Replacement Cabin Lights

jnizi · **Posted:** Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:30 pm

After messing with the cheap Chinese LED bulbs, I stumbled on these at Home depot. They are under $14 each.

They replace the T3 Halogen 10 watt lamps in our cabin lights. You do have to remove the reflector but they fit very nice and the color quality, uniformity and coverage are great. They run cool, are indoor/outdoor rated and should last years. Thought I would share.

Bliss36 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:30 am

Jinizi,

Thanks for the info. I've been looking to cut power consumption so I think this is the next project I will tackle. I can't see the images but is this is what you described.
http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Light-Bulbs-LED-Light-Bulbs/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbm79/R-202514337/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

ric · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:36 am

That unit is 3 watts, depending what style bulb it replaced it might not be lower power draw.

jnizi · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:55 am

Hi Ben,

I will email you the proper link.

Ric, we have been using the T3 10 Watt Halogen lamps that only produce about 130 lumens. We find them dim in our cabin and I was not comfortable jumping to a 20 watt T3. These draw 3 watts, have no heat build up and produce 170 lumens. The best other alternative I found was a disc LED that used 2.2 watts but only 140 lumens. They were not consistent in color temperature. At least with Philips, there is good QC so all the bulbs match.

In my testing with a 9 volt battery, they seem to even have the same brightness under a lower voltage. Have not had time to measure actual output with my light meter. This was just a quick weekend project.

firecadet613 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:37 am

Ben or Joe can you send me the email as well.

BarryBoats · **Posted:** Tue May 01, 2012 9:46 pm

Hello Jnizi

Are you able to put the lens cover back on over the light?

jnizi · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2012 9:22 pm

Yes. I will posted better pictures after this weekend.

jnizi · **Posted:** Mon May 07, 2012 9:50 am

Finished with installing all the new bulbs. This picture compares the old to the new. The right is the old 10 watt Halogen and the right is the new 3 watt LED. Very hard to tell but the brightness is significant. If you compare the hard edges of the shadows on the front wall and the light spread on the side cabinet doors, it should give you some idea of the improvement.

As far as what it takes, twist off the cover and pry the reflector out (it comes out easy with a small screwdriver). The frame for the light fits the bulb assembly perfectly so the lamps can't wiggle out.

Also tried the small cylinder Philips bulbs for the reading lights but did not like the color or beam spread. I will keep looking.

At this point, dropped 150 watts of draw to 45 watts. with a better , more even lighting.

The reason I like these is they are damp location rated and they don't have the exposed components on the back side.

Bob2135 · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2012 7:46 am

Jnizi,
Man, thanks for the great pics...definately going to do this in a couple of weeks. I am just trying to remember how many I need (been a long winter). :roll:

I think I will get 15 to start, and then go from there.

jnizi · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2012 12:29 pm

With the head it was 14 for us.

Bliss36 · **Posted:** Thu May 10, 2012 10:04 pm

Jnizi,

Great write up and pics!!! Sounds like a win-win situation with better lighting and energy savings! I just like the fact anyone can drive to their local Lowes or Home Depot for these instead of having to order them thru a marine vendor for double the cost. Thanks for the info

BarryBoats · **Posted:** Sat May 12, 2012 5:18 pm

Went to the depot to buy a bunch and they had 1 in stock.

Your pictures look great.

Alan_G_298Vista · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2012 3:40 pm

Big thanks for sharing this info. We anchor out every weekend and any reduction in power consumption is a bonus obviously, we avoid the halagen lights while on the hook as they do draw signifigant power. I picked up two lights like you used today from Home Depot and will install them in the head to check them out this weekend. If they look good, and based on your images I'm sure they will, I'll swap over the whole cabin as you did. Again, appreciate you doing the experimenting for all of us!

Bob2135 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:43 am

Jnizi,
Well, replaced all our cabin lights this weekend with the Phillips LEDs you suggested. Man, they work great! Superior lighting, almost identical to the halogen lights, and less energy and heat! We are going to do the reading lights next weekend, they take a different style of LED, but same price as these from Home Depot. They are currently on sale there for $10.95 each, and absolutely worth it. The only thing...these LED lights will not work in your radar arch lights...the heat/reflection plate and the two prong socket are integrated and thus could not be removed. Just wanted to give you a shout out and thank you for the great suggestion!

Alan_G_298Vista · **Posted:** Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:00 am

Bob2135 wrote:

Jnizi,
Well, replaced all our cabin lights this weekend with the Phillips LEDs you suggested. Man, they work great! Superior lighting, almost identical to the halogen lights, and less energy and heat! We are going to do the reading lights next weekend, they take a different style of LED, but same price as these from Home Depot. They are currently on sale there for $10.95 each, and absolutely worth it. The only thing...these LED lights will not work in your radar arch lights...the heat/reflection plate and the two prong socket are integrated and thus could not be removed. Just wanted to give you a shout out and thank you for the great suggestion!

After our initial test with two replacements, we've also since replaced all the cabin lights fully. I agree totally, it's a great update for sure. I couldn't even tell the difference in light pattern with the LED's as compared to stock. You get much less energy usage, and they'll also last forever, what's not to like!

www.iFourWinns.com

Replacement Cabin Lights

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