Interesting article-LED Nav lights

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by SR4

I think you will find hovercrafts have them already

And purse seiners, but I meant the casings not the actual LED. You know, so they'd match your bilge pump

[thomas]

Originally Posted by SR4

Have you seen the LED rabbit vibrators,

That's just wrong, first a bloke in bed with a Mastiff and now this.

[wavelength]

orange ?

[Festinghouse]

yeah, for hovercraft - wrong forum though! anyway...boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mister p]

Somebody mention bilge?

[MattD]

Originally Posted by kerny

You wouldn't happen to work for the ISO by any chance

ISO is a fact of life. In my line of work Standards are what it is all about. I calibrate radiation protection instruments. Radiation is a wishy washy nuclear thingy that few people have a clue about. But there is an international standard for quantifying radiation dose.

I get why people think standardising nav lights is pointless... red is red green is green etc.

Standardisation just creates a level playing field, it's nothing to be annoyed or scared of... it means a blind French guy will make nav lights that show the same green as fully sighted Germans green.

[chewy]

Originally Posted by steco1958

Its called progress, I suppose they had this type of discussion in the pubs when electricity came around and superceeded the oil lamp beacons.

Least the oil ones worked with a flat battery.

The article seems like a waste of time and money.
In reality how badly does the EMF off LED's really affect our instruments?

[Erin]

Originally Posted by chewy

In reality how badly does the EMF off LED's really affect our instruments?

It's not so much the LED's themselves as the circuitry that's used to run them. Most LED's work on a forward voltage of around 2 volts, so they need control boards to allow us to plug them in to the boats 12v system (sometimes even the wrong way round allowing for dimwits) without blowing them. It is the quality of the additional circuit that is important. Manufacturers will try to make it a cheap as possible which could be at the expense of EMF.

I fitted LED nav lights and am very pleased with them. Totally sealed, bright, low power and compact. I am all for better alternatives to filament bulbs.

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by chewy

.
In reality how badly does the EMF off LED's really affect our instruments?

Probably not at all, but without standards you get some non-descript imports from ChinkyChonka which catch fire, screw up the GPS, interfere with the radio (how many "radio interference" threads have we had?"). Without standards it literally is a free for all, you would have no idea what you were buying. Would you buy a life jacket,fuel, radio,flares,charts, fuses,cable, oil (TCW3)...........etc that didn't comply to any standards? Lights are a critical aid to safety & navigation. All Nav lights have to comply with certain standards, not just LEDs. Filament bulb lamps went through the same process.
Standards are there to protect us, I for one can't see the problem.

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Standards are there to protect us, I for one can't see the problem.

+1

[wavelength]

orange ?

hovercraft/seiners/towing light-yellow surely....unless you are looking at a non iso standard led light source and lens

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

but I meant the casings not the actual LED. You know, so they'd match your bilge pump

Originally Posted by wavelength

hovercraft/seiners/towing light-yellow surely....unless you are looking at a non iso standard led light source and lens

Dooo keep up number 1

[Salty John]

Originally Posted by chewy

In reality how badly does the EMF off LED's really affect our instruments?

It depends on how the LED is regulated, as said previously. But cost isn't an indicator of whether or not you'll get radio interference. Some quite expensive LEDs have buck regulators that operate at a high enough frequency to interfere with AIS and VHF radio. There have been reports of total radio and AIS blackouts when LED nav lights are switched on - so worth checking, especially if your antenna is sharing the radio arch with an LED nav light.
You can also get interference on AM/FM radios.

I think more and more LED sellers are realising there's a problem and making sure their particular product is OK. Probably won't be a problem by the time they get round to writing up the CE specs!

There does have to be advice out there to prevent people simply sticking a white LED behind their coloured lenses - thereby displaying red and blue.

[wavelength]

Calm down number two

[QUOTE]Originally Posted by SR4
I think you will find hovercrafts have them already

And purse seiners[QUOTE]

[wavelength]

and
orange?

yeah, for hovercraft - wrong forum though! anyway...boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

personally the biggest concentration of hovercraft lights I see is on the Mersey....but they always turn out to be forklift trucks on the quaysides

[kerny]

Originally Posted by MattD

ISO it means a blind French guy will make nav lights that show the same green as fully sighted Germans green.

You Sarcy Barsteward

Moral of the story is if you want quality buy German

[Jeff Hutcheon]

Originally Posted by kerny

You Sarcy Barsteward

Moral of the story is if you want quality buy German

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by kerny

You Sarcy Barsteward

Moral of the story is if you want quality buy German

My 'quality' German Hella LED's completely disintegrated in two years. They had magnesium back plates.

[kerny]

Originally Posted by Leapy

My 'quality' German Hella LED's completely disintegrated in two years. They had magnesium back plates.

There's always one that's got to go and spoil it

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Leapy

My 'quality' German Hella LED's completely disintegrated in two years. They had magnesium back plates.

Errrm, so did mine. But kwality Hella gave me a whole new set of the upgraded version FOC. So the Germans redeemed themselves