Screw base light bulbs

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cberdie
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:12 am
Location: 1980 Freedom 40 AC
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Screw base light bulbs

Post by cberdie »

I'm wanting to replace my cabin light bulbs on my 1980 Freedom 40, and seeing as I'm in Minneapolis and the boat is in Rhode Island, I was hoping someone would know if the bulbs are standard based or medium based. WEST has LED's to replace the medium base bulbs for $40 which is a lot cheaper than replacing the lights. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Carl Berdie
Running Free

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1980raven
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:50 pm
Location: Warwick Cove, Rhode Island

Re: Screw base light bulbs

Post by 1980raven »

I am in RI and have 1980 F28CK all my cabin light bulbs are two contact bayonet base. I purchased LED to replace some of them and new fixtures to replace others.
Freedom 28 CK Hull# 14, centerboard, wrap around sails with WB booms
Narragansett Bay, RI

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mike cunningham
Posts: 489
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Jacqueline, F30 #3, Discovery Bay, California

Re: Screw base light bulbs

Post by mike cunningham »

I have a freedom 30 (1986) installed the following lights in the domes

3 | 1142-x45-T: 45HP-LED BA15D Tower Bulb | $ 24.95 |
1142-WW45-T: 1142 Warm White
------------------------------------------------------------
1 | 1142-x18-T: 18HP-LED 1142 Tower Bulb | $ 17.95 |
1142-R18-T: Red

and the following in the spots

1 | G4B-xHP6-DAC: LED G4 Lamp, 6 LED Disc Type with Back Pins| $ 11.95 |
G4B-WWHP6-DAC: Warm White


Bought them from http://www.superbrightleds.com/ and was pretty happy with the service. May be better prices out there.

Regarding the lights themselves. The reds are superb, big improvement over tinted incandescent - great luminosity. The whites are advertised as warm white but still have a higher color temp than incandescent, again, great luminosity. Slightly less homey than the incandescent though. The spots are excellent, luminosity and color temp almost exactly that of the halogens, at least to my eye.

I have a Xantrex power monitor installed and I tested the LEDs vs incandescent in the domes and saw about .3 amp LED, 1.2 amp incandescent. Which is about right. I don't think I checked the spots.

So, bottom line, I reduced my power consumption substantially. I have a 200 AH house bank so I can stay lit up for a month when Armageddon comes :D . Ironically I had installed several inexpensive battery powered LED pucks a number of years ago and really use them a lot for down below work at sea.


By the way, Lowes sells a goose neck clip on LED lamp which is powered by a 12VDC transformer plugged into the wall. I converted this to a reading lamp aboard the boat powering it directly from the 12 VDC bus. It draws about .3 amps and it lights up the whole boat. All this for the princely sum of $13.00. Mind you this light has quite a high color temp.
Mike Cunningham
Freedom 30 (Mull) Hull #3
Build date...June, 1986 . Freedom Yachts USA, sloop, shoal keel
Gun Mount and pole retrofitted (purchased from a Hoyt Freedom 32)
Yanmar 2gm20F , 1600 hrs fixed two blade prop
e-rud and ocean racing equipment

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GeoffSchultz
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Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 8:39 am
Location: BlueJacket: Guatemala
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Re: Screw base light bulbs

Post by GeoffSchultz »

Re Mike:

The biggest thing that you have to watch out for is running these lights while the battery is charging. The LEDs are expecting 12V and will see 13.2V under normal battery conditions and 14+V while charging. This will substantially increase the LED base temperature, shortening their life. Of course they're relatively inexpensive, so replacing them isn't a major issue. LED lights which are truly designed for marine/auto environments have DC power regulators to cope with this.

-- Geoff
BlueJacket
1997 Freedom 40/40
http://www.GeoffSchultz.org

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