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On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:53:00 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

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. ..
On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:31:23 -0400, "Ed" wrote:


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On Jul 21, 3:33 pm, "Thomas, Spring Point Light"
wrote:
Looking for a solar recharge portable anchor light.

This would be a 360* white light, with recharge batteries,
and small solar pick up someplace..

Anyone know where this can be bought?

There are suppliers of high quality lights for nav aids and barges if
you don't mind the price. A quick google gives this for instance:
http://www.premiermaterials.com/Prem...ials/solar.htm

We use garden lights on our stanchions for courtesy lighting but they
are not bright enough to be anchor lights.

-- Tom.


Why? I assume you already have an anchor light and a battery... why
not
just add a solar battery charger and not buy all the extra stuff. if
you
are leaving your boat alone you will want a bilge pump etc powered as
well.


I changed out my anchor light by using one of the LED replacements that
simply
goes in the same bayonet socket that used to be for the incandescent
lamp.
These
are now widely available for about $20. The incandescent drew 10 watts,
and this
LED replacement draws a hair over 1 watt for the same amount of light.
Actually,
I think the LED is quite a bit brighter. Bottom line - I now run it for
10
hours
on the power that used to provide 1 hour.




I took a look at some LEDs for my running lights. I don't have the bayonet
sockets, fyi. They seemed to be not nearly as bright, so I pulled them
out.
They make LED replacements with more elements, but they're much more than
$20. I don't think they're quite ready for prime-time for running lights
yet.


The anchor light, which burns all night with the engine off was my
first priority, and I solved that for $20. The running lights are not
run nearly as many hours, but do cost more to upgrade. Still not
terribly expensive, since you don't have to replace the entire
fixtures.

My running lights use what is called a "festoon base" lamp, which is a
glass cylinder with a contact at each end. I found some LED
replacements that were plenty bright for those as well. Those
incandescent running lights totaled 30 watts, or 3 amps, which on a
sailboat with minimal charging ability is substantial. Three of these
draws less than 5 watts total:

http://www.bebi-electronics.com/afamakuaka.html

Worth every penny, at least to me.




Yes, I have the same festoon base... flat, not the protruding ends of the
bulb.

Thanks for the website... I'll check it out.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com