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Any Recommendation For Replacement Led Bulbs?


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Hi all,

Our forecabin has a couple of reading lamps with 12V 21W double-contact bayonet bulbs (BA15d) and these are the only sources of light. I'd like to replace the incandescent bulbs with LED ones but they would need to be at least 21W equivalent. Has anyone any suggestions where I might find something suitable?

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I replaced some of mine a few years ago, and even though I am an electronic engineer, I was caught out.

I bought standard 12 volt leds from ebay however, unless they are specifically designed for cars, caravans or boats they can be totally unsuitable, as these were, they started to flash the odd led, then some would go out and this was only in the second season too.

12 volt led devices are designed for 12 volts, to be precise... 12.0 volts, any voltage over that will reduce their life exponentially. 

Boat voltages can be as high as 14.8 volts (higher with some shore based chargers).

So select your leds wih care, ideally you need them to work in the range 11.0 to say 15.0 volts dc So buy from a reputable supplier like those mentioned, and forget the generic 12 volt type off a well known auction website. There are some good products on there, but you need to look at the spec carefully. Luckily I was only caught out with about 5 devices. 

Hope it helps.

Richard

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I have replaced all of the bulbs in my car with led's. Don't go for the ordinary ones the ones that look like lots of mini bulbs the problem with these is the envelopes are all soldered to a PCB and the soldering fails through vibration

Use the ones called cree bulbs these look like small yellow squares. These are bonded to the PCB and in two years I have not had one fail. And my digital voltmeter often runs at 14.8 volts

cree.jpg

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43 minutes ago, Bound2Please said:

Please please you plant bulbs and light lamps. Never yet seen a daffodil shining a light out of its petals.

Charlie :hardhat:

You want to try asking a group of Americans if you can borrow a "Torch" 

They usually fall over in a heap in complete laughter, as they envisage you trying to search for something with what looks like an olympic torch. 

Works every time lol...

If you smoke and want to borrow a cigarette, it is not appropriate to say, that you want to bum a fag. oops...

 

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Should we call them bulbs, or lamps?

Edison was often credited for inventing the first light bulb, (he may not have been the first to do that though if you read the internet) so if he calls them bulbs and if they are described as bulbs in the original patent, then "bulbs" they are. 

Lamps in those days were often oil based, like paraffin lamps, hurricane lamps or Aladdin's lamp, just a wick placed in a receptical of oil, fat or wax. In Victorian times you had gas lamps, Later on you had bicycle lamps that used acetylene from carbide crystals. Even later, car head lamps and tail lamps,  I prefer to think of the word lamp refers to the hardware that enables many different technologies to produce light, and not just one technology of electricity. I rest my case lol.

Well that opens the debate right up lol... 

 "Bulbs" it is for me, or lamp bulbs works too.

 

Richard

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We could always go for "Bamps" or even "Lulbs" I suppose.. :)

More seriously though, a question occurs to me.  We all know of the "premium" put on anything sold for boats, but in this case would there be  a possible difference between an LCD lamp for a caravan and one for a boat or other marine application, given the damp conditions? 

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Hi John, 

There should not be any difference in a LED lamp for the caravan/motorhome market with regards to damp, these suffer just like boats likewise with condensation. Just make sure that any lamps you buy are not just 12 volt rated, they need to be ones that operate on a variable voltage range.

The LED inserts  I fitted on Ranworth Breeze about 4 or 5  years ago have given us no trouble at all, we have 18 lamps in various sections of the boat, there is 6 down-lighters in the lounge alone which used to be 20 watts each, now down to a little over 16 watts with the LED's, so a great battery saving.

Regards

Alan

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I always think of the item that the bulb goes into as being the lamp or the light, with the consumable item being the bulb. For instance my desk lamp takes a maximum of 60W bulb. MY car headlights use Xenon bulbs.

To answer Maurice, I don't think there is any real difference in the LCD bulbs sold in chandlers, or caravan stores. The important thing for me would be the light fitting the bulb is fitted into, and how moisture proof such a fitting is. In addition it is not uncommon to purchase LED lights as a complete unit with bulbs that cannot be changed. Most chandlers seem to sell standard lamps which take normal bulbs, but which can be retrofitted with LED bulbs, but they also sell the more expensive shiny all in one LED lamps which are a throw away item should the bulb fail. They may be more waterproof, but I would stay away from them. I quite like the following lamp fittings because they take two bulbs, one halogen for normal use and a Red bulb for night time use. The use of LED bulbs can make reading at night difficult unless you find the right bulb that works for you. Using these lamp fittings you can keep the halogen bulb for occasional reading use and replace the Red bulb with a low wattage LED bulb for general use.

http://www.norfolkmarine.co.uk/shop-online/dome-light-daynight-glass-p-3476.html 

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Shining Light Daffodil, love it, that should keep Charlie quiet for a while :naughty: I really am glad the Boating season is soon to be upon us because you lot really do need to get out more :facepalm:

I'm just off to lamp im indoors and light my bulbs or some such lol

Grace

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