I have converted almost all of my overhead cabin lights to LED's. Mostly soft white. When a fixture has a two bulb selector I left one 1156 incandescant bulb in place to be switched on for additional brightness when needed. One thing I have really noticed is LED's are very voltage sensitive. If the water pump comes on or the vacuflush, the pulsing of the lights is like a rock concert in the cabin. Would a capacitor be useful here ?
LED Cabin Lights
- Thread starter bobalong
- Start date
It would have to be a large capacitor. The LED would slowly dim if the voltage drops for a long time, guessing a minute using a 500mf 25volt capacitor depending on the load, before the voltage reaches the same as the source. You would have to place the capacitor away from the lamp because of limited space inside the lamp.
The main light switch is located right at the cabin entrance, and I'm thinking that by removing the switch plate there is ample room behind it (and the easiest place) to install a cap. Are these caps still available at Radio Shack ?
Probably not. First, it would take a pretty large capacitor and as someone else pointed out, you would need both positive and negative leads to connect it.
More importantly, when the battery voltage drops because of the pumps or other loads, the power stored in the capacitor will be discharged into the circuit and the lights will still flicker. The only way a capacitor would keep the lights from flickering is to place a diode in the circuit before the capacitor. This would allow the lights to operate and the capacitor to charge but the capacitor would not discharge through the boat's wiring. Of course, you have to size the diode for the inrush current of the capacitor and you will have a one half volt or so drop to the lights because of the diode.
Another option is to design and build a voltage regulator for the lighting circuit. The problem here is that you can only regulate the voltage to the lowest level that occurs when the pumps are operating so you would lose some brightness. You would need some electronics educationand experience to do this.
If it really bothers you, consider adding an additional battery just for the lighting circuit with an automatic charging relay to keep it charged.
It's possible that the voltage drop is because of loose or corroded connections or too small wire size somewhere in a circuit that's common to both the lights and the pumps. This might be the first thing to check.
I think your problem is wiring and/or batteries. IF the batteries are adequate and the wiring is good there shouldn't be any appreciable voltage drop to the LED's. My pump or even my fridge can come on and I don't see any difference in the LED lights.
I see no change in any of my LED lighting when I run evertying in the boat that is DC which includes cycling motors like the PuraSan, Bilge pumps, Frig or the Head. I'd start at the house battery bank you have a problem that is minor but will get worse with time.
Bill
Bill
What is your current battery configuration? If by size you mean the box will only fit up to a 31 series battery then I would suggest installing the 31 series and upgrading the battery chemistry to AGM. Sounds like access which to me also means maintenance could be an issue all the more reason to change to a maintenance free AGM battery. Also I know in the case of my boat the main battery leads as well as many of the leads going to higher current DC draws were undersized. At a minimum I would install the largest marine grade wire from each battery to the ground buss, alternators and power distribution panels. In the case of switching from standard lights to LEDs this shouldn't be an issue becuase the LED fixture will typically only draw 20% of the original standard light.
Bill
Bill
Well I didn't have a lot of time to dedicate to my LED issue when last on the boat (If you followed my Crusader engine debacle you know why) but a little snooping showed that my battery terminals are all secure. I was afraid I was going to find dry batt cells, but was not the case. And for all other functions the house batt doesn't seem to be straining to run pumps, refer etc. So my conclusion is that there are too many LED / Halogen / Incandecent bulbs & fixtures on too small of a wire & too long of a run. 6 X 5-10 watt halogen's, 4 X fixtures with combination 1156 and LED bulbs. Next trip down I'll be checking wire gauge & maybe run a temporary hot to the breaker or switch for some tests, also be checking the ground wire circuit.
That was my thought as well.
On the other hand if the LED's were designed to work in a circuit with a dimmer then they wouldn't have a regulator. My LED replacements are ALWAYS the same brightness but I don't have any dimmers/LED compatible circuits though I'd like to someday try it in the saloon for background lighting effects.
Regulators ? How can I determine if I do or don't ? Some of my bulbs are exact bulb replacements, that is to say it just looks like an 1156 but the glass portion has led's. Others use circuit boards with a mini adapter plug on a pigtail, with a variety of interchangeable bases.
With or without regulators still polarity sensitive ?
With or without regulators still polarity sensitive ?
In my case the regulator/circuit board on the LED assembly made the LED non-polarity sensitive as they would self correct no matter which way you inserted the pins.
FWIW the circuit boards where always small enough so they were still plug-in replacements without the use of pigtails. I've used both halogen pin type replacements and festoon types.
FWIW the circuit boards where always small enough so they were still plug-in replacements without the use of pigtails. I've used both halogen pin type replacements and festoon types.
If the ones that are not + - sensitive don't oscillate with the water pump / vacuflush then there's the answer. Now that you suggested that scenario, I'm not sure ALL of the LED's oscillate. I have a mixed bag of fixtures and bubls.
If they're polarity sensitive it'll probably say on the bulb, and they WON'T work if installed backwards. The "regulator" in most cases is built into the bulb assembly, you'll probably never even notice it.
Personally I don't think the problem is with the LEDs, but with the wiring.
Personally I don't think the problem is with the LEDs, but with the wiring.