Tri-Color wiring or LED

[George ( Triton #236 )]

Hi Guys,


I've been adding more stuff to the boat recently and have come across a small problem. I've just finished upsizing the wiring on the boat including the main electrical panel to handle the increased load from all the new stuff I have.

The only sticking point is that one of the things I installed is a new series 40 combination Tri-Color / Anchor light from Aqua Signal. While I was running the load numbers for the electrical panel re-wire I realized that the top bulb ( tri-color) in the unit is not a 10 watt bulb like the anchor light portion but a 25 watt bulb that is drawing a full 2.0 amps. This equates to a 4.2% voltage drop using the existing in-mast #14 wiring as, of course, the unit is at the end of the single longest electrical run on the entire boat.

My options seem to be...

1. Don't worry, as the unit seems to work perfectly fine as is. 4.2% may not be spec. but it looks pretty darn good to me! ( see the P.S. at the end of this message ) Very easy!

2. Pull a new #12 ground and power wire pair up the mast to service the Tri-Color. Voltage drop is now a nice 2.9%. This solution is a pain in the butt because the #12 wire won't fit into the existing deck fittings so I would have to add an additional two prong deck plug. ( Which is crazy because I have one of the big Aqua-Signal 5 prong deck plugs specifically designed for this application. ) One nice thing about this solution is it doesn't add to the load on the existing in-mast ground wire.

3. Same as #2 except use #10 wire and attach it to the existing #14 wire as it comes out each side of the deck fittings. This would give me roughly 100 feet of #10 wire and one foot of #14 wire. By the charts, one foot of #14 wire can handle up to 13 amps with less than a 3% drop in voltage so I would think that this setup would be fine. Nice because no new deck fitting is needed. Also nice because of the massive increase in load handling I get with #10 wire.

4. Purchase a new Deep Creek LED array for the Tri-Color bulb that meets Coast guard specs for visibility and is designed for offshore use. The LED array is specifically designed to replace the top bulb in the series 40 Aqua-Signal fixtures ( offset double bayonet ). The unit draws so little current that you could keep the voltage drop below 3% if it was at the end of a 1000 feet of dental floss. Only drawback to this plan is the $290. price tag. ( Deep Creek makes the only offshore tested LED navigation lights that I have been able to find anywhere )


Ideas?


George


P.S. - I'm already getting one of the anchor light bulb replacement LED arrays that Deep Creek makes for the Series 40 combo light. I feel I can easily justify the $155.00 price tag because it's something I use all the time and it will extend my batteries. The Tri-color is another matter though. I normally use the deck level navigation lights except when I'm offshore or out in commercial traffic lanes on the Chesapeake. The Tri-Color only gets used about three times a year at present.

[dasein668]

I'd go with number 1. Yes, its not 3% voltage drop, but as you say, you only use it about 3 times a year, and the 1.2% difference is not going to kill anything. After all, "non-critical" applications are fine with 10% drop, and since you (a) only use the thing 3 times a year and (b) have deck level nav lights for back-up, I say "Don't worry, be happy!"

my 2 cents

[Tim]

George,

To me, this is a no-brainer. Your 4.2% drop may be over the desired spec of a max. 3% for running lights, but probably makes a completely negligable difference in the actual performance of the light. It's not as if you are creating an unsafe situation here; your light might be minutely dimmer than it would be under ideal conditions. If you had discovered something like a 15% voltage drop, say, with your current setup, that would have been different. But 1% higher, staying well within a generally safe zone? I certainly wouldn't worry about it.

Your tri-color is probably more visible at sea, even with the marginally reduced voltage, than any deck or pulpit-mounted running lights could possibly be. So if you use it offshore, or in other specific situations, you're already somewhat better off. For such limited use, and with such complications (and potential expense) involved with redoing the wiring or bulb as you described, I would definitely not bother.

Changing the wiring in this case is not going to make an appreciable difference. You're not overloading the wire by drawing more amperage than designed; if you were, that would be another story. And the increased voltage drop is minimal, at worst--or non-detectable, at best.

If you do choose to pull new wire, do it in such a way as to avoid needing that new deck fitting. The fewer deck fittings, the better!

Me--I would leave it as is. There's enough to do on a boat without making projects where none truly exists.

[George ( Triton #236 )]

Thanks guys,

I appreciate the info. I've now got a #10 ground and a #12 positive wire up to the junction under the mast step and that brings me down below 4% on the Tri-Color which is good enough for me.

Thanks Again,

George

[James384]

Does anyone know why they don't use 10-watt halogen bulbs in these things? I have a halogen bulb in a glass peanut butter jar for a masthead anchor light on Atom that outshines all the storebought ones I've seen at a tiny fraction of the cost.

It would help also if some company would produce a glass lens anchor-tricolor combo. These $190 aqua signal cheap plastic lenses go more opaque as they age from UV exposure so a glass lens would be more economical in the long run. I suppose you could at least replace the 25-watt bulbs with a 10-watt halogen if you were needing to conserve power, but you'd have to fashion some kind of makeshift adaptor since the bulb sockets aren't interchangable.

James
#384