LED bulb replacements

[torcano]

Can LED bulbs be used to replace incandescent bulbs without modifying any fuses? The West Marine catalogue discusses the need to do so. Does anyone have any experience doing this?

 

[reelfishin]

Re: LED bulb replacements

It would depend on what the fuse is trying to protect, the ciruit wiring itself or the component. If your talking about trailer lights or simple dash or in hull illumination I wouldn't be too concerned. If an LED unit fails and creates a short, it will still blow the fuse, any damage would be confined to that LED unit that failed so long as the wiring and fuses were rated to handle the former incandescent bulbs.

 

[5150abf]

Re: LED bulb replacements

The only thing I can think of is they draw such a small amount of power,maybe go with a smaller fuse, but as stated, if you get a short the fuse will still pop even if you don't change it.

I do have an LED nav light on my boat that had a small box that had to be wired in line, don't know what it does, I thought maybe it wasn't 12v and the box lowered the voltage but then I have other LEDs that I simply replaced the incandescent bulb and it has been fine.

They should specify which replacements need a new fuse but I din't think I woul dworry too much.

 

[pvanv]

Re: LED bulb replacements

You're fine with the original fuses, assuming they were sized correctly to begin with.

The fuses are sized to protect the wiring, not the device. When a fuse pops (assuming the wiring wasn't damaged in some way, causing the problem), it's because the device already cooked.

Think of the 120v breakers in your house: You can plug a 4-watt night light into a 20-amp circuit. That's quite kosher. The breaker is sized so that if you draw in excess of 20 amps (at 120v, that would be 2400 watts), it trips before the wiring overheats.

Rule of thumb for short wiring runs: 10a for 16AWG wire; 15a for 14AWG; 20a for 12AWG; 30a for 10AWG...

 

[torcano]

Re: LED bulb replacements

Thanks. I understand the breaker keeps the wires from cooking. I wasn't concerned about the LED bulb burning out but I was concerned about an onboard fire and wires that smoke. I was thinking about replacing the bulbs in my cabin. I would not exceed the watts that are in place and I assume the Chaparral installed the proper breakers for the proper wire size and anticipated load. For some reason, the West Marine catalogue placed a caution notice about swaping LED bulbs for incandescants. My primary interest to change out the bulbs is to reduce power drain on my house battery when I am out at night on the hook. My boat does not have a generator.

 

[SKEETR]

Re: LED bulb replacements

http://autolumination.com/fixtures.htm

 

[marquette]

Re: LED bulb replacements

i don't know about boats but in campers it is a straight bulb replacement. i found them on ebay under LED lights. i haven't decided if i like the light as well. it's a differant kind of brightness.