Tricolor and anchor light

When we have the standing rigging replaced we'll also have a tricolor and anchor light installed at the masthead. Since we'll be going broke paying someone to be up there anyway we might as well take care of some of the nav light issues at the same time :-D

I'm looking for recommendations for brands and models.

I'm also very interested in going the LED route if that is CG approved.

Any recent lessons learned or insights would be appreciated.

Thanks,


-Sven

Aqua Signal Series 40 and Dr. Leds

Go with the Aqua Signal Series 40 combination and the DR. LEd bulbs that fit them. About the cheapest solution around and one of the only solutions that will not be cooked should you use an ssb for e-mail aboard the boat.

Also this solution is CG approved, and uses a miniscule amount of energy as do all the LED solutions.

The more expensive sealed units gernerally don't do well with the RF due to the fact that they use an unshielded led controller which is sensitive to rf in the range of ssb and ham.

Guy

I use an Aqua-Signal Series 40 Tri-color with anchor light. It has been up there for 10 years and 2 years ago I had to replace the Anchor light bulb. When I did the replacement I replaced both bulbs, anchor & tri-color with LED bulbs form Dr. LED http://www.doctorled.com/p21.htm They are USCG approved and only draw 1.2 watts. From personal observation I think they are brighter that the incandescent lights

Having gone through several installations all of which have been technically successful in that they light up when the switch(s) is thrown, I, too have settled in the Aqua Sig 40. Always get the appropriate mounting bracket and forget the strobe option. The 'strobe' simply turns the anchor light on and off as far as I can tell, and requires another conductor in the cable. There's a unit made in Brazil that requires some surgery or relabling in the control panel to work to spec, that I just won't do any more.

Guy: what LED's do you use, and are they function specific, ie anchor bulb replacement and nav light too??

Howard Keiper
Berkeley

Tom answered that question. Sorry for missing it.
hk

Thanks for the answers !

That was exactly the info I was looking for.


-Sven

I have installed a fair number of the Orca Green units as well as the Lopo Lites on customer boats. Never was aware of any SSB interference issues and was likely going to put the Orca Green unit on my own boat. Can you give some more detail on the SSB problem Guy?

We installed an OGM/OrcaGreen tricolor/anchor a few years back and like it. They are CG approved. I'm sure Guy can give you some good insight on the SSB problem, but I had heard problems as well. OGM at the time was using a 2ft shielded twisted pair pigtail on their lights to help mitigate any problems. But just in case, I ran shielded twisted pair all the way down the mast... the small stuff needed for the LED is pretty cheap and I needed new wire anyway (I'm sure someone will tell me I wasted my money ). We have had no problems with the VHF.

I have not used it myself, but there is an option, described to me by the folk at www.svhotwire.com, if you want to have both a tricolour and anchor light but only have one wire pair going up the mast. It involves reversing the polarity in the wires according to which option you want, with the LEDs reacting accordingly; it just requires an extra switch at your electrical panel.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

This is one of the easy ones...a couple of diodes at the fixture, a DPDT switch in the control panel, and you're set.If you want to do it yourself, I'll provide instructions. This is a worthwhile project.
keiper
berkeley

They go Poof!

Simple the lights including the one that is named after a strange colored marine mammal do not have any RF shielding. When you transmit 150 watts give or take into your rigging all parts of the boat are an antenna. The company in question knows this as I have informed them of it, and I have tested it, both on the bench and on real boats. I do not carry or install any of their products because the told me "That is not our market". So they are not in the market fo the long distance cruiser, then who are they in the market for, the dock queens that need to conserve power?

They know that their lights will not continue to function if used on a boat with SSB aboard. They are not well designed for an RF rich environment. Call and ask, they will readily admit to it.

The complexity of the control circuit used in a number of the lights trying to do strobe, tricolor and anchor with two or three wires and the components

Besides the simplicity of the DR. LED product and Aquasignal lights, who have been in the business for year and years, is the fact that an aquasignal series 40 with the two bulbs changed out to Dr. Led's are significantly cheaper than an strangely colored marine mammal brand. Why make this hard and more expensive for a less dependable product?

Guy

Series 40 and Dr LED

I was just doing the same work & after looking at the options went AM Series 40 and Dr LED. The alternatives seemed too spendy at least for my budget. Defender had the Tricolor at a reasonable price & got the Dr LED from Fisheries Supply in Seattle. I did both bulbs but you could choose to keep cost down and just do the Dr LED for the anchor light unless you often sail at night.

Fred

Howard,

Howard Keiper said:

This is one of the easy ones...a couple of diodes at the fixture, a DPDT switch in the control panel, and you're set.If you want to do it yourself, I'll provide instructions. This is a worthwhile project.
keiper
berkeley

Click to expand...

Sure. I think I can figure out the circuitry by myself but I wouldn't know what components or values to use without digging out some of my old textbooks. So your help would be appreciated.

Now I hope there is at least a pair of wires up there in the first place



-Sven

Partial answer...

Don't know if a combo light is available similar to this that also incorporates an LED tri-color, but this is the all-around anchor light we installed when our spar was rewired in '02.
We do not anchor out more than a few nights a year, so perhaps it has not been really "tested."

Still works fine, though.
Perko #1340

Loren