LED bulbs replacing

[Tesao]

Happy Labor Day weekend ,
I would like to replace all light bulbs in navigation light to LED's.
Anybody knows what do I need to get and where ?
Thank you
3760 2007

[Chris_in_Texas]

Ideally to remain legal you need to replace the entire light assembly with specific LED ones. This is the only way to keep the USCG rating, no manufacture that I am aware of has a retrofit kit for the lights. If you replace the standard incandescence lamp with an LED based bulb it will invalidate the rating on the light, as it has to be a very specific bulb. That being said many people have change just the bulbs. But keep in mind that the lights have a very specific cutoff of the light beam pattern and specific brightness to meet the regs and an aftermarket LED bulb won't make it work correctly.

[Regal3260]

I installed these a few years ago. Purchased the anchor and transom light at Walmart and the 2 bow lights locally.
Navigation fixtures by Attwood:

S/S 2-mile Bow http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/3530
S/S 3-mile Anchor light http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/7812
S/S 3-mile Transom light http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/6556

Mark

[ImRich]

In my case, as to the nav lights, the only one that would make sense to change to an LED is my combination 'all round/masthead' light, as this is the only one that would be on if the engines were not running.

I have no need to change the red/green nav lights to LEDs as those would only be on while underway, which means the engines would be running, and there would be plenty of power to run them, so why change them?

I haven't found a good combination LED "all around/masthead" LED light yet that will fit my boat, so I haven't updated it yet.

I did change almost all of my interior lamps from halogen lamps to warm white LED lamps. It makes the fixtures a lot cooler and I saved a boatload of battery current (went from about a 20 Amp draw with them all on, down to less than 2 Amps!).

[Regal3260]

Rich- For the navigation lights it's not just about the power savings.
I find halogen nav lights are not as bright and over time they're barely visable.
The LED nav lights seem to pierce through the dark and are truly visable from a distance.
The sooner you're vessel is noticed out in the dark the better.

Just my thought.

Mark

[Chris_in_Texas]

Mark, I think a lot has to do with the volume of empty space in the halogen ones, in that they need a lot of air space because of the temp of the bulb to melt the plastic, also means that lots of space for dirt as well as UV damage. Look at the plastic on headlights. The LED bulbs in theory could be seal, although unlikely but surface area is much smaller too.