light fixture change

Discussion in 'Electrical Systems' started by gabriel, Mar 28, 2013.

  1. gabriel
    Joined: Jan 2012
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    Location: venezuela

    gabriel Junior Member

    Hi everyone

    I have an old Bertram that i am remodelling. The original electric system is mainly in 32volts DC , 110 volts AC for larger appliances and some of the ceiling lights,and 12 volts DC for instruments.
    I cannot find new fixtures for 32 volts in LED in the market . The only available ones are 12V DC, 24 V DCand 110 AC.
    I want to change all the lights in the Cockpit, Saloon, Toilets, berths and kitchen to LED type but i want to know what voltage is best to use for that purpose and why:
    1- 110 volts fixtures alone
    2- switch over to 12V or 24 Volts all the lights
    3- a combination of 110 volts and 12 V or 24 V

    Thanks in advance

    Gabe
     
  2. CDK
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Adriatic sea

    CDK retired engineer

    My advice is to change the lights to 12V. That widens your choice and can save you lots of money.
    I can't think of any reason to maintain a 32V circuit, but if you have a different opinion you can modify 12V units by adding a simple and inexpensive regulator (type 7812, less than $1.00).
     
  3. missinginaction
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: New York

    missinginaction Senior Member

    I'd agree with CDK. With a 32 volt system your wire is certainly lighter than a similar sized boat with a 12 volt system. Leaving your system 32 volt and converting your lighting to 12 would be a good solution. LED's draw so little current that the wiring shouldn't be an issue, but check to be certain.
     
  4. michael pierzga
    Joined: Dec 2008
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    Location: spain

    michael pierzga Senior Member

    With lighting ..Everything is LED these days. Investigate a fixture system like BATSYSTEM . http://www.batsystem.se/

    They offer many different styles..the best Ive seen.

    As was stated 12v dc is cheap and cheerful. On a small boat it should be all that is required.

    Keep an eye on wire diameter if you are stepping down to 12v for power hungry equipment like an anchor windlass or alternator.
     
  5. gabriel
    Joined: Jan 2012
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    Location: venezuela

    gabriel Junior Member

    lightings

    Thanks to all for your advices.
    What about the 110 volts lights that are already in the boat, should I change that also to 12 volts? or should I in the contrary add more 110 volts lights?

    what do you guys think?
     
  6. jonr
    Joined: Sep 2008
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    Location: Great Lakes

    jonr Senior Member

    If you have a 110/115V light in place, I would leave it there.
     
  7. CDK
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Adriatic sea

    CDK retired engineer

    Assuming you're talking about 110V AC, you can modernize that part of the installation by simply replacing the bulbs with LED ones. Just bear in mind you cannot use dimmers for most AC LED bulbs.
     
  8. TerryKing
    Joined: Feb 2007
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    Location: Topsham, Vermont

    TerryKing On The Water SOON

    Also, think about taking advantage of the many new types of LED lights.

    Don't only replace the lights that the original designer thought of, with the lights they knew about back then.

    Especially think about some single low-power LEDs as night lights. A single white LED drawing only .02 amps will light a head or passageway well enough to navigate at night when your eyes are dark-adapted. You can run about 6 such LEDs in series with one added current limiting resistor on 12VDC. You don't ever need to turn them off, just have a safety fuse. And you can use very thin wire, almost invisible.

    Think about three other low-cost sources of LED lighting:

    - Automotive "LED Replacement Bulbs" that fit existing automotive fixtures
    - Recreational Vehicle LED fixtures
    - "LED Strips" that are sold by the yard/meter

    See http://dx.com/s/LED lamp for the lowest prices on the "replacement" LEDs and strips.

    If you want a few White LEDs, you can buy 1000 ! of them for $37 here:
    http://yourduino.com/sunshop2/index.php?l=product_detail&p=355
    or a few for $3 http://yourduino.com/sunshop2/index.php?l=product_detail&p=143

    Of course these are for "protected areas", not on deck. But you can get LED Strips that are in waterproof tubes and use a little silicone on connections...


    DISCLAIMER: Mentioned stuff from my own shop...


    And HI to CDK!
     
  9. CDK
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Adriatic sea

    CDK retired engineer

    Good to see you're still with us Terry!
    Last post was 04-30-2011, at our age a long silence can mean many things, most of them bad.
     

  10. TerryKing
    Joined: Feb 2007
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    Location: Topsham, Vermont

    TerryKing On The Water SOON

    In the spirit of "Humans are only off-topic when they're dead" :

    Sorry for the long silence; I really love the boats and I'm about to build a 17 foot Sea Kayack. About the silence; a funny thing happened to me when I was 71.. I started a business with a friend of mine from when I lived in China. I always worked as an Engineer for somebody else (known by letters like: WELI, WMCA, IBM) and I never did the Business Thing. And I got Real Busy. This is all about Educational Info (http://ArduinoInfo.Info which I write) and Arduino Microcomputers and electronics parts (http://YourDuino.com) (I've always been a Parts Junky).. Anyway we ended up slightly popular and the WIKI gets 4000 hits a day from people looking for Information. So I'm busy testing stuff like sensors and writing How-To pages and like that. Maybe I'll retire again in 7 years at 80??

    If anyone is into the Electronics stuff, LED Lighting for boats, Arduino Microcomputers for Onboard Intelligent Systems etc. and would like to collaborate on some How-To articles, I'd be interested in sending you some parts to play with. And especially if you want to teach any of this stuff to young people I'd be happy to help out. Just email terry *at terryking dot us.

    CDK On The Adriatic.. I spent last school year on the Ligurian Sea near Genova (homeport of the lifeboats from the Costa Concordia).. Beautiful water and really interesting small inboard boats always hauled ashore after use... I hope to get back to the Mediterranean often.
     
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