To install LED lights in your boat’s interior, follow these steps:
- Plug the bulb into the socket and turn the power on and fixture on.
- Route the wire to go down the center section and dry fit the bulb into the fixture.
- Peel the backing off the double-sided tape and stick the bulb to the fixture.
- Replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs is a relatively cheap option considering the longevity of the fixture and may be a good option for lights of a single color.
- If power draw is your sole concern, replacing the bulbs may be the way to go.
- If you view lighting as a lifestyle benefit and spend a lot of time aboard, it’s a good idea to switch to LED lighting.
- Replacing all interior overhead lights to LED, engine room lights to LED, exterior ceiling lights to LED, and navigation lights to LED.
- Add three to four LED underwater lights.
- Use a slot head screw driver to pry off the cover with a slot along the seam. Some casings need to have the tabs pushed in at the same time.
- This DIY project can cut down on amp-hours used and provide information on where to get the bulbs needed.
In case you’re interested in replacing your boat’s lights with LEDs, check the threads on LED bulbs and other sources that raise concerns about voltage spikes on 12v boat systems.
📹 LED replacements for CABIN LIGHTS on BOATS: What to look out for! | Ask The Expert with NIGEL CALDER
Nigel Calder explains why it’s not straightforward to replace your boat’s lights with LED (but still a good idea). Check out our Boat …
📹 I Switched Out My Old Cabin Light Bulbs for LED but They Don’t Work?
Daryl sent us an email asking, “I have luminescent lights in my salon that I switched to LED to conserve battery energy. However …
It’s crazy West Marine for years only supplies Shielded 12v Anchor marine wire in red and black only. Occassionally I’ll find red and yellow only in one AWG. I never think ahead and order it online or 50 percent of my boat would be colored properly. My 1998 was factory wired red and black as well. What the heck
this same problem also happens on old houses, my theory is that the people that did the connections weren’t electricians and they just thought ” I just have to connect 2 wires,what could go wrong?” on the first days when I was learning about electricity, I connected the neutral wire on the hot terminal and the hot wire in neutral on the testing outlet we were working on, it actually worked you only had to connect the appliances socket backwards for it to work
I’ve just lately installed LED running lights, and in those three cases, (bow, stern, & masthead), to my surprise, the lights do not seem to care about polarity at all. I presume, then, that the little circuit boards that are the LED “bulbs” contain some diodes, or whatever, to “fix” the polarity inf it’s backwards.
Actually they did work maybe – LED – the old or cheap ones with just a ballast resistor (and yes they still exist) with reverse polarity are a diode. They avalanche with correct (but reverse polarity) and emit light. The new / better quality ones (stabilized) won’t do that. My buddy did that to his boat (years ago) light s were bad, pieces of junk, etc. He left them on and we came back to a dead battery. phantom current. This that the other thing – and then he tells me about these blank blank LED’s. Sigh George! Reversed the polarity and all the lights came on – he had left the switch on and that was the phantom load that pulled down the battery – mind you this was 35 (or so ) years ago.