B31 Stern Light -LED or not?

[John F.]

The stern light on Crows Nest went out. I opened it up, and the bulb is burnt out but the whole thing has seen better days. I may replace the whole light. West has them in LED or regular. Any suggestions? Any problems with LED? Thanks.

[IRGuy]

John...

Four years ago I replaced all my nav lights with new incadescents. At that time LEDs for nav lights were very expensive, so I decided to wait a couple of years and see if the price came down. Last year I replaced all the original bulbs with LEDs. Still somewhat expensive but they have several advantages.

When I was burning all incadescents the voltage drop in my nav light circuit was from about 12.3 to 11.1 volts. After replacing all with LEDs the drop was from 12.3 to about 11.9. LEDs also last "forever" (supposedly 20,000 hours or so), and don't generate much heat, Personally I think they show a brighter light. Since they are supposed to last so long you can seal the fixtures to keep moisture out.

A note to those who are thinking of doing what I did... You do not put a clear LED bulb into your P&S green and red lights.. you put red and green LEDs. Supposedly the clear bulbs don't show the proper color if put behind colored lenses. Simply put a red LED behind the red lens and a green LED behind the green lens.

[John F.]

A little Corrosion X, a new bulb, and she's good. Thanks. CX is amazing stuff.