LED lighting - A low-power revolution

Night sailing and hanging around on the boat as the sun sets are two of the satisfying things you can do on Lake Harriet. But, if you use you boat at evening or at night, the biggest draw on your battery will be your lighting. Traditional incandescent 12V DC lighting has been used in boats for years, but is very inefficient. Your house and running lights can draw down your battery in one evening. This is a big deal for boat that also must use battery power for auxiliary propulsion, and have no ready way of quickly recharging.
One solution to this problem is LED lighting. LED lighting has caused a quiet revolution in the marine industry, and for good reason. Cool running and lasting almost forever, LED bulbs are also amazingly energy efficient, using less than 10% of the power a regular bulb would. For this reason, most new boat are equipped with LED lighting.
What to do with an older boat? Easy, because now most bulb types had LED replacements. This means that you can remove your old bulb, and screw in LCDs. This also include running lights. That that is a HUGE plus, because of the power savings of course, but also the long life and vibration resistance. No more burned out running lights at the top of your mast!
West Marine carries some of the more popular sizes, and a great on-line resource is Dr. LED If you are willing to wait a few weeks for shipping, you can find the bulbs for as little as $3 on eBay, shipped free from Hong Kong.
Another simple solution is to use the stick-on LED pop-lights sold at most stores. Although not really designed for marine use, they work great in non-critical situations and locations. Because the LEDs are so power efficient, the batteries rarely need changing.
A good spring project!

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