LED Nav' Lights

Onboard · 11 March 2013, 15:59

Just replaced the existing Nav' light and steaming lamp bulbs with LED Lamps and couldn't be more pleased !

Amazingly bright and dramatic reduction in battery drain - all for under £ 30.00

Highly recommend this company - great product, amazing service, and knowledgable proprietor !

Marine LED bulbs for all boats

Pikey Dave · 11 March 2013, 22:36

Ahh! but do they comply with the Colregs?

spartacus · 12 March 2013, 00:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Redbond

Highly recommend this company - great product, amazing service...

Used them myself. +1

Onboard · 14 March 2013, 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Ahh! but do they comply with the Colregs?

Cool white for clear lens steaming light, and warm white behind green and red lenses for Nav' lights gives no colour distortion, so according to the manufacturer are completely compliant ....

So, fair to assume they probably do, but .... there's invariably some hero who'll enjoy quoting SOLAS, Reg's, Section .... Sub-Section .... blah blah blah who'll probably dispute that :-)

(But that will 'do for me' ! )

mister p · 14 March 2013, 17:28

Yes, however, LED's are currently not compliant.

mister p · 14 March 2013, 17:39

and the reason is.....( why car manufacturers spend a fortune on design of led lights) that they are incredibly angle specific, on a flat mill pond the LED's are really visible. Rock the boat, "as it were", and the LED's appear to flash, even disappear. They are intrinsically angle specific.....not good for marine use.

Onboard · 14 March 2013, 18:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister p

and the reason is.....( why car manufacturers spend a fortune on design of led lights) that they are incredibly angle specific, on a flat mill pond the LED's are really visible. Rock the boat, "as it were", and the LED's appear to flash, even disappear. They are intrinsically angle specific.....not good for marine use.

Well ..... As I said .....

mister p · 14 March 2013, 18:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Redbond

Well ..... As I said .....

Didn't quote any regulation, simply stated the real reason why, when on the water at night, a flashing/disappearing light is confusing to onlookers. A filament bulb stays constant.

mister p · 14 March 2013, 18:40

LED's are designed for the user not the receiver.

The same way that wearing a reflective jacket doesn't make you visible unless a light shines on it.

LED's are ok to see with but, because of their directionality, not much good to be seen by.

Take a lighthouse for example. All the light in the world but not much good unless it's pointing at you. Five degrees off horizontal and it's invisible.

Same for LED's.

As you said Kevin.......

Dirk Diggler · 14 March 2013, 18:59

I think your theory is correct for a simple bulb swap, but a properly designed LED nav light is fine. something like these are pretty good, and in use by some of the major boat manufacturers, but they're not cheap!

LOPOLIGHT Navigation lights

Dirk Diggler · 14 March 2013, 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Ahh! but do they comply with the Colregs?

It seems Hella lights do.....

Navigation Lamps, Port, - Hella Marine

mister p · 14 March 2013, 19:03

IMHO they should be like hedgehogs or christmas trees. All over the ball, but they still flash when in one's eye, and that's when they're on.
My belief is that a constant light AND a hedgehog of LED's would be better than just a constant.

Onboard · 14 March 2013, 19:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister p

LED's are designed for the user not the receiver.

The same way that wearing a reflective jacket doesn't make you visible unless a light shines on it.

LED's are ok to see with but, because of their directionality, not much good to be seen by.

Take a lighthouse for example. All the light in the world but not much good unless it's pointing at you. Five degrees off horizontal and it's invisible.

Same for LED's.

As you said Kevin.......

Should've known better .... but

Would accept all of that if the light source were presented through a straight lens, however, if presented through a multi-ridged, multi-directional lens you would surely receive the presented beam through the sequence of angled ridges ? and .... whilst in theory, there's the possibility that the angled beam generated by each ridge will have a finite (narrow) direction, the interval between loss and recovery of the light source would be neglible ?

Are you stating there's a specific regulation rendering LED's of whatever application are non-compliant, or offering a theory as to the possibility ? If the former, there are numerous marine manufacturers marketing some very expensive, non-compliant lighting, fitted to some seriously priced new RIBs !

Should have stuck to my mantra .....

mister p · 14 March 2013, 19:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Redbond

Should've known better .... but

Would accept all of that if the light source were presented through a straight lens, however, if presented through a multi-ridged, multi-directional lens you would surely receive the presented beam through the sequence of angled ridges ? and .... whilst in theory, there's the possibility that the angled beam generated by each ridge will have a finite (narrow) direction, the interval between loss and recovery of the light source would be neglible ?

Are you stating there's a specific regulation rendering LED's of whatever application are non-compliant, or offering a theory as to the possibility ? If the former, there are numerous marine manufacturers marketing some very expensive, non-compliant lighting, fitted to some seriously priced new RIBs !

Should have stuck to my mantra .....

There are numerous manufacturers selling non-compliant lighting.

kubcat · 14 March 2013, 19:42

A few years ago our state maritime rules in New South Wales Australia stated LED lighting was non compliant.

That has now been changed and their are quite a few purpose built LED lights that are compliant with our rules which are supposedly based on international rules.

There are also lots of non compliant LED navigation lights for sale and in our case the compliant ones are clearly marked.

I have never heard if a boating officer complaining about non compliant lights if they look right and work.

mister p · 14 March 2013, 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by kubcat

A few years ago our state maritime rules in New South Wales Australia stated LED lighting was non compliant.

That has now been changed and their are quite a few purpose built LED lights that are compliant with our rules which are supposedly based on international rules.

There are also lots of non compliant LED navigation lights for sale and in our case the compliant ones are clearly marked.

I have never heard if a boating officer complaining about non compliant lights if they look right and work.

I've heard of many........if not all

Onboard · 14 March 2013, 20:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister p

There are numerous manufacturers selling non-compliant lighting.

But as I said in the last post - are you quoting a regulation that LEDs are 'non-compliant' in all forms or offering a theory that they 'might be' ?

Dirk Diggler · 14 March 2013, 20:13

I've been fitting Hella "NaviLED" since about 2007, never had a failure, they meet the regs for my size of boat, and customers prefer them. They have the CE mark on them, so as far as I'm concerned, they're fine.

mister p · 14 March 2013, 20:27

Still reckon a hedgehog of led's over a constant light source is the best way

mister p · 14 March 2013, 20:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Redbond

But as I said in the last post - are you quoting a regulation that LEDs are 'non-compliant' in all forms or offering a theory that they 'might be' ?

OK, let me say that all LED's are non-compliant.

I'll stand by that.