led nav lights vs. standard

[superdan]

Any ideas which is better? Led navigation lights or standard bulbs? Thanks for any input.

[Roger]

LED navigation lights are better in that they are significantly gentler on your battery... however, unless they meet the criteria of visibility at 2 nm you may be held responsible in any incident where your lights may have been a factor.

Most LED lights have the diodes oreinted in one direction only, usually in line with the socket, so when in place the brightest light is shining towards a portion of the housing. In many cases this is not practical for our application. If however you ever stumble across nav lights (housing included) that are LED, you may have something that works for you. Check to make sure they meet the 2 nm criteria. I note one company who markets a masthead light, with the LED's orientation encircling 360 degrees and meeting the 2nautical mile visibility criteria.

Haveing said that, you can use energy saving LED's for anything else on your boat, like spreader lights, compass lights, inside cuddy lights, etc. They are also quite expensive, but due to the fact that they can outlast a regular bulb by a factor of 10, the expense is justified.

[superdan]

Thanks, Roger. I'll do some research on the 2 nm thing. Dan