LED Cabin Lights

The LEDs arrived from SuperBrightLEDs.com and I rushed out the boat to install them. I just had to hang around until after dark to test them out.

The fixture at the far right has the original "xenon" bulb (.75 amp) and the fixture at the far left has the new 12-LED bulb (.002 amp) intstalled. The xenon bulb is certainly warmer and brighter but I test-read a bit under the LED and it works very well. I'll probably try the 24-LED bulbs in these lights since they are not very expensive.

The "festoon" bulbs in the red lights above the chart table and galley are a bit dimmer but are also perfectly adequate. The "coolness" is not as apparent behind the red lens.

I'm very pleased with the results. I can run these lights all night with almost no noticeable drain. It's like adding another battery. Once I'm able to upgrade to LED navigation lights the only significant draw will be the autopilot and heater (Espar) fan. The 40 watt solar panel will have no problem keeping up with the power budget.