Reading lights-looking for 12V (non-halogen)-maybe LED'S?

[peterh]

This would work if you can stand the 1.2 Volt drop across the bridge. You can reduce that to .6 volt drop by putting a diode is series with positive line. Standard practice for after market automotive electronics.

Hmmm. I forgot about the voltage drop. 1.2V is enough to cause serious dimming in my LED light pucks when the battery is less than fully charged. A single blocking diode, on the other hand . . . Or I could affix some really obvious [b]+ and [b]- symbols on (currently unmarked) my battery leads!

--Peter

[peterh]

Returning to ready-made LED reading lights, I haven't tried theor products, but TheLedLight.com has several 12V halogen replacement bulbs that look interesting, and their web site provides details most other LED vendors seem to leave out: They give the color/temperature of the light and the relative "watts" of light the LED replacements produce. (Color temperatures: Incandescent/Warm light at 3000K, "Cool White" at 5000K, "Daylight" at 6000K.)

--P

[Brian B-P]

Courtesy of an ad in a yacht magazine (I only read them... I'll never have a yacht)...
Sydney LED lamp from Imtra Marine Products



No power regulator needed for this one: the flyer says that it handles inputs from 10V to 30V.

I have no idea what it's worth, but with a 2.5W LED it looks promising.

They have other models of LED Reading Lights as well, and a downloadable catalog.

[Roy in TO]

Could you find the time to talk about what you did to install your marine chart light? I mean about the electrical part of it (the wiring, how you mounted it).

Sure, I'm not finished mounting it properly yet, since it came with 3 wood screws. I drilled one hole in the FG for the wires where I wanted the light, fed the wires through the hole then drilled 3 smaller holes to match the fixture. I used a broken paint stir stick behind the FG to screw into until I can find the right size SS bolts. From the pictures you will see that I mounted it right beside the existing 12V light on the end of the cabinet. The light comes with 2 wires that easily reached the existing wiring for the other 12V fixture (the big round one). I simply cut the existing wires and used marettes to connect the +ve and -ve from both fixtures to the respecting feed. In all honesty it was the easiest and quickest thing I've ever done to the trailer. The most difficult part of it all was swapping the halogen bulb for the LED as it was a very exact fit.



[attachment=12595:atta
chment]

The first picture shows it in reading position. The wires you see coming out of the flouresent were from the previous 120V reading lamp that was poorly MacGuyvered by the previous owner. Those will go when we change the 120 flourescent above the sink.

The second picture shows it in the "up" position, we use this for some nice ambient lighting. While the last picture shows how it can be pointed towards the closet. It lights up the closet so well that I don't need to install any lights in the closet now.

For travelling, I generally lay it onto the existing round light.

[Brian B-P]

...I simply cut the existing wires and used marettes to connect the +ve and -ve from both fixtures to the respecting feed...

Just intercepting the power supply to the existing light fixture makes perfect sense to me, but I would personally not use wire nuts (such as Marrettes®) to do it.

They're really for use in buildings, and I wouldn't trust them to stay fastened in the vibration of a trailer. They were used in my Boler's range hood, and the connections fell apart when I touched them in the process of fixing the fan; those connections were almost three decades old, but the other original connections in the trailer are not falling apart.

[Roy in TO]

Just intercepting the power supply to the existing light fixture makes perfect sense to me, but I would personally not use wire nuts (such as Marrettes®) to do it.

They're really for use in buildings, and I wouldn't trust them to stay fastened in the vibration of a trailer. They were used in my Boler's range hood, and the connections fell apart when I touched them in the process of fixing the fan; those connections were almost three decades old, but the other original connections in the trailer are not falling apart.

Good point Brian,
Forgot to mention that the Marrettes were used since I was still working on the wiring for everything else. The Marrettes were also taped so I would not expect a problem for a few years. As I slowly work my way through replacing all the wires on the trailer the final new wire to wire connections are crimped bullets. The Marrettes will eventually be replaced once we determine what the rest of the fixtures and corresponding wiring will be.

[Roy in TO]

Roy, I really liked the one you came up with and I contacted Binnacle-unfortunately they're apparently clearing out on-hand stock and they only had one or two of any particular light, not the matching set of 4 we're looking for. Definately looks like something from Victory marine will work-just have to find another dealer.

Thanks Jen,
Assuming you were going for the Victory lights I'd be tempted to buy what they had left in stock because the price was good. The savings on a set of 4 LED bulbs alone would buy 1 light at regular price from someone else. I would expect finding more lights would be simple, but at the regular price. I got mine from http://www.gencomarine.com I know they were on their site, but the store is in town and we picked it up locally.

[E. Graham]

Roy,

Thank you --- especially for the photographs!

E. Graham

(Jarvis Collegiate alumna)

[Sandra L]

We're looking for 12V lights to mount in each inside corner of our soon-to-be delivered Escape 17'-trying to find something that would be useful as reading/accent lights, preferably with the ability to swivel (goosenecks would be really nice). Have found some great looking halogen one's, however we're trying to stay away from halogen lights in the trailer due to the amount of heat they put out. Can anyone suggest anything? (LED, white or silver casing would be great)

Thanks! Jen

FYI if anyone is interested: Costco is selling wireless 5 LED puck lights with a base that swivels 360 degrees and the light part pivots left or right (or up and down) 30 degrees. They claim they are super bright and very long lasting, and I bought some for other uses. Since I haven't opened the package yet, I cannot vouch for their efficacy. The Escape that I saw in Eureka had a puck light for nighttime reading.
Peace and Sunshine

[Brian B-P]

...Costco is selling wireless 5 LED puck lights...

These ones: 6 Pack of Wireless 5 LED Puck Lights ?

I like the tilt feature, but don't want lights with their own batteries... although if used with rechargable AAA batteries they might fit Bobbie's requirements: "Freestyle" lighting.

By the way, I found them in the U.S. Costco web site, but not Costco.ca (the Canadian site).

[Sandra L]

These ones: 6 Pack of Wireless 5 LED Puck Lights ?

I like the tilt feature, but don't want lights with their own batteries... although if used with rechargable AAA batteries they might fit Bobbie's requirements: "Freestyle" lighting.

By the way, I found them in the U.S. Costco web site, but not Costco.ca (the Canadian site).

Hi,
The pack that I have has only 3. The brand appears to be LUMEN. They also made some in a bar shape that was about 8" long. I haven't seen those lately, though. They were in the Sacramento, CA area Costcos.