While the overriding principle of navigation lighting is that any light source must be compliant to the ColRegs, in the case of interior, courtesy and floodlighting, the situation is much more subjective and decisions on the choice of lighting can be made at the owner’s discretion.

The major advantage of LED for any lighting application is that the current consumption is typically 1/10 of the traditional sources of lighting. So the cost savings in battery and wiring capacity are immediately obvious and attractive to the boat owner keen to optimise their installation.

We all remember the earlier fluorescent that had the ambience of a State Rail toilet block and everyone hated. Recent advances have introduced warm whites to the spectrum and now acceptance is almost universal. The same applies to LEDs. The white LED produces a cool light with a blue tinge, which can be interpreted as a rather clinical ambience. Most people I have spoken to recently, agree that the current generation of LED interior lighting is much more acceptable, particularly for cabin illumination.

Courtesy Lighting

The simplest application is for courtesy lighting where a point source of good intensity is required. The advantages of LEDs are obvious: low power consumption, longer life (about 50 times), totally waterproof, similar cost and compact dimensions.

 

Cabin Lighting

The power consumption of a current generation LED cabin light cluster is about 0.3A. These lights are compact, have a very low profile and blend nicely into the cabin roofline. The LED output is via a diffuser which creates an attractive light pattern with a very impressive power output. You will find that the equivalent lighting from LEDs in the cabin will save about 75% of the power that your previous incandescent or fluorescent lights used.

The LED is great for space lighting of cabins. However, there is still a place for other varieties. Most people would find that LED is too clinical to achieve that cosy ambience. So light up the cabin with the LEDs but have some strategically placed halogens or incandescent spotlights to create that cosy sensation. Or maybe an oil lamp in the right place on more traditional boats. There are now even dimmable white/red combination LED lights on the market to take care of the need to protect night vision whilst under way. In the past some of the cheaper varieties of fluorescent cabin lights generated frequencies that interfered with boat communications.
This situation will not occur with LEDs. Crude versions of LED lights use a series resistor to drop the voltage that an LED requires down from 12V to approximately 3V. Almost universally, the current generation of LED lighting employs a self-contained power supply called a ‘driver’. This driver does not emit electromagnetic radiation which could interfere with on board communications.

Try to avoid using replacement bayonet LED globes in existing installations. As most incandescent lamps cast light all around, fittings designed for these lamps rely on reflectors to direct all the light in the desired direction. LEDs have a directional light beam therefore largely do not interact with the reflectors on existing light fittings. As a result, a significantly diminished light output can be expected. LEDs also require good he

at-sinking to ensure longevity, and fittings designed for incandescent lamps often do not provide this, resulting in premature failure of the LED replacement lamp. As with most things, this is another case where doing it right first time by replacing incandescent fittings with purpose-designed LED fittings is the prudent option.

 

Floodlighting

Right now the market is not exactly saturated with LED floodlighting, but HellaMarine offer their new Mega beam deck floodlight. Power consumption is 7W or 15% of the energy required to operate a 55W halogen floodlight. Other advantages are reliability and long life as well as the completely sealed fit-and-forget benefits.
The investment made in LED lighting is more than offset by the savings in battery and wiring costs, not to mention much longer life of the LED and reduced fuel and engine maintenance bills where engines are run solely to charge batteries.
*Gavin Sorrell of Professional Solar Designs Australia works in collaboration with Aquavolt Electric Boat Parts. Tel: 02 9417 8455 www.aquavolt.com.au