Battery operated LED lighting

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Willallison, Mar 17, 2008.

  1. Willallison
    Joined: Oct 2001
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    Willallison Senior Member

    Probably not really the correct place to post it, but...

    Occaisionally I've come across some rather cheap and nasty battery operated LED downlights. Has anyone seen good quality versions of the same?
     
  2. juiceclark

    juiceclark Previous Member

    I looked also and have not. In fact, to create a dome light for my cockpit and for an experiment creating underwater transom lights, I bought these led pond lights on Ebay. I figured these are already waterproof and the price was quite competitive.
    http://cgi.ebay.com/144-White-LED-O...ZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

    Perhaps you can dress them up in a nice housing to look good as downlights. They are really bright...almost too bright with a piercingly white light.

    I didn't want to have the boat pulled to install overpriced, through-hull underwater transom lights. So, I made these out of those pond lights (72 led version) by glassing them into a PVC toilet offset! The offset allowed me to bolt them above the waterline and I 5200 them to the boat underwater:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Tony in Sw Florida
     
  3. Landlubber
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    Landlubber Senior Member

    There are plenty of LED downlights made now, try Hella, Aquasignal, even Cantaloupie make them I think.
     
  4. Willallison
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    Willallison Senior Member

    Sorry - I obviously wasn't clear enough in my question - as suggested there are any number of hardwired LED lighting options.
    What I'm looking for is a good quality, fully autonomous unit - ie, the battery (s) are enclosed in the unit.

    Here's a pic of one of cheap one's I've seen.
     

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  5. masalai
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    masalai masalai

  6. Pericles
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    Pericles Senior Member

    Try Ikea. I purchased 2 good looking LED battery downlighters for the equivalent of $10.

    Pericles
     
  7. Meanz Beanz
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    Meanz Beanz Boom Doom Gloom Boom

    I use those. I just put them on Velcro tags and remove them and store them in ziplock plastic bags when not in use. Keep a few spares and chuck them when they die. Sooner or latter you will be able to get good ones but for now it saves a lot of ugly wiring in difficult to access places.
     
  8. masalai
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    masalai masalai

  9. sal's Dad
    Joined: Apr 2005
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    sal's Dad Atkin/Bolger fan

    http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5263

    Good values at this site - quality on some items can be spotty, but I had a generally good experience. If anybody sees something on the site that can be used as nav lights, let me know!
     
  10. JonathanCole
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    JonathanCole imagineer

  11. Brent Swain
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    Brent Swain Member

    Canadian tire has 12 volt cabin lights with a switch for $15. Many LEDs have a high failure rate so keep your receipt. They seem to be slowly improving on that score.
    Brent
     
  12. Willallison
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    Willallison Senior Member

    Just a quick note for those also interested in this type of lighting...
    I bought one of the Osram Dot-it lights just to see what it was like. Sadly the LED's are of the harsh white and very directional variety. Absolutley useless as a downlight, unless you want to simply highlight a small area....
    And so the search continues....
     
  13. masalai
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    masalai masalai

    Will, I found something, and thought of your search, I hope you will find it here http://www.taylorbrite.com/ . I could not remember who was looking and dragonjbynight posted here to let me know...
     

  14. Willallison
    Joined: Oct 2001
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    Willallison Senior Member

    Thanks - I took a look at Taylorbrite, but couldn't find anything but hard-wired LED's (other than a solar powered waring light which could be useful..)
     
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