Replacing Nav Lights & Deck Lights with LED's

[RGrew176]

Source of the post

Source of the post I did some checking into LED's yesterday and was told that you have to put wattage reducers on the lines powering the fixtures that you intend to put the LED's into. I was told that just plugging them in they will not last and will burn out soon unless you reduce the wattage to the fixture.
Any truth to that?

No - LEDs are very forgiving for voltage and will operate over a wide range. A 12 VDC LED will usually work fine from about 9V to about 16V. They have a typical expected life of 10,000 hours - incandescent bulbs are usually 2,000 hours. The one catch is for LED bulbs on dimmers or blinkers - LEDs do not dim well, and don't have enough resistance to cycle many blinkers. That's why they don't always work on when folks try to replace their turn signals on cars.

Replacing incandescent bulbs with cool white LEDs in your nav lights will work fine, as the green/red comes from the lens, not the LED. If you go with colored LED nav lights, make SURE they are USCG approved. There are some for sale out there that are not USCG approved and do not meet requirements. Buyer beware.

Thanks for the information. I may proceed and try a few LED's. West Marine sells some but the ones they stock in store are $36 each. I did see some at one of the local Auto Supply stores that were in the range of 2 bulbs for $8 or so. My Carver has 10 lights that would need to be replaced.

Are the LED's you have tried as bright or even brighter than the incandescent bulbs you replaced. I have 4 lights in the main salon area. I might try and replace them there first to see how I like the light.

[SplashyLady]

I have had very good results replacing nav and interior bulbs with LEDs, especially halogen to LED. Halogen bulbs get very hot, and a 20W halogen gets replaced by a 5W LED that stays cool and uses 75% less power. Check eBay for replacement bulbs for the size/type bulb you are changing out. Don't be afraid of China/Hong Kong suppliers - you just need to know it will take 2-3 weeks for your product to arrive.

Good luck!

[RuffLife]

I just replaced all of the 2 pin halogens in the cabin with LEDs. Bought them on Amazon for about $4 each. I hated how hot those halogens get. Loving the LEDs.

[DanM]

So what did you use for replacing the side terminal G4 halogens? I have tried a few different offshore versions and they were either to weak, or too yellow (which is what they called warm). Bottom line is that I'm looking for a reasonably priced, warm G4 light since there are so many on the boat.

[My Jurisdiction]

I replaced ours with LED's works great West Marine is the place to purchase from to make sure their the right ones.

[Lyndon670]

West Marine is grossly over priced - either shop Ebay or Amazon and you will save tons. I replaced all of mine on the bridge and aft deck salon (probably 20 in total) with blue LEDs from Ebay for less than $60. Good luck buying 5 at West Marine for $60.

Also, if changing the fixtures as well, but the under cabinet LED kits from home depot. The pucks match up perfectly to the existing pot lights on newer (say 93 and up) boats. You can buy a 3 pack of LED puck lights for $39 that look factory.

[Mariah's Song]

I have replaced all of my interior light bulbs to led bulbs and have no negative issues.
I recently changed my anchor light over to an led bulb as well.
I don't have any plans for the nav lights right now as the engines are running and putting power back into the system when nav lights are required.
We have a 1981 3007 Aft Cabin.

[RGrew176]

Source of the post I have replaced all of my interior light bulbs to led bulbs and have no negative issues.
I recently changed my anchor light over to an led bulb as well.
I don't have any plans for the nav lights right now as the engines are running and putting power back into the system when nav lights are required.
We have a 1981 3007 Aft Cabin.

What brand of lights did you purchase? Are they as bright as the incandescent bulbs? Did you have to change fixtures or did the LED's fit right in?

[cpoint]

I replaced all my inside/outside/navigation/console back lights, etc with led. They look great, do not get hot, equal to the halogen lights output, less power draw, looks cool. I have couple more things I am working on, once the transformation is complete, I will post bunch of pics. For now, I will post two to give an idea. This is console back light and front, did not like the green and most were burned out, so here are my blue back lights to go along with rest of exterior lights. I got some from eBay (exact light half price of west marine), some from amazon, inside ones from super bright led lights. The interior lights were bit expensive at about $16 each for 31 or so lights. But had to do it because the rings around them were broken, looked ugly, halogens were getting so hat to burn to touch. Made me nervous if I left on for an hour.

[Viper]

Very nice CP