LED's ARE EASY........FINALLY!!!!!! Low Tech, Low Amp Anchor Light $20

[bob mitchell]

     I have been reading led conversion articles for years, getting excited, and then giving up when nothing would really jell. However, in the May/June issue of GOOD OLD BOAT there was an article by Clarence Jones on New-Era Navigation Lights. He gives some excellent simple straight forward information on bulbs and LEDs. I wasn't thrilled with his bow light design, but his anchor light was so straight forward that I decided to build one for the trip up river. Also, when I went to www.superbrightleds.com it seemed that all the incompatabilities of past years were gone, and for the first time the product selection was outrageous. For instance they had a perfect green and red multiple LEDS for my large bronze antique Perko port/starboard bow light. (will post when done)

    Anyway, for the anchor light, I used an 1156 TOWER BULB with 18 LEDs in a radial pattern with 3 on top as well, drawing 175 ma (.175 amps) , which is a huge reduction in amperage draw from conventional bulbs, (which means smaller gauge wire), and they last a lot longer. Part number is 1156ww-18T for $18 dollars.  The information on conventional bulb socket types was the most important information in the article, because LEDs now come mounted on conventional bases, which means conversion from conventional to LED is essentially changing a bulb. So I bought the conventional socket (1156) for 99 cents.  The baby food jar "globe" was 60 cents at Bi Low (apple banana - but seriously, look carefully because there are at least 3 potential sizes). So I drilled some holes, soldered the ground, pulled the wires through holes, filled the cap with epoxy, and inserted the globe - wallah!  (I will refine the design when I put it on my mast, but it looks pretty invincible even at this point. The LEDs produce so lttle heat that it is unlikely to damage the glass - and as always, I am an experimenter sharing results, not a professional giving advice. But I will say this - you could build this anchor light as a spare, and raise it on a halyard in case your mast top one burned out, and you were not prepared to go up top at the time. 

     The small black box power supply is a charge maintainer for 12v batteries available from Harbor Freight for $10. It does not put out enough current to test conventional bulbs (maybe my bulb was gone) but works great with LEDs. The photo below was ina semidark room and the flash went off, but you can see that the LED is bright anyway.