A Product Pan and Praise

Somewhere
No LL

Power management on a sailboat is very important. Especially when offshore, we are reluctant to run the engine just to charge the batteries.

The power drain of the running lights on Tarwathie have always been an irritation. The lights use festoon style bulbs. They are very bright, almost too bright. The power drain for bow and stern lights was 2 amps.

I wanted to replace them with LED light that would only draw one tenth as much power. At the SSCA gam in Melbourne last winter I bought replacement LED bulbs from a vendor. See the package and the bulb in the composite picture below. They were very expensive. I paid $55 each, but I hoped that they would last forever. As soon as I got back from the boat show, I installed them.

The replacements were a big disappointment. They really do have much diminished power consumption, but they aren't bright enough. The bow light with bi-color red and green halves, is marginally bright enough, but the white stern light was much dimmer. For technical reasons, *all* red LEDs are brightest, followed by green, blue. White is the dimmest and least efficient.

On a passage to Marathon last winter I was scolded by a boat approaching us from astern in the Hawk Channel. He complained on the VHF that I didn't have my lights on. The lights *were* on. I was so shamed that I immediately pulled out the LED light and put the incandescent bulb back in.

Later, inspection of the LED bulb revealed that in addition to being dim, 1/3 of the individual LEDs had stopped working. "Foul," I cried LEDs are supposed to last for 100,000 hours. Also, the LEDs were like little flashlights, emitting their light in narrow directional beams, and only 1/3 of them pointed the correct way (see the collage picture).

This light bulb was designed for 360 degree all-around applications. My stern light is supposed to direct light backward only. The case can not be opened to allow me to point all the LEDs in the right way. Thus 2/3 of the the LED power was pointing the wrong way. Combined with 1/3 failures, my stern light was only 22% effective.

I didn't have a receipt for the light because I paid cash for it at a boat show, so I can't return it for credit. Nevertheless, I sent it back to Dr. LED, the manufacturer. I enclosed $5 for shipping and handling on the lifetime guarantee replacement. I'm still waiting for the replacement to arrive. Overall, I feel gypped by the Dr. LED products.

When in Oriental, I went to the Provision Company, a very nice marine supply store. They had a festoon style LED replacement bulb for only $15. This bulb properly points all its LEDs rearward. I also bought a replacement for the stern light fixture, because the lens on the old one had become so crazed by UV damage that it wasn't transparent enough. You can see the old and new ones side by side in the composite picture.


What do the ducks have to do with LEDs? Nothing. I just think they are cute. Especially the female duck with a feather out of place that makes her look like she just got back from the hair dresser.