Stern Light - '97 240 Sundancer

[KHE]

I've noticed that my stern light seems dim compared with other boats and am wondering if it is just due to the anti-glare design. The bulb that is in there is a 906 bulb which I believe is the original bulb. Has anyone used an equivalent LED bulb? If so, what part no. did you use?

Thanks.

 

[Boater420]

I just replaced the fixture and bulb since it was old anyway.

 

[Maggieiscrazy]

I replaced the bulb in mine with a Philips 921LED. $12. It’s much brighter then the original and draws a fraction of the power. Just remember LED’s are polarity sensitive so if it doesn’t work turn the bulb 180 degrees.

 

[KHE]

Maggieiscrazy,

Is the brightness of the 921 LED bulb objectionable? I only ask because the Perko literature touts the light as anti-glare design.

I'm looking for a spare bulb to keep on board if one burns out. If I purchased an LED bulb, I'd use that and keep the existing 906 bulb as a spare - there is such an excess of law enforcement on the water where I boat (lake Michigan) you'd think it was Miami and they were looking for drug runners...

 

[Lazy Daze]

The problem with just swithing to an LED is the housing/reflector wasn't designed for the wavelength of LED's and the light may not be visible to required nm spec... 2 miles? Some will report that they say "Wow, this new LED is so much brighter"... yet they're only looking at from 10' away.

It's good that's it's not bright inside the boat. Walk a few hundred feet away and see if it's about thd same brightness as other boats you've seen.

 

[Maggieiscrazy]

My light can be seen for a long distance but it’s not so bright that it’s a problem. All I can say is give it a try and see how you like it.

 

[KHE]

The problem with just swithing to an LED is the housing/reflector wasn't designed for the wavelength of LED's and the light may not be visible to required nm spec... 2 miles? Some will report that they say "Wow, this new LED is so much brighter"... yet they're only looking at from 10' away.

It's good that's it's not bright inside the boat. Walk a few hundred feet away and see if it's about thd same brightness as other boats you've seen.

Excellent information! The LED "playing" correctly with the reflector was a concern. My bow light burned out the other day and I replaced it with the OE incandescent bulb (and now have a spare since they were sold two to a pack) and I thought it would be a good idea to purchase a spare bulb for the stern light.

For now, I think I'll buy a 906 incandescent bulb and keep it in my spare parts container onboard.

Thank you all for the information!

 

[Maggieiscrazy]

My bow light kept burning out so I replaced it with a LED bow light and haven’t had a problem since.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Excellent information! The LED "playing" correctly with the reflector was a concern. My bow light burned out the other day and I replaced it with the OE incandescent bulb (and now have a spare since they were sold two to a pack) and I thought it would be a good idea to purchase a spare bulb for the stern light.

For now, I think I'll buy a 906 incandescent bulb and keep it in my spare parts container onboard.

Thank you all for the information!

You're welcome! Typically, these incandescent lights last years, if not a good decade or so. They're usually one of those things that you never really think of. If they're not lasting as long, there is most likely another problem going on to shorten their life.

A couple years ago I thought of replacing my nav lights with LED fixtures... but for me, it was just hard to justify the price of a whole new fixture when what I had was working just fine. I had thought of just replacing the bulb, but once I found out about the wavelength thing, I just wasn't comfortable taking a chance on whether the light could be seen from a long distance away as well as the original. When we're out at night, we're already barely visible - without real "data" to prove that the light still travels as far, I didn't want to risk being even less visible to other boaters.

 

[Maggieiscrazy]

I can assure you that after replacing the bulb in my stern light with a philips 921LED the light can be seen from a much farther distance than the original bulb. Plus the bulb has a 50,000 hour life expectancy so there’s little chance of it burning out. And it draws a fraction of the power of the original so if it’s left on all night there’s little worry about the draw on the battery.