Cabin and Arch Lights

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 3:11 pm

Hey all,

I am wondering if anybody has changed out either the bulbs, or the entire housings of their cabin lights. Like everyone else, mine have the standard bulbs and while they do a good job of producing light, I know they are not very efficient as LED's are and they are hot as heck.

Anybody switch them to LED's?

Winedown · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:36 pm

I was thinking the same thing....would like to switch to LEDs in the cabin and the arch. The arch lights are easy enough...lots of suppliers out there on the internet and the lights themselves look to be easy to access. I'm looking at the tri-color LEDs for the arch next season....they switch between white, blue, and red with every flip of the switch. The only thing that makes me hesitate is the lights are $120 each whereas I can buy single color lights for about $30 each.

The cabin lights though I'm not as sure about. Ideally I would want to just switch the bulbs vs. the entire housing but I haven't taken the time yet to really look at them to see if that's an option. Either way, the cabin lights will be a priority next season. They suck a lot of battery juice (and for some reason the kids love to have all of the cabin lights on at once) and, like you said, they get HOT.

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:51 pm

I am not sure if these are the same size, but they look like a very viable option if they are.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

txvista · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:52 pm

I changed out the whole cabin with LED's. I just replaced the bulbs with similar LED lights you saw on ebay. Not sure if you have fluorescent lights or not, but I replaced the fixtures with LED strips.

Here is when I spoke about it. Cap'n suggested the led strips, and they work great.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5474

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:57 pm

I remember seeing the LED lights in your arch. Do you have a link to or know of the exact ones I need?

Inside the cabin, I have a few flourescent lights, but they are not overhead lights. There is one mounted behind the mirror in the V Berth and 2 under the cabinets to light up the countertops. Sadly, my "low level lights" do not work for some reason and I will need to troubleshoot this before I buy replacement fixtures for the area, although I would like them to be LED for the same reasons....less heat, lower power consumption.

txvista · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 8:07 pm

I don't have LED's in the arch. I keep the originals in there. I wanted them to stay bright for night. I have blue LED's throughout the cockpit, but they are close to the floor.

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 8:19 pm

Ahh...I remember you turning them on....for some reason I thought they were LEDs.

Winedown · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:06 pm

aguyindallas wrote:

Sadly, my "low level lights" do not work for some reason and I will need to troubleshoot this before I buy replacement fixtures for the area, although I would like them to be LED for the same reasons....less heat, lower power consumption.

Is your low level light switch a dual switch? Flip it one way and it's low level, flip it the other way it's nightlight? I have that on mine and the switch appears to do absolutely nothing. If you happen to figure out where the low level or nightlights are, please let me know.

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:08 pm

Yep....mine is the same. No clue how it works.

txvista · **Posted:** Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:33 pm

On mine, the "lower level light" is a rope light below the galley. The "night light" is both the rope light below the galley and also a rope light above the cabinets.

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:20 am

txvista wrote:

On mine, the "lower level light" is a rope light below the galley. The "night light" is both the rope light below the galley and also a rope light above the cabinets.

I know this is a stretch....got pics of them?

Anybody else with a 298 have any input here?

txvista · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:40 am

No I don't. The boat is pulled out right now, I can get some in a week or two. I want to say that someone that had a 298 had the same question a while back. I think FW installed the same switch on both the 298 and 328, but only the 328 had the lights installed. But I can be wrong. Just search above and below the cabinets.

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:01 pm

Kent, dont bother with pics...I figured IF you had them, post them...if not, no big deal. The only other lights that I can see in the boat are the ones above the counter/under the cabinets in the galley. They are 12" flourescent units. There are actually supposed to be 2 there, but mine is missing one of them (the harness is there). I thought that maybe with that light missing, it may be interrupting the "night light/low light" portion of the circuit and causing it to not work properly. The only way I get that light to work is by manually switching it on at the light itself. There is an identical unit (not working) behind the mirror in my V Berth.

My lights look like this:

txvista · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:20 pm

I have the same lights under cabinet and in vberth. I have to manually turn them on also.

aguyindallas · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:40 pm

txvista wrote:

I have the same lights under cabinet and in vberth. I have to manually turn them on also.

Well....the good news for me then is that they are NOT part of the problem with regard to my "low light/night light" switch doing nothing. I still need to locate one to replace the missing one though. I dont like it not being there, even if I dont get much use out of it.

As said before, I am starting to think the boat was wired for it, but nothing installed, especially since I am not the only one.

www.iFourWinns.com

Cabin and Arch Lights

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