LED Engine Room Lighting

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Pat T

Pat T

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2019
Messages
225
Location
United States
Vessel Name
Moondance
Vessel Make
Grand Banks CL 42
I have 3 fluorescent lighting fixtures (120VAC) in my ER. They hold two lights ( 2 ft. long) in each fixture. The lighting is ok but these fixtures are old clunkers and take up too much space, mainly they are 5.5 in depth. I want to reduce the space/power so LED seems like the way to go. Problem is that there are not that many marine grade 120VAC LED lights that fit the bill. (lots of DC options).
Local boat mechanic said to go ahead and install non-marine grade lighting such as what you would find in a big box hardware store. There are more options there and certainly would be cheaper. I think that as long as the lights can withstand the ER heat it might be ok. What are your views?
Thanks.
 
I use 12 VDC 1.5 Watt Superbright Waterproof LED string lights in my engine room. I connected the power leads to my old incandescent bulb housing in the ER. I think I have 120' feet in my ER. The benefit is that you can run them down the walls to illuminate behind the engines, water pumps, shafts etc....with NO Shadows. The light blocks come with double faced tape and screw holes to secure where needed. So far 10 yrs and going strong.
 
With the state of options on the market, I kinda can’t imagine not going with simple 12VDC LED strips in an ER. Cheap, take up no space, and hardly use any juice.
 
You can get an LED replacement for just about any bulb type on earth lately, if not in retail or big box stores, then online. I don't think I'd worry about marine grade though -- if they fail, you throw them out and replace. My engine room lights happened to be 12 volt, not 110 like yours, looked very close to these:

https://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/aaa-world-wide-enterprises-ltd/product-35748-478747.html

But I did the LED replacement on those a few years ago, and I was able to add another one to the engine bay because the power draw was a tiny fraction of what it had been before. I usually don't like harsh white/bluish LED lights for occupied spaces, but I think it's better or clearer in the engine room, less shadows. They're brighter for a tiny fraction of the previous wattage. And the old incandescent bulbs got so hot they left a little melted spot on the housing. I even found LED replacements for a couple 12-volt, 18" florescent tubes in the aft deck roof over the dining area. I didn't realize they even made 12 volt florescent tubes but they do (did?), but now I replaced those with LED's in the same tube configuration, that even work with previous florescent ballasts no problem.

The one thing I have noticed though, is that rather than burning out all at once, LED's do deteriorate over time and get dimmer. It's annoying, and they don't last 50,000,000 hours either (or whatever the specs and the marketing tells you), but even so, on the boat I've become a great fan of LED conversion.
 
I added a string of "bright white" 12VDC LED rope lights around the engine room in our previous boat. Think I got those from superbrightleds.com.

Relatively easy to tie in to the existing DC lighting system down there, and relatively easy to support with appropriate rope light clips every foot or so. Made it like an operating room, very decent improvement. Had I needed more, rope lights can usually be combined in series...

More recently I've been dealing with 110VAC rope light circuits in the current boat... and have found four useful sources:

1000bulbs.com (decent 1/2" ropes)
sailorsams.com (Imtra lighting at slightly reduced costs)
imtra.com (arm and a leg...)
birddogdistributing.com

I wanted 3/8" ropes, though, and found the Imtra lights from sailorsams.com worked OK for that. Had to assembly end pieces myself, but it's not hard. (1/2" ropes from 1000bulbs came pre-assembled.)

I didn't try the birddog place because all that seemed to have are apparently extra bright... whereas what I wanted is "warm white" undercounter or under-bed indirect lighting meant for mood or atmosphere or whatever. OTOH, if I was trying to actually light up someplace, bright white, completely surrounding the space, 1/2" rope would likely be hard to beat.

-Chris
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. Just a little more info about my ER - I do also have an existing DC light system and I did replace those bulbs with LED style. I probably could replace the AC tube lights with LEDs but I still would have the same big old fixture. I want to make this an easy changeover and just use the existing 120VAC wiring and switch. I think I can find a lower profile (< the existing 5.5 inch depth) LED light fixture, just not marine grade. Sounds like you guys are ok using non marine grade fixtures though.
 
Yeah, you know given that LED's are not really prone to vibration or shock damage like incandescents -- or even florescents to some extent -- I've never worried about marine grade. Then there's corrosion of the contacts though, and I'm on fresh water. Coincidentally I do have a courtesy light in a small housing on the bow, near the horn, and just had to replace it after one year. Little festoon LED bulb about 1" long and the metal contacts on each end were badly corroded. Kind of odd. It's not like we plow through hurricanes where that housing would get chronically wet. Rained on maybe. Maybe I should be more careful and do marine grade when I can.

One other story that might be helpful. We used to have an 18" florescent tube light over the galley counter, mounted to the underside of the microwave cabinet. I replaced it with a 12" LED strip figuring the LED's would be brighter and in that case I tried to get the same level of illumination by going a little shorter. Nope, despite comparable lumens in the specs, the LED strip was way too bright for the galley, lit it up like an operating room. So I downgraded again to a 8" strip light, puny little thing, but it's still too bright, so now I'll have to try something even smaller. I just mention that because if you're going to new, smaller LED housings, I learned I can't necessarily trust lumen specs either. Trial and error. Or for the next galley light I'll do something dimmable. Might not be an issue for an engine room upgrade though.
 
I have similar to these in my shop. Hard to beat the price and you can link up to 7.
 

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TJM said:
The light blocks come with double faced tape and screw holes to secure where needed. So far 10 yrs and going strong.
Click to expand...

Have you had to replace the tape mounting? I can't imagine how they would adhere for that long of a period.

Also, if anyone has a 48V house bank system, you can also buy household style LED bulbs in 48VDC, for use in residential fixtures. They are more pricey, but the off-grid industry (not the marine industry) is really pushing the products forward.
 
I have three fluorescents (2) two footers and (1) four foot in the ER along with (4) 12 volt bulbs. All going LED soon. Have the bulb replacements and am going to order the tubes from these guys as they come with non shunted ends if needed as the ballast needs to be disconnected.
 
I have these LED sticks in my EB.
They came in a pack of 6 and cost $5 for 6 pieces.
Each stick is about 6" long and really thin so they don't take up space when mounted to the ceiling or walls. They are quite bright and provide plenty of light.

I run them in parallel. Because they are compact, I can locate them anywhere in the EB. All are mounted on the "Ceiling" which is the floor joists from the cabin above. I have 8 in the front and 6 in the back.

Wiring was easy. I use 16 or 18 gage wiring.
I have 2 switch banks. Front switch illuminates front EB where engine is located, and rear switch. Easy and economical.
 

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Pat T said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. Just a little more info about my ER - I do also have an existing DC light system and I did replace those bulbs with LED style. I probably could replace the AC tube lights with LEDs but I still would have the same big old fixture. I want to make this an easy changeover and just use the existing 120VAC wiring and switch. I think I can find a lower profile (< the existing 5.5 inch depth) LED light fixture, just not marine grade. Sounds like you guys are ok using non marine grade fixtures though.
Click to expand...

8 years ago I replaced the fluorescent 120VAC fixtures with standard, round LED fixtures from Home Depot. Still working just fine... (And I also have 12V LED lights.)
 
I installed an AC LED panel above each engine, replacing aging fluorescent lamps, and the lighting in the ERs is now awesome.

Cheap and easy to install.
 

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If your engine lights are 120 volt AC and you are satisfied with that arrangement, you can use residential LEDs.
 
I installed LED strips that seem to be identical to those shown above by Max1. I was thrilled at first but I need to replace. I now notice that some of the LEDs wink out. When using shore power or underway, they are all bright. But if working at anchor, Not every LED in a strip comes on and some don't come on very bright. I am assuming that the difference is that when on shore power or underway the actual battery voltage is >13V and when using house battery it might be <12.4.

The other problem is that LEDs do actually get hot after awhile. Hot enough in a warm engine room that the double-sided tape can release and they then dangle by the lead wires.

Time for me to try something else. When replacing I'll be sure to check the actual voltage in the line.
 
Marco Flamingo said:
I installed LED strips that seem to be identical to those shown above by Max1. I was thrilled at first but I need to replace. I now notice that some of the LEDs wink out. When using shore power or underway, they are all bright. But if working at anchor, Not every LED in a strip comes on and some don't come on very bright. I am assuming that the difference is that when on shore power or underway the actual battery voltage is >13V and when using house battery it might be <12.4.

The other problem is that LEDs do actually get hot after awhile. Hot enough in a warm engine room that the double-sided tape can release and they then dangle by the lead wires.

Time for me to try something else. When replacing I'll be sure to check the actual voltage in the line.
Click to expand...

Was going to say the same
I ran them somewhere onboard, can't remember where but the heat output was definitely off-putting
 
There are certainly excellent applications for small strip LEDs which have pretty much zero profile.

But for general lighting I still prefer to use standard residential medium-base light fixtures. LED bulbs are available in 12, 24 and 48VDC as well as 120VAC/60hz and 230VAC/50hz.
 
Led

Amazon sells a nice LED 120v shop light replacement for about $30 with daisy chain connections .
 
Today I discovered one of our engine room lights is out.

Some searching finds our OEM lights are made by Scandvik. This particular model is E-500, 41389P, 12/24VDC, 1520 lumens, available at Defender, $95.

https://defender.com/en_us/scandvik...1cb2b98bd75c1ea1b31&utm_term=4580153138713961

Won't help OP who needs 120VAC fixtures, but thought I'd post for others since I came across the info. (And ordered replacement plus spare.)

-Chris
 
I've got a few of the mid size Scandvik fixtures (the E-360) and a 12v LED bulb in one of the original bulb holders (the brightest one I could get). Draws about the same power as the original 2 12v incandescent bulbs and it's plenty bright down there for most things. There's only 1 area where I may want to add more light at some point.
 
Xlantic said:
I installed an AC LED panel above each engine, replacing aging fluorescent lamps, and the lighting in the ERs is now awesome.

Cheap and easy to install.
Click to expand...
What make / model? They look like what I'm looking for.
 
.ots of options....
I wouldn't worry about marine grade. I used replacement bulbs in existing fixtures on boat, converted shop florescent to LED tubes at home.and very pleased w both.
 
I put this strip LED lights in our engine room a couple of years ago. It has PSA backing so it is simple to install. They provide excellent light around the E/R. Got them from superbrightleds.com

5m White COB LED Strip Light - COB Series LED Tape Light - High CRI - 12V / 24V - IP20

SKU: STN-A40K90-O18A-08P5M-12V
 
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