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WANTED: Original Ericson Running Lights

lonokai

Member III
I'm seeking the port and starboard deck mounted housing for the running lights. My Ericson 27 was built in 1975.

The PO for Lono Kai jerry-rigged an LED Forward running lights to the pulpit. I dont really care for that, and I would like brighter incandescent.....he removed the original deck mounted lights.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Well, I think that would be a mistake, but it's your boat. Those Perko deck-mount lights are available anywhere. But you can get LEDs that are as bright or brighter than the incandescent ones. The higher mount of the pulpit should also be visible farther than the deck-mount lights. Not only do incandescents use a lot of battery power, those old Perko lights can be dangerous. The plastic lenses in mine had melted from heat (high resistance due to corrosion?) and they were hard to keep watertight.

One caution with LED navigation lights is that you can't just use a white LED because most of the output would be wasted and it will be dim. You need to put a red LED behind the red lens and a green one behind the green lens. For the single bow light, you need to scrounge up the LED festoon that has red on one side and green on the other side. It's not cheap.

As it happens, I removed the old Perko deck mount lights (long since converted to LED) yesterday, because I needed the space for an anchor roller. But I don't think they're reusable. There was also a lot of moisture intrusion behind them in the deck. I'll let it dry for a couple of days then fill the holes with epoxy mush.
 

Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
Thr original Perkos are not at all bright.... as a matter of fact

... you might have to light a match to see if the original perko lights are lit. The do not meet any standards and are pretty worthless even as lighting on a pool toy.

You didn't post a photo of the light that your PO mounted, but a newer fixture with LEDS is a much better light solution than the old Perko lights stuck to the hull..

Anyway:

http://www.perko.com/catalog/navigation_lights_under_20_meters/7/side_lights/

Or you may have the combined one that convieniently sits behind the anchor, or the ones are are mounted to the deck. All are there in the catalog from Perko. All are still produced in the same chromed zinc glory that they were in the 1970's.....

Here are the "modern" replacements. They also offer them in LED.

Guy
:)
 
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lonokai

Member III
Sorry I'm not at the boat right now...but they are actually smaller than the perkos.

The light the PO put there is like the one I uploaded here...

At night it does not seem at all bright and my dock neighbor, who also has an E27 has the original lights which ARE very bright at night.....

So, perhaps I simply need to find something better in an LED.....
attachment.php


And, BTW, some of those LEDs are running a couple hundred bucks! (at Defender)
 

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toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
THESE are the Perko lights that your boat probably came with.

THAT is an AquaSignal series 25 running light

Both are rated for 1 nautical mile visibility.

AquaSignal also makes a series 41 light that is rated for 2 nm.

To make that light work with LEDs, you need the green/red bi-color festoon, AND it has to be oriented properly with the red side toward the red lens. (The one linked claims it gives 2 nm visibility, but I dunno.)
It should be plenty bright. You could also just pop an incandescent bulb into the series 25 housing. My Perko lights were pretty bright too, but only AFTER I switched to the proper color LEDs.

I had trouble finding the series 25 mounting bracket, so I made my own. The bow pulpit is very (disturbingly) thin stainless tubing, and there are openings in the base feet, so it is easy to drill into the back foot from below and fish the wire up the inside. Makes a nice neat installation. May post a blog entry one of these days.
 
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Guy Stevens

Moderator
Moderator
Check for resistance in the wiring, the series 25 should be brighter than the perkos

Check the wiring for correct voltage at the light, and look for corrosion on the wire, in the housing, or in a terminal strip in the anchor locker. This corrosion could be causing the dim light.

You should also check the lights on your boat from off the boat to the side, too looking at her from straight on the bow.

There are a number of replacement LED bulbs for that series 25 that should produce a better amount of light than the perkos. If there isn't a ton of corrosion on the wiring.


Guy
:)
 
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