Pop Up Bow Light

[Harrison256]

Okk so my nav light went out and when I took it apar (Bulb looked fine)t I found that apparently 2 wires run to a small circuit board, etc etc. Not really sure, Light bulbs aren't my thing. BUT 2 wires in the circuit somehow came disconnected at points where it looks near impossible to solder back on. So what would happen if I bypassed the circuit board and ran it straight to the light terminals? I could run a lower watt led bulb also to reduce power consumption? I just really don't want to have to drop $100 on a new nav light and because its the pop up I have no choice (hole too large) but to either buy some lame suction cup nav lights or just stay outta the water at night.

Any thoughts?

[SunriseH2OSkier]

Sorry you can't direct wire an LED bulb. You need resistance in series with it or it effectively looks like a short circuit. You also will be hard pressed to find anything but a low power LED - that's what an LED is by definition.

[scott_fx]

couldn't you wire a resistor in series with the leds if you're bypassing the circuit board? im not sure what it looks like inside but it could be possible.

there are also prewired led's to work in a 12v system. you would need to test out what works best but there are options out there.

http://www.oznium.com/prewired-superflux

http://www.oznium.com/marine-led-floodlight

sidenote... how do these bow lights pop up? do they actually raise up or do they flip over?

Edited April 1, 2011 by scott_fx

[skyskier]

Flip over. Way cool.

[Harrison256]

Yeah, I mean I am pretttty sure an LED could work in there because I have LEDs in all of my stock light housings and there aren't any resistors in those.. (replaced with festoon 4211) Just 2 wires. But I don't want to go blowing circuits or causing fires lol

Jerry And yes, I am aware that LEDs are low power consumption btw, I was just being specific in my post and highlighting my reasoning for the choise...

So back to my question, could you wire up without a resistor if using a festoon type bulb?

If it would help I can try to post a pic of the wiring later today

Edited April 1, 2011 by Harrison256

[Harrison256]

Oh and to your side note they flip over like on an axis. And the bulbs premade to work with the twelve volt system is what I was planning on using, I wouldn't want to begin tackling intense circuitry work and such.

[skyskier]

Something to be aware of, the flip up light on my 2010 gets hot enough to cause a serious burn. Maybe something that could be remedied depending on which bulb you use. I dunno.

[Harrison256]

Can anyone help me out and tell me the model number on their bulb in their nav socket? Either that or what the length is in mm. I seem to have misplaced my burned out one.

[Pistol Pete]

My bow light bulb (in my 2000 WS) is marked PL 90

Total height is 34mm. bulb dia. at the fattest part (the middle) is 19mm.

Example.

A place to buy an led replacement.

[SunriseH2OSkier]

Sorry, left for a week long cruise right after posting my initial reply, and forgot about this topic until now. Obviously I misinterpreted your initial posting. I was thinking you already had an LED bulb up there, so I was confused as to why you would be looking for a lower power option.

As for direct wiring an LED, I'm confident those festoon bulbs have a resistor integrated into their design somehow. But for all intents and purposes, it is a direct wire job because all you have to worry about is connecting two wires.

I've actually been contemplating updating my nav light to a pop up style, and would prefer to do one with LED. I couldn't find one that I liked - I think I only found one design that was pop-up and LED straight out of the package, but I didn't much care for the style. So I figured I would be looking for one of those festoon bulbs as well. In doing the research, one comment I saw was that the LED is so intense, it tends to make the green side of the lamp look more blue.

What did you end up deciding to do?