You’ve considered running the genset (noisy) more, a different solar panel (fairly pricey), or are possibly ponying up the benjamins for a windmill (extremely expensive and somewhat noisy). It’s not as though you need a lot of power to suggest to yourself. All you want to obtain is more time traveling and less time at the stop or running the genset. Before you jump in, I have an extra cost effective option for you. Enter the boat LED.

The intensity of light from LEDs is now surpassing incandescent and also halogen bulbs.

The colors obtainable are varied but they can now be had in a color called “warm white”. This is a reference to the light color, which tends to be a warmer golden color, and not the old blue white.

Fuel consumption is frequently determined in milliamps. At 12 volts, a 1.3w LED array is drawing close to 110ma. Figure a normal CFL bulb draws about ten times that volume but the LED is generally clear of or contains very minimal amounts of mercury (look for RoHS accreditation).

Expected service life is more interesting. A reliable LED light should have a minimum service life of 50,000 hours. If you left the light in use that usually means almost eight and a half years on steady duty. Which means it will be incredibly uncommon that they will need replacing. This is a better idea if you exert effort go up and down just to change them.

So how do you replace the lamps and lights on your boat with them? The best way would be to replace all the lighting fixtures on your boat with specific LED fixtures but the price goes up quickly, contrary to what current marketing may like, you may actually like your current fixtures. The simple method is to simply replace the present light bulbs with LED equivalents. If you have housings that use a G4 halogen bulb for instance, you have lots of choices for G4 LED replacements. You’ll only be limited by the space for the bulb and how vibrant you want it. Pull the halogen out, connect the LED G4 marine led replacement, go over as necessary with the other housings and you’re finished. It really is that straightforward. Sure beats wiring another solar panel or wind generator is possible, isn’t it?

Quality depends, but even most the supplies coming out of China now is ever of fairly good quality. I’d just be sure they have the European CE and RoHS certifications.

So now, I have a point to be cautious of. Be very careful with the direction lights. We knew few bulbs out there that are actually approved by the USCG (United States Coast Guard) for use in navigation lights. Usually there are some, but they are few and far between. Navigation lights are certified as a mixture of bulb and lens and consequently, some combos don’t meet minimum Coast Guard requirements. Furthermore, if you were to be in a collision and the insurance company uncovered that it was a non-approved combination in your nav light bulbs, you could deal with the possibility of having your claim denied, which is not a good condition to be in. Dedicated LED navigation light fixtures are accessible as are a few approved LED light bulbs.

So, change those bulbs first prior to deciding to jump into more drastic measures and happy traveling!

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