Sensibulb LED lights

[la7qz]

Hi

I asked on the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) forum about LED light products, and got a reply mentioning the Sensibulb LED lamps. Does anyone here have experience with them?

http://www.sailorssolutions.com/

I live full time on a sailboat and get my electricity from solar power (a wind turbine is on the workbench). Apart from one dome light with an incandescent bulb, all my lights are fluorescent which has a tendency to make me feel like I'm in a hospital.

I was going to make my own LED lamps following the excellent advice given elsewhere on this forum by commanda, but these things look better than anything I could make, not only in form, but in function. At 40 dollars US per bulb, they are not cheap, but not too bad compared to some of the crap that is sold for boats.

A friend of mine recently bought a boat that had LED lamps from Budget Marine. They failed within a couple of weeks. Budget replaced them for free, and the replacements failed within a couple of weeks. The LED's failed in groups of three, so I suspect they just use resistors in series and could not deal with the voltage fluctuations on a boat.

For me, there are two sides to living off RE. It is of course important to be independent, but even more important is to avoid the noise, smell and heat from running the inboard diesel in my yacht for the purpose of charging batteries. Imagine having your diesel genset sitting in a cupboard in your living room....

Comments welcome.

PS. The discussion on the SSCA forum is here:

http://64.70.221.24/DiscBoard/viewtopic.php?t=2851

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht "Magic"

Falmouth Harbour anchorage, Antigua

[whatsnext]

I would still DIY but I would not build my lights Commanda style because I really don't like the output of the 5mm LEDs she's using. The newest Cree and Seoul LEDs produce about 40 lumen/watt and are just so much better, more light yet less electricity, than the 5mm LEDs that I think there is no point in using them. Prebuilt pwm regulators are available for as little $3/ea and the best binned LEDs are about $6/ea. This would allow you to build nice, small, and dimmable lights that would have much better color rendition. LEDs have improved so much in only the last six months that unless you see one for yourself you won't believe it.

John.......

[la7qz]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. Could you do a post with more information on the LED's and controllers you mention, including sources etc.? I'm sure a lot of people would be interested.

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht "Magic"

Falmouth Harbour anchorage

Antigua

[Norm]

   Simple just do a Google.....Cree LEDs

               LOL !

               ( :>) Norm.

[whatsnext]

I'm somewhat hesitant to post my source because I'm pretty sure he's just doing me a favor selling small qtys. Plus they are located in China and most people would never understand their rather low level of customer service. You might want to check out http://www.superbrightleds.com/led_prods.htm . I've dealt with them without a problem. The point I was trying to make is that without knowing what LEds are being used in the light you refer to, and how they are driven, it's tough to comment on the quality. Plus, technology is chsnging so fast that any product not built in the last few weeks is probably obsolete.

John.......

[la7qz]

Yes, I appreciate that Norm, but I was looking for solutions and examples of what people have actually homebrewed and got working rather than manufacturer's hype.

Also, with a very marginal Internet connection, searching can be a bit of a pain.

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic

Falmouth Harbour, Antigua

[la7qz]

Hi

I'm afraid I have a negative experience with Superbrightleds. A year and a half ago, I bought a couple of their bayonet bulbs from another cruiser I met in the Cape Verde's (west coast of Africa). He had ordered more than he needed and was covering his costs by selling them to other cruisers.

The LED's failed within a few months, burning out in groups of three. I sent an e-mail to Superbrightleds describing the problem and specifically pointed out that I was NOT looking for a refund. I was simply asking for advice, as I was interested in replacing the bulbs, but did not want a repeat of the failure. I received a very curt e-mail where they basically said I must have used a product meant for cars rather than boats and that it was not their problem if I chose to do something so stupid.

Well, I have lived on a boat for quite a few years now, and I believe I know a bit about the electric systems of both boats and cars. The main difference between the systems is that a boat usually has more battery capacity, a higher capacity alternator to match and other (normally well regulated) charging sources in addition to the alternator.

I can not see any difference between a car and boat electric system that would affect the performance or longevity of LED bulbs. The bulbs I installed were never subjected to higher voltages than normal alternator charging in a car. Unlike a car installation, I never started my engine from the same battery as the LEDs were operated from, so there would be no transients.

I took their e-mail to mean that they did not want my business. I have decided to honour their wish.

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic

Falmouth Harbour anchorage

Antigua

[whatsnext]

If this is the case then you may want to continue following Commanda's master class and hope that someone wants to take on the job of having boards built or sourcing the parts. I have a few DIY lights built with 5mm LEDs on my boat, Merit 23GP "Between the Sheets", and I've never had a failure but I just can't stand the color. I don't live aboard so I put up with it. Once Commanda finalizes the circuit you might look at the Pirahna warm whites and then build modules to fit into your existing fixtures.

Fair Winds, John

[yuandrew]

This is the Cree XR-E led that many people are talking about. I read that the current generation are even more efficient now at 80 lumens/watt. The controllers are listed under "High Power LED Drivers" on the left hand side colume. They will still have a "cool white" fluorescent light type color.

http://www.besthongkong.com/index.php?cPath=19_53&osCsid=9e9a3427b1b0db2eb95d9950bb7746d2

[3rd Charm]

I think you are better off building them yourself to ensure you a regulating the voltage properly, and avoiding burn outs.  You will also save a lot of money.

Plus You won't feel so bad if your home built bulbs fail, not as bad as you would if the $40 ones did.

Alternatively, you can modify those compact floresent bulbs to work on 12 volts as well. You can also buy color corrected ones, the light output is much better than that of the normal florescent color.

Also, buy higher wattage ones for reading under.

I find the lower watt ones- 9-13 watts- very hard to read eith. It seems they kill contrast.

[3rd Charm]

If you have a lot of scrap boards in your junk box, sometimes you can cut them up  to suit your needs, even if you have to drill some extra holes. I was looking through my junk box today with just that in mind, and low and behold.... lots of resistors too!

Sometimes it pays to strip things down before you throw it out. )

[whatsnext]

Those prices look pretty good and I'm sure those regulators would allow for dimmability. I think 80lumens/watt is maybe a tad optimistic but surely possible if you have enough heat sinking. I would think most users would want to avoid the heat and just use extra LEDs. The new generations of LEDs color shift a bit as you change drive current starting at green and eventually shifting to blue. Somewhere in the middle you get white, that's why they bin them.

John.....

[Jarhead]

I've done some testing on these high power LEDs, if you do things right you can get 50,000 to 100,000 hours of lifetime, unlike those small 5mm LEDs that just go south from the get go.

CREE XR-E:

http://www.molalla.net/~leeper/creexre.htm

Seoul P4:

http://www.molalla.net/~leeper/seoulmy.htm

Philips LumiLEDs Rebel:

http://www.molalla.net/~leeper/rebel.htm

5mm LED testing:

http://www.molalla.net/~leeper/5mmdeg.htm

http://www.molalla.net/~leeper/5mmcleds.htm

For fixed lighting, DIY boards, fixtures, LED mounting, optics, reflectors:

http://theledguy.chainreactionweb.com/index.php?cPath=48_49_61

[ghurd]

Not sure why I bother responding.

Not sure why...

You claim they last over 11 years when the earliest, most primitive versions, only went into production 14 years ago,

You want to long term test 5mm LEDs at DOUBLE their Absolute Maximum Current Rating,

(who long term tests a device at double the absolute maximum ratings for 24 hours, let alone for years?)

Etc, etc, etc...

Whatever.

I lost interest too fast.

Sounds like 110% spam.

Checked your history.  Now it looks like 10,000% spam.

[Tritium]

Jarhead aka Newbie from CPF?

Thurmond