 spread.

- Ted

You can find replacement incandescent at auto store, probably cheap LED ones there too, I forget the size though. While I spent a good chunk of change converting lights on my boat to LED, I left the steaming light incandescent, how often are you motoring at night? My guess is not much. Though I suppose if you are in other reduced visibility (fog, rain) situations often it might be worth it.

[Ted]

Not much, but since the current bulb isn't working it just made sense to change it out for an LED.

I think for the anchor light I am going to buy this:
http://www.bebi-electronics.com/owl.html

[Bob23]

One often overlooked negative aspect to LED's is that they are sensitive to lightening. A nearby strike can fry the circuitry in an LED. There was an article in a recend Good Old Boat magazine about this. And we're not talking about a direct hit, just a strike in the vicinity can do it. I'll probably switch my anchor light over anyway.
Bob23